Adventures in the Mall

Hey, people!

Well, due to the homework situation this weekend, it wasn't too exciting other than our trip to the beaches. However, I did get a lot accomplished which is making this week a lot better for me.

Yesterday, I slept in a bit and then worked on homework until about noon. I went over to Rachael's to work on our presentation for our Film and Literature class. It's about the human rights violations during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. We worked on that for a couple hours and then had a HUGE lunch with her host parents, 3 host siblings, and two other Chilean families. It was really interesting. They were discussing big political topics and other random things. We tried to follow along, but it was very interesting, hahaha.

Today, I had class (big surprise, I know). We started watching a movie in my Latin American Film and Literature about Dawson Island. We've begun discussing music in my Chilean Conversation and Culture class. It's made getting my present for Jacob much easier :)

After going home and working on more homework for a bit, I ran down the street for some snacks. Then, Rachael and I went to the mall! It was quite an adventure, in reality. It's really far away from any metro stops so we had to take a micro (bus), which are always crazy to figure out. I found a souvenir for my brother that I'd been looking for, and we also got some ice cream.

It's a huge mall! Then we had to take a micro back to Recreo (our neighborhood). It was probably the most violent ride I have ever taken in my life. I actually thought the bus was going to tip over, hahaha.

I miss everyone. It's getting so close to coming home!

Beautiful Days in Chile

Hi, everyone!

Today was lovely.

Well, yesterday I mainly did homework. We have TONS this weekend, and Rachael and I tried to complete a lot of it yesterday so we wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the weekend. We also walked around by our houses cause I needed to get Bandaids, hahaha.

We all had to wake up early this morning to meet at the Municipal Theater of Viña del Mar with our ISA group. We first drove into Reñaca, where I went the first day with my host family. It wasn't as pretty cause it was slightly cloudy, but still absolutely gorgeous.

The view is incredible.

After visiting Reñaca, we traveled to this random beach area to ride horses. I have to say that it was an adventure. My horse really wasn't bad, although it wanted to eat and drink quite a bit. I just had to be tough and pull him away. However, they didn't really train anyone on how to handle the horses so everyone who hadn't ridden before had some trouble. Boy Jordan's horse took him down into the water..it was hilarious.

After this interesting horseback riding, we traveled to Horcón. I had some DELICIOUS cheese empanadas with Rachael, Katie and Elizabeth. There wasn't too much else to do, but it was still nice to visit. Finally, we went to Zapallar. It was absolutely gorgeous. Liz and I climbed to the top of this huge rock structure, and it was one of the most incredible views. There are tons of pictures on Facebook in the album "Playas del Norte." We started driving back to Viña del Mar and though about going sandboarding, but everyone was a bit exhausted/it was kind of dark and cloudy. However, Rachael and I went shopping again after we got back and got LOTS of souvenirs for people. I'm really excited about them.

Only 14 days until I come home! So weird. Miss everyone :)

Chills

Hello, all!

There's nothing too exciting to report from here in the Southern Hemisphere, other than the intense cold that there has been in the mornings and later at night. Central heating is SUPER expensive here so no one has it, making the houses very cold. However, it still has gotten very nice in the 60s this week!

Well, yesterday was quite a busy day. We had class, of course, in the morning. Rachael and I got some lunch after class to eat in the ISA office. We have to analyze a poem by Neruda for our Film and Literature class, so we worked on that and talked with some fellow students for a while. Then we had a silly orientation about culture shock. It was slightly useless, but it was nice to see everyone from our program again! I did some more homework after going home and ate dinner with my host family.

At about 9:30, Rachael and I met up with Jordan, Jack, Marlo and Tori at Café Journal in Viña del Mar. Wednesday nights are supposed to be really popular with "gringos" here, but we were really the only ones on the first floor. It was really crowded and fun to hang out with some other people. We didn't stay out too late, by Chilean standards, but we still had a good time!

More classes this morning and then work on a paper and presentation. Hooray! I also had a delicious lunch with my host family. Hope everyone's doing well!

Sunshine and Flowers

Relaxing night yesterday, although our internet hasn't really been working for a couple days due to some intense wind. I've been reading a lot though which is really nice.

Today was slightly boring in class. We finished watching the film "Il Postino" in my Film and Literature class. The ending was very different from that of the book it's based off of. In my Chilean Culture and Conversation class we discussed September 11th of 1973 some more and started watching the movie "Machuca." Unfortunately, we'll be watching this same movie in my other class next week...hopefully we can convince our professor that we don't have to come to class those days.

I finished my homework, had lunch and edited my paper with my host mom after class. Rachael and I took a walk along the coast to the flower clock in Viña del Mar at sunset. It was gorgeous and really nice to walk. We also went to a bakery by our house. I bought a doughnut thing with "manjar" in it. It's almost like caramel, but it's not totally the same taste.

Tomorrow we have a random ISA orientation, and none of us have any idea what it's going to be about. Hopefully it's not too boring! Anyway, I miss everyone lots and can't wait to see you all!

Back to Class

Not a super exciting day for me, but I thought I'd post some pictures of my host house for everyone to see, particularly my mom!

I went to class this morning, and there was apparently on accident on the main road so there were a TON of people on the metro instead of taking the micros or colectivos. In my first class of Film and Literature, we watched the movie "Il Postino," which is based off of the book we're reading. Then in my Conversation and Culture class we began to talk more about Salvador Allende, the military coup on September 11th, 1973 and Augusto Pinochet. It's very interesting because it was so recent and disturbing.

