Week 6 - Santiago

Tues, Sept 22
Today, I went to class from 10-12. We worked on writing our autobiographies. After class, I returned home for lunch. I hung out for most of the day, I didn't do too much (in other words, I procrastinated in writing in my travel blog, so I forgot what happened, haha).

Wed, Sept 23
Today I had class from 10-12. After We celebrated Jessica and Allison's birthday. We had cake outside the classroom and socialized. That was nice. Then, I chilled with Eric and Lindsay. We had time before out 3pm class, so we walked to the ministery building and tried to get our ID's. However, it was really full with people and there were long lines, so we walked back. We decided just to go to a bar for a while until Eric went home, and then Lindsay and I decided to go to the computer lab. On the way there, we saw Profesora Luz, Hayley, Cheryl, and Catie going to Cafe Neruda for lunch, so we joined them. We ate at Cafe Neruda; a really cheap place to get lunch - $2.50 for a meal- can't beat it. We had a nice conversation about how everyone is doing in Chile. Everyone seems to love it very much and the classes are just great. Anyways, after, I went to class at 3, and returned home.

Thu, Sept 24
Today, we had class at 9am. Walking alone, I figured I wouldn't be able to find class today. I went to the right place at first, but I didn't realize it because I didn't know the name of the place. So I went up the wrong hill (xD), texted Jess, and that set me straight. The class was a lecture, and we got assigned some homework for next week. After class, I went to some hidden store with Al. You would see a sign and walk up a driveway of someone's house off of campus. The store was adjacent to the person's house. I don't see how they would get good business because of how hidden it is, but I guess that is what the sign is for. Afterwards, we walked back to campus and Al ran into one of his chillean friends. She had a guitar and was sitting in the grass. She let Al play some, and then Evin also wanted to play. They were pretty good on the guitar. Afterwards, we went to class, but we got there early so we chilled inside a study lounge. Out of the blue Adrien said that she had an extra ticket for a bus to Santiago. Now, I had heard about this trip through facebook and I didn't think there was a chance of me going, so this was very short notice. Brad took up the offer before me, but Adrien said I could still come and people could just share beds at the hostel. I then and there realized that I only had 2 hours after class to get ready (our bus left at 4). So, you can imagine how ancy I was during class. I felt like the first time, in a long time, I was living in the moment, haha. I couldn't concentrate in class worth crap (xD). Here's what went down ~ I rushed home, 30 min bus ride, called my host dad about the trip and he seemed fine with it. I had lunch fast at home but trying to keep my cool at the same time, then I packed for 4 days in 20 min like really fast xD. By then it was 3:20 and my host dad brought me to the bus station, I got there at 3:55 and was somehow able to buy a ticket and get on the bus. Can you imagine doing that on a bus in the states.. I mean I don't think they would allow it! I bought the ticket 5 min before the departure time LOL!! Crazy. The bus ride was good, the 6 hrs flew by it seemed. We got to the hostel and we went out right away - throughout the night we went to 3 different dance clubs.. and they were all free to get in. I think it is because we were gringos, haha. The first club we went to was my favorite by far. It was the biggest, has the best music, and had the most people. I liked being in big crowds because it seems less embarrasing to dance as everybody is doing it. Raving is cool. The other 2 bars were still fun, but I got tired by the time we got to the third, so I'm glad we didn't stay super long. Afterwards, we got a completo and then returned back to the hostel and i went to bed.

