Vivimos Santiago

We began our day today by waking up very early and taking a long bus ride to the capital city of Chile, Santiago.  Before we toured the city, we went to a quick company visit to the Stock Exchange of Chile.  We got to enter the room where the Chileans trade stocks!  The room had a beautiful mural and a huge screen with all of the stocks on it.  It was nice to learn about aspects of business in Chile through the stock exchange.  After the visit, we began our tour of Santiago.  I didn’t expect Santiago to be so big! The city was really pretty and the people in Chile are very friendly.  I have noticed that the people here are MUCH more patient than Americans.  All of the waiters and people we have worked with have been so patient with us and the language barrier.  A waiter from the United States would never deal with a situation like this in a friendly manner like the Chileans do.  The students are also very patient and helpful to us.  I ask them a ton of questions every day and they never seem to get annoyed and they never stop helping us!  They never rush you here either.  Being late in Chile really isn’t a problem, people seem to be much more laid back!  We got to see the building where the president lives in Santiago.  The building was huge!  Many guards were outside of the building, some of them were even on horses.  We also saw a stunning cathedral.  We got to go inside and look around to see all the beautiful statues and pictures inside.  I will attach many pictures below from the inside of the cathedral!  Later in the day, we got to ride up an extremely tall incline (which scared me to death) to see a chapel on a hill overlooking Santiago.  There was an outdoor chapel, shops, and a massive statue of the Virgin Mary on the peak of the hill.  It was so peaceful and quiet at the top of the hill which made it a great place for a Chapel.  Religion is very important to Chileans, so there are many religious spectacles throughout the areas in Chile.  After we all slept on the way home from Santiago, we were ready for our first reaggaton class!  I like the reaggaton class much better than the salsa class.  The reaggaton dance is energetic and fun to do!  After the activities for the day were done, Carly, Alli, Molly and I went to buy Chilean Doritos and Pizza Hut.  We needed a relaxing evening after our first few busy days! The Chilean students like to stay out late, and it’s been taking quite a toll on us!  I’m looking forward to getting a good night sleep and going to our first company visit to LAN tomorrow.