well, though i initially HATED Santiago, I am quite settled in and learning to live life in this big city. while my parents were here, we did a tour of Santiago and i saw prettier parts that i learned to like. then we also did a tour of Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, two cities an hour and a half away.
i finally moved into Casa Suecia, the student residence where i will be living for the next few months. though at first i was a bit shy and didn't know what to expect, i soon found everyone to be very loving and kind and we have become great friends :)
shortly after, my friend Rochelle came into Santiago to also study for a semester! that same day we travelled back to Viña to go to the "Festival de la Canción," the annual Song Festival where all these artists perform for five days, win awards and they choose the best songs in the world. we had lots of fun at the concert but shortly learned that
1) Personal space does not exist in Chile
2) everyone and their mother smokes
3) too much PDA is non-existant
4) Chilean men are assholes
we froze in Viña, which was surprising because it is a beach town and we were so excited to go to the beach! well we were very touristy and returned to Santiago safely.
very early the next morning and on two and a half hours of sleep, an amazing group of six of us got on a bus to go to Mendoza, Argentina. it was the most amazing weekend of my life! we went rafting, toured the vineyards and just enjoyed each other's company and laughter. not to mention we ate ourselves silly because the food is SOOO good in Argentina and AWFUL in Chile.
now we're back here. we threw a party the night we came back, which was again really fun and we always meet new people :)
tomorrow we will be heading out to La Serena, a beach town six hours north of here, for the weekend. i am excited to travel this much because school starts on wednesday :( so from there it gets more difficult to do longer trips.
i miss home a lot. i miss my friends and i miss my family. but i am holding it up here, making GREAT friends and making the most out of my time here in Chile. I have about five months to go and i always must be optimistic about it all.
AND
i am the only "gringa" here...the only girl from the US. THAT is very exciting.
love you all!
1 comment:
so glad to hear that things are going well for you, chica. just wanted to remind you that you are veeeery missed and i can't believe it will be 5 more months before i can see your gorgeous smile again!
love you :o)
<3,
s
ps... thanks for all the facebook-message advice, it will definitely come in handy - i'll keep you posted ;)
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