mojando (monolinguals...please click)

*(Please forgive the hideous formatting. I've spent about an hour and half trying to fix it...and have become REALLY frustrated)

The countdown is over...I am officially immersed.

I'll say my study abroad immersion experience officially began the moment I entered Ft. Lauderdale's fourth departure terminal (for international, or more specifically, south american flights) to check-in with Avianca Airlines (no, it's not just you, most of the airport employees haven't heard of it either).

I'm fairly comfortable communicating in Spanish and like to articulate my level as “conversational.” But, apparently “conversational” doesn't mean you can comfortably or easily check-in with airlines, pass through security/immigration, respond to flight attendants, find the right bus to downtown Santiago, buy a bus ticket to Antofagasta, find the customer service office after losing your ticket, or buy normal bottled water (sin gas). Yup, I'm immersed...soaking wet.

As for the Chileans, their reputation for cutting words short (droping their "S's"), speaking at lightning fast speed, and propagating a miriad of cultural slangs/Chilenismos is well deserved. Here they don't have a novio/novia, but a pelolo/pelola. Nothing is "más o menos" but "maomeno," and you hear the expression "no má" (no more) at the end of every other sentence..."mira el perro, no má," "quiero jugo, no má," "voy a dormir, no má," etc. Also, the Chileans love their diminutives! EVERYTHING can be ito o ita (little), regardless of actual size. College student can be "chicitos" o "chicitas", and when asked, "quieres jugito" (literally, "would you like a 'little' juice") you may be served a 40 oz. traugh of the stuff. Fun, fun...as if starndard Spanish doesn't give me enough trouble.

The day after I arrived in Antofagasta I met another international student named Carla from Mexico, Baja California, and our conversation proved the dramatic difference between Spanish in Mexico and Chile. We had an entire conversation about our universities back home, surfing, traveling, hiking, and our experiences in Chile with me saying "¿Que?" or "¿pardon?" less than 3 times...compared to my average conversation with a Chilean, which usually leaves me a bit wide-eyed and confused, listening intently for those two or three key nouns and verbs I can put together to find some continuity or at least the topic of conversation.

Anyway, I departed from the 10 degree, snow covered and icy Appalachians at 7:30am Tuesday the 3rd and arrived at my final destination in Northern Chile's beautiful city of Antofagasta at 7:30am Thursday the 5th (with a 2 hour time change, ahead). Travel consisted of a 20 hour bus ride (700 miles) from Santiago, a lot of walking within Santiago, four airports (Santiago, Bogotá Colombia, Ft. Lauderdale and Charlotte), 3 flights, and a two hour drive to Charlotte. Gotta love traveling cheap! (no regrets...except maybe losing my bus ticket in Santiago).

The 20 hour bus ride from Santiago to Antofagsta was by far the highlight of my journey. Nearly the entire trip was along the renowned Pacific Coast Highway (yes, the same highway way 1/big sur of California, Oregon and Washington state).

The large, exceptionally comfortable and spacious Tur-Bus laced it's way over, under, around and through the many diverse peaks (Los Cerros mountains), bridges, rivers, cities, and deserts of central and northern Chile, occasionally revealing a snow capped Andean peak to the East and never ventured far from the Southern Pacific on my left.

At this point in my travels I was running on about two hours of restless sleep over the past 35ish hours of travel. It was a fight to stay awake in the luxurious "cama" (nearly fully reclining, La-Z-Boy style seats). But I slapped myself every time I started nodding-off, having sworn before hand that I wouldn't miss a bit of the diverse Chilean landscape between Santiago and Antofagasta during the daylight hours.

As the sun set, things only only became more beautiful and I freaked out when my camera suddenly read "batteries exhausted." Fortunately, at the next gasup stop our bus driving was willing to open up the back for me, where I found one new battery in my bag...giving me enough juice for the rest of the journey.

But, unfortunately...that's all the juice I have for now. It's time to get out in the sunshine and move around a bit. So, I'll update you on where I'm living and various Antofagasta adventures within the next week. Thanks for tuning in!