i made it. :)

After a 13 hours of flying and airports, I stood at the customs counter where a woman, una mujer, stamped my papers. I immediately felt relief to finally get out of the airport. I followed the directions that the school's coordinator gave me in order to find the taxi chofer.
When I passed through the double doors according to her directions, I felt like I was entering a mob of paparazzi. There were taxi chofers surrounding me; all holding signs with their expected passenger's names on them. I spotted a chofer holding a sign with three names on it, and low and behold one of the names read: Sophie Martin. The chofer must have been very attentive because he immediately saw the recognition on my face. We met and he crossed my name off of his list and led me to the back of the chaos where another student, named Heather was waiting. I was so relieved because I thought I would be the only one. So, Heather and I talked and waited for the last student to arrive. Heather is from Nebraska and is also studying abroad in Valparaiso for the semester. Well, a fifteen minute wait turned into two hours.In the meantime, two girls from France who are also studying abroad but not in the same program, found us and asked the chofer if he would take them to Valparaiso.It was interested hearing their story. They both go to the same university in France. They are required to study abroad for two years for their program. (I think. I'm not sure if I understood that correctly. Their english was really good, but their accents were so thick, it was difficult to understand.) They are both studying in Chile for a year and then one is going to Spain for a year and the other to Italy. Their plans seemed to be more by the fly. They decided to stay an extra night the night before in Paris and then fly to Valparaiso. And, then when Heather asked them about their accomodations for the year, they said they were staying for a few weeks at a family friend's home and then trying to meet students at the university in hopes of finding a student to live with. I laughed in my head wondering what my parents would think if I were telling them those plans.
Sara, the third student never showed up. I began praying for her. I'm sure that she probably got confused and found another taxi, I hope. But, she must have felt scared and confused. I think she was on the plane with me because I heard a girl talking about studying abroad, but I never saw her after I got off the plane. We waited a little more while the taxi called the coordinator to tell her Sara didn't turn up.
I wish I could say that I took lots of pictures on the ride from Santiago to Valpo, but I fell asleep within the first 15 minutes. I woke up as soon as we were entering Valpo. It is beauitful. The houses are tall and skinny, and since everything is so hilly, it seems as if they are all stacked on top of each other. A lot of homes are built into the rocks.
We arrived in Cerro Alegre, where my host family lives on Avenida Alemania. The chofer told me that we were on my street. He pulled over, and parked the car. Due to the hills, the streets cut through rock. So, sometimes there are rock walls. The car was parked so close to the rock that I had to scoot out sideways while holding my backpack above my head. The chofer helped me unload my suitcase from the back as a man appeared to the side.  It seems he came through a gate across the street.The chofer greeted him, and he waived at me as he approached. I turned to the chofer and thanked him and asked him his name. He took my hand and looked at me with the kindest hazel eyes that sparkled when he smiled. "Me llamo, Joel," he replied. He held my hand a second longer and squeezed it. He must have known that I'm just a scared girl about to walk into home of strangers for five months of my life.
The man to my left took my bag from the chofer and introduced himself to me as Claudio Hernandez--my host family. He hugged me and kissed my face and gave me a warm smile. He quietly led me into his home. That was yesterday, now I am sitting in his home and I have so much more to tell about how much I already love this family. They've stolen my heart.