Last 3 days eeeeek!

Hello everyoneeee! I'm currently sitting in my bed and about to face my third to last day in vina del mar and it is just the weirdest feeling ever. I'm so excited to get back to the U.S. but at the same time it's just so weird to think about leaving this place and it all ending! I got back from Patagoina (i'll write about that in another post it was AMAZING!) and on the plane I wrote a post and list of things I'm going to miss/not miss/feel like i need to explain to you guys about my last 5 months in Chile so here goes!

1. They love ham flavored everything… im currently on the airplane to patagonia and I was just handed ham flavored crackers. Also a lot of times the meat comes in like a creamy spread form, and I have yet to try it so my parents think I don’t really like meat that much. False, I love meat but I’m not down with cheese and turkey spread on my sandwich!
2. Fun fact about my host dog: she doesn’t like dog food. There is always a bowl of dog food out and she refuses to eat it but whenever someone at the table is eating lettuce she freaks out so my mom usually makes her, her own meal… sometimes it’s salad, sometimes its mashed potatos and hot dog meat, I’ve seen her eat pasta once.
3. Chileans love facebook. I’ll go out one night and the next morning my friends and I will all get friend requests from guys that I don’t even think we exchanged names! Also they call it “face” not facebook so some guy will ask “cual es tu face?” which means “what is your face?” It took me awhile to figure that out. Also my friend’s host mom is obsessed with facebook and it was actually a problem cause her family kept telling her that it was getting out of hand, but I love it. She comments on all of our facebook albums and likes everyones status all the time.
4. Chileans cut off the ends of all their words which is one thing that took me awhile to understand because that’s what sometimes makes it so hard to understand what they’re saying. Instead of más (more) they will say “ma”, instead of “nada” (nothing) they will say “naa” instead of porfavor they say porfa. Now that I’m use to it I really like it cause it’s easier to say stuff if you’re lazy, 1 syllabul instead of 2, but I know once I go back to the US my Spanish teachers are not going to appreciate it.
5. It’s okay to sleep until whenever o’clock. This I really like and will miss, but sometimes my mom will sleep until 1pm or 2pm on the weekends and I think that’s awesome! Time in general here is very relaxed, many times people will waltz into the classroom 40 min late and the teacher will smile and greet them like it’s nothing.
6. Bread. They love bread. Every day for dinner or “once” as we call it, I have bread and jam, bread and avocado, bread and cheese, bread and turkey (when its not spreadable turkey of course), or just bread sometimes! I’m lucky because my host mom makes all the bread herself so it is so good, but I have to admit I’m pretty sure I will need a pretty big break from bread when I get home.
7. They really don’t know how to make baked goods. My friends and I will order brownies usually for dessert and we’ve always been disappointed. It’s just like brown bread, but they do know how to make ice cream. They have ice cream stores everywhere and they definitely know what’s up.
8. Kissing on the cheek. I’m actually going to miss this because I like getting a big hug every time I get home from school, but you don’t just kiss your family on the cheek you kiss someone every time you meet them or see them even if you don’t know them! I’ve gotten really use to it and me and my American friends do it to each other sometimes.
9. No one eats out at restaurants. It makes sense actually, because it’s expensive and a lot easier to just eat and cook at home, but it’s funny because there are so many restaurants in vina! They’re everywhere! I guess its cause in the summer there are so many tourists, but in the winter they’re completely empty!
10. If you wear shorts you will get stared at. It’s not as bad now that it’s around 80s in vina, but when it was 70s I would go out in shorts and I would get the weirdest looks and cat called (definitely not going to miss that.) I guess it’s cause 70s for me is warm but for them it’s still spring weather and they are perfectly comfortable in pants and a sweater.
11. Propios or pick-up lines. In my first Spanish class at school we actually had a long talk about this because our teacher wanted to know how we felt about it. At this point I don’t really notice it anymore, but if you’re a girl and resemble a tourist at all (blonde hair doesn’t really help this) guys will come up to you and creepily whisper that you’re beautiful or scream at you from cars or down the streets. My friends and I have asked Chilean girls about it before and they’re just so use to it and it doesn’t bother them. I get confused though because I can’t help but think what is that guy thinking? If he’s shouting “gringa” from his car, does he think I’m going to waltz on over and give him my number? Ask him on a date? No. Also they are very lustful. My friend went on three dates with a guy and he told her that he was in love with her and that he was bewitched by her and wants to move to America, needless to say she ended that relationship asap.
12. Politics here are a sensitive subject depending on whom you’re talking to. One thing is that only about 20% of the younger generation votes, and if you ask them it’s simply because they don’t care. On the other hand if you ask your host parents you have to be careful because the dictatorship of Pinochet in the 70s and 80s is still a sensitive subject. My mom gets very angry when she talks about it because someone she knew was killed because he didn’t follow the curfew rules implemented by Pinochet. (He would place curfews so that no one was allowed to be on the streets at certain times and my mom who was a teenager at the time was especially annoyed with it because you couldn’t get to together with your friends. Aka party, unless it was organized and everyone there was going to spend the night at the place. At one point the curfew was as early as 4pm!) However, as horrible as Pinochet was, there are some people that are still avid supporters. My friend, Ali’s host family are very strong supporters of Pinochet because during his dictatorship the economy was very strong and there was no more black market. (During Allende’s presidency before Pinochet, the economy was so horrible and there would be times where there would be no chicken, rice or very basic things, and if there were those things available they were outrageously expensive. Thus, the black market developed, which obviously influenced a lot more crime.)
13. Dieting is a hot topic but they’re way of dieting and exercise is very bizarre. My youngest sister is on a diet and will make my mom cook something special for her, like fish or chicken, but then once she’s done with her diet food she will then eat "once" with us, which is bread, bread, bread, and maybe some cookies.

It’s crazy thinking about leaving this place in less than 2 weeks and it’s just a very weird feelings. While I’m so ready to get back to the U.S. and be with my friends and family and speak English and have control over what I eat (I won’t have my host mom sitting there making me eat a plate full of mashed potatoes), be able to drive, eat American food (I’ve been dreaming about chipotle, foodstuffs, sushi kushi, gambier deli, and the wine and cheese shop), and have a cell phone, it’s just a very weird feeling that this 5 month experience is going to end. It was definitely that hardest thing I’ve ever done, being away from everything I know, not speaking the language very well, going to school in a big city, living with a host family, ect. but it was all so worth it and now that its starting to end I can’t help but think about all the things I didn’t do or wish I had done differently. I wish I had gotten more involved in the school, made more Chilean friends, joined a sport team, gotten involved in community service ect. but it was a hard transition and there were weekends that I just wanted to be home more than anything. Now that it’s all ending though and I don’t have time to do any of those things, it’s just so bizarre. I hope to keep in touch with my host family and visit Chile at some point in my life to see them again and spend time in vina. I’m also going to miss my American friends a lot but we’ve already talked about reunions and I’m sure I will keep in touch with a lot of them. Also next winter Axel is coming to Colorado on a work-study program so I’ll definitely get to see him again! Crazy, crazy, crazy, I don’t like when things end.

