Pucon and one week!?

Somehow I have less than ONE WEEK left here. WHAT!?!?! thats not acceptable and i dont want to allow it. but on the same token i cant wait to go home, be surrounded by english, see my friends and family and eat food!! so its pretty bittersweet. It has been an incredible time and there is no doubt I will be back.
Since I have last wrote, the fam came to visit! i finished off my classes (mostly...) and went down south to Pucon. its been amazing!!!
My mom, dad and steve came for a whirlwind visit. we got horribly lost in santiago, even after getting multiple sets of directions in both english AND spanish, made it to our hotel and then out of the city again and down to the largest pool in the world! Its GIGANTIC!!! (1 km long and 35 m deep?!?!) we borrowed some kayaks and kayaked around a bit and tried to take it all in. (check it out: http://spluch.blogspot.com/2007/10/worlds-largest-swimming-pool.html ) Then we drove back to vina, stopped and did a little wine tasting in casablanca valley and went to vina and i showed them where i've been for the last 4 and a half months. it was so great to be able to show them what i've been doing and where and have them experience the things i have been telling them about. We had once with my host family which was fun and an experience... hahaha and then spent the rest of the week just trying to cram in as much as possible!
Last week was my sorta final week at school so i had 1 final and 4 papers due. it was a reallly rough week.. hahahaha. but i survived. I still have 1 or 2 classes this week? Just to do a summary of everything because we didnt' do it last week? im not really sure. but oh well. hahahaha and then the rest of this week im just going to relax on the beach, get some last minute shopping in and hang out with the fam.
This past weekend me and my friend Laura went down south a bit to a city called Pucon. Its about a 12 hour bus ride from vina and is part of the lake district. It was incredible!!! Possibly my favorite trip so far. We got in friday morning (overnight bus thursday night) and checked into our hostel that was recommended by some friends. then that afternoon we went and did "hidrospeed" (aka hydrospeed, riverboarding) (think a big kick board and rapids...) which was reallllly neat!!! a little chilly at first, but still sooo cool!!!!! then on saturday we got up at 4:30 AM to meet up to go climb the volcano. but let me backtrack just a second. friday we were pretty tired fromt he overnight bus and a long week of school and papers and everything so we were pretty jazzed about going to bed early (especially having to get up so early for the volcano!) but it was reallly hot so we were not using the sheets and wearing as few clothes as possible. well as i am laying there i feel like i have bugs crawling on me, and then they are biting and even better i feel them biting my neck and face and i can pick them off. It was the grossest thing ever. I couldn't sleep on the floor because i didn't know where these bugs were coming from (i thought the window... but that wasn't it. and bug spray didn't help) andi couldnt use the sheets so i didn't know what to do other then to try not to think about it long enough to fall alseep when i wouldn't feel them anymore. anyway so at 5 in the morning we tell the guy in charge that there are bugs in my bed, he doesn't belive me, comes and looks and sure enough there they are. SICK. so he goes we'll change it all while you're climbing.. okay great. so now back to the volcano. it was so cool! we climbed pretty quickly, and it wasn't suuuuper hard in that you need to use ropes and stuff, but it is all snow and we had ice picks and trecking boots and everything, and we climbed about 1000 meters in about 4 hours- so we cruised. and by the time i got to the top, i was realllllly glad it was the top and getting pretty worried about going down... hahaha. but the top was pretty neat- the volcano is pretty active- although they haven't been able to see any lava in about 2 or 3 weeks now. but it reeeeeks of sulfur to the point where your nose and mouth and lungs burn. but it was worth it. to go down, i was pretty nervous, they had said we slide down on our butts... well its not a very gradual slope down, its fairly steep. and there are volcano rocks everywhere because a. its a volcano and b. is spring so the snow is melting and exposing more... well they lead us over a little bit and there is like a alpine slide/luge type trail in the snow. and you just sit down and go. it was INCREDIBLE!!!! there were about 6 of these little trails and youd basically ride down on your own little mini avalanche of snow. it was like going down a waterslide, but in snow, and you're going to down the side of a volcano- in chile- in springtime- in december. hahahah it was sooooo awesome!! i still cant get over the whole thing. so it took us about 4 hours to get up, and an hour to get down. hahahahaha the rest of the day we just sorta lounged about, walked around town, booked a horseback riding tour for sunday and had sort of a lazy day. back at the hostel nothing had been done about my bed. so i went and told a different guy. he comes and looks and doesn't see any bugs, but sees all the blood stains and the poop and goes oh no, we're going to change all of this. so they take the sheets and stuff and everything (meanwhile they are talking in spanish- which apparently they didn't think i knew because everyone in the hostel was english- european of some sort and a few americans... and one of the ladies working there goes they're fleas (well a specific type of flea, i recognized the word flea....) and look how big they are! ahh!) sooo that was gross. then they change the mattress and the sheets on both my bed and lauras (i was on the top bunk) and then we go to get ready for bed about an hour later (they had sprayed a tooon of bug spray and stuff in there so we couldn't go in for a while) we go in, and there are a TON of these bugs just crawling all over the wood. so i go back and tell him and we pack our stuff and they take us to a different hostel. apparently they are called chinches and they live in the wood and come out at night and now they have to get the whole hostel fumagated and everything... so thats a bummer. but our new hostel was really nice, super clean and the owner was really friendly. so i slept like a rock there!!! hahahaha. sunday we got up, went and explored town and outside of town some more which was realllly neat. i reallllly like pucon a lot and recommend it to everyone. (its suuuper touristy, everyone speaks english) out horseback riding trip was pretty fun, we went to this waterfall that was GORGEOUS!!! it was a great sunday afternoon activity. and we had reallllly lucked out with the weather because friday was REALLLLY hot and we were in the water, satuday was really sunny and nice and we climbed the volcano and then sunday was kinda grey and overcast and chilly, and we went on horseback. so it was clear for the things that we wanted to see for long distances (ie from the top of the volcano, sunday we couldn't even see the volcano) and then sunday we could see everything up cloase and everything. it was all just really great. then sunday night, we got on our bus and made it back to vina this morning!!!
I have uploaded pictures onto my computer and will try to put some of them on flickr in a bit. so look for those!
I cant wait to see you all SOON!!!! have a wonderful week!!!!

CHAU!!!!!!

WHAT!?

I have exactly one month left in Chile.
AHHHHHHHHH! Its so bittersweet already- Im getting ready to go home. I miss so many people and comforts of home, but yet I really dont want to leave. My spanish is coming- sorta. its real slow, but im finally gaining some confidence in speaking and its going to be time to leave. I loooove my host family. I didn't realize how close to them I was until this week my mom was like ahh you only have a month left! where has the time gone- we're going to miss you soo much! then i realized how much im going to miss then. Its going to be weird.
I know for sure I'm coming back. I dont know when, but Im going to for sure. Mom even told me I can come stay with them whenever I want and that I always have a home here. so thats sweet! I realized there isn't enough time to go south to Patagonia, which I realllly wanted to do, but I cant go for only 3 days, there is just too much to see. Instead I am going to take a bus south (about 9 hours?) to the lake district, and spend a weekend there. Mom said its beautiful and that I will reallly love it, so I cant wait (Im going to do that the first weekend in Dec)!
This week started off pretty well, it was nice and warm and sunny and great! But then tuesday it got overcast and cloudy and stayed that way all day (normally it burns off around lunch time (aka 2ish) but not this week) so it was a little depressing. Oh well. Tuesday and Wednesday there was a strike! The city workers want a 14.5% raise (which sounds like a lot but apparently they have wanted even more in the past. and when it gets broken down and stuff through taxes and what not its not really THAT large of an increase? i think...) so they closed a bunch of offices and buildings and marched. They marched Tuesday in Valpo and Wed in Vina! Wed I only had one class (my other class got cancelled...) so for class we went and walked around the march to check it out and everything. It was soooo coool! It was peaceful, no one was throwing things or anything like that, but it was loud. everyone had whistles and drums and shouts and everything. It was really interesting. It makes any strike that the US has had look weak. walking in circles with pickett signs... FOME! hahahaha
This week was back to the Chileno style of classes- a few cancelled, the others were a movie or on the street interviews or walking around watching the strike. I cant come back to the states because I wont know how to do school! hahahaha We are finally getting down to the end and having real work. I have a presentation on Tuesday and then my parents come into town on Sunday and then the following week I have another presentation and at least two 10 page papers due... allll in spanish. so I've actually been productive and started the research and stuff for those and have them in mind!
Im sure I've portrayed Chile in sort of a negative way, I dont mean to at all. There are things that are different and unique and more than anything I wanted to tell you those things, because how boring to tell you all the similarities between here and the US... And some of these differences are good, others have some room for improvement. Its what makes it unique! So take what I say with an open mind. I love Chile and want people to want to come visit, not scare them away or anything. (I was reading the blog of another DU student who is here and it felt really negative and I was afraid mine gave off the same vibe; so that was my disclaimer? hahahaha)
That was my sappy emotional blog, Im sure there will be more to come. especially when I get home and have to go back to the real world... hahahaha
misss you!!!
Chau!!!

La Serena!

