Today I. . .

-woke up farrr too early
-had my first day of my internship (went pretty well, should be a really good thing, I'll expand more on this in a future post)
-had my first tandem meeting--Catalina is very nice and I spoke a lot of Spanish and helped her with her English
-briefly skyped with Malia in NZ before she leaves for winter vacation for 2 weeks
-went to an incredible dinner with 5 very good friends--Lonely Planet wins again!
-registered my classes on MyEAP after fighting with the system for a while
-called my mama to say Happy Easter a little early and talk a bit
-FINALLY skyped with Ryan and Judith! I hadn't seen either of their faces since I left the US! SO nice to talk! and we're talking again Monday!

Busy Busy Busy

Real quick update since I really need to go to sleep! I have SO much to do in the next 2 days, but then it's vacation time! Followed by my first test next week. . .and a half marathon that has definitely not been properly prepared for (did I run today? no, do I have time to run tomorrow? no. . .oh gosh)

First off, housing sitch. For the first time since getting down here, I feel ready to move out of my homestay. A few reasons: in the past week, I have noticed my host mom smokes. I don't know when it started or whether it just did, but it definitely bothers me. Another, the past two nights she hasn't prepared dinner (or once, which is really just putting bread and butter and jelly on the table). Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I'm paying $20 a day right now for things like this. Today I had cereal at 1030 for dinner once I realized it wasn't coming. Another: she took my clothes to wash them on Saturday and I still only have half of them back, while the other half sit waiting to be finished and returned. Not only do I need my clothes to wear them, but I need to pack them! Overall, my homestay has been great but it will be nice to be in charge of my own life again come Thursday.

Speaking of Thursday, I NEED TO PACK! When? No idea! Late tomorrow night or Thursday morning I suppose (although I MUST run Thursday morning).

Yesterday i really didn't do much besides pretend I was being productive packing and really only grab my suitcase from the closet. I did skype with Elisa which was really great!

Today, I went to class and tried the Mexican food cart on campus that was actually impressively good, although my stomach may have forgotten how to handle Mexican food if evidenced correctly from lunch and this afternoon. Then I saw How to Train Your Dragon with Gina and returned home and skyped with Jess, which was nice to catch up and just talk and let all my feelings out to someone who I know will listen and not just tell me what I want to hear, but rather what I know I should be told.

Tomorrow I start my internship from 920-410 with a break in the middle plus lunch. Then I have my first tandem meet up with Catalina in Bellas Artes and then a quick skype date with Malia before heading out to dinner with Lindsey, Lauren, Kathryn, Ariel, and Gina! Then it'll be pack pack pack, sleep, run, pack, move, and leave for the long weekend!

Busy Busy Busy!

Happenings and trailing off thoughts

As my parents pointed out to me this afternoon via skype, it's been a while since I last blogged and I figured I should do something about that! It hasn't been a particularly eventful past couple days, but it has been nice to start to fall into a routine and I've had the opportunity to get some stuff settled and hang out with friends.

On Wednesday, I had a meeting with the English teaching team at La Alianza Francesa School where I will be helping them teach English on Wednesdays for the semester. While it is not the ideal internship I was looking for since I will not have my own class with another internee and it;s certainly not to less fortunate children that otherwise would not have the opportunity to learn Emglish, it does seem like it will be a good experience nonetheless. None of the English Department team members are native English speakers, and while their English is very very good, I've been able to tell through emails that they aren't natives so I feel like I will be a good asset to them. I will be assisting in classes of all ages, from ages 8 to 17. We'll see how it goes! I plan on making the most of it and it will certainly look good on a resume at the least! It should be a good experience though! Plus they are feeding me lunch for free when I'm there and possibly reimbursing me for transportation (woo!).

On Wednesday evening some friends and I went on a weekly nice dinner outing we've come to refer to a "Date Night". This week, it was just me and 3 other friends and we went to a really delicious and cool pub called El Reloj and I got a quesadilla with filet mignon! YUMMY! It's nights that this one too that I enjoy the fact that I am of drinking age here, since I was able to enjoy a very good Chilean beer with my Mexican food while talking and having a good time with friends.

Following dinner, we took a rather sketch bus ride home in which we got to a bus stop where everyone else got off, the bus driver asked us where we were going, and then blasted the music, turned off the lights inside the bus, and sped down the street to let us off exactly where we had asked. Definitely a strange experience, but since there were 3 of us together it turned out to be nothing more than a laughing matter.

Thursday consisted pretty primarily of class and figuring out the whole photocopy situation a litle bit more. It turns out I was able to get photocopies of the 213 page book previously mention and thus I don't have to read ridiculous amounts since I can only keep it for 4 days! Woohoo! Slowly but surely, I will conquer this confusing, unorganized system. After class I headed over to the EAP office to pick up some mail (yay letters from Aunt Sue and Rachel!) and ask a few quick questions about my internship (which had originally given FAR too many hours).

So, now my schedule is pretty much set in stone with the exception of a possible yoga class on Monday evenings. It is as follows (and pretty sweet if I do say so):

Monday: possible Yoga at 6pm
Tuesday: Class 10-12:50, 5-7
Wednesday: Internship 9:20-4:10, Tandem Partner evening
Thursday: Class 10-12:50, 5-7
Friday: NADA

So, I have 4 day weekends, every weekend! Pretty ideal for traveling! The Tandem thing is a language practicing program through my school. I have been set up with a partner (Catalina) and we meet up for a minimum of 1 hour every week and speak English half the time (for her) and Spanish half the time (for me). Our first meeting is this Wednesday when we're meeting to walk around Bellas Artes and maybe get an ice cream. I'm really glad I'm doing this because I've sort of been feeling like I don't speak nearly enough Spanish down here. I feel like when I was really homesick I sort of reevaluated what I wanted to get out of this experience and put comfortability above things like language and culture and now I need to reevaluate that again. I feel comfortable now and will even soon be living with a good friend, so i need to delve back into really trying to learn the language a little more. As far as culture, you experience that regardless. It's impossible not to what with the splendid cultural norms of Chilean men, the fabulous Metro that sometimes is great and other times makes you sweat like you just ran 6 miles after being shoved in like sardines, and so much more. Just living here is experiencing the culture, plus I think my Tandem partner will help me with that too.

As far as classes are concerned, they seem like they won't be that bad (I hope I don't regret saying that). Political Geography has a lot of reading but it's also very manageable. It has 4 tests, but the professor said that out of the 2 questions, exchange students can either answer 1 in Spanish or 2 in English and we can have a dictionary out. I want to try and do every thing I can in Spanish as far as classes are concerned and feel confident I'll be able to, but it's still just nice to know we have a buffer. We also have to watch "V for Vendetta" for the first test which is April 8th which is pretty awesome! Population Geography really just seems pretty easy to be honest. We've just been talking about census's and birth/death/infant mortality rates, etc. Nothing big and a lot of conceptual stuff that just comes down to memorization. My 3rd class, which is on Chilean Culture, doesn't start until April 6th but should be interesting enough! I've heard it's actually kind of boring, but at least I'll learn some neat things and hopefully understand more of Chile after it.

