Home sweet home!

Well, I am officially back in the States now! My flights were much more pleasant this time around - no passing out, throwing up, etc... My flight from Atlanta to St. Louis ended up switching gates four times, being delayed, and finally canceled. Luckily, they were able to switch me to the night flight into St. Louis. Apparently there were almost fifty people who were one the first flight that were on standby though, so I must have been really lucky to get a ticket!

I am happy to be home, although it has been hard to get used to the heat! I'm not complaining though, I'd take heat over cold any day. We moved into the new apartment Monday, and I think I've got pretty much everything put away, which is great! I love it! Mykl and I had some interesting moments cooking when we realized that no, we don't actually have a collander or a can-opener (we do now!). We just had to improvise a little bit!

Sometimes students have a little bit of reverse culture shock coming home, but mine hasn't been too bad. I've had difficulty saying a few things - like Papa - I keep wanting to say it in a Spanish accent and for awhile I couldn't figure out how to pronounce it. I kept having to think, "Paw-Paw" and that helped! I have been inserting a few random Spanish words into conversation without thinking about it, but it is a lot better now. I also keep spelling words the Spanish way. I also have had trouble remembering that employees in stores and restraunts speak English in the United States. That's getting better too, though. I am really enjoying being back on a normal eating schedule - don't have to wait to eat lunch unto 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon! And dinner is not at 8:30 or 9:00! I am a happy camper, but am probably back gaining the weight I lost. Oh well!

I am thrilled to say that I am feeling much better! I had some pretty rotten headaches and stomach issues at first, but I think that was because I was adjusting to the heat, humidity, and lack of pollution. I still have a little bit of congestion, but all in all I feel a lot better!

Well, my break is about over so I'd better get back to work. Today's my first day back at the Library. I'm so happy to be back with my kiddies!

If I could bring one thing back, it would be the ice cream!

Wow! It's amazing that my month here is almost over! Today was our last day of classes - I ended up with a high grade - "Muy Bueno" (Translation: Really good) which made me feel happy. We had our final exam Wednesday and our final presentation today, and all went well. We had to do an oral presentation for the other class about tourism in Missouri. Everyone was very entertained that we were from Springfield, because that is the home of the Simpsons. They were also surprised to find out that most states have a city named Springfield. After school, we went to a cafe and had tea and desserts with one of our professors and a few students. It was pretty entertaining, because there were people there speaking German, English, Spanish, Dutch, and probably more languages that I didn't hear. They were surprised that in Arkansas it's legal to marry a sibling, and that it is illegal to gamble on land in the U.S. (save Las Vegas). I guess that is pretty weird...

I am looking forward to coming home where I won't get catcalled any more! It's worse when I'm walking with Melissa because she has blond hair and blue eyes, which is a real rarity. She has been applauded, whistled at, and even bowed down to in the street - and many other things. Mostly people just stare. Also, I am looking forward to clean air. The air hear is super polluted and pretty much everyone smokes here. The cigarette packages are funny because they say in huge black block letters "These cigarettes are killing you" (only in Spanish) in letters that take up half of the front of the box. That made me laugh the first time I saw it! I guess it doesn't really change anyone's minds though.

I am happy to say that my cold/flu is almost over - although I did have a fever Monday and Tuesday. But the weather has been much dryer and warmer these last few days, which has helped a lot. We've actually been able to see the mountains because the smog has lifted up a bit. Boy are they pretty! Tomorrow, we will be skiing on a slope called El Colorado, which is very funny to me, because we have a Colorado too. We are going to be taking a beginner's ski class while we are there to help us out. Melissa has never gone skiing before, and I haven't skiied since my sophomore year of high school and that was the only time I'd ever done it. I am excited about going, but we have to get up super-early -blah! Then tomorrow night we will probably go out with our families since it will be our last night here! Crazy! Then, I plan to sleep in Saturday, pack my suitcase, and possibly do a couple more touristic things in Santiago, then eat lunch and head to the airport!

My flight leaves at 8:40 in the evening, and then lands in Atlanta a little after 6 in the morning the next day. Then, I will fly from there to St. Louis where Mykl is picking me up! Mom has promised me a fried chicken dinner Sunday evening, which I am very much looking forward to. I love fried chicken - yum! I have been craving cashew chicken and Lambert's and sweet tea too. Oh, and sun! My skin needs to see some sun because I am WHITE!