Well, after that, Rachael and I went to a little empanada shop behind "La Católica." Empanadas are by far the best thing I've tried here so far. I keep trying every kind I can. This place had the first chicken empanadas that I've seen here. We ran into our Chilean Conversation and Culture professor there so we knew it was pretty good. They definitely were! We did some homework in the ISA office until we had a "Language Exchange" event. Five Chilean students who are learning English came to speak to us. We spoke in Spanish half the time and English in the other half. It was a bit chaotic cause there were way more students from the United States in comparison to Chile, but still fun to practice!

"Once" and dinner tonight! And here are some pictures of my host house:

View from my bedroom window

Part of my bedroom

Kitchen

Stairs

Living room

Now I'm a Real Chilean...

Today, I realized that I only have 20 days left here. That is so crazy. It's been going by so fast. However, I do miss everyone.

Well, this weekend has been very busy and really fun. Friday night I relaxed at home and did some homework. I got to sleep in on Saturday a bit, which was very nice. The weather has been gorgeous here recently in the upper 60s and low 70s. Therefore, I decided to read outside on my porch on Saturday. I finished the short novel I had to read for my film and literature class called "El Cartero de Pablo Neruda." On Saturday night, I had a real "once" with my host family and friends. Usually my host mom, Claudia, makes me and Christine a bigger dinner while they have more snack-like food. I chatted with all of them for a bit and then Skyped with my Mom. After that was the real adventure of the night!

The night life in Chile is literally crazy. Many people don't go out until midnight or two in the morning! Thank goodness I have friends who want to leave a bit earlier in the night. Taryne, Rachael and I met at the metro station at 9:45 to ride into Valparaíso last night. Rachael and I hadn't been out in Valparaíso at night before this, but Plaza Aníbal Pinto had been recommended to us by our Chilean professor and Chielan tour guide who is a student at the same university as us. We met up with our friend Elizabeth once we got there and checked out a couple places. Unfortunately, not a ton is even open until a bit later. We found a cheap place to hang out in for a while. Then we went to a restaurant that looked kind of like the Rainforest Cafe. It was really fun.

As we were walking about after the restaurant, we saw a huge crowd of people outside a "discoteque" that our Chilean Conversation and Culture professor had told us about, called Mascara. She said that they played a lot of 80s music and that it would be really fun, so we decided to go in! We got in pretty quick due to the fact that we're "gringas," but we still had to pay a $7 cover fee. Interestingly, the word "gringo" is not meant in an offensive manner here like it is in some other Spanish-speaking countries. It simply means any foreigner in the country.

Anyway, the music they played was hilarious. We heard George Michael, Spice Girls, Banarama, and tons of Lady Gaga. We loved it. We actually ran into one of the Chilean tour guides and his friend at the discoteque. He was super friendly and nice. Also, there was a performer who did aerial silk acrobatics to one song. I have literally never seen anything like it. Well, at about three in the morning we decided to head out cause we were exhausted and the smoke was getting to us. There don't really seem to be laws about smoking in public places, so when we go out at night all our clothes end up smelling. Mascara was really bad though cause everyone was smoking in the confined dance areas.
Rachael, Taryne and I took a micro home, although we had to wait for it to fill up so it took awhile.

Today, Rachael, Taryne and I went to Cerro Concepción in Valparaíso and explored a bit. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the water was super blue. We decided to find a café that overlooked the ocean and city. We found one with some delicious food and coffee/juice/milkshakes. It was a super fun day. However, I'm exhausted now after my one late night like a real Chilean would do. I'll be going to bed early for classes tomorrow!

Also, there tend to be musicians who play in the metro illegally who are actually super good! I decided to record one pair today, and I'm going to try to get more in the future! Have a good night everyone.

Hot Days in Viña!

Hello, everyone!

The past couple days have been super fun. Rachael and I didn't do anything on Wednesday night cause we wanted to finish our papers, for sure, and then get some sleep. However, yesterday was really fun! We had class in the morning and then hung around our university until our tour with ISA later in the day. We got our reading done during this break, ate lunch and walked around a bunch. I bought a pan de leche, which is like a cream doughnut but even better!!

We split up into small groups led by Chilean students. Our tour guide was named Karen, and we had toured with her last week too. She's so nice and invited us to hang out next week! We're planning on going to Café Journal and eating empanadas! Well, she took us to Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaíso, which is called La Sebastiana. The view was gorgeous, as was the house.

Overall, I think I liked the house on La Isla Negra best, particularly because of the view. This house really was beautiful though. Then we toured some more of Valparaíso, especially street art. We explored in some stores and got to eat some delicious empanadas.

Then, last night, Rachael and I went out to a bar called Oasis. We looked in a couple bars that only had beer in it, which wasn't great for me. I never smelled or tasted a beer I really liked, except for last night! Oasis was super nice and classy. They were projecting music videos on the wall, both from the United States and Latin America. I tried "piscola," and it was pretty decent. "Pisco" is the national alcohol in Chile. Rachael and I also split a beer called Becker. We took a micro (bus) home, which was exciting cause we had never done it by ourselves before!

Today we had our last day of class for the week! It was pretty relaxed because a lot of ISA students were gone in Mendoza, Argentina. Our Chilean Conversation and Culture professor took us to the oldest part of Valparaíso. It was really fun and had an incredible view of both the mountains and the ocean. Rachael and I went shopping in Viña to get some souvenirs a little earlier, and I was just playing with María. I'm excited for a relaxing weekend. Hope everyone's doing well!