Friday can be summed up as follows: no más Terremotos. Nevertheless, it was nice to go out and get to see some of the people from our program we don't see very often.

Yesterday, Gina and Lindsay and I went to Parque Arauco and ate some BOMB salads which is a HUGE accomplishment for Chile which has a pretty sad rendition of what a salad should be (some lettuce, separated from some tomatoes, with some lemon juice squeezed on top, covered with some salt). These salads had crutons, were mixed, had good lettuce, carrots, mozarella cheese squares, and vinegar and oil for dressing. YUM. There was also a really good live band playing while we ate which was really neat. Afterward, we went and saw "La Caja Mortal" or "The Box" in English, or "the worst movie I've ever seen". It was so bad that it was funny/dumb/I actually considered walking out. We should have seen "How to Train a Dragon" haha. Then, after another lovely bus ride home with 10ish drunk young Chilean men catcalling us from the back of the bus, we returned home for the night.

Today Gina and Lindsay and I went for a 90 minute run as our last (slash only 3rd) long run before the half marathon in 2 weeks. I've been running these long runs down here without intervals which is definitely harder, but is starting to feel pretty good. It was a hard run, but felt pretty good! After the run we went to a restaurant we had eyed out on a previous long run called Crepes & Waffles. It was delicious, but as it turned out eating a nutella, ice cream, whipped cream, banana waffle after running 9 miles isn't the greatest idea. We all sat still for a good while after finishing the food, but it was definitely worth it!

We are heading up to the slight north on Thursday which should be amazing for a long weekend to La Serena (beach town) and Valle de Elqui since we have Thursday and Friday off of school for Easter. It's going to be very strange for me not to be home on Easter since it's always a pretty large holiday in my family. It's the first time I will not go to church and hunt Easter eggs and baskets and be at a large family and friend celebration ever. It's probably a very good thing I'll be traveling with friends over the holiday since otherwise I'd probably get pretty homesick that day.

After moving this coming Thursday and the week following when things really get settled in our new temporary home I feel like a real routine will set in. Before I know it, it'll be a month from now and my Dad will be here! I'm so excited!

I feel like I need to focus a little more on being here and living here. Recently I've been incredible excited about next year and the summer and thinking of all the things I'm going to do immediately after I get home. While it's fine I am excited for these things, it's probably not help ward away homesickness (which has faded, but will likely always be here in some way). So, my goal is to try and really BE here. It's way easier said than done, but even if I succeed in the slightest slightest way, it'll be good. I'll start with the Tandem program and perhaps a pickup game of girls soccer that happens on weekends and just see where I go from there.

I love you all and miss you more than I could ever really say. I truly am learning so much down here, about so much more than Chile and Spanish but about life and friends and family.

go bruins!

As I sit here reading this quarter's Encore (alumni newsletter for my fraternity) and following the 2nd round Women's Basletball NCAA Tournament Game on CBSSports.com (so far so good! up 15-6 against 1 seed Nebraska! fingers crossed!) lots of thoughts come to mind. I think studying abroad, and the separation it has forced upon me that at times is incredibly difficult, has also already made a big difference in my attitude towards things back home. For instance, at the end of fall quarter I was feeling rather burnt out on several of my activities back at UCLA and was no longer really able to appreciate them fully and get the same joy out of things such as band and others as I had gotten in previous years. This really freaked me out, but I think it turns out I just needed a little break. Being away from things and watching them happen from afar and see how much fun my friends are having and how lucky they are to get the opportunities they do through things such as band and Psi has brought back the excitement and love that I too have for those activities. This experience has already flourished a whole new appreciation for so many things in all aspects of life; from band and Psi, to how incredibly lucky I am to have the friends and family I have, to how lucky I am to have all the opportunities I do have. Anyhow, that's my I love my life blurb for the day. GO BRUINS!

In other news: today I finally accessed all of my readings and eeek! 213 pages of readings in Spanish for the first test in one of my classes, which would be far less daunting if it weren't in a book only accessible on reserve in the library that you can only keep for 4 days! However, since it's so daunting I've set out a plan of reading ~60 pages a day for 4 days straight and succeeded at that goal today! 3 more to go! Today's reading was actually a lot more doable than I thought it would be before I started, I think my Spanish comprehension skills have vastly improved, but of course I've still got a ways to go! That being said, I definitely still speak more English than Spanish, but I'm not really sure how to change that. We'll see.

I love the feeling of being back in school and having work to do, I guess that's my inner UCLA nerd :).

Pomaire, $4 Movies, Birthdays, Mid-College Crisis, and FALL!

Let me start by saying: 4 day weekends are LONG! It will actually be great to go to class tomorrow!


After Eric's birthday party on Friday which was so much fun, we woke up early on Saturday and headed on a half group trip to Pomaire with our program. Pomaire is a small little village in the countryside about 1 hour southwest of Santiago closer to the coast. It is a big tourist town, known for it artesian clay work; basically the whole town is centered around clay and clay selling clay products. It's a place that many people vacationing to Chile often visit so I was really excited to get to see it, especially since it was very empty of tourists since many people have been afraid to go there since the earthquake, thinking that it was far more damaged than it was. Since it was basically leveled entirely as town in an earthquake in the 1980s (if I remember correctly), all of the structures had been recently rebuilt and withstood this quake fine, regardless of it's proximity to the quake. Lets face it, our program would not have taken us to an unsafe town by any means. The lack of tourists was great for us though!

We had a really awesome day led by a family who fed us both breakfast and lunch in their incredible home in the hills above the city. In the morning, we split up into two groups and went first to a place where we learned a little bit about clay and then got to play with it ourselves making smaller figures such as piggy banks, turtles, and anything we wanted. After that, we went on to a bigger scale location where they showed us how they actually make the clay that is used from the extracted earth of a nearby mountain and then we got to make pots on the spinning wheel (way harder than it looks!). After lunch, we got to wander the city (which was very cheap!) and I bought several gifts before returning back to Santiago.

Once we got back to town Gina, Lindsey, and I went over to Lindsey's apartment and hung out for a while before taking advantage of the $4 movies that last until March 24th. I guess the movies are this cheap right now because a lot of people are still scared of going into dark places after the earthquake, so they cheapened movie prices to try and help ease people into going into dark places again. At any rate, we saw Un Sueño Posible (The Blind Side) that night and it was very very very good!

On Sunday, we slept in a bit before going for a 75 minute run (long run number 2 of 3 that will be done before the half marathon on April 11th, we'll see about this. . .) that actually felt better than I expected it would but I am definitely sore from today. Then we had a chill afternoon of Starbucks and talking, lots of skyping, and then went to Pizza Libre (all you can eat pizza aka why I'm getting fat) and ice cream for our friend Lauren's 21st birthday which is today.

