Settled In

Well...I'm finally completely settled in.  The past two days has been so hectic and I've probably gotten 3 or 4 hours of sleep so I'm looking forward to going to bed soon!  I can't believe that I was at the Atlanta airport yesterday--it seems like so long ago.  Of course Sarah Grace, Anna Grace, and I had a few funny encounters just minutes after we left our families.  We were standing in the security line and we had this conversation with the lady behind us:
Her: Do yall know all those people staring in our direction?
Us: Yeah...it's our parents.
Her: Oh...that's embarrasing.
I just started laughing and we were all kind of offended at her :)  Then as we were putting our bags on the belt AG got yelled at for holding her passport instead of leaving it in her bag so I just ignored the security officer and kept my passport because that's the number one thing mom & dad told me not to loose...well I had to put it in my bag after the man angrily yelled at me but it's all good because I'm here. Then, SG got trapped in the security box for a random scanning...scary!  We met up with Laura Kate & later Brody & Elizabeth finally arrived after we'd been on the plane for a little while.  She literally had to run because her other plane was late. 

Only a few dramatic things happened to me on the plane like my bag falling on my head when I was putting it in the overhead bin or me almost passing out while going through customs because I was getting heat exhaustion.  Once through customs we met Lizzy & then after about an hour Tara & Chris' plane arrived.  We drove in vans to Vina where we had brunch at a little cafe affiliated with the University.

Our host parents arrived to pick us up & since then we've gotten to spend the whole day with host fams!!  My fam ate lunch (more like an amazing feast for a really long time), then I skyped with Momma (which literally saved the day because I was getting so worried since I hadn't talked to anyone back in the good ole patria aka homeland) and she got to talk to Mama Elizabeth & Fernanda, then I showered, then we went to the mall to exchange my money & buy a Chilean cell phone.  At the mall I saw Gardner & Laura Kate at seperate times which was comforting!  Then, Mama Elizabeth & I went to the beach & ate gelado.  We came back home and ate leftovers for dinner (yes mom...I ate leftovers and liked it :)) and now Fernanda's studying for her final tomorrow, Rodrigo is hittin up the town with some friends, Mama is sleeping, and I'm about to sleep too!!  Such a unique day but I've learned sooo much about Chilean culture already. :)  Thanks for the prayers~they're much appreciated!