Santiagoing it up

Hi,
So we just finished our first week of classes, yay. We only have class monday through thursday. Tomorrow we are going to La Victoria and an escuela municipal, public school in a very poor area. This week is ending a lot better than it started ha ha. Since monday's excurtion through Nunoa, I have not gotten lost! SO that is definitely a huge improvement. I am also starting to feel very comfortable with the city and much more settled. I feel like a student that studies in Chile rather than a confused, flustered, gringa tourist. I am a lot more confortable on the metro and as long as I can find a station, I can get myself home from anywhere in the city. Although I am comfortable using the metro, I am not always comfortable on the metro. In the mornings there are so many people on the trains that there is literally no room to more. When the doors open for me to get on it is wall to wall people and the only way to get on is to push my way through. Most of the time when the doors close I am literally hanging onto the side of the train trying to stay in. The doors usually close on me and my bag and eventually people shift enough for me to get myself in. Thank goodness that it is only that full for a couple of stops before people emty out of the trains. It is very stressful but because I am taller than almost everyone here, I can breath and do not get super claustrophobic. Most chileans are very short. There are some men that are taller than me but for the most part I tower above people. It does attract attention to be an alta gringa but it is useful on crowded subways. haha. Other than the crazy subway stop, my commute in the morning is pretty easy. It takes about an hour to get in. I walk for like 15 minutes, take the blue line to the red line to los heroes and then walk five minutes to class. And here are pictures of the view from my room. It freaks me out everytime I look outside. This is only a small part of the mountains. From certain spots in Santiago you can see a lot more of them. They are really breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice.

So I am definitely settling into the routine of things here. And I am having an awesome time. I am still very overwhelmed by the amount of work we have, the city, and the language but it is getting better everyday.
Paz y amor,
Kim

PS This is from thursday but I didn't post it until today. We had an amazing time in La Victoria. I will share the pics and stories from today tomorrow. K bye.