Today, I went to campus even though I didn't have class and somewhat successfully conquered the horrid photocopies of readings process (not fully since I still need to pick them up tomorrow morning) before heading to Plaza de Armas to browse the shops, have a few sketchy experiences in nearby markets we will not be returning to, and wandered Parque Forestal to the very cool comuna of Bellas Artes before returning to my homestay to watch a movie and skype a bit.

This week I will really start classes, meaning I will actually have readings to do and I will do them and I also have a meeting set up for Wednesday morning for my internship! I have a lot to figure out as far as summer and so much more and have felt a little bit off due to some news I received yesterday, but I'm really excited to actually feel like I'm in school again as well as commit myself to training as well as I can for the next 3 weeks for this half marathon!

Turning Point

Today I:
-went for a 40 minute run
-made a resume (yeah I know random, but I've been looking at a lot of opportunities for jobs/internships next year and for my internship here and figured it was about time I had a new resume and since I had the time I went for it)
-found a place to live with Gina in a residencial with about 40 students (Chilean and European) in our own little one bedroom apartment with a private kitchen and bathroom with a pool in Las Condes and close to our other really good friends Lindsey and Kathryn with great places to run where they also agreed to let us live there only April, May and June which is PERFECT
-link to residencial website: http://www.hoteleskolping.net/hogarsantiago/
-was reunited with our friend Lindsey who had been in BA for the week
-went and saw/hung out at Lindsey AWESOME 23rd floor apartment in Las Condes, just a short bus from our future residencial
-ate a 3 dollar once dinner at a super market near the mall and Lindsey's apartment that was DELICIOUS
-went to an incredible 21st birthday party for our friend Eric who's host mom had gone all out with food, snacks, decorations, and everything; it was really fun! highlight: the whole apartment busting out in "This Land is Your Land" when someone started to play it on the guitar, and talking to Eric's awesome host mom and sister

Tomorrow: Program trip to Pomaire

Today was one of the first days in the last 3 weeks I've felt like I can actually do this, and take on, handle, and enjoy the next four months and make them awesome. Things are getting better and beginning to look up. I have my classes figured out, my internship in the works, a place to live, great friends, and things are starting to fall into place.There will be hard times and I'm not sure I'll ever really NOT be homesick, but I'm learning to manage it and am feeling more and more ready to try and embrace this experience daily and just have fun and enjoy it!

Fall? Maybe? Almost? Nahhh

As the title hints, it's been slightly teasing at a faint change in seasons here in Santiago over the past few days. Yesterday I was able to go all around Santiago running errands to take care of enrollment things without sweating like I had just gone for a 4 mile run! Always a good change. Today it started off cool, but by afternoon was the ever so well known hot Santiago afternoon I've gotten to know so well. Let's hope this is a preview of what's to come, minus the increased smog!

I know I haven't updated since returning from Mendoza, but nothing too horribly exciting has occurred. The week has been spent trying to get enrolled and settled with classes for the semester, figure out some of the ropes of the university, email people about setting up my internship, and start trying to establish what will hopefully become a routine. I'm feeling much more ready for the next 4 months than I had been, but it's still a taunting thing so this routine should be a real blessing!

I am officially enrolled in Political Geography, Population Geography, and a seminar on Chilean Culture. In addition, I am working on setting up an internship teaching English at a French high school in Spanish speaking Chile (I find this whole idea highly entertaining) and am also going to enroll in an extracurricular Salsa and Merengue class. This leaves me with interning on Monday mornings and Salsa Monday afternoons, class all day Tuesday (with a large break), interning wednesday, class all day Thursday (with a large break), and nada on Friday! I'm also getting rid of (hopefully) 2 required classes for my major, which is more than I originally thought to be possible and puts me in great shape for senior year (which is shaping up to have tremendous potential to be the greatest thing ever). This schedule also leaves me being finished with school down here possibly June 22nd, and June 29th at the latest, which leaves me with a little over 2 weeks to travel at the end of my program with friends until meeting my parents in Peru in mid-July to trek Machu Picchu and then return home for summer school. Potential traveling includes: Uruguay, Iguazu Falls, Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador. Obviously not all, but a few maybe! Classes seem like they'll be alright, I'm still working on figuring out the whole photocopies instead of books except for one class where the book is on reserve and I have to read it while at the library thing. I have yet to locate where to obtain my Population Geography reading, but hopefully that'll happen either tomorrow or Monday. I never would have guessed that the bookstore would be something I'd miss!

The housing situation is still TBA. Gina and I are going to look at 2 more places tomorrow and if they don't work out then we're just going to go with a place we went to earlier this week that was a little pricier than others but in a great location and very nice (and still way cheaper than LA or what I'm paying right now to stay with my host family). I'll keep you posted, it'll be nice to just have it figured out hopefully by the end of this weekend. We're going to plan on just renting for April, May, and June since most places won't lessen rent for March even though we're already half way through the month and odds are we will be out of Santiago for almost all of July (we can leave our luggage at Gina's cousins house). We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Besides all of that, this week has been very chill and relaxed. I found out my Daddy is coming to visit and started looking into things we can do while he's here and getting really excited for that! I finally saw Avatar and The Hurt Locker, both of which were incredible films and pretty much polar opposites of each other. I went for a run (which must be repeated tomorrow!), skyped with some people, ran a lot of errands to successfully enroll in classes and turn in my enrollment card, and hung out with Gina a lot. I'm not really sure what is going on with our other friends, we keep inviting them out and they keep not responding or not wanting to go out at all, which is fine I just hope they're doing okay. Our friend Lindsey will be back from BA very soon so I'm sure we'll start doing group things again soon. Saturday our program is going to Pomaire for the day which should be very interesting! Sunday is the day Jess would have come, so that'll probably be difficult but I'll make sure I find something to do that day. It's been a chill, relaxing week full of not much action which has been a nice change but now I sort of feel like I haven't done enough this week. Maybe next week I'll find a happy medium between the two! That and read 174 pages in Spanish. . .school really is back in session!

Other things: Today on the bus there was a Chilean man dressed as a clown yelling about marijuana and drugs. He wasn't scary himself at all, just one of the many people that load buses and do some sort of entertainment and then ask for tips. It was terrifying since I am not the biggest fan of all 3 of those things. Oh, Chile. Also this morning I got cat called at from a man walking, not driving, walking past me from less than a foot away. He was in a business suit. Oh, Chile. Also today: Chilean man answers his phone (that was not on silent when it rang) during the movie and starts talking in his OUTDOOR voice. Oh, Chile. Always providing me with unique experiences and stories.

Miss and love you all!

Mendoza, Argentina

Since class was canceled on Thursday and Friday and we really didn't have any work yet since we only had 2 days of classes thus far, Gina, Lindsey, Ariel, Lauren and I took advantage of the 4 day weekend and hopped on a bus over to Mendoza, Argentina across the Andes.