I am finallly back in Vina for more than 48 hours!!! WOOOOO!
When i got back from Peru my family had a surprise birthday party/dinner thing for me!!!! It was great!!! SOOOO MUCH FOOOD!!!! hordourves once (lots of sandwiches!) and 2 cakes... i ate enough for everyone so dont even worry. hahahahaha.
that was on tuesday and then on wed had class and volunteering (same with tuesday when i got back from the bussss) and thursday we left for La Serena
La Serena was a trip with all of COPA, my program (the intermediate program) and the advanced program. So that was neat. We stayed at this really cool little place where a group of like 5 or 6 had their own little apartment/condo thing! So we got to cook our own food (and our own portions!) which was sweet and just relax. we were across the street from the beach and out hotel had aneat pool and everything. So friday we went into town cuz it was cloudy in the morning and went to a Japanese garden and then came back, had some lunch and went to the beach for a while in the afternoon. Then after dinner we went to this observatory. it was reaaallllly neat! we saw jupiter, some of jupiter's moons, venus, and i have some really neat pictures of the moon through the telescope (posted on flickr!) On saturday we got to sleep in and then went back the conservatory area (which was about a 1.5 drive each way....) and had lunch at this solar resturant. But not solar like we think of with solar panels and stuff. no no no, they have boxes with silver almost mirrors around them and they put the food right in there and it cooks. its actually really neat. and pretty good. from there we went to Gabby's museum as I like to call her. Gabriela Mistral- she was a super good poet who won the first nobel prize for chile and was the first woman to win it for Latin America. so that was neat. a little fome, but something you just have to see. Sunday we headed out early and went to a national park, which actually wasn't nearly as cool as i had hoped. i mean it was sorta neat, but not overly picture-esque. It was in the hills along the coast and so those hills cause sort of some weird climates. Really foggy and cold and wet, and then just 20 yards down the hill its dry and arid like....
We made it back to vina, had some once and went to bed and now am back to the grind. things are actually starting to feel like real school? we've got papers and projects starting to be due! (well still not for another 3 weeks... but at least we've talked about them now?) and i missed a ton of school last week, and then this week i already have one class cancelled tomorrow and then the next two weeks one of my professor's is going to be gone and he cant find a sub, so there is another class cancelled... which works out so im not missing as much when the parents are here.
well thats all for now. more pictures are up on flickr! enjoy!
CHAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peru, Machu Picchu, and 21!

HOLA!
I hope everyone is doing well. Regardless of your political stance, I think everyone seems to be glad that the election and all the propaganda is over... Of the two classes I had today both of my professors had stayed up til 4 in the morning watching the whole election and the speeches! and then all the papers had a huge picture of Obama on them and headlines about his win and stuff. I bought a couple just because its really interesting to see the impact our elections have on the rest of the world. So if someone wants to save their paper or at least the front page to compare that would be great. hahahahaha
I am back from Peru. Finally. hahahahah Dont get me wrong, it was INCREDIBLE!!! but we had a little travel incident trying to come home and so im still dealing with that... hahahaha
We chartered a bus to pick us up from Vina del Mar and take us to Santiago at 4 iin the morning last thursday and then our flight was at 8 so we got there realllly early (esp cuz our travel agent had checked us in and gave our boarding passes to the driver etc and we were all carrying on...) but in the time waiting for the flight we got to have starbucks for the first time since we've been here- reallllly exciting to have not instant coffee! hahahahaha We flew from Santiago to Lima, had about a 2ish hour layover in Lima and went from Lima to Cusco. Cusco is the heart of the Incan territory? former territory/empire? the whole city is built on ruins and everying. AND its about 10,300 ft in elevation! hahaha We had a tour when we first got there after dropping our stuff off at the hotel, had some mate de coca (yes the leaves that make cocaine!) and toured around a little. I decided then that if I lived back in the 1400s or so, I would want to be Incan. They are sooo awesome. hahahaha really good at building stuff and carving rocks etc. really really incredible. We all felt the altitude which was no good, but it passed and we had a night tour, except it was pouring rain and it was chilly so the windows of the van were steamed up and we couldn't see anything. hahahaha oh well.
Friday we got up reallly early (left the hotel at 6:20) and took a train to Machu Picchu (4 hour train ride!) it was INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend going. and i would like to do it again, but to hike the Inca trail and get there early enough to climb the peak next to machu (only 400 people a day are allowed to go so you have to be at the gates at like 6 to go...) This only furthered my desire to be Incan... hahahaha I cant really describe it- and pictures cant do it justice. but it was AWESOME!!!!!!!
Saturday we had a tour in the Valle Segrado de Inca (incan sacred valley) which was pretty cool too. These incans are soooo good at moving HUGE HUGE HUGE rocks and making them line up perfectly and build super strong structures ON THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!! and not only did they just have houses, they had storage rooms and greenhouses and everything. ways to tell the winter and summer soltice everything. Again, hard to describe- when i get my act together and put up some more pictures i can do a better job. but just trust me, it was neat! Peru is beautiful and the people are SOOOO friendly. just the little things, like anytime someone walked into a room (like breakfast at the hostel) they would say buenas dias. and there weren't people making out on the streets everywhere and they would make an attempt to move out of your way when walking (instead of crossing the sidewalk to walk right at you like they do sometimes in chile... ahhh!) and SMILES! Peruvians are def. more friendly than Chilenos (although this could also be due to the impact we have on their economy there... cusco is a HUGE town, but majority of it is for tourists i think). Anyway that night we had a goood dinner and then a few of us went out to celebrate my 21st birthday!!! woooo!!! hahahaha these bars had people out recuriting people off the street, and so we used this to our advatange. hahaha we ended up going to 2 bars, and spending a huge grand total of $6 usd between 6 of us!! (2 free drink coupons and then 4 of us had a beer....) and we made it back before midnight! hahahahaha
Sunday was where our adventure really started... hahahaha since its about 12:30am right now Im just going to summarize (even more then the previous two days)
noys ditched us and got an earlier flight, our flight got cancelled from Cusco- spent $3 per person for a hostel near the airport in Cusco, had a 6 hour layover in Lima, thought half the group wasn't getting on the plane- bus from santiago airport was non-existent because we missed it the day before so we spent the night in the santiago airport and came back home Tuesday morning at 9 am.... (should've been home about 3 am on monday....) sooo that was reallly fun. and now Im am supposed to be packing to go to La Serena... hahahahahaha
anyway when i get back from La Serena I will post some pictures and try to do this trip more justice. I will be home sooooo soon... I am coming up on the 3 month mark here on friday?! oye!
miss you!

living the hard life...

