Arrived in Chile!

I´m finally getting settled in with my family, but the trip here definitely had some rough spots! I had a pretty long layover in Atlanta so I decided to exchange my money for Chilean pesos, then while I waited to board the flight I actually met a girl who is in my program here. We had a chance to talk and she was as nervous as I was. It was good to know I wasn´t the only one! The flight was about 10 hours and when we landed in Valparaiso we had to pay a $100 fee to enter the country. However, you have to pay in American dollars and I had already exchanged all of my money in Atlanta! So I had to exchange it back for American dollars, only to be told that I was given Columbian pesos which are worth next to nothing and they could offer me only $19 in American money! I was so frustrated and had no idea what to do. Luckily the friend I met on the flight paid my fee for me and everything turned out ok. After we went through customs and got our luggage, there was a taxi driver sent by the university waiting with a sign with our name on it. It made things a lot easier to get from Santiago to Valparaiso! The trip by taxi was about an hour and a half and the views were amazing. There were mountains, vinyards and waterways. I was in my taxi with two girls from Germany who are also studying here, and was the last to be dropped off at my new family´s house.