Thursday:

Ariel, Lindsey, and I got on the bus in Santiago at 8:41am (which of course in Chile means we left at 9) and began the 10 hour journey across the Andes. Luckily, I had gone out the night before to a super fun club party thrown by a student organization every Wednesday called Miercoles Po and been out until 3am. While this made waking up pretty brutal, it made sleeping on the bus through the somewhat terrifying Andean roads super easy! It took us 2 hours to get through the border controls in the middle of the Andes before we continued on for 4 more hours to Mendoza. Once we got to Mendoza after 10 hours on the bus, we caught a taxi to our hostel. Definitely not the finest hostel ever, in fact possibly one of the worst I'll ever stay in but rather than complaining about it all I'll just say it was at least a place to sleep for the 3 nights we were there and from now on I'll listen less to hostelbookers.com and more to friends who have been places before. Also, I quickly learned upon arrival that Mendoza was not quite how I had imagined it to be. I had been picturing based on stories from friends that it was just wineries and very gorgeous. In reality, Mendoza itself is a pretty big city that's actually kind of sketchy and not so pretty. You have to be really careful where you walk in the city and I didn't use a purse all weekend. However, the areas outside the city (which apparently are what I had heard about) are in fact beautiful, gorgeous, relaxing, and safe. That night, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town walking distance from our hostel (with free chips, but very mediocre food) with an Israeli man from our hostel and got some helado before returning back to the hostel where Gina and Lauren, who had taken a later bus, had arrived. We spent the night hanging out and talking at the hostel, a large topic being the 7.2 aftershock that occurred that morning and the email about possible cancellation of EAP, and then turned in for the night to our 12 person dorm with not so comfy beds.

Friday:
Friday morning we woke up and went for a short little run before getting suited up and grabbing a taxi to the Aguas Termales Las Cacheutas about 1 hour outside of town. All we really knew was that they were hot springs that we had heard great reviews of that were slightly outside of town. It turns out they were actually in the Andes and were INCREDIBLE! The beds themselves were manmade, with water slides, bubbling springs, cold springs in a circular form (like the lazy river at wild rivers), and all surrounded by towering Andean peaks. It was absolutely incredible and a beautiful day. I don't have any photos since I didn't want to leave my camera unaccompanied while I was in the pool, but my friends have some I'll steal and share later plus I found one online of the location. We spent the day hanging out in the pools, with a break for an Argentine Asado of bread, chicken, and salad (mixed together! imagine that!), before returning to Mendoza by bus to shower and head to dinner. This night we returned to our trusty Lonely Planet Guide that has never done us wrong as far as restaurants or anything for that matter, why we ever stray from it is beginning to become a wonder of mine.

We went to the "our pick" restuarant on the other side of town via taxi and had some incredible food at a very cool restaurant and then hit up a bar and ordered our first vino (wine) of Mendoza that was very good before returning to the hostel to catch some sleep.

Saturday:

Saturday, aka super cuico we got the hookups this day was ridiculously amazing day. Lauren's dad works in the wine business and had sent an email to one of the wineries he works with down here about us coming and they had set up a tour for us. Little did we know, it was a free, private tour and wine tasting (of 7 different wines) in English with an Australian guide of a winery that doesn't usually give public tours or tasting, plus transportation provided with an amazing driver who also gave us the hookups throughout all of Maipu (the wine region outside Mendoza). The day started with us being picked up by Enrique (driver) at our hostel and taken out to Andean Winery (member of Trapiche) and meeting out Aussie guide Steve who took us on a tour of all of the winery and then a tasting of 7 different wines, all very good and some top end. Then, we told Enrique we wanted to rent bikes while out in Maipu to hit up a few other wineries and the Chocolateria after eating some lunch first. He swung us by Mr. Hugo's bikes to set up a pick up and then dropped us off at his very highly recommended restaurant called Caseros del Campo which was absolutely delicious. When we finished eating, Enrique had arranged for the owner of the restuarant to call Mr. Hugo who took us back to his bike shop in his truck.

We then rented bikes (for about $5 for the whole day) and headed out through the gorgeous wine country with the Andes beside us towards winery number 2, where we tasted 3 red wines and a dessert wine before mounting our bikes again and heading back towards the Chocolateria. At the chocolateria we tasted all all sorts of olive oil, vinegar, spreads (dulce de leche, etc. yummm) and ended with liqueurs and fudge. Here is when Gina and Lindsey and I decided to try absynth, an experience I'm glad I tried but never have to repeat, ever. I took two tiny sips and then gave up, seeing as it felt like you were being torched with fire in the throat, and that was with them putting a spoonful of sugar in it to make it easier to go down! Definitely an experience I won't ever forget!
We then returned to Mendoza where Lindsey parted us for Buenos Aires with some other friends since she goes to La Chile rather than La Catolica and is still on break until next week and the rest of us ate some dinner cereal (new favorite meal: natural yogurt with banana and cereal mixed in) and hung around the hostel prepping for our return back to Santiago in the morning. I also found out this night about Band Staff for next year and that I will be Rank Leader, a position I really wanted and am so excited for! Saturday was a pretty incredible day!

Sunday:

We left Mendoza at 8:30 this morning and made much better time on the return trip, getting to Santiago at 3pm. The road through the Andes was especially adventurous since we were on the top level of a double decker bus. The day has been spent figuring out some school stuff (finally moving forward on the internship teaching English having talked with the head of the English department at a French school in Vitacura, random but awesome!), uploading pictures, and writing this blog as to not be as behind as I was before. It was a great weekend get away, and although there is plenty more to do in Mendoza, I'm content with what we did!

Clase!

My semester at La Católica finally officially started yesterday and although the registration process is stressful and I have yet to go to all of my classes, it already feels good to be back on a college campus with other university students! Today I went to a canceled geography class, a pretty neat sounding linguistics class I may take, and an awful literature class I will not take. Today I also went for a run and made hostel reservations for Mendoza this weekend with 4 friends. My stomach has kind of felt a little off all day, but I'm hoping a good nights sleep will be able to solve that issue.

Tomorrow, I am going to the bus station to buy bus tickets for Mendoza for Thursday to Sunday morning, going to check out a living situation with Gina, and the checking out a Forestry class, going to dinner with some friends, and packing for Mendoza.

It feels kind of funny leaving for another vacation this soon after returning from Patagonia, but it really is the perfect weekend for Mendoza since we have Thursday and Friday off, and I'm justifying the money by realizing I would be spending it eventually anyhow since it is certainly some place I wanted to go while down here. It should be really fun, with opportunities for bike riding, wine-tasting, rafting, and more.

I'm hoping getting out of Santiago for a relaxing weekend in Mendoza will be just what I need to rid myself of this pesky homesickness that keep lurking in my mind. It's gotten a lot better, but I definitely still miss home a lot and I'm hoping it doesn't stay like this for the next 4 months, because that would be pretty hard to handle. It's kind of funny because in a much more grown up situation, I'm kind of experiencing the same thing we always deal with campers experiencing at camp so I just keep telling myself what we always tell them.