HOLA!!!
Lo siento, it's been a while! I've been really busy here living the rough life. Wake up and go to class for maybe 4.5 hours, but on average I have had at least 2 classes cancelled a week. Then after that I come home and have some lunch then either take a nap or go to the beach, or both. Really rough. hahahahaha. It has gotten realllly nice here, in the mornings its usually kinda foggy/overcast and chilly but then by noon it burns off and is about 65-70 degrees and sunny (and humid so therefore feels warmer than it is). We have also had some field trips in school too so that has been neat. We had a guest speaker for my myths class last week, we were learning about traditional jobs so a chinchinero came and played for us. (an organ grinder and it his son and his son's friend play these drums on their backs and dance around- its pretty cool). And then this week we went to the law school and heard a debate/lecture type thing about the economic crisis, it was really long, but got us out of 2 classes... hahaha. Im definitely learning a ton in class but they just have a different way of class than we are used to. ie no homework, no quizzes, no tests and few papers or projects. But I think thats because we are there for the language and cultural experience and so the things we are learning about all are part of the cultural experience, the advanced group and some othre programs are more scholarly and hard.
Also since the last time I blogged we took a little adventure over to Mendoza, Argentina and met up with my friend David who is studying there (but goes to DU). So that was really cool. Mendoza was beautiful! It reminded me a LOT of Colorado, and Ashton who also went over with us said the same thing. It almost felt like a suburb rather than a city. And the spanish was sooooo much easier to understand. It was incredible! We got there and were a little lost and asked for directions and the lady was very friendly and we could understand her! That was a huge change from Chile... hahahaha. And after our little weekend there, I liked it a lot and could've easily studied there, but am so glad I am in Chile- it feels more like a cultural change than Mendoza did. Anyway, we took a bus on a thursday night at 10:30 pm to Mendoza, got off around 3 am to cross the border in the middle of the andes (cold!!! and its springtime so there is still some snow up there. hahahaha) and arrived in Mendoza around 7 am. Walked around looking for a hostel my mom had suggested, and when we found it they said they didn't have rooms available until 10 so we went back to the bus station for some breakfast and met up with one of the boys in our program who was also there for the weekend and meeting up with his friend who was studying in Buenos Aires. We all went into town and found a hostel to stay at and took a little siesta then got up for lunch and to explore the city. There are parks everywhere! that was my favorite part of mendoza, just all the open spaces without tons and tons of people making out in them. (the PDA there is not at allll like it is here- people make out anywhere they can stand or lay. yuck.) That night we met up with Mateo and his friend and her friends from her program and had the BIGGEST steak of my life. It was GIANTIC! and the most expensive, best cut on the menu... so with that and some wine my meal came to all of $12 US. the exchange rate in argentina is much more favorable for us... hahaha. Sunday we got up walked around a little and then took a bodega tour (wine tour, but not of the vineyards, the wine factory things). It was interesting, but the wine tour we took in Chile outside of Vina was much better. On our tour we also stopped at an olive factory where they make olive oil and some assorted dried snacks which was different, but really not that exciting. hahaha That night we met up with David and went looking for this reggae concert in the GIANT park in mendoza (its the same size as the city!?) but we couldn't find it and ended up walking through a swamp and getting barked at by dogs, so we jsut went back into town and went to a resturant for a beer then later some ice cream. It was really fun and good to see him.
Back in Vina another girl from DU who studies in Mendoza was visiting Chile, so we met up with her for ice cream on monday. It was good to compare our programs and everything because they are both IFSA-Butler, and it was the other program I had the option of doing. Im glad I choose Chile. The week went by the same as the others, two classes were cancelled and it was the week the Chinchinero came so it was a nice easy week. hahahaha Over the weekend I just hung out in Vina, went to the beach, started exercising a little, explored new nightlife areas etc. Over the weekend we also got intercambios to practice spanish with! So that was reallly exciting. We are supposed to meet with them at least once a week for about an hour, half an hour in english and half an hour in spanish! So monday I met mine. He goes to this engineering school that is inbetween Vina and Valpo and its a reallly coool school. Its very similar to a campus in the states because its got a cafeteria and all the buildings are on that campus, they've got a gym and a pool and soccer fields etc. I got to eat in the cafeteria which was interesting. hahaha Its a school like Mines- all engineering, like an 80-20 boy to girl ratio. It was interesting because the boys are all much more clean cut and normal looking than the boys you see here. (ie no mullets, peircings, dreads or rat tails) hahahahaha My intercambio is named Sergio and he has a girlfriend in New York (she was abroad here last semester and thats how they met) and he got a job for his summer break working as a lift operator at a ski resort in Vermont so hes practicing his english for his visa interview and his job etc. So thats neat. he had some neat theories about boys here vs. boys in the states, ie they are opposites. THe boys in the states dont really like to express their feelings or anything, like the girls here. But the boys here are very emotional and in touch with their feelings etc more like girls in the states. It was definitely really intersting. and cool that we could relate with both having long distance relationships. hahahaha
This weekend we are going to the botanic gardins to have bday bbq for me and Joey since our birthdays are next week so that should be fun! (with chilenos and gringos!) Oh and last thursday we started our cooking classes!!! We made 2 dishes with fish- i had raw salmon, some shrimp and some other assorted things... the slamon was actually sorta tolerable but the rest ended after one bit. hahaha we are cooking at this REALLLY fancy expensive placed called Enjoy del Mar and its right on the ocean! and we got to wear chef hats and aprons and then we learned how to make pisco sours and got free ice cream!!! hahahaha Tomorrow we are going to make pino empanadas so thats going to be goooooood! hahahahaha
Today on the way to the beach I attempted to take a few pictures of where I am (although i think it ended up being a picture of my room and then some cool flowers, and some sailboats in the ocean.... so not tooo descriptive, but its a start. hahahaha) so I will go post those soon.
I hope everyone is doing well!!! I miss you! I am coming up on the 3 month mark!!! AHHHH! its going by soooo fast!!! yikes!!! have a great rest of the week!!!!
CHAU!

CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE

HOOOLLLLAAAAAA!!
I hope everyone is doing well and had a good weekend!
Saturday we had a program tour of some historic sights in Santiago which I was really excited for, but strangely disappointed. Our first stop was at the University of Chile, which had a realllly nice campus!!! We had a little video/lecture which was kinda confusing. I think it was trying to show us both sides of the glope estado (the military coup that started in 1973, the events that lead to it sorta), and we always hear about the torture and repression and death when Pinochet took power, but I think the video was showing the reason why Pinochet took over. Im not really sure... Then from there we went to a big cemetary (11 soccer fields!!!) which was pretty interesting. We saw the graves of ex-presidents, Allende and Pinochet included as well as the memorial to some of those that died during Pinochet's era (the ones they knew of, there are a lot that went missing but the bodies were never found nor was there information about them...) and one of the really famous musicians also. It was interesting, but only as interesting as a cemetary can be... there were these buildings that looked like rows of apartments, but they were all graves, well a place to put the urn i think. at least 2 stories tall and a block long and then tons of these buildings! it was crazy! From there we went to this park that was outside of the city. it was kinda weird because it wasnt quite finished or something? and it was kinda eerie because it used to be a torture camp. They had these informative stones that said what sort of torture took place where. and it wasn't that big of a park, it used to be someones house (a big house) and yard, then the military took it over and told the owner to give them the house or they would kill her daughter... The whole thing was kinda gruesome and eerie. Its not something I would think a school program would take you to? granted, its for sure something i wont really forget, and maybe looking at pictures and talking about it in class couldn't do it justice- but of all the things to see in santiago they picked a torture park???
annnyway after that the bus dropped some of us off near our hostel and we went and checked in dropped off our stuff and went out to dinner. we had mexican food! again not anything like mexican food in the states (or say mexico...)- but oh well. we walked around for a while and realized that santiago is wayyyyy too big and without a map, not very much fun to walk around. hahahahaha we went back and hung out for a while and went out for the night. we met up with one of the girl's friends and hung out with them for the night which was pretty fun.
Sunday we got up and had "breakfast" at the hostel (which was included, but was only bread and butter/jams, old hard bread... hahahaha) but better than nothing. from there we packed up, stored our bags and headed out to go to the soccer game. we left really early because we had been hearing horror stories about how dangerous this game was going to be. we didn't bring purses or cameras and mostly tried to dress in a color that wasn't for one team or the other (we didn't know which team's side we were sitting on...) so we wouldn't get robbed or shanked. hahaha anyway, we got there without any problems which was good. We stopped in Jumbo to get some water and snacks before hand whcih was intersting because they had all their alcohol blocked off because of the game. we walked towards the stadium and followed the crowd. While waiting in line (the wrong line btw, there was a much shorter line for women) the crowd started chanting- that alone was sooo exciting! from there we were frisked and then walked around to the other side of the stadium (you could only enter one side so the two team's fans wouldn't mix and fight.) On the other side of the stadium we were frisked 2 more times and finally got to go in! Once inside there were people handing out stuff, but normally if youre walking down the street or sitting on the micro and someone hands you something you are buying it, regardless if you want it or not... so we didn't take anything. Later we found out, you pretty much needed these rolls of paper and balloons to fit in. so we got some before the game started. It was CRAZY!!! there is nothing like it at all. It was a clasico game, colo colo vs Universidad de chile and thats the biggest rivalry of the season (hence all the scary precautions) but it was at the colo colo stadium. so it was the entire stadium of colo colo fans (us included) and then 2 sections of U fans. Between the U fans and the Colo colo fans were big fences and barbed wire! crraazzzzy! The U fans were impressivley loud! everyone chants and jumps and chants and sings and jumps and throws things, its great!!! hahahaha and thats all before the game starts. most of the chants and songs were pretty vulgar, but the one i did learn was the CHILE CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE COLO COLO ES CHILE! its really fun to say too! hahahaha then the game got close to starting... they dont boo here. when the other fans would do one of their cheers/songs everyone whistles. its really strange. anyway when the U took the field everyone whistled and then when colo colo came out, everyone goes crazy! the rolls of paper we got, you throw those on the field, streamers. and people light flares and shoot fireworks and have big drums and banners and throw balloons! its awesome! hahahahahaha the game started a little late because we had to wait for the U fans to climb off the net separating the field from the stands (think of a net like the one that goes up during extra point kick in a football game and thats where people were climbing up). also, a HUUUUUGE banner came down from behind the stands that said colo colo and some other stuff, and i mean huge. they take it and run down the aisles with it and it goes over all our heads! sooo cool! there was another couple behind the colo colo goal too. craaaazy!!!! THEN the game started. as soon as the players lined up for kickoff, everyone sits down. FAST. I think the sections behind the goals stayed standing but im not exactly sure. During the game, there weren't quite as many chants, but still quite a few. And everyone smokes. the guy next to me had an entire pack of cigarettes during the game, same with every person within one seat of me in each direction. basically i just got lung cancer from that game. anyway Colo Colo won 2-0 so that was really good. I think the U had more control and looked like the better team, but they didn't get it in the net (and missed a pk!) so when there were just a few minutes left we got up to leave so we could try to get to the metro sooner so we wouldn't have to worry about the mad rush but we weren't allowed out. The U fans got to leave first (and also they arrived earlier) so we had to wait for them. The carabineros (aka cops) were dressed like our swat team, but with even more protection. Big giant helmets, shouder pads, arm pads, elbow pads, shields, big giant night sticks, bullet proof vests, knee pads, shin guards, the whole works! INTENSE!!! eventually we were able to go and got to the metro and got back to our hostel to get our stuff and everything without any problems.
It wasn't nearly as dangerous as we had expected which is good for sure. i just wish i had brought my camera (we even tried to go buy a disposable in jumbo beforehand, but they didn't have any...) Thats all for now, I've got some hwk to do and a nap to take. have a good week!!
CHAU!

HERE IS A LINK TO A VIDEO OF YESTERDAY'S GAME!!! (the crowd, the highlights etc). the first 30 seconds show pregame, then the starters for both teams, then when the teams took the field (we were sitting in a colo colo section under the "lo mas grande" flag). Notice when U. chile takes the field and they show the crowd, all the people on the nets. they dont show the two goals, but they do show the pk...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDkkeq5sM9I

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!

