I cannot believe how fast these past 3 weeks have flown by! I've been here almost a month and it feels both like I've been here a long time and like I just got here yesterday at the same time. If I were looking at this program in terms of modules withing the 6 months, the first part ended yesterday with the end of the Intensive Language Program. From now on my classes are just regular university classes for the semester with Chilean students and not just ILPers! I'm really excited!
My final quiz and final presentation yesterday went well! I don't particularly feel like I learned very many new things in the ILP program, but I definitely became a lot more comfortable with a lot of grammatical concepts that I had always only semi-understood as well as with the basic act of speaking spanish out loud in front of people. It was a really great experience, my professor was great, my class was great, and (fingers crossed) GPA booster much?
Over the past couple days I have been running lots of small errands to get ready for our trip! I picked up my Chilean ID card on Thursday which is really cool! We went to the grocery store for our trip and bought a lot of trail food, but certainly need to go to the store in Puerto Natales also! I have lots of granola bars, some protein bars, lots of nuts, some canned peaches, and cereals. We have some peanut butter to share and are going to buy break and jelly in Patagonia, as well as I plan to buy some canned chicken or something of the sort. We also plan to purchase the refugio dinners so that we don't have to carry a stove and dinner foods, but will bring extra snack just in case!
Last night was my first experience with Chilean night-life. We went out clubbing and ended up dancing at a very crowded club until about 4AM. And it was still full. I don't understand how Chileans do it! It was definitely fun, but will definitely not be turning into a frequent activity of mine I don't think.
Next update! I MAY have a place to live! I should know by tomorrow if I get cell phone reception/can check my email in Punta Arenas. Gina and I will hopefully be living in a very nice, large house with 2 Chileans and a French person. The two guys that we met are totally okay with us moving in and just have to check with the French roommate who is on vacation until Sunday. Fingers crossed! It's a very nice house, in a nice location, with parks to run in, a very large yard, and the guys are really nice and chill. One of them lived in Long Beach for 5 months! I'll keep you posted!
So this brings me to what's next? Well today I am going to somehow make my backpack be packed and not massive and get my stuff in order in my room so that it is neat and orderly while I'm gone. I am soooo excited I can't believe that I am actually leaving to go to Patagonia in a little over 12 hours! I know it's going to be incredible and something I will never forget, as well as certainly an adventure seeing as I've never done anything nearly this ambitious with out my parents! My friends I'm traveling with and I are meeting for dinner at 730 at the mall, then going to see Valentine's Day the movie, and then heading over to the airport for our 2:30AM flight! I am sooo excited but have lots of preparation left to do in the next 7 hours, as well as a skype date with lots of family (Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt, Brother, and Judith all in the same place at once!).
Last matter of this blog post. I am not bringing my computer to Patagonia with me so this blog will be seeing far fewer updates in the next 2 weeks. I'm going to tr and locate some way to update it at least once while I'm down there, maybe after the first week, but nothing is certain! I'm going to keep a hand-written journal and probably type some of that up for you all when I return after February 28th, so look for something around then!
I love all and wish you could all be down here with me about to embark on this big adventure with me! I'll take lots of pictures and make lots of memories, and think of the people I love while hiking and adventuring in such a spectacular place!
Chao hasta Marzo! Mucho Amor!
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