I'm really excited to have my classes figured out officially and be enrolled and not having to worry about any of that anymore, it'll be great! Classes will be challenging (duh! they're in Spanish) but good I think. There are quirks to the university that will take some learning and getting used to, such as the absence of books and thus crazy amounts of photocopies you have to locate to do the reading. But I'm so excited for the semester and to get it rolling after a quick skip and a jump over to Argentina for the weekend!

Daily Bruin

http://www.dailybruin.com/articles/2010/3/8/eap-students-chile-have-different-reactions-quake/

Vacation Blog: Terremoto, Stuck in Punta Arenas, and the Journey Back to Santiago

After breakfast at our hostel in El Calafate, we boarded another 6 hour bus to Puerto Natales with 2 more stops at the borders and a funny experience about gum with an Argentine border patrol officer. We returned to our Puerto Natales hostel for the third, last, and worst time with a new Dutch friend we made on the bus. We then walked to a desert store called Patagonai Dulce that no one in Puerto Natales seemed to know existed, and then to a giant statue of a Land Sloth to take pictures in some crazy wind. I bought a Patagonia t-shirt and then we had dinner at a pizza place called Mesita Grande with dessert pizzastrudel yummm! Then, we went back to the hostel and were super tired and played some uno (yess I taught my friends and our dutch friend Combat Uno!!) and our Dutch friend brought us some mroe pizzastrudel! Then we repacked and went to bed, which involved bed bugs (which i am allergic to) and sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag.

This was the night that the earthquake hit, and although we didn't feel it at all since we were so far south, i awoke to our Dutch friend shoving his iPhone in my face with a news article about it. I quickly realize how big 8.8 is, and went down to the computer to email my parents before they even found out about the quake letting them know we were fine. We didn;t really realize how big a deal it really was and headed out to Punta Arenas, thinking we were still going to fly out back to Santiago that night at 2am. Upon arrival in Punta Arenas, we quickly realized that was not going to happen and that no one actually knew when that would be able to happen, with the airport being closed at least 72 hours from what we heard.

We ended up returning to the same hostel we had been at in Punta Arenas at the beginning of our trip, which was actually pretty lucky since it was our favorite hostel of the trip. We met up with Seth and Eric again, and eventually a lot of people of our program were at our hostel. The next 3 days were involved with lots of confusion and frustration in regards to figuring out when and how we were going to get back to Santiago, with everyone telling us different information. We ate a lot, hung out a lot, went to a free museum on sunday, learned to play bridge, went for a run, found a magical flight back to Santiago, and finally returned on March 2nd, never entering the Santiago airport.

Definitely and adventure and experience I will never forget, for more reasons than 1!

Vacation Blog: El Calafate, Argentina

The morning of February 23rd, we woke up and ate breakfast at our hostel in Puerto Natales (which had real coffee, a rare thing in South America) and hopped on our 8:30am bus to El Calafate, Argentina. The bus was 6 hours, which a stops at the Chilean border for leaving Chile and the Argentine border for entering Argentina. Yay passport stamps! The bus stopped for lunch on the Argentine side of the border, but seeing as none of us had Argentine Pesos, we were left very hungry. We arrive in El Calafate at about 2:30pm and walked up a dirt road to our hostel, beginning to slightly question it. However, once we arrived at the hostel we realized it was actually really awesome and definitely worth the walk! At this point we were all starving, having not eaten since breakfast in Puerto Natales, and every one seemed to be getting a little burn out on traveling but we forced ourselves to stay positive and things quickly turned around. We went to the bank to get Argentine money and then ate lunch at a delicious Pizza place with really rude service. Then, we had some of the best ice cream of my life across the street. El Calafate is really small and touristy, so we wandered the streets and researched potential ways to ride horsies, eat asado, and take a bus to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and Glaciar Perito Moreno the next day. We then returned to the hostel and computered, and had a few beers while playing with disney princess cards.

The next day I awoke to literally the worst cramps I have ever had in my life (sorry boys) and felt awful and wasn't even sure I would make it to the glacier that afternoon which was pretty much the whole reason we came to El Calafate. Luckily, after some time of feeling absolutely horrible and taking lots of drugs, I felt tons better and functional and we got ready to head out to lucnh and the glacier. I was definitely a pill popper all day but it worked. We went into town and reserved our horsey rides and asado for the next day and then ate lunch at an incredible restaurant with Argentine Pancakes, which actually hardly involve pancake but rather lots of cheese, spinach, and tons of amazing other foods. Then, we hopped on a bus to Perito Moreno, a glacier bigger than Buenos Aires and the main attraction of El Calafate. We took a 1 hour boat ride up close to the glacier and then walked the cat walks and had a picnic, watched the sunset, and watched and listened as giant pieces of the glacier calved off into Lago Argentina. It was a very somber, relaxing, awesome experience since you get dropped off and basically chill watching a beautiful glacier for 4 hours until the bus picks you up again. It was awesome.


When we returned to El Calafate, we randomly ran into two of our friends from our program (Seth and Eric) on the street in El Calafate and went to a really cool Libro Bar and hung out with them while they waited for their 3am bus to Ushuaia. We ate lots of desserts, hung out, and tried Mate! Mate is a very traditional Argentine tea that is alway dranken out of the thing you see me drinking it out of in the picture and you pass it around and share it. Our waitress taught us how which was really cool, and I acrtually really liked it! After that, we went back to the hostel and hung out with them for a while until their bus left.

The next morning, very much on time, we were picked up from our hostel for our Cabalgata (horse back ride) and Asado (bbq) at an Estancia (estate). We went for a beautiful 2 hour horseback ride up a hill in a vast pampa valley with a lake on one side and towering Chilean peaks on the other side. We saw guanacos, niebres, cows, and huge birds all over. It was really neat! Plus we got to trot a little, something horseback rides in the US never let you do anymore!

Then came the Asado, possibly the real reason we went for this horseback ride. First off, Argentina KILLS Chile when it comes to food. Hands down. We ate so much beef, pork, chicken, and grilled veggies, plus pumpkin soup and dessert. It was INCREDIBLE. Some of the best food I've ever eaten. We also met some really cool and nice Argentinian people and had some great talks with them. Afterwards, we were definitely in food comas and took naps and chilled at the hostel for the afternoon. In the evening, we headed out to buy our bus tickets back to Puerto Natales for the next day, ate some ice cream, bought some awesome llama rings and bracelets and El Calafate Jam for my host mom, had some cereal for breakfast, and played Taboo en español before heading to bed!