Well, I am not sure if I will be able to write again until I get back (for a recap), so don't expect entries for a few days. Thanks for reading - I hope it has been entertaining!

A few things that make me smile

So this will be random and short, but here are some things about Chile that make me smile:

1. Everything is a remedy for a cold. Especially alcohol. Apparently, it is wise to drink rum or pisco sour when you have a cold or a sore throat. Also, one must also drink Coca Cola. The Coreans in my class say you should eat ice cream and avoid chicken, but Chileans think that chicken must be eaten!

2. Even in a city of 6 million people, there are moments when one says, "It's a small world..." For example, you meet someone somewhere never thinking you will see them again....but then you do! Weird... Incomfortable you might say...

3. Clothes. I am never wearing enough clothes here. The other day in class, I was wearing a long sleeved tee shirt, a sweater, and a fleece pullover and the teacher told me that I had a cold because I wasn't wearing enough clothes. This type of thing happens frequently! One must always wear shoes in the house, and probably a coat too, just in case.

Play That Funky Music White Boy

Okay, so the title of this entry has nothing to do with anything except that I have that song stuck in my head! Sorry for being such a downer the last entry. I am in much higher spirits! I am still sickly, but Melissa is feeling better, and I am sick of sitting in my room. So, we are out and about today. My family is making PAELLA for lunch! Woohoo! After that, we are going to do a little bit of shopping - I am looking for some pajamas that my little sister here has that are fabulous! I don't know what they are called, but they are the kind that toddlers wear that have the footsies attached and the shirt attached and everything. Yes, they make them for grown-ups too! Then tonight, we got invited to a fiesta that we might go to. Tomorrow, we will probably pretend to be tourists again (haha I guess we're not really pretending though...)

Melissa and I were talking today about remedies for sicknesses that different cultures prescribe. For example, in the States, we usually eat chicken noodle soup, Sprite, and saltine crackers when we are sick. Does Sprite really help? I don't know. Here, they want you to drink hot tea with lemon, plain burnt toast, plain noodles, and plain chicken. Oh, and we cannot forget the healing powers of our dear friend Coca Cola. Someone in our class from Germany says that when they have colds, they sleep with dirty socks around their necks, which is supposed to somehow absorb the cold. I am sure other cultures vary as well!

I spent some good quality time in the apartment yesterday. It was FREEZING and raining and yucky out, so I wore three pairs of socks, a long sleeve shirt, sweater, fleece pull-over, and another sweater over that. Then, I was still cold so I crawled underneath my blankets and took a little nap. I have lots of layers of blankets, which is fabulous! Sheets, a fleece blanket, a comforter folded in half (like having two more blankets) and a comforter over that. After that, I had some hot tea and watched some Chilean sitcoms. Oh, and I watched Threes Company Too in Spanish! Fun stuff! I love watching American television in Spanish. Very entertaining!

Really REALLY Sick of being Sick (This time I mean it!)

Sorry I haven't written in such a long time. I haven't really had the chance to use the internet much because I am still sick. (By the way, sorry in adcance for typos - I am typing with gloves on which is kind of hard, but it's better than being cold!) I missed class twice this week, and made myself go the other three days because the material we are covering is pretty complex. I've had the worst cold of my life - most of you are probably thinking, "She just has a cold? That's it?" but you can only imagine! It's been a cycle of headaches, stomach aches, fevers, and of course all of the cold symptoms. First, it was just headache, stomach ache, sore throat, and cough. That calmed down, but then I had a runny nose - wait, thzat's an understatement - my nose turned into a faucet of mucus. Plus, my eyes kept watering, so I had red, puffy, swollen eyes and looked like my aunt just died or something. After blowing my nose so many times, my nose started to peel and I got three cold sores on my mouth, and - didn't know this was possiblew - a HUGE cold sore on my right nostral. Grossest thing I've ever seen! I am sorry that I am complaining so much -I have just been so miserable. Plus it's been cold and rainy and miserable and I have spent most of my time in bed trying to recooperate.