Fri, Sept. 25
Day 2 in Santiago. Santiago is much different than Concepcion. I noticed that there are bigger buildings and they are more like New York City. There is even places like Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Mcdonalds, and others. It sort of feels like you are in a big city in the U.S. Today, we went out to a place where we got a $5 lunch, and then went to the zoo. On the way there I stopped to take some pictures of the graffiti.. the art is much more appealing. The zoo was very interesting. It was on a hill, so there was a lot of going up and down stairs. They had so many varieties of animals ~ girafes, white tigers, elephants, varieties of birds, even a polar bear. Cool stuff.. I took some good pics of almost everything. We were able to walk to the top to see this huge statue. You could also see the whole city of Santiago from the top. Heh, I also bought a Chile jersey at one of the touristy stores. After the zoo we walked back to the hostel. I rested a while and then grabbed some pizza with Brad, Evin, Al, and Karl. The pizza was so good and it was really close to the hostel. It was nice to be in a hostel in el centro where you can easily find a restaurant and get amazing food for cheap. I felt like I was back in the dorms where everything was easily accessible. That night, I hung out at the roof top of the hostal where everyone was socializing. It was interesting because almost everyone in the hostel spoke english..there were some people from England, some Brazilians, and 1 guy from Ireland. I stayed for a while, and then went out with Trevor, Karl, and Al. As we were walking down the street, some chilenos came up to us and just started questioning us. So, we decided to hang out with them. They kept offering us wine and we were like "sure." After getting to know them, we went to a bar to converse more. It was a good opportunity to work on our spanish, which was good. It was interesting getting to know some of the locals, because you could tell that they were used to how Santiago was. The streets in Santiago were more dangerous later, but we stuck with the Chilenos were met who knew their way around. Out of the bar, it was about 3am and I saw a fight in the streets and it was quick, but intense. Some guy hit with one of his drums, and so he hurt his head pretty bad. I was freaked out, but the Chilenos I was with kept telling us to stay calm so I did. That showed me a piece of the danger that can occur in Santiago, wow!

Sat, Sept 26
We went to the vineyard today, which was interesting. We took a metro to get there. I liked how convenient and easy to use it was. A lot of the group had never taken a metro before, since they don't exist in Minnesota (the lightrail is the closest thing). We get there for the tour which consisted of seeing the vineyard, the 2 huge rooms filled with stacks of barrels filled with wine. One of the rooms was underground, and I found it interesting how they have to extract the wine with a hose, because otherwise they would have to haul the barrels upstairs! The tour included 2 glasses of wine - 1 white and 1 red of very fine quality. Most of our group preferred the red wine, but I like the white more. Afterwards, we headed back by metro again, which was a long process but it was a new experience nonetheless. For me, this trip is all about new experiences! I didn't go out like most everyone else did today, because I felt too tired. However, I heard that people split into like 4 groups and went to different bars and discoteques with the other gringos in the hostel. I was okay though because I had already had plenty of fun on thursday and friday night.

Sun, Sept 27
Today was a lot of fun. I got up and got ready for the day. Before going out to eat, we had all had to pay for the hostel - which was quite a long process figuring out how much each person owed. While some of us were waiting for the others, we looked outside our hostel and saw a group of people doing weird acts on the street. What I mean by that is that they were performing acting stunts such as playing dead, fake shooting with their point finger, pushing someone over and trying to make it look real, etc. It was really cool to watch, and we couldn't believe that people would actually do that sort of thing outside our hostel in el centro. When everyone was ready, we went to a restaurant to watch the Vikings game. The twelve of us had our own room, and we watched the game from a projector screen. Just the fact that I was able to see the game from the otherside of the world was awesome. Even though I'm not as into football as most, I enjoyed it just as much as they did. We were all there, everyone was happy, and I was happy to be there with them. I also can't emphasize enough how amazing it was to get american food there. I had a cheeseburger with bacon and pineapple, and fries with cheese, good stuff. Afterwards, we headed to the bus station and just barely made it for the 6pm bus. I actually went to the wrong station and I almost missed the bus - Luckily my friends kept the bus waiting for me until I finally used common sense and figured out where to go, haha. I sat in the back of the bus, where Sonni, Adrian, Brad, Christina and I played the "ask anything or say anything you want" game. Haha. I think we all won because we all learned something new about everyone. When we got back, I headed back to Chiguayante with Brad. After that night I realized how nice it was to have someone live close by. It is much easier than going solo, and plus Brad knew a lot about the streets. I think one of his family members showed him around one day, and he's been pretty decent ever since. I'm not sure, but woot for Brad being there.

Mon, Sept 28
Back to clases, but having one at 11am wasn't too bad. We made the class fun by contributing to the class more this time. I think about 5 of us said something this lecture, which is good because usually only 1-2 of us say something, and it's usually only 1 comment throughout the whole lecture. But this time, we seemed more engaged in what was going on, even though the curriculum can be dull at times. Sometimes he would tell fantasy stories that have a meaning behind it, and I found that much more interesting than learning about the lives of writers and poets. After class, I went back home for almuerzo. I didn´t do much the rest of the day. Except I stayed up till 2am doing homework. Probably a bad idea, but I am just glad the paper was finished.

---

---