Vacation Blog: The W Trek in Torres del Paine

So after a 3 hour bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, a kind of bouncing tiny town for backpackers going to Torres del Paine and El Chalten or Fitz Roy, we avoided our first scamming South American lady who swore she could get us a super cheap bus but was super nervous and kept saying "I'm not lying!" and we bought our tickets to Torres del Paine for the next day. We then went over to our hostel (which at this point we thought was really cool), ate lunch at a super cute and awesome vegetarian restaurant called El Living in town (burritos and carrot cake mmm!), and then went to another hostel in town called Erratic Rock for an hour presentation on the W that was INCREDIBLY helpful and told is exactly what we should do over the next 5 days from where to camp, to how to pack our packs, to everything! After that, we went grocery shopping for the backpacking trip, rented 2 tents (for 2 people each, thus we crammed 3 people in 1 every night but it was totally fine, the 3 person one was actually always warmer!), sleeping bags and mats, and then tackled packing our packs before turning in early before the big 5 day adventure!

The above is the best map of the W I could find online (thus why the talk at Erratic Rock was so helpful). We did the red part in the shape of the W in 5 days, 4 nights. It was incredible! It was my first time backpacking and I fell in love! Definitely hard work, but worth it all!

Day 1: We took an early bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine from our hostel, saw flamingos on the lake from the bus on our way, and made our first stop at the park entrance where we got to pay the Chilean entrance fee ($20 less!) because of our cédulas! We then continued on the bus to the Pudeto Cattermeran where we got off the bus and started our adventure by taking the Cattermeran across Lago Pehoe (off the map) to Refugio Paine Grande and the bottom left corner of the W where we started our trek. Our weather was incredible! This day, we walked for 4 hours (11km) up to Refugio Grey camping site right next to Glaciar Grey and a giant glacial lake with icebergs in it. My pack took some adjusting but eventually got really comfortable, even day 1 with all my food weight plus the tent. There were great views of lakes with icebergs and the glacier. When we arrived, we quickly figured out how to set up our tents and then went for a 10 minute quick walk up to the mirador for the Glacier Grey which was incredible. When we got back to camp, we ate dinner (always classy out of our trash bags eating our nuts, salami, cheese, and peanut butter), played some uno, and went to sleep. It rained that night, but everything stayed dry! On the map, this day involved going up to the left top of the W from the bottom left corner.

Day 2: On the map, this day involved backtracking what we had done the day before, and then going on a bit further to the bottom of the middle of the W to Campamiento Italiano where we camped for the night. We took a lunch break back at Refugio Paine Grande where I also bought new bread to replace my bread that had quickly become inedible and also indulged in a diet coke. I was tent free this day, which was awesome since it turned out we basically had walked down a cliff on the trail the day before without noticing and now had to walk back up the cliff to get back. This was definitely one of the hardest sections of the trail! After lunch we walked 2 hours more on to where we camped that night, which was free and definitely a little more run down than the night before but still beautiful! On the day's walk., we had beautiful views of a different lake from the day before and the mountains. It was incredible to be able to fill our water bottles with glacial stream water and drink the water while being able to see the glacier it came from. At camp, we ate dinner, played some uno, and slept. This is also the day teh big blister on my back appeared, which we named Carla.

Day 3: This was the day that we had definitely built up in our heads and joked around as our "Saturday Night Out". We knew that if we got to our next campsite by 5:30 we could reserve our 1 hot refugio dinner we were going to eat on the trek AND shower. Thus, we got an early start up the middle of the W, leaving our packs and tents at Campamiento Italiano and bringing just a day pack up the French Valley. This hike was hard! There were lots of loose rocks and bouldering involved and it was pretty cold in the morning, but the views were beautiful and it quickly warmed up a bit. We walked along a river and through forests, watching avalanches from a massive glacier on a mountain side off the trail, to an amazing mirador where there we towering mountains and rock forms. Then, we returned to camp, ate lunch, and packed up. We then headed out on the 2 hour hike to Refugio Los Cuernos (favorite camping site!) which was super down hill and steep rolling hills along the side of a lake. We got there in time to reserve our hot dinners and then we showered! An incredible experience in and of itself after 3 days sin shower, although some wimpering ensued when the hot water hit my blister! The camp site was super cute, the dinner was delicious (Austral from Punta Arenas beer involved), and the night was slightly interrupted by the fact that there were signs saying there were mice at the site sow e were all paranoid even though nothing really happened.

Day 4: Long day! We left Los Cuernos at 11am and walked along the beautiful glacial lake for 11km before turning left up the shortcut at the corner up a valley past a refugio and all the way to Campamiento Las Torres, which is basically at the very right hand tip of the W. It was super up hill and pretty difficult, but beautiful. The campsite was cold since itvwas so high up, so we ate dinner, played cards, and went to bed in preparation for waking up before the sun to walk up to the Torres for the sunrise the next morning.

Day 5: On the last day of our trek, we woke up at 4:40am and embarked on a 1 hour trek up to the mirador Las Torres in the dark with flashlights. It was SUPER STEEP, probably the steeping thing I've ever walked up, so it was probably good we couldn;t really see too far ahead of us in the dark! It was also very very cold and started to snow and there were clouds when we got to the top, but we were able to see the Torres for a little bit! Besides this, we had perfect weather the whole trek. After this, we went back down to camp (in which we realized how ridiculously steep the trail we had walked up in the dark really was), packed up, and headed down the last leg of our trip towards Hosteria Las Torres (super nice hotel that marks the end of the W if you do it the direction we did). On the way down we stopped at a refugio half way for some hot water to make coffee and a diet coke before heading out for the final stretch, which was all downhill from there (literally). The weather had vastly improved from earlier that morning and we also very briefly experienced the Patagonian wind that is so often talked about down there as we got inside the Hosteria to eat, rest, and wait for our bus back to Puerto Natales. We did it! And it was an absolutely incredible experience! Now I want to backpack in the Sierras when I get back to California!


When we got back to Puerto Natales, we SHOWERED (glorious! shaved :)), checked email and facebook, and headed to our favorite El Living restaurant and ice cream. We bought our bus tickets to El Calafate for the next day, repacked, and went to sleep in a bed, whcih would have been slightly more glorious if it hadn't been freezing and the bed bugs hadn't made their first appearance.

Overall thoughts on the W: It was incredibly gorgeous and unlike anything I had ever seen. Difficult, but definitely worth it. I can't believe we actually made it happen! Maybe eat fewer nuts next time haha. I really want to backpack more! It was awe inspiring and I'm so lucky to have experienced it. It's also really cool I was able to pay for it all myself. Buying coinditioner and carrying it--definitely worth it. No Pert 2 in 1 haha.


Vacation blog on El Calafate and stuck in Punta Arenas coming soon!

Potential Schedule!

So I will confess, the inner (although often time outer as well) nerd in me is super excited to start school tomorrow! I haven;t been in school for 3 months and it's about time that changes!

I spent some time this morning figuring out what classes I want to attend this week and most likely enroll in at the end, which in and of itself was strange since at UCLA we enroll months ahead of time, and here we enroll after we go to the class first!