Okay enough reminiscing, tomorrow starts my adventuring and camping in Patagonia with my dad and I’m so excited. I plan to take lots of pictures and send post cards! It’s supposed to be such an incredible place and it’s weird that I’m actually going to be so close to Antartica! One of the days I’m going to see penguins! Can’t wait!

Hope it’s not too cold where you guys are, don’t worry I’ll hit up the beach when I get back and get tan (okay freckles and a little sun burn) for you all! Miss you! xoxo

final essays, tests, dinners... wrapping up

Hello everyone! sorry for being so lazy but I'm still alive and well in chile and want to update you on my life! (I also might be using this as a way to procrastinate from the millions of papers i have to write before Wednesday)

So I have 2 more weeks left before I head back to America, speaking English, eating chipotle and being with my friends and family and while I know it will be sad to leave this place and this crazy experience I am really ready to get back. These past couple weeks I've been busy with homework, a program trip to La Serena which we called Spring Break 2010, and then last week Daniel came to visit me! My host family is great, but I can't help but feel that I've been spending so much time with my friends or in my room that I don't spend that much time with them anymore. My mom keeps asking me to come to her store (it's officially open and so great!) and just sit with her and her friends and hang out, but between homework, hanging out with friends, and dexter season 5...(okay not an excuse) I haven't really done that yet and at the end of the day I'm really ready to get back to my real family!

Last week with Daniel was so incredible and we had the best week ever. Between exploring sand dunes, going to the beach, eating at crazy restaurants, (one didn't even have a menu), introducing him to my host family and friends, staying out until 4am at a dance club that was mostly 35 year olds and up, singing karaoke, eating our body weight in ice cream, taking him to two of my classes, and exploring valparaiso, it was so hard to see him go but I know i'll be back at kenyon in no time! While I really appreciate my experience in Chile it also makes me appreciate Kenyon more and realize that I shouldn't take it for granted. I miss my friends, miss the deli, lacrosse, dance parties at the cove, and I even miss the library sometimes! I can't wait to get back and tell everyone about my crazy experiences and hear about what i've missed at school!

lost my camera so this is one of the 3 pictures I actually have to prove that Daniel actually made it here :)

This next week is finals week so I have a lot of work to do, but unlike the states everything is super disorganized for example I have emailed my history teacher 3 times asking him for the topic on our paper and he has yet to respond... I did however have my last photo class today (and for those of you that don't know I actually had nightmares about that class because I got an F on my first assignment) and I passed the class! I'm actually really proud of myself because there were so many times that I was thinking about just not going anymore and accepting the F because the teacher was so hard and really didn't like explaining concepts again and again to us foreign students, but I did it and I worked really hard and while I ended up with only a C+ I feel really proud of myself for not giving up and plowing through because in the end it was worth it. I took a class in a different country, in a different language, with a teacher that basically made us teach ourselves how to do everything, but I did it!! Now i just need to finish up 3 more papers and the at 6:45AM on Thursday morning I'm off to Patagonia with my dad to camp for 6 days in Torres del Paine! So excited, but so many things to do before hand! yikes! Okay enough procrastination, but I miss you all and good luck with finals and i'll see you all soon!! xoxo

EASTER ISLAND

2 posts in one day! Look at me! So I just got back today from the most incredible trip ever- Easter island! My mom and I went from Friday until Tuesday and stayed at this amazing hotel and had a great time exploring the entire island. Basically, Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui) was first settled around 1200 AD and according to oral tradition, archeological evidence and wikipedia (yeah I did a little research) the people that inhabited the island made massive statues called moai that represented their ancestors. They carved the moai out of volcanic rock or out of this fairly large mountain on the island in an area called the quarry, and then they would place the moai on platforms so that they faced the land in order to watch over their tribes.

The Quarry where the Moai were carved and then taken to their platforms by a lot of men because they weigh over a ton!

After awhile the island became over populated and the people decided they didn’t believe in the moai anymore so they took the moais down and they developed the birdman competition, where the culture and class system seemed to rely on the “birdman” which was the winner of the birdman competition—each tribe would chose one boy around 16 to compete and basically they would jump off a cliff, swim about a mile on to this mini island in order to find a specific bird egg and once they found it the head of their tribe would cut off their hair and the boy would be awarded the purest virgin as his wife and they would go live in a house for a year together and wouldn’t come out until they had a baby! Around 1860s however the entire population of Easter Island was killed or removed from the island. Most were taken as slaves to Peru, and then a few years later the Peruvians returned their slaves to Easter Island but some had gotten small pox and other diseases which spread to the whole island so after a few years the population was wiped out and the island became a place for Christian missionaries and also it was used as a sheep ranch. There were about 111 original rapa nui people left on the island and these people are the ones that carry the oral traditions about their culture and from these 111 the island population has slowly recovered—today there are about 4,000 people that live on the island however not all are originally from Rapa Nui. Whew okay history lesson over (please note I’m not positive about some of the above information) but I just wanted to give you a little background knowledge.

On our trip we did everything from hiking up to the birdman crater and saw where they had the birdman competition, to going to the quarry the place where the moai were made, to waking up at sunrise and seeing the incredible 15 moai, a day at the beach, a dance show and Rapa Nui bbq, hiking along the coast, and listening to all of the history and traditions that make you really appreciate and understand the Rapa Nui culture. One of my favorite adventures my mom and I went on was our hike up to the birdman crater. It was a fairly long hike and we weren’t exactly sure where we were going and our guide was a very Rapa Nui character, he had dreadlocks down to his hip and really funny. On our hike I think we may have seen a hundred horses, which we quickly learned being on the island was not so uncommon given that there are over 6,000 horses on the island. All of the horses are branded and technically have owners but they graze and poop wherever they want whether that is on the side of the road or right next to a giant moai statue. Also on the hike our guide told us about the birdman competition and how red bull had actually come to the island and wanted to recreate the competition (I guess cause red bull “it gives you wings?”) but they decided it was way too dangerous and not worth it.

