Week 8

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Tues, Oct 6
Today I had class from 10-12. It seems to me that every class I have been to is interesting, because I learn something every day since it's in a different language. That is one of the reasons I was always inspired to learn spanish - because it challenged me. Afterwards, I went to get my Chillean ID, and then returned home for lunch. After lunch, I talked to my brother on skype for 2 hours. That was nice. He mocked me a little bit when he made some ramen noodles; I never thought i'd miss ramen, haha :P. I also watched him play some guitar. He is getting better and better, it is cool. I hung out with my family for the rest of the day - I had dinner, we played some cards, and watched Donde Esta Eliza and Peleton. I didn't like Peleton very much because I couldn't really understand what is going on. Plus, reality shows tend to bore me anyways. Donde esta eliza has to be my favorite chillean show though, mostly because I can understand it fairly well.

Wed, Oct 7
Today ended up being much more interesting than I had imagined. In class we practiced writing narrations in spanish, and got assigned more narration practice for homework. That is the type of writing I like, where you observe and describe what you see or think of. It is kind of like my travel blog. After class, I decided to stay on campus. I hung out with Jesse, and I saw Lindsay's friend Sao. She explained to me what the protests where really about, and now I understand much better what exactly is going on at campus. I had class at 3, and I learned some new spanish expressions that I'm sure I'll use in the future at some point. The website we use in that class is SO helpful in class as well as outside of class. After class, I walked with Al and we noticed a live band outside. They weren't very good, and yet there were quite a few people watching them, so that was interesting. Then, as we were walking back, I was planning on going to the mall with Al. I had never been to the mall before, so it seemed like a good idea. However, Oliver's friend called me (someone I met to a month ago at a surprise birthday party, if you remember in my blog a girl that spoke really good english) and invited me to hang out at Tercer Tiempo. It sounded good to me. I talked to her in spanish for a good hour; I'm glad I did that because I need as much practice as I can get. As I was there, more of Oliver's friends joined us and our table became full. I recognized some of them before, and the rest I met today. They are all really nice, and they don't judge at all, which was huge for me. After a while, the group decided to move to a new bar, called Go, just to see how it was like. It was nice - had 3 or 4 areas and even a dance floor. We went straight to the dance floor, and I danced until close. It closed so early - 10:30 - but I didn't mind because I had danced long enough! Haha, I'm not the best dancer, but I had fun anyways and that is all that counts.

Thu, Oct 8
I'm glad our 9am class was cancelled today, so all I had was a noon class. It was a class on the language and culture of Chile. I am learning alot about Chile in that class, and it makes me realize how every spanish-speaking country has its own dialects and slang that's unique. They say that Chile is known for its slang, and that if you learn to talk spanish in chile, the other dialects are a piece of cake. There is so much to learn about diversity in the spanish language. After, I went home for lunch, then tried to siesta (take a nap). I did for about 30 min, not nearly as much as I wanted to, but i felt awake enough. I lifted for a while, then went on facebook. This is the period where I should be doing me homework, but I wasn't feeling it. Later, Al called me up about meeting in El centro tonight, and I said yes because I was wanting to go out. But right before dinner I felt this sudden tiredness, and I felt bad because I had wanted to go out. I had thought that the lifting was to blame, and I was like bummer. At that point I almost wanted to just stay in and save my energy for the weekend. But then, I said to myself: "okay, you have to be going out as much as possible in Chile." So I took a micro and went. I met up with Karl, Trevor, and Al. After searching through Barrio Estacion for a while, we didn't find anything good. We decided to go to Knockout. Now this is the 2nd time I had been there, and before I went with a group of both girls/guys. This time, it was just us 4 guys. It wasn't too hard to find girls to dance with, being a gringo has its advantages. I'm so glad I went out because I met a Chilena there that I never would have met otherwise. Go me for taking a risk, and it was such a fun night. Compare that to if I would have decided to stay at home. What a difference, so what if I spent about $20 (not sure how).

Fri, Oct 9
Yeah.. well I ended up staying in a hotel in Conce, because the taxi ride to Chiguayante would have been $18.. in the morning I took a bus to el centro, and then realized that I needed change to take another bus back home. So, I went to Hiper Lider (walmart equivalent) and came in with the intent of buying something small so I could get change for my 10 mil. I saw Luis at Hiper Lider! How weird is that! Apparently he works in a small store in the place. To my luck, he was just getting off work! I got some batteries for my camera, talked to Luis about last night, he called me a champion, haha. I then got to go with him in his car to Chiguayante... so much nicer than taking a micro. I was so tired, but at the same time wide awake, so it was weird. I got home, had some lunch, and just crashed for a few hours, I woke up but I was still tired. Thursday seemed to ruin my friday, but it was worth it. I was going to go to his barbeque, but I still not rested enough, so I decided to rest up for tomorrow. It was raining anyways, so I just assumed that there wasn't going to be one.

