Our Time is Running Out

I have spent a lot of time recently missing home like crazy. The things I miss most:

Surprising Melissa at her apartment in Irvine whenever I happened to be in town and cuddling with her in bed whenever we went back home, even though there were three other empty beds in the house.



Staying up all night with Desiree, whether we were watching movies and binging on junk food or sitting outside on the balcony, telling each other all of our boy problems and/or singing an old pop song at the top of our lungs.




Sending Michelle back to her room to change out of her wacky outfits before we went somewhere together and staying up all night researching gluten-free recipes for her, even though I am pretty sure I cared a lot more about allergen-free cooking than she did.




And I should probably add that I miss (almost... hehehe) everything about my boyfriend like crazy.




Last week, however, it dawned on me that I only have SEVEN weeks left in Santiago. Okay if you think of it like that, it sounds like a long time. Think of it like this: I only have to go to each of my classes seven more times. And what sounds even crazier -- I only have six weekends left in Santiago! Five, now that this weekend has come and gone! Suddenly I feel like time is slipping away too fast. 

I decided that during the week I am going to buckle down on my school work and on the weekends I am going to put every effort into exploring the city and enjoying this experience while it still lasts. After all, who knows if I'll ever get the opportunity to visit Santiago again? 


Let us begin the countdown. For your reading pleasure, here's a recap of WEEKEND 1 of 6
On Thursday (yeahhh my weekend started on Thurs!), some of my friends & I had a much neededgirl's night. They came over to my apartment and we spent the night drinking wine, eating warmgooey brie on slices of toasted baguette, and talking about everything under the sun. So necessary.
Friday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and went to my new internship, which is at adaycare one hour outside of Santiago. It was completely exhausting but so rewarding. The kids loved it when I spoke English (one boy thought I was speaking Chinese...) and proceeded to requestthat I speak it all day. Every time I gave in to their requests, they answered me in a chorus of laughter. It was pretty amusing. Oh I may or may not have told them that Justin Bieber is my "pololo" (a Chilean slang word for boyfriend) and they honest-to-goodness believe me. I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship :)
 

Friday evening I went out to Santiago Centro to work on a photography project with Andrea, a friendfrom class and fellow EAP student. We're in this class that is called Visual Language, where we learnabout all of the elements of an image that contribute to the message communicated by the image.It is a communication class but entirely different from the types of communication classes we take at UCSB, where the focus is on the act/theory/research of communication -- not the modes ofcommunication. Anyway here are the photos we selected for our project. We had to find a haiku poem and then assign a photo to each line of the poem.  I'm super nervous because all of the students in our class are literally artists and the grades we've received on past projects have been less than stellar. 
taking a rest

I let the city noises 

leak out of my ears


Oh I forgot to mention that when Andrea & I went to Santiago Centro to take pictures, we stumbled upon a protest! We've been warned by our EAP program to avoid protests here because Santiagois a pretty politically volatile city and the rallies have been known to get out of hand. Think policeraids and tear gas. Many Chileans are angry because the government approved a hydroelectric project, which would dam two rivers in Patagonia (remember that beautiful place?), one of Chile's pride & joys. Apparently the protest got pretty violent later that night but luckily Andrea & I left before that! I have always wanted to go to a protest so I was pretty pumped to be in the midst of it all. I am definitely going to try to go to some protests when I return home and fight for causes that I am passionate about, like gay rights. 


Going to that protest means I have accomplished goal:#089: Attend a political event


Saturday afternoon I went to a mall in Las Condes with my friend Lara, where we indulged in café helados, watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (which we loved!!), and haddinner & a few drinks at Ruby Tuesdays (we would find the most gringo place there...). It was an amazing (and really expensive) day. 

 
(the view from outside of my apartment)
And as a perfect end to my weekend, I spent Sunday all cozied up in a corner of Starbucks-- my favorite place to do homework. 
YAY FOR A PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND. 1 down, 5 to go! 
P.S. Sorry for the long post :/

Some Peace & Quiet

Getting settled in my new apartment & trying to register for classes has been completely 

exhausting... To retain some sanity, I have been taking solace in my pretty little room.

Exhibit A:

I hung these pretty little birdies I bought from an artisan in Chiloe (I will talk about 

Chiloe later) from a light in the center of my room and it is incredibly cathartic 

watching them spin around, casting shadows on my long red curtains.  

Exhibit B:
While on vacation in Patagonia, I read "My Life in France" by Julia Child in its entirety 

and completely fell in love. It reminded me of "Eat. Pray. Love.," I think

due to the whole "leaving your tired, old life at home and running off to discover 

a new world, and in doing so, discovering delicious foods and yourself as well!" thing.

Inspired, I walked over to the campus book shop and picked up some new/old reading material.

Exhibit C:
After a terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad morning of registering for classes,

 I dragged myself back to my apartment, ready for a long, hot shower. 

My mood completely lifted when the concierge downstairs handed me the 

bouquet of 2 dozen roses that was sitting on his desk. Anniversary gift from Bryan ♥




I mean, I guess I haven't been suffering TOO much... hehe.
I also had an amazing night out with friends this past weekend to celebrate
a friend's birthday and ended up trying duck for the first time at a little French bistro.
Yum!!! Yay for new experiences!! Speaking of which...

Our last day in el Parque Nacional Torres del Paine was spent
dillydallying over to a beautiful waterfall and encountering many, many
guanacos on the way. Guanacos are a type of llama, btw, and they
are so awesome! We were literally walking with them on the road.
And when we reached the waterfall, we were thrilled to see
that there was a rainbow over it. Absolutely breathtaking.












The waterfall was amazing and seeing it definitely inspired me to plan a trip to
Iguazu Falls in Argentina! And possibly to Niagra Falls in the more distant future.

Well it is way past bedtime here so I bid thee goodnight!
¡Buenas noches!

Part of the Club

Yesterday I went with Bryan & Jim to the Orpheum theater

in LA to watch Aziz Anzari perform his stand up.

It was amazing! I love Aziz and I especially love his alter-ego RAAAAAAAANDY.
(please youtube some videos of his!)

photo via Google Images

Before the show we went to a little italian restaurant nearby called L'Angolo's.
We shared stuffed mushroom caps and I  enjoyed some delicious crab risotto.
Obviously it was a good night :)

Since I've been a total slacker with my Day Zero Project,
 I decided that I had to do SOMETHING before we went out that night.
Sooo, as we were getting all dolled up, I had Bryan teach me how to tie a tie.
I don't know why this was on my list -- it was so easy!
I suppose I have just always felt left out of some exclusive club of awesome
people who know how to tie ties. Well, guess what ladies & gents???
I am now part of the club!
See below...