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!
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