My family and my house

There are about 130 foreign students going through the orientation program with me, and everyone either lives in Valparaiso or Viña del Mar (the next town over). I live in Valparaiso and am pretty close to the University so that´s a plus. My house and my family are wonderful. When I arrived at my house they were very welcoming and showed me to my room right away. The house is two stories, but most of the houses here are connected so it´s more like a town house. My room is downstairs and is huge! It´s such a different experience then Spain where two of us were crammed in a tiny room. My room here has a queen size bed, a huge closet and drawers for my clothes. There are big bay windows that have an amazing view, and too much space to know what to do with! My room is right by a varanda in the back (like a big porch), and it leads down into their backyard that is a huge garden, filled with flowers and fruit trees. They also have three dogs and a cat that are mostly outside, but come in occasionally during bad weather. It´s winter here now, their cold and rainy season so that was a lot to get used to! When I got on the plane it was about 90 degrees and when I got off it was about 40 degrees!

My house is definitely a full one! My madre has three daughters and a son. Her son is married and lives in a house near by. The oldest daughter is also married, but lives in our house with her husband and their seven year old daughter. The middle daughter is my age and studies music, and the yougest daughter is 19 and is studying to be a vet. The nephew, also my age, lives there as well, and speaks English so he helps if I ever need anything. A friend of the family from France is arriving today and will also be staying in our house. A lot of people but it makes things so much more fun and interesting! They all joke so much and I haven´t stopped laughing since I got here! It´s pretty cold at night because there is no heat, but they put an individual heater in my room so that helps a little.

It would be great to hear from all of you! Here is my address if you have the time to send a letter:

Lautaro Rosas
449
Cerro Alegre
Valparaiso, Chile