Today I felt my first temblor!!!! (that I've been aware of at least). We got a surprise field trip in politics to the government building in Valpo and we went into this room that was set up like the big room in congress is sorta. Each seat (which had the most comfortable chair I have sat in since I have been here...) had a computer and a microphone and this little box thingy that you could vote with- there was a button for yes, no, cancel and "request to speak." it was really cool! I felt very big time!! hahaha Anyway while we were there one of the government officials (I'm still not sure of his role, I think he was a consejaro regional. we're going over the chain of local commands next class so I'll let you know what that means later) talked to us about what his roles are and everything. It was pretty interesting because the government set up is all really new, within the last 15 years! And they have gotten something like 300 mil millones pesos (turns out the way of counting is different here, 300 mil millones= 300 billion) approved for education, health care, environment protection, things like that- all in 15 years! Then in the middle of the presentation, everything started shaking!!!! nothing extreme, enough to feel it and notice it. Exciting!!!! Temblors aren't as intense as earthquakes, and are supposedly really common. I guess the best comparison is a tremor?? (based on some quick googling) hahahaha. it was very exciting though!!! Thats all for now, I just wanted to tell you about my first mini earthquake. hahahahaha
Chau!
PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!!!!!!!!!!! Feliz cumpleanos!!!!

chillin' out, relaxin'

This Wed. is Billy's birthday, which means its october which means I have almost been here TWO MONTHS!!!!!! I still cant get over how fast this is going. Im going to get home and be like "wait did that really happen???" ahhhhh!!!
Anyway, I've got a nice cold so this weekend I didn't really do anything. Friday, I was watching heroes on my computer and my brother came in to ask what I was doing etc. and I told him I was watching heroes etc. and he said that the new season of Grey's starts on Monday here! and Heroes is on on Saturday! So that was neat cuz he will come say hi and stuff, but lately we've had actual discussions (maybe because now I understand more and can actually respond when he says something??! hahahahaha), it was a little bonding time. hahahaa. Then that night I went to the movies w/ Ashton, saw Griffin and Phoenix and basically wanted to spend the rest of the night crying (its probably the saddest movie I've ever seen) but her and I had some good bonding also. Its nice to have someone else here that I know, so when I do get back to school and have Chile cravings and such I know there is someone else who understands. Saturday I went to the botanic gardens for a little which was really neat! We decided Im going to have a birthday party there in a couple weeks. hahahahaha If you happen to be in Chile, you're welcome to come. we're gonna have an American style bbq (ie hotdogs and burgers) play some park-like games etc. should be an all around good time. hahahaha Then last night I watched Dodgeball with my brothers and then played video games with them. It was really neat because I bonded with them more and apparently it was a big deal cuz when I got up this morning the rest of the family knew and it was a big deal sorta?? I dont know, but everyone was all excited about it. When my brothers are at school or something, I'm gonna practice and take them on again and be reallly good. hahahaha They won't know what hit them. Today I'm gonna go to the beach for the sunset which is always my fav.
There really wasn't much to write for this blog, I was just excited about the bonding I've done with the fam this weekend.
buenas tardes!

p.s. I had fish nuggets today for lunch... yuck. actually i had half of one, tried it- but didn't like it. hahahaha

Si po

Turns out I have been here a month and a half now, well 7 weeks someone said yesterday. Where has the time gone?! I feel like I am going home so soon, but then I remember I've still got about 2.5 more months. hahahaha Which is good and bad for sure. Good because my spanish has gotten SOOO much better, especially this past week I realize how much more I can understand. I've said in the past that I can follow the conversations pretty well, but now I am following and understanding beyond facial expressions and key words. Its great! But with 2.5 months, thats still a long time. This week I have been dreaming about home; family, friends, housing stuff...
I last left off just before heading out for the biiig holiday. And big it is. Thursday I went with Laura and Shelby to the ramada at like 5 or so (really early, but everyone said it gets dangerous at night, so we wanted to check it out on our own during the day and from there we could maybe go out again at night...). Its crazy! The ramada is a place to dance the queca and hang out, but it also cost $7 to get in- so we didn't actually go in the "official ramada" but outside of this little "hut" (in this sporting complex they build stands and hut like things out of some wood but mostly branches and palm leaves etc) is this big fair. Just like in the states with carnival rides and cotton candy and shops. In the middle is the "food court" which is actually 2 aisles of these stands (with seating inside, so more like mini resturants) that sell typical chileno holiday food (ie pino empanadas and bbq meat shiskabobs) and alcohol- chicha, beer, wine and pisco. So we sat in one of these booths and had a bottle of beer, shopped a little and went back for dinner. After dinner (more empanadas, me and my mom and sister made a TON of empanadas, we had them all weekend. hahahaha) I went back to the ramada with my brothers, sister and their significant others. We didn't even leave til 11... and they were so worried about me getting lost or snatched or something that my sister's pololo walked with his hand on my shoulder the entire time... Thats nice that they were concerned, but it wasn't that dangerous. After all their warnings I had expected it to be a lot worse/scarier etc.... oh well. After walking around there, trying some chicha (gross! its mostly fermented grapes and apples and really sweet but I think its an aquired taste or something. not my thing for sure) we walked to the beach and walked home along the beach and got home about 1. A nice family outting in the middle of the night... hahahahaha
Friday was pretty uneventful. Went to the beach with the gringos. Saturday hung out around the house, went into town to walk around for a little and then came back for dinner and then went baaack to sporting to check out the last night of the ramada. We met up with the boys as they were all back from their trips and Will had brought his brother and his brother brought his friends so we hung out with them. They were out more to carretear (the chileno verb 'to party') so we ended up staying at the ramada (by ramada i mean fair) until about 3 and then went to the house of one of the chilenos til the sun came up... it was quite a night for sure. hahahaha
Monday we had classes again... the week went by soo fast! My politics teacher is out of the country for the month and so we have a sub and we have been talking about voting and stuff here so for homework this weekend we have to go interview 5 people about if they have voted, what they would change to get more people to vote, etc. etc. (we've got 4 questions to ask) and to get a good representation of the population we are in pairs and each pair has a group of people to ask- ie men, women, young adults, the elderly and the handicapped. Well me and my partner are supposed to interview the handicapped.... talk about intense! Chile has a lot of handicapped people, way more than the US. buuut they dont have the same benefits as people in the us (ie all buildings have stairs and very few have elevators or ramps) so thats really interesting. So today Shelby (my partner) and I went with her mom to a place that is a home for the blind and interviewed the director (shelby's mom is a workout instructor and gives classes in the building next to this home/school). It was sooo interesting! He is blind and typed out our questions in braille because our spanish is hard to follow i guess... and then sat and talked with us for about half an hour about voting and everything. It was reallly cool. Who would've thought I would be in Chile talking to blind man about voting and politics?!
Oh yesterday we had our RSU (responsibilidad social universitario- aka volunteering lecture) and we went to a refugio for boys. that was really interesting too. Its basically a boys home for troubled boys or boys who come from extremely poor families. the home we were at was for boys 12-20 and we got a tour and then hung out with them for a while, the boys played soccer and the girls made kites, we ate dinner with them and everythign. it was really cool! another thing i didn't think i would be doing in chile! hahahaha
Visiting the school for the blind and the trip to the refugio and the politics stuff really should have its own blog, so hopefully I will get around to that this weekend. I am learning soooo much!!! Its incredible! And there is so much I want to show people and tell everyone, but I just cant do it all justice...
My mom and dad and Steve are coming at the end of November for a quick trip!!! That should be sooo fun! How I am going to pick and choose what to show them is beyond me, but I guess I've got a few months to figure that out. hahahahaha
I hope everyone is well! I miss you!!! enjoy the fall! spring is on its way here!!!!
Chau!!!




p.s. I realize some of those sentences are HORRIBLY worded, that would be the spanish talking. jajajajaja

San Pedro de Atacama!!