Birdman crater

Lots of horses... I took about a zillion pictures, I couldn't help myself!

Another moment that I really enjoyed is that my mom and I got up early to watch the sunrise by the great 15 moai and it was outstanding. The island is not only beyond beautiful but there is so much amazing history and you start to see the statues not just as statues but as representing the Rapa Nui history. I’m not a very religious person but my mom and I agreed it was almost a spiritual experience standing in front of these moai statues as we watched this incredible sunrise.

the platform with the 15 Moai at sunrise

Another one of my favorite things was our last night the hotel had an authentic Rapa nui bbq and dance show! (interesting fact, although Chile owns Easter Island there is a law that all of the land belongs to the rapa nui people so for example if you want to open a hotel one of the owners must be rapa nui.) The bbq was delicious and afterwards everyone sat down to watch the dance show, which was really great because in school my friends and I are taking a class on traditional dancing and we’re learning one of the Rapa Nui dances! This dancing however was completely different than my dance class because the dancers were so passionate and crazy! The boy dancers, they couldn’t have been older than 17, were jumping around, screaming and singing while they only wore loin cloths with paint all over their bodies. My mom and I both got asked to dance which was a little uncomfortable and awkward but really fun nonetheless.

Overall the trip was amazing and if you ever have the chance to go you should! After we got back my mom and I spent one last night in Santiago before she headed back to the states and I headed back to reality. Saying goodbye was really hard, but I know that’s normal. I just got a taste of home and eating great food, speaking English, and being super spoiled and I wasn’t ready to let it go. Also the only negative of the trip was that on the way over to Easter Island I left my baby blanket on the plane and while I’ve always slept with my blanket being in Chile I just become so attached to it because it smelled like home and was something to hold on to at night or when I was feeling a little homesick. Basically I was beside myself especially after we called the airlines a million times and they said they didn’t have it, but I know it will be okay. I also have a feeling these next few weeks are going to fly by because next weekend I’m going to La Serena, a really pretty beach town in the north of Chile, and then the next weekend DANIEL LIPSEY IS COMING TO CHILE! I’m so excited I think I might actually explode from excitement!

I miss you guys a lot and will try to write again soon!

San Pedro de Atacama desert

Hi everyone! Ahhh i've been so bad at keeping up with this but here is a post on one of my latest adventures to San Pedro de Atacama desert in the north of Chile!

Day 1

We started our trip by leaving for the airport on Thursday night and then spent the night in the Santiago airport because our flight was at 5am Friday morning. Spending the night in the airport was a little rough mainly because they blasted intense Spanish music and also Justin Bieber throughout the airport all night. Finally we boarded our flight at 5am and arrived into Calama at 7am and then someone from our hostel picked us up and we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama passed out for a few hours at our hostel and then went on our first tour! On this tour we went to see some valleys that were really cool and then the old salt mines. After that we hiked up a mountain (more like a huge sand dune) and sat and watched the sunset and then the moonrise. It was so beautiful and the colors on the mountains were amazing to watch. That night we went out for a really cheap dinner and went to bed really early because we were so exhausted given that the night before we slept for around 2 hours in the airport.

watching the moon rise with my friends molly, laine, and ali.

Day 2

The next day we woke up early and headed out on a tour with our guide “Eric” who didn’t speak too much English but loved to speak it anyways. We started our tour with our bus breaking down about 20 min. in, but luckily another tour had space so we jumped on board. On this tour we got to see FLAMINGOS! Real live flamingos, little did I know they lived in chile of all places! They were so cool and the scenery was so beautiful too. The water was so still and we were surrounded by only the mountains and the desert. After the flamingos we went on a long bus ride and our guide wouldn’t tell us where we were going. After a few hours of driving up hill we came across an amazing lake that was situated in the mountains. It was so amazing and the scenery was unbelievable. After the lake we had a small lunch in a small desert town and then made our way back to the hostel. That night we decided to cook a simple pasta dinner at the hostel, which probably wasn’t a good idea because we all got a little sick. Whoops. After dinner we headed to bed early and set our alarms for 3:30am because our next tour was at 4am!

FLAMINGOS!

Amazing lake in the middle of the mountains.

Day 3

At 3:30am the next day we all woke up half asleep and put on about 8 pounds of warm layers and headed out on our next tour. After a 2 hour bus ride up hill in the complete dark we finally arrived at the top of a mountain where there were hundreds of geysers. Some were super tiny and some were huge, and although it was super early and below freezing out, the scene was really cool. After watching the geysers we went to the hot springs where my friend, ali, and I jumped in. Some parts of the spring were lukewarm to freezing but then other parts were burning hot. It was really cool to be swimming in the middle of mountains and it was very hard to get out. After the hot springs we drove through the mountains and came across so many wild llamas and other animals. Then we stopped in a tiny, tiny town, like 20 houses, and ate llama shishkabobs and empanadas! At first I was very hesitant to try it, but I have to admit they were so good! I love llama! After the town we headed back to the hotel and napped for a few hours until we embarked on our final tour of our trip. On this tour we went to a salt lake, which is very similar to the Dead Sea because when you went in you floated! It was so cool, without moving at all we just laid in the water and floated. It was pretty cold but the air outside was so hot and dry that it felt really good. After the salt lake we went to another swimming hole that was so cold so none of us went in. It was really pretty though, but it had gotten so windy outside that I was scared of freezing to death if I went in. After this we went to another lake that was situated in between mountains to watch the sunset. Our tour guide brought cookies, chips and pisco sour for everyone and we all sat and watched the colors change over the mountains and water. It was so beautiful and I could’ve sat there forever. After this tour we got back to our hotel around 8:30 and were so tired so even though it was our last night in Atacama we went passed out very early.

4am tour of the geysers and the sunrise!

LLAMAS!

The trip was so amazing and it was crazy how much we did in so little time. From seeing flamingos, to eating llama, to floating in a salt lake, I definitely recommend going here if you ever have the opportunity! Right now I’m sitting at the airport ready to head back to Vina del mar and I’m so excited because my parents, my real live American parents, are coming to Chile today! We’re going to spend a few days in Vina del mar, then a day in Santiago, and then my mom and I are going to Isla de Pascua/Easter Island/Rapa Nui which is this amazing tropical island 5 hours off the coast of Chile. Everyone in Chile talks about Easter Island all the time and I’m learning about it in each of my classes and its supposed to be incredible. I’m so excited!

xoxo, Abby

Mendoza, Argentina!

