I'm back in Chile baby! It's been EXACTLY two years to the day since I left but now I'm back and I cannot express the full amount of my contentment nor joy at being here again. It's like I'm back home. It's weird. I got here today with my best friend Brittney who doesn't speak Spanish and we're staying with my old host family for a whole month. When our airplane landed I was so excited! And then instantly it's like I got back into a rhythm I thought I had forgotten. My host family asked if I needed help getting to the house but I was like, "No. I got this." And I did have it! Santiago, the capital, is an hour and a half away from Valparaiso where we're staying. But this time I ... read more

A few hours ago I just got back from Mendoza Argentina. I still feel like I'm on Cloud 9. This weekend was so awesome!...in spite of some comical struggles. I don't know what was going on but I kept running into snags, including almost getting kicked out of the country. Yes, I almost got kicked out of Argentina only 5 minutes after entering! Leave it up to me to be able to pull something like that off. Haha! On Thursday, I went to the bus station with Stacey and Angela to buy our tickets. We bought Kelsey's for her since she had class. The tickets were a really good deal considering it was for an 8 hour trip that included snacks. Stacey, who paid first, paid the equivalent of $25 USD. Then when me and Angela ... read more

Okay...okay, certain people have brought to my attention that I haven't talked much about my classes here in Chile. And as I review the blogs that I've written it does appear that I am "partying abroad" instead of studying abroad. So, to prove that I'm doing other things besides clubbing, I'll let you in on my school daze in Chile. I could say "school days" in place of daze, but to do so would be remiss when I've definitely spent ample time in a heavy, impermeable fog during my classes with Chilenos (Chileans). I attend la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. I'm taking Español escrito, comunicación y cultura chilena, gramatica, and un taller de la creación poetica. In English that's written Spanish, communication and Chilean culture, grammar, and a poetry creation workshop. I was taking an ... read more

It was a phase. If you read my last blog you heard me throughly freaking out because I hit an ugly patch where I virtually knew no Spanish. Okay, it wasn't quite THAT serious but it was bad! Now I know that what I went through is normal for language learners and it's not the end of the world. My mind was just angry and rebelling. Kind of like a mental temper tantrum brought on by fatigue. But that whole mishap ushered me into the stage where I am now: The Awkward Foreigner. It's sounds funny but there's no other way to describe it! You know how you talk to foreigners and they speak English but say some odd, comical things? Stuff like, "he had a bad breath", "the nappy house", or "her legs have many ... read more

Today I had the greatest day! It was marvelous. Earlier I went exploring with Amber and Jack. They're really cool. Last week when I went to my grammar class (they're both in there) I decided that we needed to hang out. I always talk to them in class but I was thinking "Why don't we ever hang out?" and that's when I decided it needed to happen. They're a part of ISA as well. I wouldn't say that we're click-ish but I can definitely see that everyone's getting to the point where we hang out with the same people all the time. Humans are funny. We get so ruttish. But we have to break out! When I told them we should hang out sometime they were both really excited so we exchanged numbers and today was ... read more