Hola!!!!
I am back from San Pedro de Atacama!!!! And it was an adventure!!!
We left last Friday morning, our bus from Vina to Calama left at 8:30am. My mom told me it was a 12 hour bus ride, the guy at the bus station when we got our tickets said it was 18, when we got on the bus we found out it was 24 hours.... LONNNNG!!! I had paid extra ($15 each way) to sit "first class" which meant we had seats that reclined almost 180 degrees! When we found out the bus ride was 24 hours we were SOOOO glad we were able to get those seats (there were only 9 semi-cama chairs and 10 of us, and when we booked our tickets only 7 seats were avail...) anyway after some sleeping and eating and movie watching we got to Calama at about 9 am. the bus dropped us off at the mall and then we had to go find another bus to take us to san pedro. so we hopped in some taxis and went near the "centro" to a random side road and there was a bus station.... so we got our tickets to san pedro (we had JUST missed the 8:30 bus, and the next one wasnt until noon....) so we explored a little, sat around and finally got on a bus that looked like it hadn't been used in years. there was dust everywhere the seats were a mess and there weren't even seats for everyone, the oversold the bus!!! it was crazy (only $5 to get there though). an hour and a half later we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere... aka san pedro de Atacama (its fill name is san pedro de atacama, all the roadsigns say that and everything its kinda weird, why not just shorten it to san pedro??). after asking about 5 people where our hostel was (which was a little scary because its this tiny town in the middle of nowhere, i would think everyone wouldknow everyone and where everything is...) we walked about 10 minutes to our hostel and checked in and setteled down. we looked into some tours that the hostel offers but decided to go into town to explore and eat and such. somehow there was a big miscommunication and the lady at the hostel thought we said we wanted her to book us a tour... fine, except she wanted $30,000 (aka $60) for one tour, we talked to a guy, got the same tour and two other tours for the same price... (because we were a group of 10, he gave us one tour free and such) but the hostel lady wouldn't let us back out because she already started making our lunches and already filled up her tour bus and gave her other tour away.... sooo after a lot of negotiating and angry and calling the lady in charge of our program for advice (mama vivi) we were able to get the hostel tour down to half a day for $15,000. but we lost the free tour with the agency (the other 2 tours ended up costing us total 20,000) and a private van etc. ohhhh welll. that was all saturday. it was a LOOONG day!
Sunday we went on the hostel lady's tour to these springs (lagunas) in the salt flat. it was fun and really cool, but we were all a little bitter cuz we could've done the same tour w/ more included for less (dang Gringo tax....). we sawm in this FREEEEEZING salt spring but it was sooo clear and sooo salty and the top 5.5 feet or so were ice cold but below that the water was heated by hot rocks/lava! it was crazy! and COOOOLD!!!!! sunday night we came back, made some dinner, watched a movie, talkde with the germans that were staying at the hostel also (talked to germans in spanish! it was soo neat to communicate in something other than our 1st languages... (although they spoke english better we spoke in spanish. and we had commented on how cool it is that they know 3 languages and they said well you guys dont need to know anything else, everyone speaks english... boo that was discouraging and no good).
Monday morning we were picked up at 4 am to go to the gyesers. SOOOO EARLY! THe gyesers weren't quite the same as one imagines at yellowstone, they mostly just steamed and you could only see the steam and such early in the morning before it got hot. so when we arrived at about 5:30 or so it was -11 degrees Celsius!!! COOOOOLD!!!! by the time we left around 9:30-10, there was no more steam.... the region is volcanic so this frozen underground river gets heated by magma/hot rocks and steams and bubbles and hence the gysers. from there we headed slowly back to town and eventually got back at about 1:30 (we were supposed to get back at 12? or 12:30!?) we had another tour that started at 3 so we rested up a little had some lunch and then a van came and got us for our valle de la luna tour. that was reallllly cool! it was sooo pretty!!! i think the craziest thing of all was that we saw SOOOO many different ecosystems/terrain in one day! we watched the sunset and the colors change and then headed back. had some dinner and went to bed early.
Tuesday was just a lazy day. got up and had breakfast at the hostel, laid around, went into town for some shopping and more exlporing (although there really isn't much to explore in town after the first day...) and then went back for lunch and a nap and walked back for dinner. watched a movie and went to bed because our bus was leaving to go to calama at 8 am.
let me tell you a little about san pedro... it is a tourist town. thats really the only reason its there/still exists. chile is in a big energy crisis and san pedro seems to feel it the most. they turn the electricity off at 1 am until like 6 or something, in the entire town. but they also got a new generator not too long ago and they have been having problems with it, so they ration the electricity by shutting off the power in certain sectors of the town at certain times... so tuesday night after dinner, the sun was down and the power went off at about 7:30 or 8... the lights in stores, the streetlights, EVERYTHING! it was craaaazy! in a town with nothing but open desert it gets REALLLY dark, we were walking home and could hardly see a few feet directly in front of you! it made for some incredible star gazing... after about an hour or so the electricity came back on, but the electricity in our sector (by this time we were back at the hostel) went off... and then when it came on, i managed to blow a fuse and we were back in the dark. then finally after some worring we got the lights back on! hurrah!!! but alas, someone else plugged something in and we were BACK in the dark. hahahaha awwwwesome! this time they knew where the fuse was and we got the power back sooner (still like yet another half hour without power... but thats okay). Another thing about Chile- they dont have indoor heat OR water heaters like we do. They have these things called calefonts and you light them when you want hot water and then turn it off when your done (it involves gas, fire and is outside). My family got an automatic one the week i arrived so i haven't had to learn how to use it or anything, it just lights up when you turn on the hot water side of the faucet! its beautiful. Well our hostel had these automatic ones also. HOWEVER, they didn't really work. showers would consist of a few minutes of FREEEEZING cold water and then a few minutes of SCALDING water. and on top of it, the shower head was hand held that didn't stay in place. so IF you could find a decent temperature for long enough get wet, you had to hold the shower head... hahahaha it was quite an experience and made me appreciate my showers here a lot more. (which before i left i thought were cold and kinda weak...)
anyway I just made empanadas w/ my mom and sister for lunch. i LOOOOOOOVE empanandas!!! dont worry ill make some when i get home. and some of the people in the group want to go to "sporting" (aka a sporting club, but if you say sporting like an american they dont understand so you have to say it sport-ting and add an accent) hahahaha for the holiday, sporting has an official ramada there! but my brother just invited me to do something with them, but im not sure what... hahahahaha so im going to try to do both, i want to check out the ramada and then hang with the fam since i've been gone for a week. plus there are like 4 tortas in the fridge and rumor going around about this torta called "leche nevada" that apparently is incredible- entonces i need to be around for once! empanadas and cake!? i looooove the 18th! hahahahahahaha
buenas tardes!!!!! y felices fiestas patrias!!!!

photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28835074@N05/?saved=1

helllo!
here is a link to some pictures. I will try to upload photos there from here on out (there are a lot on Facebook as well). As of now there are just last weekend's pictures (skiing and the beach).
I've got some homework to do, so Ill update later this week...
Chao!

El fin de semana!

Hola!!
This last weekend (Happy Labor Day!!) was my 4th weekend here!!! (a month will be this friday! where has the month gone!?!? WOW!). And what a weekend it was! Thursday we had class and then Ashton and I went to look for ski clothes and empanadas! (i already know im going to miss empanadas when i get back to the states). That was sort of an adventure because suddenly when we wanted a cheese empanada the most, they were nowhere to be found... We thought we finally found some at this big resturant thing (the red umbrellas on calle valpo) so we sat down and went to order (no menus, they just post what they have on the windows and such) and they dont have any cheese empanadas, only pino. Pino isn't bad but when you want a cheese empanada, you can only have cheese. hahahahaha so we ask where we can get cheese empanadas and he shouts to the host at the resturant next to us if they have cheese empanadas, which they do, and so he buys two cheese empanadas from them and serves them to us at his resturant! crazy! hahahaaha. then when we asked for the bill they brought us these dessert shot things (we saw them at the other tables but thought they had ordered them or something...). It wasn't really alcoholic, just sweet. Fine to try but really no need to do it again... hahahaha Then we searched for a second hand store to look for some ski clothes or something with no luck because we had to go to the social responsabilities workshop thing. After class I went to Joey's to borrow some of his stuff since he wasn't goign, but had it all because he had skied the week before the program started and then went home and hung out there for the night.
Friday we had to meet at 6:30 to go skiing!!! So i set my alarms for 5:30, one of which doesn't go off (nor has it since the 1st week I've been here) and the other i just turned off for a few minutes... Next thing I know its 6:09 and I am still in bed. So i throw everything on and go to run out the door and my mom is trying to serve me breakfast (the night before I told her i had to leave the house at 6) so that was a little funny because even though I told her I had to leave at 6 and that i was late, i am in latin america, so there is no such thing as late or schedules really. hahahah anyway i ran to the bus and i wasn't the last one so that was good. There were 5 people from my program and then like 15 from the advanced program (which was weird because the girl in my program had set it up...). We drove through Vina to Santiago, through santiago to valle Nevado. I slept through all of vina and santiago but not the drive up to the resort... Thats an experience. The road is "2 lanes" but they really only let one way go at a time (ie its closed from like 6 am to 12 pm for those wanting to go down, and vice versa after 12) and you dont really ahve a gradual elevation gain, you just wind back and forth up the mountain. And these turns were far too sharp and i really have no idea how we didn't roll (we were in a micro sorta, regualr tour buses couldnt fit on the road let alone make the turns). So when we finally got there it was a lot different then i had expected. We went from sea level to about 2 or so miles up (in 3 hours) which was neat! But there also doesnt get to be snow until about 9000 feet or so, so the entire ski resort was above treeline. Its really weird to ski without any trees! And i understand why its called valle nevado (snow valley), it was not very steep and more rolling. They have 4 levels of difficulty. Green, blue, red and black. and everything is groomed... so really its all blue because nothing is that steep and if it is a little steeper, its groomed... There was one high speed lift (Andes express) like 3 other chair lifts and then maybe 3 poma lifts? But the pomas were long! one was longer then the high speed quad for sure, so that was wierd. By being that high up though there were some awesome views!! I have a ton of pictures and I will try to put some up here soon. It was a great day! Sunny and warm, like spring skiing! the snow was even slushy by about noon... hahahaha When we got home (around 9 or 10?) i came in talked briefly to my family and went to bed. I have the slighest goggle tan, at home people wouldn't even notice it, let alone say anything, well pretty much the first thing my family noticed/said was about my goggle tan! And then when i was getting ready for bed, my other brother (who wasn't at the table when i got home) came up and was talking to me and pointed out my goggle tan and said not to worry because I can probably cover it up with makeup! hahahahahaha At home goggle tans are cool, but here... hahahaha then on sunday i saw Fran and she made a comment about my tan line! hahahahaha (yet none of the gringos noticed, even when i pointed it out they go oh yeah now that you say something i see it, but i didn't even notice). so that was pretty funny.
Saturday was pretty calm. I did a little homework and then after lunch went to the beach to watch the sunset and learn how to knit! hahahaha. me and a few of the girls bought some yarn and knitting needles because after class we have all this time, not a lot of homework and nothing to do. so we are taking up knitting! hahahaha so we sat on the beach and knitted a little (and the two boys we were with knew how to knit too! hahahahaha) and took a lot of pictures and just hung out which was pretty fun. We have some really awesome fun pictures which i will try to put up later as well. After the beach I went home to change and then we met up at a mexican resturant called Margarita for dinner. It was alright, had more flavor then most things I have eaten here, but not the same thats for sure. and expensive... we went and got ice cream afterwards, then a bar for a drink and were home by midnight! hahahaha not at all the chileno way! hahaha
Sunday was really mellow too, just hung out and did some more homework and stuff. my sister was studying for an chemistry quiz, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY!!!! that just blew my mind, 17 and learning some organic chem as part of her high school reqs! (i think she said its just a unit in the chem class? but still thats awful!!) then around 7 I met up with most of the group and we went to a Chileno concert. That was soooo cool! The group is called Inti Illimani and they are from the 60s and 70s (but got banned from the country when Pinochet took power) and its the typical chileno music. like chileno country sorta?? it reminded me of bluegrass/folk/tribal music. hard to explain but really cool. and it was cool when the whole audience would sing along and clap and dance and everything.
So overall it was a pretty good weekend. Skiing, beach, and concert all in the same weekend! wooo!!!!
anyway I will try to upload some pictures again later this week or something. have a good labor day!
buenas tardes!