Melissa and I were going to go skiing or to Isla Negra this weekend, but seeing as we haven't been super healthy, we can't. Maybe we can go see some museums or something. Last weekend we were able to go to the zoo, which was pretty fun. They had porcupines, polar bears, penguins (out in the open - didn't even need a special refridgerated room!), seals, camels, mountain goats, reindeer, and a whole bunch of monkeys! I liked the orangatanes (spelling?) the best - those are the ones with the pink butts, right? They were so funny! They kept picking each other's butts and eating whatever it is they found. One of them had a little baby, too which was cool. The zoo is on this mountain/hill thing (called a cerro I think) on which you can ride special elevator-type things up the mountain (like the ones you ride at Silver Dollar City in the caves) and then you can also go down the mountain in these bubble-like ski lift things. Sorry for the lack of vocabulary - I know the words in Spanish but not in English.

Sorry for being so negative, but I am just down in the dumps and ready to come home. I am sure Chile is fun and beautiful during it's summertime, but it sure is miserable in the wintertime. Just a little over a week and I will be home! I will try to prepare myself for 90 degree weather if you allo can prepare yourselves for a really really pale Alli.

Sick of being Sick!

Sorry I haven't written so long! I've been holed up in my room a lot this week trying to shake off not feeling good. Yesterday I stayed home from school because I felt so terrible. I've had head and stomache aches, a cough, and a sore throat - blah! The good news was that I read the better part of the fifth Harry Potter book. It's crazy - This is my third time to read the series, but I notice more and more details each time I read through it. My family was really nice - they brought me breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed. I couldn't figure out how to relay to them how thankful I was. I mostly just said 'Gracias' a lot. Maybe I can make them a card hehe. This morning I woke up feeling no better, but had to go to class anyways to take an exam. It was tough, but I think I did okay. As the day went on, I started feeling a bit better, so that is good. Otherwise I would have skipped the internet café and gone straight home to bed.

If I still feel okay tomorrow, Melissa and I will probably go to the zoo, and maybe go see some museums after that. There's supposed to be a free play or musical (can't remember which) that we might go to also. Fun fun! Sunday is Father's day, and a lot of the museums let people in free! I think they just do that every Sunday though. I'm thinking about getting my Chilean papá a loaf of bread because of an inside joke that we have. His family is always picking on him for how much bread he eats, and for getting crumbs everywhere. So, I nicknamed him El Rey de Pan (the King of Bread).

This week was a tough one for me. It was rainy and cold for two days straight, which in addition to being sick, made one unhappy Alli. Plus, the fifth Harry Potte book is depressing. Oh well, the sixth is way cooler. The good news about the rain was that it cleared up a lot of the smog. This morning, the sky was a beautiful blue! However, by the time we left, we could already start seeing a little bit of smog on the horizen. So sad! The contamination level of the air is a lot lower, so that will probably help me to feel better faster. Woohoo!

Well, gotta get going. It's almost time for lunch! Woohoo! I have tried some of the most interesting things here - for example, hot dogs are served with guacamole and mayonaise, and I had a bowl of bean soup with a fried egg on top. Not bad, just different from what I am used to! Wonder what I will eat for lunch?

Viña del Mar and Valparaíso

Well, I just got back from a very relaxing weekend in Viña del Mar and Valparaíso! We took a bus to Viña after class on Friday (about two hours away) and quickly found our apartment - it was huge! It was bigger than the apartment that Melissa lives in in Santiago. It was two stories, and had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. And suprisingly, it was cheaper than having a hotel room at the cheapest hotel. Friday night we did a little grocery shopping so that we could have toilet paper, snacks, etc... Then we got settled in our apartment and went out to eat. I tried some sort of shrimp dish that I didn't like very much, but the potatoes and bread that came with it were yummy!