Hello! Sorry it's been so long but not a whole lot has been going on, but now I finally have another adventure to talk about! So this past weekend I went to Mendoza, Argentina and it was so great! It was about an 8 hour bus ride but mainly it was so long because customs take FOREVER! Like how long it takes at the airport times 8. We left on Thursday night and had to go through customs at 4am and then finally got into Mendoza on Friday morning around 8:30am and then at 9am we left for a tour of the city. The city is so beautiful! It's surrounded by the Andes so you can see mountains from where ever you're standing. Also the town was founded in the 1500s but in the 1800s there was a massive earthquake that destroyed the whole city so when they rebuilt it they made it so there was a park every 4 blocks so that in the event there was another earthquake everyone could go to the park to be safe, i think thats right or it might be that its better for the buildings or something, regardless the city is so clean and beautiful!

One of the millions of plazas in Mendoza, this one was one of my favorites!

Another park we went to on our tour.

After the tour my friends and I went to this buffet type restaurant and the meat there was soooo gooooood. We ate so much until we were kind of in a food coma so we went to our hostel to take a nap until dinner because we were so exhausted from the bus ride and tour. For dinner it turns out the program took us to the same place we ate for lunch, which was fine by me because the food was great and it was all you can eat. After that we explored the night life for an hour or so but were so tired from the day that we went back pretty early. The next day we walked around town and did a little shopping and had brunch at this really cute restaurant. Apparently Mendoza is known for it's wine, chocolate, and meat so we felt that we should probably try all of those things, so after we shopped we went on a tour of 2 vineyards and an olive oil factory. Because it's not exactly wine season we didn't really see the vineyards but instead got a tour of the buildings and learned how they make the wine. We got to try a few different types and I'm not going to lie they all kind of tasted the same, but we learned all the right words and wine ettiquite to sound and look very sophisticated...

After our tour we went back to the hostel to rest before we went out to dinner and then a nightclub that the program had planned for us. It was about a half hour outside the city and the program had busses for us and dropped us off at 12am and said that we weren't leaving until 4am wooot wooot. It was pretty fun and the music was great. The group that we went with to Mendoza was mostly made up of people from Germany, France, and Sweden so it was fun hanging out with them. Then next morning we were so exhausted but had to head back to Chile. Overall, Mendoza was such a cool city and I'm kind of obsessed with Argentina and it's interesting how different it is than Chile!

Ali, Molly, and me waiting in line for customs on our way back from Mendoza. The whole drive was through the Andes and I could've driven on that bus for days because it was so beautiful!

This week I'm probably going to move into Starbucks because I have so much homework! Classes are definitely getting harder and the "I don't understand" card doesn't really work too well anymore. I still don't understand whats going a lot of the time, Chilean spanish is just so much different. It's crazy how much more I could understand while in Argentina. Our cab driver in Buenos Aires said that it's easier for him to understand Portuguese than chilean spanish... but oh well what can ya do. Also this week my mom is opening her store in our house and i'm so excitedddd! The food at my house is sooo good recently and I'm pretty sure this store might be the end of me, but i'm okay with it. Overall everything is going well, the language barrier is still posing some problems but i'm sure thats to be expected. I have to write a 7 page paper single spaced about any topic related to social violence (the class is called social violence) so I'm a little screwed for that one. They don't believe in double spacing here and believe me 1.5 spacing and double space are COMPLETELY different thank you very much. This weekend we don't have class on Monday so i'll have plenty of time to do my homework and then the next weekend i'm going to a Dave Matthews band concert in Santiago and then the next weekend i'm off to San Pedro de Atacama! Lots of things to look forward too!

Miss you all! Lots of love!

BUENOS AIRES

Hola!

So yesterday I got back from a four day trip to buenos aires and it was so much fun! Even though it rained 3 out of the 4 days, our first hostel was a disaster, my blackberry was stolen, i was accused of trying to smuggle an orange into chile and got a citation, and this one show we wanted to go to was cancelled last minute we had an AMAZING time! We arrived on Friday and took a taxi to our hostel but when we got there we were told that because we didn't pay in advance they couldn't guarantee us rooms so we needed to find a new hostel. The guy was very helpful and after calling about 5 different hostels he finally found us one that was really close by so we took our luggage and hauled it about 5 blocks until we got to our new hostel. This hostel was a little bit of a nightmare because the hallways had no ceilings and it was pouring so everything was flooded, our room smelled awful and the blankets they gave us smelled even worse, the showers were gross so we chose to wear our sneakers in the shower rather than be barefoot oh and also they decided to throw a party that night which went until 6am and throughout the night they chose to blast the strangest electronic music. Oh and also the sketchiest part was that it may or may not have been across the street from a crack house.

potential crack house, we'd see people walking in and out all day and there were definitely people living in there.

Roof of our first hostel and my friends, Molly and Ali

That night we went out to dinner and the meat here is amazing and everything in Argentina isn't too expensive which is nice because sometimes Chile can get a little ridiculous. The next day we woke up and it was sunny so we went around Palermo Soho and shopped and ate at this amazing breakfast place. The shopping here is amazing and the area is so cool. It felt a little like paris and the streets were filled with small boutiques. Also the leather is really cheap so we got some fun leather bracelets and a small bag for only 50 american dollars!

After our day of shopping we went with some other people from our program that also were in Buenos Aires to a pub crawl so we basically payed the equivalent of $15 for free drinks and pizza and then went to three bars where we got a free drink and then went to this crazy electronic club afterwards around 3am. Craziest part of the whole night was that i ran into 2 kenyon people! Like what are the odds!!!! I don't really know them that well but we were all just so amazed that in a city this big/continent this big we would end up at the same bar. Very random.

The next day we changed hostels finally and went to this area called San Telmo because every sunday they close down a bunch of streets and have an enormous street fair. It was really cool and lots of antiques and jewelry and clothes and you could barter your way down so everything was really cheap.

Considered buying one of these for david but it was expensive/not sure how to transport it back to the US

After the street fair we went back to our hostel and got ready for dinner. We went to La Carumba which was AMAZING. We met up with my friend Molly's friend from home that was studying in BA and for dinner we had 2 appetizers, salmon ceviche and cheese ham tomato thing and then for dinner we split a bottle of wine, 4 steaks and the steaks came with a bunch of different sides and it was the best steak everrrr! Then for dessert we got chocolate volcano, these caramelized strawberries and this lemon sherbet champagne smoothie thing and then they waiter came and brought us free champagne and lollipops! In total the bill was $500 aregentian pesos but in american dollars its a little over $100 and that was for 5 people! Best meal ever.