Sat, Oct 10
After getting sufficient sleep for the first time in a few days, I felt energized and excited for the day. After spending the morning catching up on homework, Oliver and I went to Plaza de Armas to get me a ticket for the concert tonight. I forgot to bring enough money! Luckily, Gabriela was nice enough to stop by and lend me some. Afterwards, we came back for lunch, hung out for a while and then we took a micro to the soccer game and concert. They were both being held at the stadium. The line to Cancha (the VIP section) was huge, and it only got bigger by the time the place opened. In fact, it got so big, that people decided to just rush in all at once, when it finally did open. Well, we got inside, and we ran towards our section of the stadium so that we could beat the rush, and we did! We found a perfect area to sit at to watch the game! The crowd got intense as the game started, and each time we scored, everyone would cheer crazily! It was the same intensity as the last game I saw in a bar, but with 20 times more people! Chile won against Colombia, and it seemed to get everyone pumped up for the concert. The concert was sweet.. the band had a 3 guitarists, 2 guys with trumpets, a saxaphone player, a pianist, and a couple others.. that was like the 2nd time I had ever heard them. Apparantly they are pretty famous. I could tell because the chilenos around me were all into the music. It was really good music, and unique even. I didn't know that trumpets could be combined with rock to create great music, haha. The guy with the saxophone had style, and could pull off an afro amazingly. Afterwards, we went to grab some food at Pub Quebec, and then checked out Barrio Estaciones for a while. Nothing was really going on, and the places to dance at were either packed or it cost money to get in. I was pretty tired anyways. Luckily, Claudio came by at about 3am to pick us up, so we didn't have to pay for a taxi.

Sun, Oct 11
4 hours of sleep, and I got up to join everyone at Luz's apartment. The micro to Concepcion was much faster than I thought, I guess that is because it was a Sunday. It took 25 min as opposed to the usual 35-40 min. At 8:35, I was the first person to arrive out of the 20. I was incredibly tired. Al and I talked about our last night, his was much more exciting than mine (he went to a salsateque). We left at about 9:20, and I slept on the bus the way there somehow. When we finally arrived, we got split up into 3 different cabins. They were decent for one night. We went to buy food for the 1 day we were spending there. Brad and Evin bought so much, but it was so cheap so it didn't matter. Then we took a bus to some sort of celebration. They were dancing the cueca and had a barbeque along with it. They also had horses there to ride. Everyone got to ride once, that was cool. We hung out there for a while, and then went to the beach. It was an amazing place. It is hard to describe, one would need to look at my photos on facebook! On the shore, I had fun trying to get as close to the water as possible without getting wet, and then running back when the wave would almost hit you. The waves were beautiful, and I could spend the whole day looking at them. They were also huge, haha. I took some great pics. There were also a couple caves, and then there were trails where you could walk on top of the caves and look down into them. It was steep walking up, you almost needed some rock climbing skills to make your way up. I had fun, and once you got up, the view was amazing.. well better than amazing! Afterwards, we returned to the cabins, I passed out for a while, and then I woke up to go to the barbeque. The food was excellent, the girls made the salad, and Sergio was barbequing the steaks and choripans- props to him! People danced for a while, and then Sergio was cool enough to bring us to the beach on his truck. About 8 of us were crammed in the back of it, I had a blast. More fun came when we went to the beach while it was pitch black. Most of us went on the shore where we got as close to the water without getting wet. But I think we underestimated the ocean because most of us DID get wet. I got knees deep wet, and so did some others, while only 1 person actually fell in got soaked. It was fun, and I was cold, but oh well. I then went by the fire (there were chilenos there as well as the other gringos). I met a Chilena named Andrea and we chatted it up for a while, which was cool, and it was really nice to meet her 😊. But I was cold from the water so I was kind of happy to walk back and change clothes. I didn't have any other pants so I just decided to go to bed. I had so much fun, though. At that time it was 3am which was early compared to everyone else, Oii! I think the others were in the other cabins playing Beer Pong, with just water though, and also hanging with the other Chilenos.

Mon, Oct 12
I woke up at about 12, and went to the other cabin because apparently they were making breakfast. I didn't expect that, but I'm glad it happened anyways. I had scrambled eggs and pasta for the first time ever, and it was good. One of the perks to waking up early is that you get in on the food before it runs out, haha. Everyone packed to head out to Conce. The funny part is that our cabin was the most dirty and nobody partied in it, haha. Maybe it was because it was an all guys cabin, i dont know, haha.
We packed up the bus and went to the beach, because from there we were going directly back to Concepcion. At the beach we did a lot more walking up and down the cliffs there. I actually rock-climbed a little bit, that was a blast! I had never seen cliffs like that before, its truly an incredible place! Again, the waves were amazing. This time, I actually saw a surfer, so that was neat. I'm guessing not that many people surf because it is probably too dangerous with all the rocks near the shore :/. We then took a bus back, then everyone went their seperate ways to get home. Fun trip. The highlight would have to be Sunday night at the beach 😊

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Comments

[deb wilkens-costello]

Hey there!
I love hearing about your adventures, Luke! but what about classes??? Not much here about that part of your trip!!!! Thinking of you often, Aunt deb :)

[Dad]

cool
Hey luke, I'm glad you are out there having fun and meeting new people. This is what it is all about buddy. I'm very proud of you. You are growing and changing for the better. Be safe and I love You!