update and more photos!

The mine we went in near Oumey.

That blue-ish tinge on the ceiling was what they were mining for. (I think?)

Ashton and Seth on la micro!

On the way to the vineyards. This is Casa Blanca valley.

Ashton and Whitney at sunset!!!

It is raining. Again. Not that it has rained that much, but its more then I like. hahaha (and it didn't start until about 10:30pm anyway so I really dont have anything to complain about...)
I like to think I am sooo Chileno, I have changed my facebook to spanish and have downloaded some spanish music (AND am listening to it...) and I eat once instead of dinner with the rest of the family AND throw in some Chilenismos whenever possible. hahahahaha Today i was walking back from class and I walk past this car dealership and the guard for the cars said "hello" (yes in english) and I responded with "hola" hahahahaha. (thats the first person to say hi to me when on the streets, and he didn't say it in an uncomfortable creepy way, it was more like look I can speak some english! and since I walk past him everyday a couple times a day at least its was friendly. jaajajaja). Soon enough I'll be less of a wannabe.
Classes started this week... I am taking a intense schedule really, nothing very fun (ie the music class or the enviornmental class sound more exciting). I've got a class about chilean myths, legends, traditions and folklore, a class about politics, social change and human rights in chile, another class called cultural anthropolgy in chile, and social diversity, development and globalization in latin america in addition to the spanish course. And all those are in spanish... yikes! The politics class is going to be hard, the teacher is kind of intense. it will be interesting but intense because my history knowledge is minimal to none to begin with let alone world history knowledge... The hardest class is going to be cultural anthropolgy because the teacher is a true chileno. (the other teachers are true teachers and may or may not be native chilenos). The first day of this cultural anthro class (tuesday, we have each class twice a week) the teacher didn't show... and hes in a band. A famous band called Congreso. They were super popular in the 70s and were sort of an anti-pinochet band and if you mention Congreso to any native they know who you're talking about so thats sorta neat. But he speaks soooo fast and with such an accent or something that i think I caught maybe 1/4 of what he said in an hour and a half. And when we asked him to slow down he said hed slow down a little but its better to learn the language at its normal pace (which is fine, except we also need to learn the material...) and he doesn't use powerpoint or have any notes and just comes in and talks for an hour and a half and then you're done... the other profs stop to make sure you are following, try to get a little class participation in and some even use powerpoint... so it will be VERY interesting to say the least.
Thats just a quick summary for now, we'll see how everything is going after a few weeks.
Here are a few more pictures:

PHOTOS!

The view of Vina from the top of a hill on a road that separates Vina from Valpo

This is Valparaiso. Its super colorful, older and hillier than Vina del Mar.

These are some of the houses in Valpo. Super colorful!!!!

Most of the group at our favorite spot, Cafe Journal.

Me at wine tasting!!! In the Casa Blanca valley (or next to) at the Matetic vineyard.

There are a few pictures so you sort of have an idea of what its like here, sorta? I will try to take some of my house and family and school and stuff so you can get a better idea. and of course none of the pictures do much justice to the area.

COMIDA!!!

Here is long awaited food blog... (i understand long awaited is a slight exaggeration).
Food and meals here are different, there is no way around it but at first they seem pretty minute.
For breakfast I have cereal, right now we have a granola and fruit mix and then a bran flake and fruit mix which are actually really good. They have real pieces of dried fruit (strawberries, raspberries [they are huge on raspberries here], raisins) in them so even though they aren't coated in sweet flavor, its still pretty sweet and delicious. I also have some yogurt and/or torta if time permits. Yogurt is mostly the same, just some different flavors. Like fruit and nut with yes, real pieces of nuts and dried fruits in it. And then the pineapple and others dont have fruit in them, so go figure. Since I am still a meal behind I also get the torta option... (torta is like a cake they have for desert/once right now its chocolate for my dad's birthday, before it was yogurt or a coconut). But Ive been eating the tiniest amount of cereal ever so by our break at like 10 I'm starving and then go down to the little market thing near school and get an instant coffee (I have yet to see a starbucks or any true coffee shop [except for the ones in the ritzy part of Valpo where we went on Saturday], they seem to only drink instant coffee).
Lunch is the big meal here, and its a lot later then in the US, during the week about 2ish and during the weekend about 2:30-3ish. And you have a first course (today was tomato soup!) then a main course, and there is salad and bread on the table [by the time i get through the first two plates i dont have room for anything else so now they think i dont like bread or salad...] and then desert of some sort. Fruit salad is a good one that we've had a couple times, and its not as much melon persay, its got apples, bananas, pineapples, sometimes a marichino cherry, and a little orange. Its incredible! I will always make room for that even if they have to roll me away from the table afterwards. hahahaha. One of my brothers and my mom are home for lunch (today was a chicken breast and spaghetti and tomato soup, all freshly made!) sometimes both brothers or Diego and his polola and last Thursday natalia was home too so it changes from day to day (today was me, my mom and dad and Gustavo). And everyone sits around and eats together. But you dont wait for everyone to et their food, you are supposed to eat it when you get served so it doesn't get cold. And when you are done with your plate you put it in the kitchen right away even if everyone else is still eating (which has been the weirdest thing for me, because they take it when Im done, and then i feel bad for them taking my plate and putting it away...).
Dinner is the most different. There is cenar and there is once. Typically once comes at about 6ish and its just pan (bread) and torta and maybe some ham and cheese for your pan and some tea. So kinda like tea time?? hahaha then there is cenar which is usually really late, like 9-11ish (again depending on the family and the day). My family just has once at 8:30. But they are getting me adjusted to eating late and eating smaller portions then, so to do that they have been giving me another serving of lunch. hahahaha. so the rest of the family has ham and cheese sandwiches and I have pasta and chicken for example. hhahaha. And tea. (except for Gustavo, he has instant coffee...hahahaha). Its the same thing every night and everyone has the same quirks, like the kids all like some cold water in their tea or coffee, but dont just let it sit for a few minutes to cool down... And everyone sits down together for their meals (except for breakfast) and then after everyone is done do people start to leave (mostly just my sister and my dad sometimes).
Then there are just some different things and tastes here that surprise me and what not:
they LOOOOOVE mayo. ohhhh man. on everything and its sold in bags! hahahaha but they have these hot dogs called compeltos which are super popular (have i mentioned they say super? super bien or super rico or super frio. i've picked up on it? hahaha) and they have relish, mayo, avacado and tomoatoes on them... For lunch sometimes the salad is a vegetable (ie corn) and then they just put spoonfuls of mayo on it and mix it up. ahhh! hahahaha
Salads are different. they are just vegetables spread out (like lettuce and next to it are some shredded carrots and then next to that is some cut up celery) and they put lemon juice on it for dressing... i was surprised at how good just the lemon juice was on it. hahahaha.
We had some egg, chicken soup yesterday for lunch and they squeeze a bunch of lemon in that as well.
Olives. they like olives too! for my dad's birthday celebration, we sat around the living room area and had or'dourves of olives, artichokes (?) two types of cheese (fresh cheese, its white and doesnt have too much of a taste, its pretty moist, ie when you cut into it some of the water/milk drips out) some meat/cheese rolls (ham and cheese on toothpicks!) and some peanuts. In a typical meat empenada, there is ground beef, onions, olives (whole black olives with the seeds still in them) and egg. They are much better then they sound. hahahahaha
I dont think they really go out for dinner at all and no one makes food for just themselves or anything. There is no peanut butter or easy mac or snacks! NO ONE SNACKS!!!! hahahaha they have all these vendors selling snacks and stuff on the street (ie popcorn, roasted almonds, candied apples/grapes and then legit vendors w/ candy and magazines) but I haven't seen many people buy anything. hahahaha and their grocery stores and gas stations dont really have snacks either. for example a gas station has about 1 aisle of food stuff and then the rest is just other stuff (an aisle of bread i guess... hahaha) and drinks and then stuff for your car or personal hygine etc. its weird.
And the things that we have to refigerate at home (ie eggs!) they dont here. my theory is that its just too dang cold in the house so if there is no room in the fridge, then no big deal... crazy! hahahahaha
Contrary to popular belief there are no chiles in chile. in fact my family hates spicey food. sometimes guacamole can be made too spicey!?! and my family eats a LOT of potatoes and rice. one or the other (or both) for every lunch (and dinner for me...) and there doesn't seem to be the fishy influence I had imagined which is good! ahahaha
anyway Im sure there will be another blog or two on food, but thats just sort of the basics for now. i hope all is well! eat some chipolte for me!!!!!