The next day it was pouring but we walked around Recoleta and went to this historical cemetery which was beautiful and where Evita Perón was buried. We also went to this incredible bookstore called El Ateneo and it was once an old theater so the ceilings were all painted and it was so beautiful. That night we were so excited because we were planning to go to this drum show that some of my friends had recommended and said that it was so important that we went but when we got there it was mysteriously cancelled because something about the city and rain but not sure. So pretty disappointed, we took a cab back to the hostel and went out for our last Argentinean dinner.

Recoleta cemetery

El Ateneo- old theater turned bookstore

The next morning we flew home and traveling was super easy until we arrived in chile and got to customs, the last step, and i totally forgot that i had an orange in my backpack that I had in there the day I left for Argentina for a snack, so technically it was a chilean orange, but that didn't help my case. Because I didn't declare this orange I had to fill out this form and sit for an hour until it was finally my turn to go to the office and I had to explain why I chose not to declare my orange, which I explained in spanish that I just forgot it was there so finally they let me go but I still got a citation. I don't think I will ever eat an orange again. They cause way too many problems. After that we took a bus back to Vina del mar and now we're all home safe and sound.

Tomorrow starts Fiestas Patrias which is Chile's Independence day and there is no school on Friday or Monday and its just madness and there's lots of dancing and going to horse races and partying all day long. Can't wait! Hope all is well in the States!

Te amoooo! Chauuu!

3am karaoke with my family=so much fun

Hola!!

This past week has been really, really great and i'm getting along with my new family so well! I started this week pretty homesick, kenyon-sick, and daniel-sick. My classes are starting to get harder and the homework is starting to build up. (Today I have to write one 2 page essay on a spanish story and then a 5 page essay on a documentary which I have yet to watch. Ughh) My class schedule isn't too hard, I have photo and spanish on Monday, traditional dances and social violence on Tuesdays, Anthropology and spanish on Wednesday and then a history class, which has been cancelled every time and i have yet to actually go to, on thursdays. There is lots of free time during the day but i'm starting to get busier and my new family is definitely helping with that. My sisters are great and always inviting me to their rooms to watch movies, hang out, and play with mia the cutest puppy in the entire world. (except wilson obviously) They're very easy to talk to and I feel like my spanish is already improving a lot. My mom is hilarious and always has lots friends over. She has decided to open a store in the front of our house at the end of september and plans to sell jam, desserts, coffee, and other random things and i'm really excited to be a taste tester. My dad is also really great. He's always around the house working and doing random things, and i usually have lunch each day with him and my mom. He's traveled the world because of his job and he's been everywhere from Japan to South Africa to the east and west coast of the US. I'm pretty sure he speaks English but I don't think he'd tell me if he did because he wants me to practice... I mean I guess that makes sense.

my amazing 10month old puppy, Mia.

Yesterday my program took us on a tour and we went to Curcaví which is in the mountains and we went to a Chocolatería which was obviously incredible. After eating our body weight in chocolate we then went to this small Artisan town where they had lots of small shops and restaurants which was really fun to explore. After eating 2 empanadas, they are so addicting, we went to Isla Negra which is right on the coast and we toured Pablo Neruda's other house (he had 3.) It was incredible and I want to live there. Every room had enormous windows and his view of the ocean was unreal. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but here are some from the outside.

Pablo Neruda's house at Isla Negra

His incredible view/backyard

The amazing chocolatería

During my tour I swear the put something in the chocolate because my friend and I were extremely slap happy and i'm pretty positive that everyone wanted to punch us in the face but it's okay... we made everyone on our 1 1/2 hour bus ride play telephone and then we decided to share riddles and jokes with our directors and then they told us riddles in español.

After our tour we were all exhausted, but when I got home my whole extended family was over and my dad was making an enormous amount of Paella, basically a mix of rice, vegetables and then chicken, sausage, shrimp, calamari, a white fish, and clams. I invited three friends over we all talked for awhile and drank piscola (pisco is a type of alcohol that they drink a lot here and then piscola means it's just piso mixed with coke... its very good and i'm legal here so mom you can't say anything!) We had lots of fun and then my friends and I left to go to an asado, which is basically a chilean bbq. The asado was at this girl's apartment and it was lots of fun! Lots of Americans from different programs were there as well as some Chileans. We ate "choripan" which is sausage and bread and avocado and they're obsessed with it. We had a pretty ridiculous dance party in the kitchen and listened to all of our favorite American music. After the asado some people went out to the clubs but I decided to go home because I knew that I had so much homework to get done the next day (brownie points for going home early to study?) and I'm so glad I did because my family was still awake at 3am and they were all drinking piscolas and singing karaoke! It was so hilarious and we sang everything from Jay-Z's "Empire state of mind" to Rhinna's "take a bow" to the spanish version of Beyonce's song "If i were a boy." My mom was dancing all over the place and made me dance with her and it was so fun/hilarious. We all finally turned off the computer around 4am and went to bed. It was definitely one of my favorite nights here and I'm loving my new family!

These next two weeks are going to be pretty crazy and I can't wait. On Friday I'm leaving for Buenos Aires with three friends and then we get back on Tuesday and it's pretty much madness in Chile because they don't believe in just Independence day they believe in Independence week! I'm not sure what my plans are yet but I can't wait. I know my family is having a house party and invited all of my friends for traigos (drinks), dancing, and lots of delicious food. Very excited! Also it's finally starting to warm up here, like high 60s low 70s! I can finally turn my estufa (heater) off and retire Daniel's Kenyon soccer sweatshirt which I've pretty much been living in! Hope all is well in the states and I'll update you all about my Argentinean adventures soon!

Te mando un million besosss!

Take 2

Hola Chiquillos!

So the big news is that yesterday I switched host families! My other host family was very nice and I am going to miss my brother so much, but the parents worked really late and Axel and Leslie were always at school so I found myself alone a lot of the time. Because of everyone's crazy schedules we never ate any meals together except maybe on Sundays and because of this I rarely practiced my spanish or felt very connected to my sister or parents. So a few days ago I went with the director of housing and we went to see two families and then two days ago is when I finally decided and told everyone. While it was very awkward explaining to them that I was moving out everyone understood that I needed a family that was more present. I'm sure that I will continue to see Axel a lot and I know that I made the right decision.

