Polaroids of a Wedding

Pictures from a pretty wedding I worked at last week.

The Time Has Come To Say Goodbye

My last weekend in Chile was so, so perfect.I finished a paper on Thursday, finished another paper on Friday, worked on a project all morning on Saturday (after making & scarfing down somedelicious chocolate chip pancakes) and then took a bus to Valparaíso Saturday afternoon. 
I went to Valparaíso with my mom & nana when they came in March but I have been dying to go back ever since. It is such a beautiful, unique, and lively city! 
My friend Jade & I arrived around 7 PM, hunted down a hostel, and then set off to enjoy the night. The nightlife is amazing there. At the first bar we went to, we saw that all of the locals were drinking some sort of strange fruity concoction out of what looked like large glass flower vases. We asked someone what it was and she explained that it was white wine, orange juice, and pear juice. YUM! Definitely ordered one of those... Later on, we stopped by a Mexican restaurant and had delicioussssssss fajitas. Not quite authentic, but the closest I've come to here in Chile. 
SO GUESS WHAT WE DID AT THE RESTAURANT?!!!

I accomplished goal:#072: Sing karaoke.
And I made Jade sing with me HAHAHAHAHA.I suppose that fruity drink we had earlier (in addition to the margaritas we were drinking at the time) gave us a little extra courage. There were TONS of songs in English on the list and we ended up choosing Wonderwall by Oasis. Talk about a bad song choice!!! I forgot how low and monotonousthe singer's voice is hahahahaa. Needless to say, we left the restaurant as soon as we finished the song.Although it was terribly embarrassing, I am so glad we did it! 
And P.S. I'm totes gonna do it again. Maybe even this week??? I think I'll bust out a little Alanis...


We made our way to one of the most popular nightclubs in the city and danced until the morning. It was insane to see how alive the city was as we were walking back from the club! There were more people out at that time than there were when we first arrived in the city! Incredible. 
Today we had coffee at a restaurant overlooking the ocean, wandered around Valpo's infamouswindy roads and hills in search of artisan jewelry, and grabbed a quick lunch before we headedback to Santiago. Oh! And I bought a churro filled with manjar (a thicker, creamier dulce de leche). 
Heaven. 
♥ ♥ ♥

Running off to Valparaíso was the best thing I could have done this weekend. Would you believe me if I told you that it seems like time runs slower over there? Because it does.I am now trying to wrap my head around the idea that I only have SIX DAYS left in Santiago...
No words. 

Weekend 5 of 6

My weekend was a blur of study dates at Starbucks and long, crazy nights at various discoteques. I can't believe I only have one weekend left! Although I am alreadyyy beginning to miss Santiago, I think I might escape next weekend to visit another beautiful city. 

This week I am going to try to finish a paper, two final projects, and study for my only final exam. After those four assignments, I am done with school! FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Until grad school.
Wish me luck! 



pictures from my trip to Valparaíso in March 

ONLY TWO WEEKENDS LEFT!

I forgot to give you a recap of weekend 4 of 6! Do you hate me???? I suppose I didn't feel the need to tell you all about how I was miserable and sick and basically bedridden all weekend. Womp womp.  But but... some exciting things happened! I'll make it short and sweet.
Wednesday: I baked!


Thursday: I did a handstand and celebrated Thanksgiving!


Friday: went to my internship and contracted some strange disease from the dirty children.
Saturday: went out to a fancy dinner with my friends to celebrate my graduation! Love these girls!



Sunday: I was dead.
Monday: I was dead.
Tuesday: Went to a farewell dinner with all of the students in my program. And, of course, spent most of the time with the people I see every day hahaha.


I can't believe my time here has almost come to an end!The only things that stand between me and freedom are:
CLASS 1- make a comic strip- do final project- take final exam
CLASS 2- read a few articles- write an essay
CLASS 3 - watch a documentary
- write essay on documentary - read for group project
- complete group project

Okay that is kind of a lot hahaha. Dang it.

10 Things Part II

When I first arrived in Santiago, I made a list of ten things you might not know about the city.
With my time here dwindling away, I thought it was time to write a new one! Keep in mind that
this list is for people back home and not for you Santagüinos who are reading this, because most
of these things are things you & I learned many moons ago. Without further ado:

Ten Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Santiago Part II

1. Chile runs on a 24 hour clock (you know... military time). This has significantly improved my addition skills.
2. Nobody uses dryers. After washing your laundry, you hang it outside on a clothesline. This was awkward when I lived in my homestay the first month and my underwear hung outside of my host brother's window, but it's all good now that Rachel & I have our own private balcony :) 


3. An overwhelming majority of movies at the movie theaters here are American films which are played in English and have Spanish subtitles. You actually have to go out of your way to find movie theaters that play Chilean movies. I never realized how prominent the American film industry is all around the world. If a movie is popular enough, like Harry Potter or something, it may be dubbed in Spanish. This strikes me as odd, since most of the Americans I know refuse to watch movies with subtitles and/or in different languages. What an arrogant country we are.
4. According to a Chilean friend, even though Christmas is in the summer (when it is over 100°) they still celebrate the holiday with candycanes and fir trees and snowy decorations. Crazy, huh?! I thought it might be a beach party. 
5. Girls in K-12 are not allowed to wear makeup to school. No wonder makeup seems less prominent here, even among college students! They don't need it though -- the girls here are seriously so naturally beautiful. 