So here we go (definitely not set in stone yet, but the plan for the week):

Monday:
-Women's Soccer 10-11:20 Campus San Joaquin (probably not going to actually take as awesome as it would be because it is MWF and I would then have class 5 days a week, but I'm going to go tomorrow and see what it's like and if I fall in love, I definitely do miss playing soccer)
-Chorus 3-4:20 Campus Casa Central (Not 100% sure I'm going to take it, but I'll give it a shot!)

Tuesday:
-Geography Class 11:30-12:50 Campus San Joaquin TBD based on what my advisor responds. Either Climatology, Political Geography, or Geodemography
-Starting April 6th: Chilean Culture and History Seminar for Exchange Students 5-7 Campus San Jaoquin

Wednesday:
-(Women's Soccer if I fall in love with it monday)
-Forestry Ecology 1:30-5:50 Campus San Joaquin

Thursday:
-Same as Tuesday

Friday:
-(Women's Soccer if I fall in love with it)
-Nothing!

This week classes are suspended Thursday and Friday, so I obviously won't be doing those Thurs/Fri things this week.

In addition, I am going to take one or two of these things called Workshops that don't count for credit and actually cost about $40 for the semester. Either Yoga, Pilates, or Salsa y Merengue. They're once a week and fit my schedule well.

The other thing I may be doing (which would mean for sure no soccer) is an interniship with Inglés Abre Puertas, teaching English.

So, lots of kinks to still iron out, but it's exciting!

Sunday Morning Breakfast Club

This morning, I went on my first long training run for the half marathon I'll be running on April 11th. I was fully expecting it to be the worst run ever since I definitely took some time off while in Patagonia, but it was actually a pretty great run! I just mapped it out on mapmyrun.com and it looks like it was just a little bit over 8 miles and we did it in 1 hour and 20 minutes. It was also the first time since high school I've done a run that long without doing intervals and it felt really good actually! I did it with several of my friends who are also doing the half marathon and we all felt pretty good about it, which is great because I was definitely good because I was feeling liek I was way behind where I should have been training-wise at this point.

After the run, we went to Starbucks right next to my apartment and got coffee and muffins and just sat and talked for a bit. We decided we want to make a Sunday morning running and breakfast club where we do this every week, which sounds like a great idea! It's incredible how great a good run can make me feel. There are some things I'm obviously still bummed about, but overall I feel so much better. I love running and I am so in debt still to Sarah for making me realize that again when we started all this half marathon business back in August.

Yesterday we had a pizza party with EAP and then some friends and I went to a park and ate fruit (plus swedish fish and peanut butter I got in a package from home!) and read and napped a bit. Then I came home and skyped with Jess, David, and a girl from the Daily Bruin. I really do have the best friends in the world, and although I am very sad Jess will not be visiting in 2 weeks, it was great to be able to talk about things with her yesterday. I even told her I would give up Burt's Bees forever if it meant she could come visit, and we all know how addicted I am to Burt's Bees. But seriously, it was great to realize what great of friends I have and how awesome summer school and senior year will be when I return and live with Jess again. Hopefully she'll be able to visit in June and that will be incredible, but for now Skype will have to suffice. There's no point in being too upset over it, because there is absolutely nothing we can do. I guess I should be thankful that this is the biggest impact the Earthquake has had on me, but still. Last night I also got to finally talk to my brother which was awesome, and talking to David was great also.

This afternoon I am dedicating to actually figuring out classes (since they start tomorrow finally!), showering, skyping with my parentals, unpacking a bit since I don't think I'm going to move too soon, and then going to our favorite US owned mexican food restaurant to watch the Oscars later tonight with some friends. I think my first class tomorrow will be Soccer! I'm at least going to go check it out with Lauren, but I'm not sure I'll take it since it's MWF.

Since we don't have class on Thursday or Friday this week, I believe some friends and I are going to take an overnight bus on Wednesday night to Mendoza, Argentina and have a relaxing weekend there, but reservations have not yet been made so we'll see. Maybe later this afternoon I'll do some more vacation blogging too if I have time!

Lots has happened since I returned to Santiago, and I promise I will write a good update and finish the vacation blogging soon, I just haven't had time or much motivation to write an update in the recent days because much of what I've been experiencing has been homesickness, thinking I had a place to live and then that falling through, trying to get back into a groove and routine and stay positive, and filling every possible moment with being outside exploring with my friends, many of whom have been feeling the exact same way I have. We've agreed that stay at home time with your computer needs to be limited, so all of us have been trying to keep ourselves occupied, which has resulted in some pretty interesting adventures over the past few days.

After the awful house ordeal that Gina and I experienced 4 days ago, I got really homesick and kind of had a difficult time remembering why I'm down here. We're at a really hard part of this experience, where we've been here close to 2 months, but have pretty much 5 months left which is a LONG time. That, in addition to all the uncertainty the Earthquake brought us with the delay of school, getting stuck in Punta Arenas, lots of grocery stores are out of random things because they can't be shipped in from the south, and occasional aftershocks have made this week just a little difficult for everyone I think.

All of Santiago is still shaken up (sorry for the pun) after this, but it's also been really incredible to see how all of Chile is banding together to help the victims and start the repairs almost immediately. All of the busses have written on their windows "Chile ayuda Chile", which is a big aid organization that has really stepped up. There are constantly people outside of banks soliciting official donations made through the bank. Last night at midnight on the bus one of the passengers lowered the window and shouted "Plata! Plata!" and handed some volunteers in the street money out of a window at midnight. There are all sorts of organizations to go build houses or help pick up debris, and outside of every grocery store there are people asking you to buy 1 extra non perishable item to donate. Last night, some friends and I went to a benefit concert where the entrance fee was nonperishable items to be donated to the victims. While the concert was pretty awkward since it was solely Chileans in attendance and we just got stared down and didn't stay too long, it was still great to give.

Santiago is functioning 100% normal right now, minus a few things missing in grocery stores and a whole new level of Chilean pride in flags and volunteers. It reminds me a lot of how American citizens reacted after 9/11 with the "United We Stand" stickers and everything similar, I guess a tragedy as big as 9/11 or a 8.8 earthquake really bring out unity and pride and working together, which is actually a really incredible thing to be here to witness.

So it's been a hard past couple days, and one day will be better and then the next will be hard again, but me and my friends down here are working through it together. The other day we went to a super US style mall and saw a movie and ate at TGI Fridays, purposely, to feel a little bit like home. Yesterday we went for a run and had orientation. Today there is an all EAP Pizza Party since we haven't had a group activity since the earthquake and then my friends and I are going to a park to hang out and read. Later tonight I have some skype dates, and tomorrow I'm going (hopefully) for an 8 mile run. I know I'll be glad I did this, and I know I'm having a great experience that couldn't be replaced, but I also knew at some point I would get homesick. Staying positive and working through it is the name of the game. And I honestly thing studying abroad is way harder than anyone would ever lead you to believe.