Sooooo my new family is awesome! I have mom and a dad and three sisters, Javiera (21), Consuelo (16) and Marcela (15). My mom doesn't have a job and is always at home and she's pretty crazy but also really funny. She always has friends over and she's very, very talkative! My dad either is a fisherman or sells fish to stores or something and he is really great and then my three sisters are all really friendly. Also they have a puppy named Mia that looks kind of like a chuwawa but with more hair and she is very adorable. The house is hugeeee and really, really nice. My room is easily double the size of my old room and I even have my own heater which is a pretty big deal here! Last night we all had a long dinner and had fish (not sure what it was called but kind of like Tilapia) and mashed potatoes and salad and it was sooooo good. I spent a good 10 min. trying to explain what my actual dad does because I didn't know the word for stock market so I kept saying in spanish "he buys and sells really small shares of companies" so they said "ohhh he sells companies" and I was like "no it's on a computer", and then they replied "ohhh so he sells computer parts" and it kept going on but then I finally remembered the world "acciones" which means stocks and then they understood. Honestly I feel like my spanish is already getting better just cause before we never had meals together so there would be days where I spoke way more english than spanish and then there were sometimes when I felt like I didnt speak spanish at all, but here I have to speak it all the time and while it's hard and frustrating at times I know that I'm going to learn so much!

Here are some pictures of my new room!

Sooo overall I'm really excited about the move and getting to know this new family. Not sure what I have planned for this weekend, but my new house is very close to the beach and it's supposed to be really nice out so odds are i'll spend a lot of time there!

Chauuuuu! Cariños! Byeeeeee!

Good things to know when you're in Chile:

Hellooooo,

So i'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I'm going to be honest I haven't done many interesting things this past week. On Monday I had photo class at 9am and I was 45 min. late because I took 2 wrong buses which was very frustrating. I got on one that said in big bold letters MIRAS FLORES, but after being on the bus for about 20 min. I asked the bus driver if we had passed Miras flores and he just replied "no, no, no" and he dropped me off at the mall. Not going to lie for about a minute I contemplated just taking the morning off because the mall here is fantastic and huge (4 stories) and very fun, but I figured I'd start the week off right and go to class. So I asked a lot of people around me, in spanglish of course, how to get to Miras Flores and everyone just replied "al frente" and I had no idea what they were saying... like in front of what?? (apparently

it just meant other side of the street) So then I finally got on another bus, but after 10 min. everyone got off and I was the only one left so the driver asked me where I was going and I said "plaza de miras flores" and he replied "no no no no" and honked at another bus which pulled over on the side of this really busy road and I changed busses while in the middle of the street and finally, finally made it to class. Very stressful, but on the bright side at least it made class go by faster because it was 45 min. shorter than it would've been.. right? right?

Another interesting class experience was on Wednesday when I tried to go to class, but after waiting outside the room with all the other gringos for awhile someone came up to us and said class was cancelled becau

se the students are on strike or something. Then on thursday history was cancelled because it's the 100th anniversary for the history building so they're preparing for a big ceremony. So basically I've been to 7 classes in the past 3 weeks... but a lot of Chileans haven't actually been to class because we are still in the add/drop period so you don't actually have to come up with a final class schedule until Aug. 27th. Hopefully though I'll have a few more classes this week because honestly all this free time is driving me a little nuts. I spend a lot of afternoons at Starbucks with my friends or just sitting outside because it's been nice. Also I sleep until 2pm and can't stop. I told this to Axel today and he said that he woke up at 6pm today so I guess I shouldn't feel too guilty...

Okay so besides taking the wrong bus and preparing for student strikes and lots of free time here are some other good things to know when you're in chile...

1. It's chilly in chile because it's winter here. It doesn't really compare to Lake Forest or Gambier, but it still gets rainy and in the 50s which makes it really hard to motivate myself to walk around and explore.

2. They love mayonnaise, which personally I'm not a huge fan of. They put it on everything! My host mom put a huge glop on her salad the other day. Also they have these things called "completos" and they're so popular/really popular late at night and they are hot dogs with tomatoes, a pound of mayo, and avocado on top. I haven't had one yet and am pretty intimidated, but I'm sure my time will come eventually.

Got this picture from google image, but you see what i mean. Yummmmm?

3. Also they love avocado and so do I. They put it on everything, like avocado sandwiches, hotdogs, everything.

4. About 99.99% of coffee is instant. My family will whip out some hot water and instant coffee at "once" what they call dinner and just pour in the coffee mix and then 8 spoonfuls of sugar.

5. The bus here, or "micro", are honestly like riding on a roller coaster! That one day that I got on 2 wrong busses, one of them was roaming through the hills and i was the only one on the bus and I seriously felt like I was at six flags or something.

6. There are millions and millions of stray dogs. Some of them are sooooooo cute and it's so hard not to touch them, but they likely have fleas so probably not the best idea.

7. They love facebook and facebook chat, american television, american music specifically 90s music (I heard hansons' mmbop the other night and spice girls!), graphbook paper (it's so hard to find normal notebooks), smoking (its gross and everywhere and anywhere smoking is acceptable), twilight, staying up until it's absurdly late, and many other random things...

Hopefully I'll have more interesting things to write soon. I'm honestly having a great time and my friends here are the best. (i made friends! wahoo!) It's been really weird recently thinking about everyone moving back to Gambier, OH. Makes me a little sad, but I know that I have many awesome chilean adventures to come. This weekend I might go skiing, which I'm excited/nervous for because it's been awhile! Also, I'm going to a dave matthews concert and maybe a regina spektor concert in october! So random that they're coming to Santiago, Chile of all places but I'm so excited! Hopefully things will pick up and I wont have all this free time because it gets a little lonely :( but it's okay. My family is very independent and always doing their own thing so I'm often left downstairs in my room (they all live upstairs), but I still have a great relationship with my brother! He's the best!

Hope everyone has a good start to school and fall! I'll post more later!

Chauuuu, besossss, cuidate, adiosssss, bye!

School, free time, and so much sleep

Hola mom, dad, mom's friends, and others!

