Thursday, February 26, 2009

Arrival in Chile!

I've made it to Chile!

After the red eye flight from Dallas to Santiago, I've finally arrived in Chile. The flight itself wasn't that bad at all, it was just sitting in a chair for nine or more hours. No crying babies, so it could've been worse.

After landing, I had to go through customs. They just as stringent rules about fruit and nuts as we do about guns and knives. They have "no apple" and "no nuts" picture/signs all over the place. It made me chuckle.

Anywho, I stayed in the plaza de armas hostel the first night. If you ever find yourself in santiago, i greatly suggest this hostel. It has a beautiful view of la plaza de armas(I'll post pictures in a little bit), and was a great deal(12$ per night). While it is cheap, it is like a dormitory, I stayed in a room with seven other people. But clean sheets and a comfy bed, I am not one to complain. There were a lot of foriegn, actually all foriegn people there. It was an interesting experiance to say the least.

My first "dinner" is one that I will be sure to remember. There are all sorts of food stands near la plaza de armas, so I naturally approached one and pointed at the food I wanted. It essentially was a hot dog. But a chilean hot dog is far from our beloved ball park franks. they take a normal hot dog and lop on chopped tomatoes, guacamole and hot mayo(which i thought was cheese. Quite wrong) It was tasty, but a bit overwhelming.

Right now I am staying with other International Studies Abroad studies in a suite in different part of Santiago, going through a four day orientation before my arrival in Vina del Mar, the city I'll be living in the next five months. Rioght, well I've got a long day tomorrow, so I'm off to sleep. (we're two hours ahead here in Chile.)

-Brian

P.S. I'm going to refuse to type read, you're just going to have to take the hard cold facts. And typing mistakes.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Brian pre-adventures

Hello,

So lets get a few things straight. I am not stating that this blog is a recap of my adventures(it is not Brian's Adventures). I am merely stating that I am adventuring. Now, that seems to be a bit presumptuous, as if I am asserting that I am in league with greats such as Lewis n Clark, Neil Armstrong(Or is it louis?), and of course, Indiana Jones. I'm just going to another continent, which for my traveling experience is a wild and crazy adventure in itself. So there it is.

I have yet to leave, and have simply set this blog up prior to departure as a display of my foresight. So right! I hope there is some sort of way to attach pictures to blogs, because that'd be enormously convenient.

Until next time!

(Do people generally sign blog posts?)