Saturday, we went to Valparaíso via metro. We started out at the Prat Dock, where we were catcalled by sailors, and got our first view of the Pacific Ocean. We looked at some of the shops, and also saw the Chilean Navel Building (we took pictures with the guards!) Then we moved on to the Ascensor Concepción, which is a very very old elevator that takes you up to a breathtaking view of the city and the ocean. It's not like an elevator from a building - more like the weird outdoor elevators that are in the caves at Silver Dollar City. It's kind of hard to explain! Then, we went to Pablo Neruda's house, which was beautiful and interesting, and had the best view of the city that we had yet seen. The house had some interesting archetecture - it would have been fun to live there! It was weird that the bathrooms were also on display... I was thinking to myself ''Wow! Pablo probably pooped in here!'' Pablo Neruda is a fabulous Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature. We studied him in my Latin American Lit class this Spring. Then we walked down pretty much an entire mountain, and rewarded ourselves with lunch in a plaza. Then, we walked around and did some exploring and shopping (didn't actually buy anything, but there were a lot of open markets). After a long, fun day, we took the metro back with the intention of taking a siesta when we got back. However, we saw a beautiful park on our way back, and spent an hour or two walking around, taking weird pictures, and hiking a bit. We ended up on the other side of a the huge hillish mountain thing with a security guard wondering what we were doing. Serves us right for exploring, eh? We ended up finding our way back, then swiftly went to our apartment to take a well-earned siesta. Then, we went out for dinner and hung out talking for a long time.

Today, we slept in and explored Viña a bit. We went to the celebrated Avenida de Peru, which is the beachside street that has a beautiful view of the Pacific. Very pretty! We did some shopping in a market, and then ate lunch at an Italian Restraunt. Then, went back to the apartment, cleaned it up, and headed to the bus station for our two hour drive back to Santiago. Fun Stuff!

Here are some interesting experiences we had:

1. Public Restrooms: Apparently, it is quite common to have to pay to use a restroom. We did this a couple of times at the bus station - I guess it's better than having a stinky, yucky bathroom with no TP.

2. American Photo Shoot: While Melissa and I are getting used to being goggled at in the streets (we often have people stop walking and physically turn around to stare at us), we were suprised on Saturday to realize that we were, indeed, the subjects of a tourist's photo. We saw them aiming the camera, so we moved away thinking we were in their way - but the camera followed us! Interesting...

3. Juggling Traffic: People try to make money doing almost anything in the streets here. However, we thought that juggling in front of cars at a stop light was one of the more interesting strategies we have yet seen.

4. Restraunt Madness: I love trying new foods, but sometimes when I'm really hungry, I just order something that I am familiar with and am sure I will like. It's nice to know what to expect....However, it seems like every time I ordered something familiar, it ended up not quite the same. For example, piña coladas here are basically a coconut and rum soup without ice or any pineapple flavoring. I couldn't even handle a few sips. Also, fetticine alfredo comes with sliced up ham in the sauce. Pizza is completely unrecognizable - it looks like bread with entire ham slices, tomato slices, etc... and melted slices of cheese, covered with melted butter. Interesting... I even ordered a tortilla española, which was prepared differently than I expected. Most of the food didn't taste bad, it was just a different twiste on what I was used to!

5. Expiration Dates: Whenever Melissa and I ordered any type of bottled soda or water (comes in glass instead of plastic) in restraunts or street vendors, they are usually past their expiration dates. Never more than a month or two, but still...very strange!

6. Unidentified Swimming Object: While gazing out at the Pacific Ocean, Melissa and I saw a USO, which we are guessing was probably a seal or dolphin - although it was all alone, so maybe not?

Hello! Tomorrow after class Melissa and I are going to leave for Viña del Mar and Valparaíso! Woohoo! We bought our bus tickets today, and they were pretty cheap - round trip tickets were only about $10.50, which was pretty fabulous! Also, Melissa's papá found a great place for us to stay this weekend - it´s a little apartment that is in a central location in Viña del Mar. At first, I was a little nervous about us two going alone, but I have heard from my family here, a professor, and a few students that Viña del Mar is super-safe during the day and at night. Valparaíso is a Port city, so we were told to only tour that area during the day. We were just told to stick together, to take taxis at night (always a good idea) and to not flash around our cameras or mp3 players at night. That's always good advice though, so I'm sure we'll be fine. We will have our cell phones and will be able to call either of our family's or our advisor (she told us that we can call her any time of day if we need her) for help if we need it. The cities are very close together - they have metros and buses that go from one city to the other (although apparently they are connected now). We are planning on visiting the house of Pablo Neruda, the who is the most celebrated Chilean author. The cities are both border the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains, so it's supposed to be beautiful. I would be embarassed to go to Chile and not visit these cities!