This past week has been long and exhausting, but fun nonetheless. I've started my normal routine of classes, and the majority of them seem to be alright but I definitely still feel like my Spanish might actually be getting worse. For example, last tuesday I went to Psicologia de la ninez y adolescence (psychology of childhood and adolescence) a class that I was excited to take, but knew it had the potential to be a little hard. So I arrived at 3:30 and stood outside in the midst of thirty or so other chileans until the teacher finally arrived and opened the door. We all walked in and I sat down in what I thought could be a "neutral seat" (I don't want to be the american that rushes to the front row, but I know that sitting in the back row would get me no where) and the classroom slowly filled up and I quickly found that I was the only foreign student in a class of 40. No one really looked at me, which I guess was good because I mean with my blonde hair, freckles, and light blue patagonia fleece it could not have been more obvious that I was an American. Class started and I think I might have understood about 3% of what was going on... I'd hear something that sounds familiar like "centro de neveriousa" and get excited and write it down in my notebook but then I realized I didn't have anything else to write. At some points I thought that kind of knew what was going on, but then everyone would start writing furiously so I just kind of drew pictures and wrote things with huge question marks next to it. After class (it was supposed to be 3 hours but it was only 2 and a half for the first day wahoooo) I decided to go up to the teacher and ask him if he had ever had foreign students in his class... I have absolutely no idea what his answer was. I think he might of said yes, but it's hard and I wont be able to help because there are a lot of students, but he also could of said no, but I will be able to help... I just nodded my head because I wanted to leave that classroom ASAP. I never want/will never to go back to that class ever again and am planning on meeting with my academic advisor tomorrow.

All of my other classes have been alright and throughout the day I do have a lot of free time which is usually filled with facebook, skype, starbucks, or naps. I've been sleeping so late here! This weekend my average wake up time was around 1:30pm and it's perfectly acceptable to sleep that late, which at first I didn't know so I'd set my alarm to wake up at 10:30 so I could shower and get ready for the day, but then I'd walk outside my room and find that everyone was still sleeping, (including my parents sometimes) so I'd just go back to bed.

This weekend my history class was cancelled again so on Thursday I had a long day at starbucks and the mall and then Friday I went out to dinner and had the best quesadillas ever and then went to this club 89 which is all glass and right on the ocean! Last night I went to see El Origen (Inception) which was great and luckily it was all in English but with Spanish subtitles. It's been a pretty lazy weekend, which I really needed, but I hope it doesn't become a habit because my friends and I seem to sleep through the whole day sometimes and tomorrow morning I have to get up at 8am for my photo class so wish me luck with that one. Next weekend we might go skiing, which would be awesome!

Te extranoooooo (i miss you) and talk to you later!

xoxo

four day weekend

Helloooo,

The last few days have been very fun, relaxing, lazy, and a little crazy. Wednesday was our first day of classes and I only had two, anthropology and spanish. My anthropology class was pretty overwhelming because it was a class with about 40 people and I was one of probably 5 gringos. The class started with everyone going around and saying their name, where their from, and why they wanted to take the class and when I first heard this I thought i was going to have a heart attack! I quickly scribbled sentences in my notebook to prepare for my turn and tried to listen to the other students so I could kind of copy what they were saying, but I couldn't understand anything! They actually sounded like they were speaking a different language, I would hear some familiar words and then they started to sound like they were speaking chinese or something so I kind of gave up. The class was supposed to be 3 hours long (its only once a week thank god!) but it was only an hour because it was the first day. After class I had a pretty long break and then had spanish which was pretty easy and it's through my program so it was great to be in a class of all familiar faces!

Because history classes don't start until next week I didn't have class on Thursday and I don't have class on Friday, which means 4 day weekend! Honestly though I'm kind of ready for classes to start because i've had a wholeeee lot of free time recently. Thursday and Friday were pretty lazy and relaxing... sleeping in and then I've been going to starbucks every day (i know it's bad and not exactly chilean, but it's soooo good!) Last night my friends and I made a mexican dinner at my house with my brother, Axel and it was excellent. We made a huge bowl of guacamole and then had chicken and beef tacos. We were pretty proud of ourselves. After dinner we went out to the discotecas, which are obviously very fun but people don't start getting there until around 2am sooooo I've been staying up a lot, lot, lot later than I normally do! I'm getting use to it, (i mean its not that hard) and i'm sure i'll turn nocturnal in no time!

Hasta luegoooo, besosssss, jajajajjaajjaaj bye!

Registration for classes

**Picture of my friend and I in Valparaiso and we were just sitting and then a dog came and nudged himself in between us. Adorable.

Holaaaa! Yesterday (Monday) I finally registered for classes and then tomorrow (Wednesday) I get to start! I'm actually really excited to start school, get a routine, and meet some more chilean people!

Yesterday I woke up and went to the shell station (our super cool meeting spot) and met a friend and went to Starbucks! Starbucks was soo nice and exactly like the one's in the US which was kinda funny. Then another friend came and we stayed for awhile talking about classes and deciding which ones to take, and then decided to find somewhere to eat lunch. We walked around and found this mexican restaurant cause we were craving guacamole but it was sooo $$$! $22 for fajitas! Way too much, so we kept walking and then decided to go to a restaurant called Tip y Tap. We all ordered some variation of a hamburger, but when our food came out my friend's plate was literally just a hugeeee piece of meet with no bun, lettuce, tomato, nothing, but it did have about a pound of fries. We laughed sooo hard cause the hamburger patty was like literally the size of her plate, it was hugeee. Mine also was the size of my plate and so large and i literally couldn't eat even a 3rd of it. I actually couldn't even pick it up is was so big so i ate it like a salad. After lunch we were soo stuffed and then went to registration. I signed up for:

1. psych of childhood and adolescents
2. Cultural anthropology
3. Black and White photo
4. social psychology
5. Social violence (anthropology class)
6. Spanish class thats required to take.
7. History of sickness, disease, and public health

I purposely signed up for more classes than I want to take because it's hard to add classes later, but easy to drop them so we were told sign up for as many as you want. With this schedule I wont have any classes on Friday so i'll have a 3 day weekend every week! Perfect for weekend trips around the country! ! I'm going to go to all of the classes this week and then probably choose one or two to drop, but so far none of my classes are toooo early and they all seem really cool!

After classes I walked to the beach with a friend and watched the sunset which was beautiful and it was about 65 degrees and sunny yesterday! Today (tuesday) I have nothing to do, but I'm going out with some friend to locate school supplies. I'll keep you posted on classes, but as of now everything is going just swimmingly!

Tour of Valparaiso

Helloooo! Today we went on a tour of Valparaíso, the city next to me where I will soon (ughh) be taking classes, with everyone in my group and it was really great! We started at Casa Central, the main building at my University, and then all got on a bus and drove around while a tour guide explained our surroundings. Then we drove up hill for a really long time and arrived at Pablo Neruda's house. He lived really far up the hill so the view from his house is unbelievable. We went through the house and had head sets that explained each room and the house was so beautiful. Each room had huge windows and you could see the whole city of Valpo and the ocean. Sadly my camera died the second I got off the bus, so I stole some pictures from my friend.