Chao!

End of week 1

Hola amigos!
What a first week!!! There is just sooooo much to take in!!!! Its already gotten a lot easier to understand people and I have a somewhat better grasp on the area around me and how to get around (I still prefer to walk everywhere then try to take la micros!!). I am still pretty shy about talking to people but that too is getting a little easier. I'm not exactly sure where I ended last time so I will jsut do a quick recap of the week.
Sunday: arrived with host family. I was super nervous but they are very nice and by dinner it was slightly less nerve-wrecking.
monday: We had class at 8:30 and I was pretty sure I knew how to get there, but had allowed myself lots of extra time. My dad walked me to class... hahahaha so there wasn't any trouble. We had dance after class and learned some real salsa-ing so that was pretty fun.
Tuesday: class again and then some of us went to the Chileno office of investigations to register our visa and we had to take la micro. It wasn't as awful because we had a lady leading us and paid for us and everything... but it was really crowded and we could only stand. It made me see how easily your stuff could be stolen because you are hanging on for dear life with your hands above your head and the people in the seats could just sorta fall into you when the bus moved and take your stuff... so yet another reason why I dont want to take la micro.
Wednesday: More class and then we had a big tour of Valpo and Reneca and Concon! This was a 6 hour bus tour!!!! It was cold and overcast and everytime we got on the bus no matter how hard we tried, we were falling asleep... oops! We did see some cool stuff though. At Reneca there were sea lions! (of course I didn't bring my camera because i was thinking it was a walking tour when they said a 6 hour tour of valpo the day before...) so that was neat! And the rock formations were half normal rocks and half lava. It was cool, Im going back next weekend con mi hermana and will take pictures. Then from there we drove to Concon and stopped for some empenadas!!! They were prettty good! Then back on the bus to Valparaiso (valpo for short). Its verrry hard to describe Valpo. It is sorta similar to San Francisco in that is hilly and on the water, but the houses and the architure are sooo neat. They are soo colorful!!! We stopped and went into Pablo Neruda's house (a famous poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature). That was one of 3 houses he has and it was one of a kind. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside (not that I had my camera...) but it was so cool. It truely an artists house. And his view!!! He overlooked Valpo and the port! So cool!!! We took an asencor up to Concepcion and walked aroudn there. There is this graffiti everywhere that isn't really graffiti, its really good and cool looking!! we eventually made it back to Valpo, had some dinner and then played cards with my brothers and Diego's polola (whos name is Fran, short for Francesca, not caty like i thought... hahahaha). So they tried to teach me a new game, but it was really me just holding the cards and Gustavo telling me where to put them. hahahahaha. and Fran said she didn't like that game very much, but I think it was just so they didn't have to try to keep explaining it to me... hahahaha. SO we played some 21 with dominos. hahahahaha
Thursday: Went to class and then walked around Valpo and stuff. (i think??) Then at night we met up after dinner and went to a bar sorta called Cafe Journal (where all the gringos go (a gringo is anyone who doesn't speak spanish, it doesn't matter where your from, if you dont speak spanish, you're a gringo)) and hung out there for a while then went to a discotheque called Stingray. Laura's brother knew someone and he gave us all coupons to get in and for drinks and stuff. We got there really early (at like midnight!) and so that was sorta nice having the place to ourselves. Its weird because they are allowed to smoke inside. So by the end of the night everything you're wearing smells like smoke. A group of us left at about 2:30 or so and it was just starting to get crowded. Its nuts!! I was told that people dont go out to the bars until 12 and then the clubs until 2 or 3 but I didn't take them seriously enough... Tan loco!!!!
Friday: Was a holiday so no one had school or anything. It was POURING!!!! oh man. I dont think I've ever seen so much rain!!! Shelby and I ventured out to the mall to go see a movie (oh someday during the week my sister and her pololo went to the mall to get a few things and I am really close, like 5 blocks...) so that was fun. It was reallly rainy but I was glad to have gotten out. There isn't really a family room or hanging out place like is common in the states, and without heating (and cold wooden floors!) everyone just sits in their beds and watches tv during the day or after dinner etc. So all day it rained and everyone just does their own thing (they also sorta shut their doors to keep the heat in?? i dunno) so i was glad to get out of my room! (we saw made of honor but the spanish name is Quiero Robarme a la Novia which means I want to steal your girlfriend) The weather made me pretty depressed but when I got back after some dinner me and Gustavo and my brother played some cards and they retaught me the game we tried to play on Wed (my mom helped me) and its actually pretty fun. so that put me in much better spirits.
Saturday: I slept in again (noon two days in a row. yikes!) and when I got up it wasn't raining anymore!!! and it was beautiful!!! SO that was great!!! We had lunch and then I met up with the group and we went to valparaiso to try to explore. When we got there half of the group went on a little boat tour and half of us went to explore and look for a snack (guess which group I was in... hahahahaha). So my group (yes the snack group... hahaha) decides that the resturants will be up a little further from where we are (we had no idea where we were though) so we start walking up a hill. Oh man we walked up that hill forever! hahahaha It did make me super glad I was from CO though. I wasn't sweating at the end and my legs didn't burn like the others! hahaha so once we finally got to the top we thought we were close to concepcion and we knew there were some little cafes and stuff there so we start asking for directions and find out we are still about half an hour away! So after walking for a good long time we get to concepcion, the boys went to go find a bar (which in the area there wasn't one its a very artsy, upscale european-like area.) and the girls (and seth) had some coffee and cookies. The boat crew met up with us, we walked to the asencor we had taken the other day and took it down and went back to Vina for dinner (mind you it was 7 on a saturday night...) so we BACK to cafe journal to eat and have some bebidas. we had some delicious! food (at a normal dinner time for us gringos! 7pm!!!) and then had some drinks and a group of us went back home at about midnight and the rest stayed there.
Sunday: I slept in AGAIN but I dont feel as guilty because I dont think my family has really left the house all weekend. (actually i did hear my brothers come in last night a little after I did I think, at least one of them, the other came in later and I think I had woken up when he came in). we had lunch, i thought my mom said earlier but really it ended up being later then normal. (like 2:45 instead of 2ish??) then I met the rest of the group at the beach to play futbol (but i was about an hour late so the games had ended (that and the broken glass in the sand...)) and explored the beach for a while which was pretty cool. its going to be sooo sweet when it warms up more!!! Then Joeys host mom invited us all over for empenadas!!! so that was really cool and we went over there and hung out then i came back, had a little once and finished some homework and here i am!
So overall it has been a pretty great first week. Definitely lots to adjust to and I will try to blog later this week to point out some of the differences that I have noticed and are taking some adjusting. A lot to do with food and eating habits etc.
I hope all is well for everyone else!!!!
Tomorrow is class and then I get my Chileno ID card! (that means im official!!! and a little less gringo-ish?? maybe?) and then we've got dance. hahahaha
OH Thursday was also my dad's birthday!!! I will have to have a whole blog on food/eating in the near future... Es todo for now...
Chao!