Anyways, classes are going well. I am feeling more and more confident in my Spanish every day. Melissa is also improving! We have gotten to practice Spanish with our families a LOT and have tried to only speak in Spanish with each other - although sometimes we fail. We usually speak in Spanglish (in Spanish with English words and phrases inserted when we don't know how to say it). Today after class, we went and ate empanadas with some students from our class. One is from South Korea and the other is from Australia. We spoke mostly in Spanish, but the Korean was more comfortable with English suprisingly, so we spoke in English some. Apparently people from Australia really like southern accents, so I tried to imitate one. Alas, I am not very good at accents! Oh well. Of course we've been having fun listening to the Australian accent. Who doesn't love that?

I am suprised at how popular American culture is here! Whenever you go into a store or restraunt, there is usually American music playing. Also, I live across the street from a Holiday Inn Express and a Landrover store. A couple blocks away are a Hooters and a Ruby Tuesday. It just seems wrong! Oh well, I don't plan on eating American food while I'm here. I can eat that for the rest of my life, and the food here is fabulous! I think I am walking it all off though. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to school in the morning. The nearest metro station is about a mile's walk away (more or less - haven't actually measured it). Then, I go five stations, change lines, and go one more station to get to school. The school isn't too far from the last station. This morning was a disaster - the metro was so busy! There was a huge crowd waiting to get on the trains. I was finally able to board the fifth train, so I was a little bit late for class. Luckily, tardiness is completely normal here.

Mykl and I got some frustrating news today - the apartments we were going to move into (had already paid to reverve the apartment a couple of monthes ago) told us that they weren't actually going to have any openings. So, we're having to look for apartments again. Or rather, Mykl is looking for apartments. We have a couple of ideas, but we will see if they even have openings. It's very frustrating being a hemisphere away when there are things going on in Springfield! Oh well, I am sure things will work themselves out.

Well, gotta go! I probably won't be able to write again until maybe Sunday night since we'll be out of town. Hopefully I'll take some pictures this weekend! I think I've only taken about 10, because I want to look less like a tourist.

¡Hola! The weather in Santiago has been beautiful the last couple of days! The sky is a beautiful blue, with no clouds (unless you count the smog) and lots of sun! It's by no means warm, but it's not super-cold either, except at night.

Melissa and I did some exploring this weekend. Saturday night, we hung out with Pilar, a girl from Chile who is a relative of some family friends of Melissa. Complicated? Yes. Anyways, she's really nice and is going to be studying English in Detroit this fall, so she practiced her English with us and we practiced our Spanish with her. We ate the most amazing ice cream (besides the ice cream in Rome of course) and walked to her house through a beautiful park next to the river. They have these really cool fountains with different colored lights that change - the fountains change too. It was really pretty! Then, we hung out with Pilar's family a little bit. We ate dinner at my casa and decided that we were too tired to go to the birthday party, so we talked with my family for a while and then Melissa spent the night. Sunday, we slept in, ran some errands, and then went to eat lunch at Pilar's dad's house. His apartment had an amazing view of the Andes. We also went on top of the roof to get an even better view. The top floor of his building has a heated swimming pool! Weird place for a pool, huh? Anyways, after lunch, I worked on homework and hung out with my family the rest of the evening. I had a lot of homework to do! But, it wasn't super-hard to understand, so I was fine. I am also working on memorizing 20ish new vocabulary words a day while I am here.

I'm beginning to understand the money system here. They use pesos, which are worth almost nothing. One American dollar is worth 535 pesos. Their smallest bill is 1,000 pesos, which is about two dollars. I was confused when I had to pay 300,000 pesos to stay with my family, but in reality it wasn't as much as it sounded!

Last night my hermanita (little sister) and I went up to the roof of the apartment, and I saw El Cruz del Sur (The Southern Cross) which is a constellation that you can only see in the southern hemisphere. I also saw a statue of the virgin that they have on one of the smaller mountains. Apparently, you can see the statue from almost every part of the city. It must be huge!

Well, I wish I could write more, but ¡ya es la hora a almorzar y tengo que irme! (It's time to eat lunch and I have to go!).

It´s Chilly in Chile

Hello again! This time I have a little bit more time to write. Pardon my cheesey title haha. It´s actually not that cold today. I was lucky and got to sleep in this morning! It was amazing! Today, Melissa and I are planning on doing some exploring downtown. We´re probably going to go visit El Museo de Las Bellas Artes (The Museum of Beautiful Art). Apparently this is the most important Museum in Santiago. I saw it yesterday while I was trying to find my school and I´m pretty sure I can find it again. I hope so! Oh, while we´re on the subject of being lost, I BOUGHT A MAP! Woohoo! I am so happy about that! Maybe I can find my way around a little better. I think I can! I think I can!

