Chile Fall 2013

My apologies for not writing a post sooner! I have really gotten into the swing of things in Santiago and I am loving it here, and I am also very busy. I am making this post a combination of some explanation with photos to catch you up. I am really going to try and keep updating my blog more frequently, especially because I have been doing a terrible job at that.

My classes are going really well. I am learning a lot about each subject, and like I said in a previous post, they all tie together. I also added a soccer class which is fun! It is a good way to exercise and also make friends. I am really bad, however so are most of the girls in my class. Also, I am out of shape, however compared to most, I am very in shape which boosts my confidence. I have been working out a lot which is great, but my body is sore. Luckily that should pass in a few days.

The Chilean Independence Day is September 18th and because I had almost a week off from school, 8 of my girl friends on my program and I rented a house in Tongoy, about 6 hours north of Santiago by bus, next to La Serena. Tongoy is a very small town on the beach, which was very relaxing, but also fun. We wanted to take advantage of the longer holiday to go some place a little farther from Santiago than we would go on a normal weekend. It wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but we still got some sun and had fun sitting on the beach. We spent a lot of time relaxing, cooking, watching movies, and chatting. We also went out a few nights and met some boys in Tongoy, which turned out to be an adventure of its own since they were extremely clingy and said we changed their lives after one night of hanging out. Luckily they have finally left us alone... we hope! The good thing is that it gave us a lot of great stories and memories. The week was exactly what I needed as a vacation, hanging out with friends, and also getting a break from Santiago.

arrived in Tongoy at 6am!

the group :)

To celebrate the Chilean Independence Day my school threw a party last Wednesday. It was held in a large park about 45 min outside of the city in Cajón del Maipo and we all got on busses to go there. There were a bunch of picnic tables and some grills. I can now say with confidence that Chileans like to day-drink, because most people started before noon. I decided I couldn't start until I ate lunch so I waited until we got there and had eaten. In the middle of the grass there was a stage with a DJ who played music for hours. They also played the national Chilean dance, the Cueca (click here for more information and click here to see a video) for a while and we all danced! It was a really fun day of hanging out and relaxing with friends.

Also, I can finally say that I have Chilean friends! Before, I definitely had some friends and people to eat lunch with and things like that, however now I go out with them and we hang out on the weekends! I was feeling lonely because I would spend all day at my school and not know many people, however now I hang out with friends in between classes when I´m procrastinating and it is great being able to say hi to people in the hallways. It is really hard to get into a Chilean group of friends because they have been in the same classes with each other since they started going to university, however luckily I have friends now!

I will post more to catch up on what I have been up to very soon!