HOLA!!!!
Today is the end of day 3 con mi familia. And my spanglish is INCREDIBLE. my spanish is not as good though... hahahaha. I am learning sooo much though. Some of the kids in my program were talking today about how quickly we are picking things up, we can already understand a lot more then we could on sunday so thats really cool. I like to throw in some of the slang that i've been learning about and stuff and throw it in and my host fam loves that. hahaha they get quite a kick out of my "chilenismos" hahahaha
I shall recap... Monday was the first day of spanish class. That went pretty well. Somehow, contrary to my opinion I got placed in the "advanced" spanish class. So maybe I know a tiny bit more then I give myself credit for? No se. Then despues de class we went to a department store called Ripleys and most of the group bought cell phones so we can try to stay in contact with one another. At home I had lunch with my mom which was good. Its a lot easier to communicate with her. She talks slower for me and quieter and she knows some english so at least she understands more of what im experiencing then the rest of the fam. (at least thats what I think...) After lunch I met Mateo and we went to dance (he lives really close) and learned some real salsa!!! (Im not really sure what we've been doing for the past lessons, but thats alright). I am truely dyslexic (sp?) everyway I was told to turn, I went the opposite way. It was beautiful. hahahaha. We didn't have "dinner" until 8:30 again and that was REALLLY intense. My brothers were both there, Diego con su polola (girlfriend in Chilean, novia is when you're engaged) and Naty had her boyfriend, and Gustavo is just very animated anyway... so it was reallly loud. AND they were telling their mom about how they had a party at the house in 2004 when Naty and their parents went to Santiago for the weekend... so that was pretty funny. "mom you cant get mad, we'll tell you if there are no consequences because whats passed has passed." hahahahaha talk about setting themselves up for trouble! hahahaha so it was a very interesting dinner. (PS my dad walked me to class! I didn't have to take the micro or worry about getting lost or anything, it was glorious!)
Today (Tuesday) I went to class (8:30 every day! que temprano!) and then after class we went back to ripleys for more phones and then I went home for lunch and everything. This time it was just me and my brothers and Diego's polola (i think her name is caty, pronounced caught-y??) so that was cool because it was more relaxed then dinners and they had music going and everything. Its neat because they eat every meal together. its not like oh hey i made some mac and cheese if you want some, they come and get you and you all sit down together and everything. its neat. Then i went back to school to meet up with the group and we went to go get our visas registered... had to take la micro! No me gusta. Then a group of us walked around townand that was cool, I had no idea how much more there was, and we didn't even get to the beach! (that was our destination and we made it to the water, but not the beach). At dinner it was the fam minus Gustavo and plus Naty's boyfriend, (his name starts with an A...) hahahaha and once again loud and craaaazy! hahahahaha. Oh and Naty y yo y su pololo went to the mall to pick up some things and that wa neat. Its super close! i had no idea! and its HUGE! they thought all the malls in the US were big and that their mall is really small, but its 5 stories and jsut crazy! hahahaha. You can buy batteries here individually, they just open a package and give you some. and you have to go to a special writing/arts and crafts type store to get a highlighter! then we went to the grocery store for bread. It was also weird because at the pen store, you tell them what you want, they get it, give you a reciept, you pay for it and then go to ANOTHER counter to pick it up... it takes forever! hahahaha
Its still freezing, especially at night/the morning, by about 3 its reallly nice out. I made the mistake of wearing a scarf to the police station (and my coat...) i was sweating before I even got to school, then we waited for la micro the rode the micro... hace caliente!
Tomorrow we are taking a big tour of Valparaiso (I am in Vina del Mar) after class so that will be fun I think. Oh I also showered today AND we got a new calefont! and its automatic!!! (but im not sure if its actually working yet or if they have to fine tune it tomorrow? I know they are coming tomorrow to work on it some more but Im not sure if I can shower or not...) wahoo!
anyway thats all for now, bed calls!
Buenas noches!

now really, what have I gotten myself into?

aye aye aye
We met up with our host families today. Turns out all the spanish I was thinking I understood in class and high school was all a lie. My family has been talking to me, and I sorta get the general topic and based on their reactions/tone etc I can guess their feelings and try to react appropriately, but thats about all. Its a mess. I am anxious to get really good at spanish so I can carry on a conversation (or at least answer the questions mostly correctly the first time they ask, or say more than one sentence in another tense other than present...) but getting there is going to be long and painful.
They are soo nice though, I was so nervous but really everyone is very nice and fun and understanding. I am a littl confused because there is an old man that lives here they call maestro. and they introduced me and maybe described him as an abuelo (grandfather) but from what I did understand at dinner, he is not related to them at all. And Im not sure if the brothers live here or not... I'm pretty sure one does but I haven't really seen them all day (one went to work, his second day! and the other went to soccer?? no se) so I really dont know.
Class starts at 8:30 tomorrow, and they showed me how to take the micro and everything, but that is far too petrifying and its only like a 20-30 minute walk, so I think I am going to walk, at least until I find out how close the other kids live so we can coordinate something?
This whole eating thing is probably going to be the death of me, either by over eating or starving. or maybe some unique combination of both. Today we had this HUGE lunch, it didn't look like that much food, but about a quarter of the way through I was "satisfecho" and then they ate "once" at 8:30 which (I ate leftover lunch! hahahaha) is cakes and breads and tea/coffee. Not even dinner! And to think that in real life situations they have once at about 6 or 7 and then at 8-10ish (maybe later) they have dinner. Crazy!
I can't wait for spring/summer! No matter how many layers I have on nor what they are made of makes me much warmer. Apparently if you live here, you develope a higher tolerance for cold. Its not colder then winters in CO by any means, I would compare the weather during the day to October or November in CO... but no heat inside... That will get to you bones because its a cold slow chill freeze. hahahaha My host family put a electric blanket on my bed! So have been so accomodating and awesome so far!!
They gave me a cell phone to use, but I have no idea if it is just for now/emergencies or what. I need to ask, but I also need to know what they are saying when they respond. Same with showers.... Mi mama y Naty told me about the calefront (the thing that you have to start to heat the water...) but Im not sure what they were saying. I thought they said they are getting an automatic one this week? or that its better to shower at night because then it doesn't take as long... No idea. So im going to not shower tomorrow morning and worry about it after class. hahahaha
Their house is very simple. No one has anything on the walls. There are some paintings one of the boys did in the family room, thats about all, for example Naty's room doesn't have any posters or pictures or anything up. I am anxious to hear other people's impressions and thoughts.
Its only 10:30 but I am exhausted!! (i couldn't sleep last night because I was so nervous). And Naty's boyfriend just got here... its a school night! que loco!! and she is getting up at 7... or leaving at 7, Im not sure. I just know mi mama said she would get me up then too?? so i set some alarms. I have to get a clock! and a watch! hahahaha (and a normal size toothpaste. hahahaha)
aye aye aye.
Thats all for now, bed calls!!!

ADIOS!!!

(ps wish me luck tomorrow on getting to school and back (twice!- dance class at 2:40. hahahaha))

orientacion

Hola!!!
So I have survived now 2.5 days in Chile!! (though really the first day doesn't count since I slept pretty much the whole time...) yesterday we met up with the group and everything. I lied in my last post. I said there were 5 people from DU, but there are actually 4 in my program. there is one girl who goes to George washington University but is from Colorado and then another guy who goes to CC. so out of 15 there are 6 of us with colorado ties. CRAZY!! in the hosteria lobby they keep playing some english songs... like buttercup and then old macdonald had a farm and just now i heard the barney intro song...hahahahaha. Last night we went to the local pub (all the bars are called pubs) and it was kareoke night and there was already a group of people in there when we got there (a group of lawyers actually) so we tried to sing along with them and then they tried to sing along with some english songs. Its interesting to see what american songs they have, the first song they played for us (thinking wed all know the words...) was Frank Sinatra, then Michael Jackson... so popular songs, but no one knew all the words. hahahaha so that was funny.
Today we went on a walk aroudn a national park close to where we are staying. It was really neat, we had a guide who would tell us all about the flora and the history of the area. It was in a valley sort of and one mountain was more tropical and the other was much more arid and desert like because the sun shines on it all the time and then the valley was a river bed. And all three areas were different temperatures! It was crazy. Then we went into an old closed mine which was interesting because they showed us what the common metal (?) (mineral?? no se) is. I will upload pictures later. It was scary because we had two head lamps, one for the guide in front and one for the guide in back, and thats it! It wasn't very far but still scary! hahaha reminded me of the movie the descent! hahahah
The water is safe to drink, but it contains more minerals then Americans are used to or something so we aren't allowed to drink the tap water yet. We have to start off by putting ice cubes in a drink then a week later we can try to drink one small glass of water with a meal a day and then go from there. Of course I didn't know that so I just went right ahead and filled a nalgene and was drinking that. I haven't really had any problems other than feeling kinda gassy... sooo we'll see. hahahaha (they said if you dont get the runs within a few hours you're fine...) hahahaha
We have been trying to learn how to dance... yesterday they taught us salsa and merengue... hahahahaha thats quite the experience but then last night some of the people got up and tried out some of their moves and the locals were giving them some pointers and stuff. it was pretty neat! we've got another dance class in about a half hour.
Tomorrow we meet our host family. AHHH! im so nervous!!! I think they will be fun and everything will be fine, its just the whole speaking thing that Im really nervous for.
I will update again when I can. there is already so much to talk about!! and im starting to think in spanish...
adios!!!

Hola de Chile!!

Im here!!!

Yesterday I left Denver at 3, flew to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Santiago. We touched ground at 8 am (there is a 3 hour time change from denver to here, I am now 2 hours ahead, so jet lag wont be too bad) and i was off the plane, through customs and checked into my hotel room by 8:45 i think. it was quick and painless. i am staying at a hotel right across the airport drop off/pick up so thats good. I did not want to have to deal with taxis and everything especially since I am meeting up with the rest of the group tomorrow morning at 9 :45 am.

Flying in was foggy, so there wasn't a whole lot to see. it was neat though because the fog was settled on the ground and the mountains were nice and clear. I was sitting on the west side of the plane so i was overlooking the ocean, but when we were cirlcing waiting to land (delayed to due fog...) I saw the east siade and the mountains were a lot bigger and snow covered and everything so that was neat. Today i am going to take a nap, shower up, organize my stuff (turns out in the 3 day bag i packed at home I forgot to put shirts in... oops! hahahaha) and hang out by the pool or something? Its definitely winter here. I walked out to the hotel and could see my breath and wished I had a sweatshirt on or something slightly more substantial (and was also very glad i wasn't in shorts and a t-shirt like the guy next to me on the plane!)

Im anxious for the rest of the group to get here and get started!!

Adios!