In the mine! In the mine!

I knew my program had a trip to El Teniente, the world's largest underground copper mine, planned for the weekend my mom & nana would be here, so, being the thoughtful/mischievous daughter that I am, I secretly signed them up to join us.I knew they would be scared to visit a mine, in light of recent events,but I couldn't let that stop me... How could they visit the country responsible for producing the majority of the world's copper without visiting a mine?? 




As it turns out, they were pretty excited. 

 
 Apparently, my great grandfather (Nana's dad) was a miner, so she was captivated throughout the entire day. To be quite honest, I am pretty sureshe was the only person in my group that was listening to the tour guide hahaha.

 (this woman is one of our amazing program directors. She doesn't speak Englishand didn't realize that her shirt, which read HAMME(RED), was a pun)



Are you interested in being a tour guide one day? Let me give you a few tips...
1. Be knowledgeable in your subject matter2. Be knowledgeable in when to shut your pie-hole!
Our tour guide literally talked all of our ears off. While visiting the mine truly was fascinating, what could have easily been a 4-hour tour ended up being a 12-hour tour. Talk about a long day...










And that, my friends, concludes the pictures I took during my mom & nana's visit. I wish I brought my camera out on their last day here, but I didn't realize we were goingto have so much fun! Oh well, not everything in life needs to be photographically documented!We went to mass at La Catedral, where we stumbled upon an anti-Obama, anti-Americanprotest. That was probably the most unsafe I have ever felt in Santiago.  We then found awonderful Italian restaurant and had a long, luxurious lunch. Slightly tipsy,we wandered back to their hotel, where my friend Rachel came over and hung outwith my mom & I at the rooftop pool. A few pisco sours later, the night was over. 
♥ ♥ ♥ 
I don't think I have ever explained why I came to Chile. In addition to being irrevocably in love with Chilean literature (Isabel Allende, Pablo Naruda... actually let's make that Latin American literature so I can throw in Gabriel García Marquez),I really wanted to become fluent in Spanish so that I could communicate with my nana. She doesn't speak English and I could never speak Spanish, so the week that they visited was literally the first time I have held a full conversation with her. While being awayfrom family and friends for 6 months is hard, that short week showed me how muchI am accomplishing here and really motivated me to make the most of this experience,not only for my own benefit, but also for all of my Spanish-speaking relatives. 
Life is getting exciting around here! I found out that I got an A in the Spanish courseI took the first month I was here, I just scored an AMAZING internship at Wedding Planner Chile, and  a few dance classes I signed up for start this week!:)Sorry for the super long post! Ciao!
P.S. If you get the movie reference from my blog title I love you!

Life at Hogwarts

Oh and I haven't told you this yet, but, my school is absolutely breathtaking.

It kind of reminds me of Hogwarts + castle from Beauty & the Beast + My Secret Garden.


 
 


 

There are these really awesome HUGE paintings that I can't stop looking at.
They are three dimensional and were created with such unique materials.
 
 

The restrooms are kind of weird. There is no toilet paper in the stalls -- you have to get some from the front before you go inside hahaha.

 

I have been taking spanish classes here (four hours every day... kill me now...)but, when fall quarter arrives in March, I will be at La Católica's other campus in San Joaquin.I can't wait but I am so so so nervous to attend REAL classes with REAL Chilean students.IN SPANISH. Not to mention, this university is arguably the best in Santiago, and maybe even Chile. Help meeee!


P.S. This is Perlita sleeping on my bed. She belongs to my host mom.

She is cute sometimes, I guess. 

La Vida Chilena

First things first! I flew out of Los Angeles, CA at noon on Monday
and arrived in Santiago, Chile on Tuesday morning, therefore accomplishing goal
#025: Visit another continent.
It has been one HECK of a few days! I have been taking some pictures 

and thought you might like to see how my trip to Chile has gone so far :)

Since my program didn't officially start until today,
 a few friends and I stayed in a hostel last night.

 
 

We met soo many people (some from UCSB, some from other UC's,
and even from other countries!) and had so much fun getting to know one another 

and playing with the hostel's pet guinea pig, named Lucy.




 We grabbed lunch at a random café (there are so many here) but we were not at all
satisfied with our meal :( After going home to nap, we resolved to go out later that night,
get ourselves a real dinner, and celebrate our arrival in this city with some drinks! 

We went out to Bella Vista, which is a beautiful area of the city with tons of bars and 

restaurants. We ended up eating at a restaraunt called "Como Agua Para Chocolate"

 (we chose it because it is named after a popular US book! Which is now on my to-read list...). 

At that restaurant I had what I would consider to be one of the best meals EVER. 

We drank Pisco Sours (a popular Chilean drink comprised of brandy & mango juice.

Sounds weird but it is so sweet and soo yummy!) and shared a bottle of wine at the table. 

I didn't bring my camera out, but my friend Lara took a few pictures!

 

Today I went with the other students in my program to
 La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (which happens to be the university
 I will be attending here) to meet our host families.


 


I was really nervous to meet my family, but they turned out to be so great!
I am living with a woman named Enriqueta (Keti for short) who totally reminds me of my nana,
 her son Pablo who is an assistant professor at the Universidad de Chile, and two other girls
whom are both studying abroad (one from Illinois and the other from S. Carolina).
I also have my own room, which resembles a college dorm!

While Tuesday was spent mingling with other travelers and, obviously, speaking english,
on Wednesday I spoke almost entirely in spanish. I mess up a lot, but my host family
is very helpful. I can't believe all of the subjects we exhausted! My ability
to communicate in spanish really surprises me! This means I accomplished goal
#046. Have a conversation in Spanish




I spent the day getting to know my new host family,
eating great food that Enriqueta prepared, and walking around the city.
Santiago is HUGE. The narrow cobblestone roads and beautiful architecture
are something you might see in Europe. The graffiti (sometimes beautiful artwork,
other times political rants), the litter, and the neglect of many of the buildings
remind me of something you might see in East LA or Hollywood. And the energy,
the street vendors, and the metropolitan atmosphere are definitely features
that remind me of New York. I happened to notice that there are TONS
of stray dogs in the city. What is weird is they don't bother people at all --
they just go about their own business and wander around, chasing cars. Strange...
Overall, a very intricate city. I am excited to continue exploring!




 



 

More on Flickr ♥