For some reason, I start classes on monday but don't have class thursday or friday, so some friends and I are thinking of either going to Mendoza, Argentina (Napa meets South American wine country) or finding a way to go help out with houses or something (there are lots of programs right now). Either way, it'll be good to get out of Santiago for a bit and relax!

PATAGONIA! Punta Arenas Take 1!

I am now back and at my homestay in Santiago and ready to update you about the increidble vacation I had for 2 weeks before the past 4 days of craziness! I kept a hand written journal of what we did each day that I'll probably end up transfering most of on to here, plus I've uploaded tons of pictures on to facebook already. I'm moving into the house I'll be in for the next 5 months later this evening, and just trying to get settled again and back into a routine.

Let me begin by saying, Patagonia is hands down one of the most incredible places I've ever been and I'm so lucky to have been able to go.


On February 13th/14th we started our jouney, first with dinner and a movie here in Santiago before our flight left at 2:30 AM. We definitely made a scene, walking into the nice movie theater with our backpacking backpacks and smaller packs, but had a great dinner and saw the movie Valentines Day which I really enjoyed. It was a great evening. We then took a transfer van service from the mall to the airport and experienced how different and more relaxed flying is everywhere but the US. For instance, Gina had a fork in her backpack when we went through security but when she couldn't find it to get rid of it, they just let her keep it. Another example, some man pretty much almost jumped and definitely pulled up his fists towards a man at the counter and they didn't even call security. Liquids? No problem! It was a pretty nice change!

After minimal sleep on the 3 hour plane ride, we arrive in Punta Arenas at 6AM and had our first experience of being cold since getting to Chile! We took a transfer service into town to the main square from the airport and then realized our hostel was actually a decent walk from that point, but started on our way. This is when we first experience the dog gangs of Punta Arenas, got stalked by said stray dog gang, got slightly lost, and then took a $2 taxi ride to our hostel that it turned out we were super near. We arrived and met our new best friend Teresa, the hostel owner, who found us a room, fed us breakfast (toast and butter and powdered coffee and homemade jam), fell asleep on the couch while waiting for our room, received the room we then dubbed our penthouse with 5 beds and a private bath for super cheap, and took a 2 hour nap.

Once we were rested up, we layered up and headed to town, with stops at a really cool cemetary, the church, an awesome ave palta lunch at a place called Chcolatta that hated us by the end of this trip but at this point was decorated with valentines day decorations, and then wandered town to the market in the center square and such. We bought some gloved and head warmers and other goodies, and then headed to the bus office and bought our tickets to Puerto Natales for the following Wednesday.

Punta Arenas is a super cute little town that we wandered a lot this day and the following two days, to the beach on the Straight of Magellan, stores with Antarctica souveniers, and much more. We then bought dinner supplies to make burritos and when back and chilled at the hostel. Our hostel was really cute and homey and the owner was super nice, which is great because little did we know we'd later be stuck here!

At this point in my hand written journal, I wrote that I overpacked, but that is NOT true. For probably the first time in my life I wore every clothing item I packed on a trip. . .many multiple times.The next day, February 15th, was a day of epxloration! I awoke to discover that Jess had bought her ticket to visit me, which started the day off great! We ate breakfast at the hostel, walked to Unimarc (the supermarket) for water, and then took a taxi out of town to the Reserva Nacional Magallanes, a little forest reserve up in the hills behind the city with great views of Punta Arenas, the Straight of Magellan, and Tierra del Fuego. We went for a 2 hour little hike up to a Mirador (lookout) with a gorgeous view! While hanging out up at the mirador, Gina and I found out we had gotten the house we wanted to live in! Yay!

After the little hike, we went to Zona Franca, a place with really cheap stores such as our new favorite, Sanchez y Sanchez, where Gina bought some more warm clothes, some people bought ponchos, and we were entertained by poor english translations and funny spanish sayings on shirts.

We then ate lunch at a super cute little cafe up on a hill overlooking Punta Arenas, we were the only ones inside and it was basically just like someones house and their kitchen. It was really neat! After, we walked back into town and got some ice cream and walked down to the beach with it which was awesome! Every time we stood on teh beach we had to remind ourselves how insane it was that we were on a beach at the Straight of Magellan at the verrrrry tip of South America! We then walked to the grocery store, bought some delicious dinner fixings including pasta, cake, and wine, and went back to the hostel and went for a run before dinner. Of course, it wouldn't be an outing in Punta Arenas if we weren't stalked by a gang of scary dogs, but it was a beautiful and awesome feeling run! That night, we met some studying abroad students from Stanford at our hostel and talked to them for a bit and then went to bed.



On our last full day in Punta Arenas on this side of the trip (and we thought in general), we went to Isla Magdalena, the penguin island! This marked me having been gone form the US for 1 month, which was hard to believe! We slept in and ate breakfast and then headed into town. Luckily we did so, because the penguin office had lost our reservation but it all worked out and we got tickets anyways. We went to an outdoor shop and I invested in 1 more long sleeved hiking shirt for the W, which was a GREAT investment, and then ate a 3 course delcious lunch for $7 US before grabbing a taxi to teh Penguin Boat!

We took the Melinka ferry for 2 hours through the Straight to Isla Magdalena which si absolutely FULL of Magellanic Penguins. THOUSANDS! We spent an hour on the island, just walking around and hanging out with penguins. It was CRAZY and sooooo COOL! Thousands of penguins, up close and personal, within 1 foot! Definitely will never forget it! On the boat back, we had a little impromptu nap tiem before eating cereal for breakfast, packing, and heading to bed for the last time in Punta Arenas on this side of the trip!


More to come about the rest of the trip! I have to pack to move first!

Update

After an incredible 2 week vacation throughout Patagonia )I promise I´ll write a big update on this àrt when I get back! it was amazing), an 8.8 Earthquake that we didn´t feel at all down here, 3 days stranded in Punta Arenas receiving no form of reliable information, lots of frustration, a little bit of homesickness, lots of random laughs with new friends that I´ve quickly gotten to know very well, learning to play bridge, and lots of trips to the sueprmarket and looots of calls to LAN and expensive calls to my parents in the US. . .I have a flight back to Santiago for tomorrow at 5:35PM! I have no idea how it happened, but it did!

I will be back in Santiago tomorrow night, where transportation is back up and my host family is safe with water and electricity.

The love and concern so many people have shown me has astounded me and made me love everyone so much. It´s been, without a doubt, the most random, ridiculous, odd situations of my life but thank god everyone I know in Chile and I are safe. Emotionally, these past 3 days have been a rollercoaster on stertoids. We were all so ready to get back top Santiago and then all this happened, we heard we could be here 2 weeks and completely prepared to be stuck until the 8th, my parents even mentioned returning to LA, I had no idea what was going on and missed the feeling of comfort and love from home a lot. A therapeutic run got my thoughtsa in order thsi afternoon, and from there things have fallen into place. School is postponed a few days but sounds like the semester will then go on as planned.

More updates to come, especially the great part of the trip! I love you all and can´t wait to skype, email, etc.!