After that we drove to an area of the city that had a million little cafes and amazing houses. There is graffiti and art all over the city and some of it is really cool. The houses are all brightly colored and the streets are very hilly, which kind of reminds me of San Francisco. Also there are about a billion stray dogs here so they followed us around for awhile. (The other night 9 dogs followed my friends and I home it was crazy.) The dogs are harmless and it's kind of sad how many of them there are and a lot of them look like they're in pretty bad shape.

After walking around we went down to the street, and because the town is so hilly there are "ascendadors", kind of like elevator/gondola things that you can take down to the street, which were really cool. Then we got some lunch and got back on the bus and went to the port where we got on a boat and saw the city from a different point of view. On the boat we saw seals that were everywhere and hugeeeee. They were pretty cute and some were just jumping around in the water.

After the boat we went back to vina del mar and a few friends and i walked to the beach and sat and watched the sunset. (we didn't actually see it fully set cause we were cold, buttt it was pretty nonetheless.) We also pretended to be guests at the Sheridan hotel and walked around there and are now plotting how we can somehow/someday sneak in and go in the hot tub because it is just so cold here sometimes! Probably won't happen but the hotel was really nice and warm!

Now I am back at home and going to rest until I meet up with some friends and go out for the night. I start school on Wednesday and I haven't completely picked my classes yet but I have an idea. Also there are a ton of clubs and community service opportunities you can do through the school and my friends and I were thinking about helping out with little kids and teaching English or maybe taking in street dogs and cleaning them up and give them flea medicine. Also there are a lot of club sports, which I might try and join and also an intercambio program where the school sets you up with a chilean person and you help teach them English and they help teach you Spanish. All in all I haven't spoken too much Spanish because i've been hanging out a lot with the "gringos" (americans) in my group but I know when classes start my brain will hopefully make the transition!

first day of orientation

Holaaa today i had my first day of orientation. It was really short and pretty boring but after I walked around campus with a few friends and then went back to vina del mar with my friend Emily. We walked around the town and then had lunch with her family, which was really nice.

Here is a picture from my first day when I went to the botanical garden with Leslie and her two friends.... it's from Erwin's camera and he took soooo many photos and just sent me some.

Leslie y yo

Discoteca and disastrous ending

Hola!

Last night we went to the discotec for a guy in my programs birthday and it was so much fun. Leslie, Martin, Erwin, and I walked there and picked up some friends from my program along the way. The club really cool, pretty small and there was a nice restaurant in the front and it was great to see everyone from my program for the first time! (in 24hrs but whatever it seemed like forever since I had seen some gringos.)

I was so hungry so I went to the restaurant part with a friend and ended up ordering chicken wings and french fries because we hadn't eaten dinner and I loveeee dinner. After that we danced to everything from chilean music to spice girls, mamma mia, backstreet boys, and lady gaga. They had karaoke so it was hilarious to watch some chilean guys get up on stage and sing backstreet boys.

We danced until 2 and then some of my friends were ready to go back (Martin and Erwin danced until 6am and then jumped on their bus to santiago!) and we decided to call a radio taxi, which is a kind of taxi that will bring your right to your house house but it's more expensive. Once we got in we realized we really didn't have enough money and none of us really knew where we lived but eventually we got to my house but I didn't have enough to pay the taxi man and had no idea what to do. So embarrassed, I called my brother Axel and he said he would be at the house in 5 min and could pay. When he got there he was panting and so out of breath because he had sprinted like a mile up hill to the house. When he said 5 min. i thought he was getting a ride or was really close, i didn't realize he would run all the way home from the party he was at! I kept telling him you are my hero thank you thank you thank you (he speaks really good english) and he was like Abby I'm your brother of course i'll come, even if i was in a different region or country! (awwwwww) we went inside and talked about our nights and at first I felt soooo embarrassed but he kept saying I really needed to stop saying sorry because we're family blah blah and other really nice things. I feel so lucky to have such a nice family! Ahhh they're so great! So all in all it wasn't really a disastrous ending as much as a nice little bonding experience, awwwwww.

Day 2 en Vina del Mar

DAY 2 EN VINA y estoy muy consada. (i am very tired!)

Today I woke up at 10am and nobody was awake yet (they sleep in! Yessss!) so I showered and got ready for the day and then Leslie knocked on my door and said change of plans because 2 of her friends from Santiago decided to come for the day so we were going to explore Vina with them. Once her friends arrived, Martín y Erwin, we walked to the bus stop and went to a Botanical Garden which was really fun. Because it's winter it was fairly flower-less and it was pretty small but it was nice to be outside and we had a little picnic.

I spoke both spanish and english with everyone because they all speak a little english and really want to learn, and then they taught me a whole lot of useful words you don't learn in the classroom. (ie. lame=fome, cool=bacán, yeahh= sipoh, i don't remember the rest but there were lots!) Also it was really funny because Leslie was like can you please explain to me "pretty ugly" because she had no idea how that made any sense haha.

Then we got back on the bus and went to the "mall" which was really just downtown and there were lots of stores and mucho mucho people. I got my chilean cell phone to work and then we went to lunch and had pineapple juice and a huge plate filled with french fries, sausage, beef, onions, and then 3 fried eggs on top. It was good, but i was pretty surprised when the waiter first set it down on the table!

After lunch we walked what seemed like forever to the playaaaa (beach)! It was beautiful out and I was perfectly comfortable in jeans and a sweater and we just laid on a blanket and relaxed. It was really funny because Erwin took about a zillion pictures throughout the day so Martin and Leslie started calling him "Chino" like an Asian tourist haha. Then they talked about their boyfriends and girlfriends and gossiped, and it was really cool to hear because it was pretty much identical to the millions of conversations that my girlfriends and I have.

After the beach I was sooooo exhausted and we walked to a gas station and my mom picked me up and brought me home because Leslie had a doctor's appointment. Now Martin, Erwin and Leslie are in the living room and at 10 we are going out to my first discotec (dance club wahoooo I can finally expose my dance moves!) and going to meet up with a bunch of people from my program because it is one guys 22nd birthday!

So far everything is going really well. It still gets really overwhelming with all the spanish but my house if very comfortable and my family couldn't be nicer so I feel really lucky!

Here is a link to the club it look s sooooo intense!! http://www.tutixclub.com/index.html