In my previous blog I mentioned how short people are. I didn't want that post to go on forever, so I decided to start a new post about some things about Chile, rather than just my days here. Now, I'm not so tall, 5'7'', and I am HUGE here. Some of the guys are pretty tall, and oddly there are a few women in my lab as tall as me, but for the most part people are very short. And you can see it in how certain things are made. For example, the subway is soooo short! My dad isn't huge, 6'2'', but he's coming to visit me in a month, and I really think he might not fit right in the subway! He'll definitely have to duck to get in. I'm sure it's not so much shorter than the one in New York, but I haven't even been in it with heels on, and it still seems super short to me. I'm actually a little worried about wearing heels, cause then I would look like a giant. Emily told me people here are much taller than chileans outside the capital, since people here are more metropolitan. Good lord, I don't even know what that would look like!
Speaking of the subway, the subway here is great. I think they use space less wisely than the New York subway, but they also seem to have a lot less people riding it, so I don't think it matters. They don't have very many seats per car, but they do have a really cool handlebar system, where the vertical ones have three mini bars coming out of them, so people aren't constantly fighting for a spot. My friends and I would always complain when you had to touch someone elses hand, or hold your arm awkwardly so you wouldn't touch someone, and this fixes that. And it comes soooooo often. About 30-90 seconds after the previous one, a new subway comes. Which lets face it, is AMAZING. So much better than haphazard new york. It reminds me a lot of the D.C. metro system, and since they're both newer, that makes sense. I'm really glad they didn't go with the New York color scheme, cause honestly, the orange and yellow that reminds one of baby food was really not a good palate choice.
Another thing I really love about Santiago is how beautiful all the streets are. There are fountains, and palm trees, and flowers everywhere, not to mention tons of statues. And the sidewalks are huge. I mean, each side of the street has a sidewalk the size of the street itself. Which is really quite nice, lot less congestion, but the stores seem to make up for the space by being the size of a closet! However, just walking around outside is so nice, and every restaurant has outside seating due to the huge sidewalks. If you ever come here, walk outside everywhere as much as you can!
My last post will be about weather. It's been beautiful so far. Apparently very unlike Santiago winter, so at least the city is trying to cooperate with me. very warm, never need more than a light jacket, and when I'm in the subway I'm actually sweltering! It's like my ideal weather. I was kind of expecting New York winter or something, but it's never bitterly cold, or at least not so far. Unfortunately, regardless of the outside temp, my room is always freezing. The walls are made of concrete, so they never warm up, and it is always 57 degrees in my room (you think I'm exaggerating, just come visit, it's nuts how cold it gets) even when it's 70 outside.
However, with all my complaining, my time really hasn't been so bad. The people are really quite friendly, it's just so frustrating not being able to communicate. Friday I believe, one of M.'s friends from P&G is going to invite me out to see the town, or maybe to a party, so I can meet some people my age. Let's hope it goes well!
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