¡Bienvenidos!

Welcome to

my blog, Chile Con Karen! Since I am spending the next few months abroad, I thought this would be the best way to stay in touch and share the highlights of my travels with friends and family. Feel free to follow the blog, comment on posts, or e-mail me to say ¨hi.¨ I would love to hear from you. Enjoy!

- Karen

Here´s an overview of my first few days in Santiago.

Jan 1: Kicked off the New Year by heading to SFO at 5 am. After a 5 hour layover at LAX, landed in Santiago at 6 am on the 2nd...exhausting.

Jan 3: Spent the day exploring an area of Santiago called Providencia with other Stanford students who arrived. There are about 25 of us total this quarter. The city was incredibly quiet and empty since it was a Sunday.

Jan 4-6: Orientation. A combination of presentations about Stanford´s homestay program, navigating the city, points of interest, and classes. The Stanford staff also took us on the metro to walk around downtown Santiago and hike up Cerro San Cristobal near Plaza Italiana. It was also amazing to see how crowded and alive the city becomes on weekdays.

After several weeks of e-mailing beforehand, I also finally got to meet my host family, Alejandra and her 10-year old daughter, Gaby, which was very exciting. Their apartment is a 35 minute walk from the Stanford Center, and about 6 other Stanford students live within a few blocks of me. We live on the 9th floor, and the view is amazing (see pictures). Alejandra is also a great cook and has served some traditional Chilean dishes for dinner. One of my favorites is called Porotos Granados and is a corn and bean stew. Gaby is also a wonderful little sister- last night we had a chance to play together, and she taught me some card games.