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!