A Few Minor Concerns

So, I am leaving tomorrow. This is kind of crazy, because I have definitely never been away from home for an entire 6 months. I'm super excited though, barring a few minor reservations. The 3 Ms, as I have started calling them, are:

Mayonnaise
Apparently Chileans are super into their mayo (see photo above) It is not an exaggeration to say that I loathe mayonnaise with a hatred that most people reserve for drug dealers or extreme weather events. I’m worried that my host family will serve me some sort of horrible mayo dish and I will have to pretend to like it in order to not to confirm negative stereotypes about Americans. Perhaps I will start some sort of Mayo Haters Anonymous group while I'm over there ("Hi, my name is Emily and I was forced to eat mayonnaise last week to be polite...")


Meat
After spending nearly 2 semesters as a vegetarian, I decided this summer to go back over the meat eating side of things while I’m in Chile, mainly for convenience. I’m laying a few ground rules though:
1. I will eat meat when my host family cooks it.
2. I will eat meat in culturally relevant situations ie to try new foods or not offend people
The problem is that I'm still kind of grossed out conceptually by meat eating, which I have been dabbling in on occasion. Once you seriously come to process the realities of meat, it seems awfully uncivilized to go back to sticking animal legs in your mouth again.

5. Max
Despite not knowing where in the large metropolis of Santiago I will be living, I have been informed that my Chilean host family has a dog, who interestingly enough is named Max. While I am generally excited about this, I'm somewhat particular about dog breeds. I hope Max won't take a disliking to me or vice-versa.

In general, I’m glad my fears are pretty mundane. Of course I'm worried about other things, ie, being homesick or not understanding a single thing anyone says due to a heavy cloud of slang. But in general I couldn't be more excited.