6. People here don't like warm sweets. This came as a big shock to me, because I bake a lot and I know from experience that most Americans love their pastries right out of the oven, all gooey and melty and delicious. For example, I made peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies one day for a friend's BBQ and the first batch of cookies was gone before the second batch came out of the oven!!! Keep in mind, it takes cookies about 10-12 minutes to bake... But the Chileans that I live with look at me like a nutcase every time I try to feed them a warm cookie or cake. "We like our cake cold," explained my landlord. Yeesh.
7. Maybe this is a bold statement but I don't think a "middle class" exists here. People are either very tight on money or have a whooole lot of it. I've complained a lot about how expensive the city is, but I think the truth is that it is expensive to try to live what we Americans consider to be a middle class lifestyle. We could live dirt-cheap like a lot of people here do, but that is not how we are used to living. And the hard part is, the humble luxuries we were able to afford in the U.S. cost literally double the price and are simply no longer within our budget.
8. You know how in the U.S., there are a few businesses that are not opened on Sundays? Like the post office, the bank, etc. Well in Santiago, it is the opposite -- there are a few businesses that are NOT closed on Sundays (ex: Starbucks, grocery stores). I live on a pretty busy street so Sundays are always eerily quiet and slow. I like it though :)


9. In Chile, just like every other country in the world besides the U.S., people stay out all night to party, or as they call it "carretear".  One of my friends went to a club at midnight (which is late by American standards) and was thinking about leaving around 1 AM because nobody was there. "Maybe we came on a bad night," she thought. She decided to stick it out a little longer and by 2 AM, the club was in full swing! It is not uncommon for Chileans to return home from a long night of dancing as the sun rises in the morning. I have yet to "transnochar" but I still have time :)
10. I have noticed that people here pronounce the sound "ch" differently. For example, some people say CHile while others say TZile, as though the "ch" has been replaced with "tz". You can also hear this when people use the common phrase, "Cachais?" (which means, "do you understand me?"). Some people say caCHais and other say caTZais. Isn't that weird??? I have heard from several sources that the difference in pronunciation depends on the person's social class. This makes sense to me, because  I always hear the TZ pronunciation while I am at school, which is the mecca for upper-class Chileans (or cuicos as they are known as here.)
♥ ♥ ♥

I hope my list gave you a little more insight into life in Santiago! 
Weekend 3 of 6 was pretty tame... 
Thursday night I watched the entire season of Khloe & Lamar in one sitting. Don't hate. 
On Friday at my internship, the kids were protesting the government's hydroelectric plans for Patagonia!! I wish I had brought my camera because it was the coolest thing EVER to see all of these little five year olds with their faces painted, shaking posters and pompoms, and shouting out chants. They start 'em young here. I passed out in exhaustion once I got home and I honestly don't remember what I did that night haha. Fatigue-induced black out. 
On Saturday Lara & I went to a soccer game at the Estadio Nacional, had pizza with her Chilean homestay family, and then drank a few artisanal beers at a cool bar called Budapest. It was freeeeeeezing but I had a good time, as I always do with that girl. Can't wait for our vacation!!!
Sunday... can you guess??? Homework day @ Sbucks, per usual. Except I have yet to actually start any homework... But how can I be expected to concentrate with the end of the semester so close??? 

All My Children

Here we are, at weekend 2 of 6. CRAYZAY! Here's a recap:

On Thursday, the internet shut off in my neighborhood. You know those nights when the power goesout and you and your family/friends kind of camp out together and light candles and it feels kind oflike "the olden dayz"?? That is what it felt like! Rachel & I had minor panic attacks and then camped out in my room, chatting, eating candy, and watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall on TV. Isn't it crazy how dependent upon the Internet our generation is? In our defense, our Internet addictions have spiraled out of control since we've been studying abroad. YOU try being on a different hemisphere from your family and friends and everything you have ever known with only a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone on which you can't even make international calls! It's a hard knock life!Come Friday morning the connection was fixed and our lives went back to normal :)


Oh guess what?! I brought my camera to my internship on Friday!! The kids were sooo excited and kept demanding that I take pictures of them. They had a dance performance that day, so, if you were wondering, NO they don't dress in these kinds of clothes/wear hooker makeup on a daily basis haha














Look at this child and tell me you do not love him. His name is Alonso. I love his huge eyes and chubby cheeks but my favorite thing about him is his voice. I don't know if I can describe it... it is like a baby munchkin robot voice HAHAH. Love <3


This is Fabian.  I juusst may be in love with him. Such a sweetheart. Maybe I feel attached to him because he kind of looks like one of my nephews. Or maybe it has something to do with that smile. 


Danae is my secret favorite. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. First of all, we had the same haircut hahaha. And despite the fact that her mother always dresses her up really pretty and girly, come recess time she is always out playing with the boys. Just like I used to! 


Okay and Francisca is just adorable. She pretends she is a cat at ALL times. 


When I got home from the internship, I collapsed in bed and nearly didn't make it out to go to the Mexican Food potluck that my friend was hosting. Ummm hello I said nearly!! I was NOT going to miss the opportunity to eat REAL LIVE mexican food! I ended up making jalapeño popper dip (which did not turn out as good as it did the first time I made it...but it was a strange cooking situation haha).By the end of the night, however, I noticed that the pan was scraped clean. Great success.My friends and I sat around a table for most of the night (blame it on our food comas) debatingabout: politics, religion, western medicine, the food industry, animal rights, and more!Call me crazy but I live for nights like those. You could tell that some people felt uncomfortableby all of the differences in opinions we had, but I honestly enjoy hearing other peoples' points ofview, whether I agree with them or not. I think it is quite amazing that we live in a world where it is possible to disagree with someone while still having complete respect for them and where having different perspectives/values/choices doesn't have to affect your friendship in any way.
Saturday was homework day for me. I hung out at Starbucks with my friend Jade and wrote a pretty darn good paper en español about Mapuche religion. We'll see what my Chilean group members think about it hahaha... Today will be spent doing more homework, applying to jobs (help meeee), and baking oatmeal raisin cookies :)
Cheers to another successful weekend!
♥

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 :/