Also this afternoon, Melissa and I are planning on going out for ice cream with a friend of her family named Pilar. Then, later tonight we are going to a birthday party that Lorena, our advisor, told us about. Luckily for us, my mamà`s nephew is a cab driver, so he´s going to give us rides there and back. I´m not comfortable enough with this city to be out at dark yet, so this is a relief! Then, I think Melissa´s just going to spend the night at my casa. I don´t have plans yet for tomorrow, but hopefully we´ll do something fun!

The food here is very good! I love having hot tea all the time. Last night I had a traditional drink (I forgot what it was called) that consists of non-alcoholic red wine served hot with fruit slices. It was really really sweet, but good. My family had company, so we had a bigger dinner than usual. We had tacos! Yum! They were different though. They were small soft tortillas that you could fill with black beans, palta (sort of like a spicey guacamole), corn, cheese (although a very different type than we´re used to), and chicken. The chicken was different though - not shredded and not spicey. I loved the black beans in the tacos though - yum! The night before we had a special type of bread with whatever toppings we wanted - palta, cheese, eggs and bacon, ham, and this stuff that´s kind of like solid jelly that you cut into slices. That´s the best way I can explain it hehe. Everything is so good here! The milk is similar to the milk in Spain - it´s proccessed differently, so it´s okay if it´s left out for a long time, and it only has to be refrigerated after it´s opened. I don´t really care for the flavor enough to drink it by itself, but it´s okay if you just eat it with cereal or something.

I´m starting to figure out my neighborhood. I live next to all of this gigantic skyscrapers since I live in the financial district. It´s a pretty busy part of town. The Spanish here is different - they cut off the last part of their words and speak verrryyy very quickly. Also, most of their speech is made up of slang called Chileanismos (or something like that). Lorena (my advisor) said that Chileans speak with terrible grammar too - not just the lower classes, but everyone! So it´s been challenging at times to understand people. My family is really good about slowing down when they speak to me though. They are wonderful people!

Well, I´d better get going! Props to everyone who actually read all of this. ¡Chao!

¡Estoy Aqui! (I am here!)

Hola from Chile! First of all, I would like to apologize for typing errors - the keyboard is different and I am still trying to figure it out! Also, I can{t write much today, but wanted to give everyone a quick update.

I had quite an interesting flight here. I took some medicine for motion sickness because I didn{t want to get sick during the flight. Well, apparently that was a bad idea. During the flight, I passed out, then threw up three times. Three separate times too - once right after passing out, once before landing, and once after landing. It was embarassing and I felt terrible! They made me leave the plane in a wheelchair, which I didn{t like at all. I haven{t really felt too great ever since. Usually I feel fine, but when I have to stand a lot or walk a lot (anytime I venture out of the apartment) I start feeling sick. Not fun! Oh well, I suppose it will get better soon. The good news about getting sick on the flight was that I got three seats to myself to lay down on, so I got a lot of sleep.

Chile is cold! It wouldn{t be so bad if there were heaters in the buildings. I miss the sun! When I landed yesterday, it was raining, but today the sky has been beautiful. I haven{t been able to explore much, but the basic impression of Santiago that I{ve gotten is that it is a BIG city! I have gotten lost every time I{ve ventured out of the apartment, which has been very frustating. It took me an hour to get to school this morning - luckily I left an hour early. I was so lost though! I can{t even get from the apartment to the nearest metro station. Once I{m on the metro, I{m fine, but then I can{t make my way from the metro station to school or to the apartment. I am pining for a map of the city and have heard that I can get one from some of the kiosks that line the streets. Woohoo! Also, the student who lived in the house before me left me his cell phone - all I have to do is add minutes to it. But I can receive calls for free, so if you feel like calling me I can give you my number via e'mail. Just let me know.

The food here is awesome! Its very rich and heavy and yummy. We drink hot tea with every meal and all the meals I have had so far have been served with soup. Very good soup too! Chileans love their avacados, bread, beans, rice, etc... I will have to write more about it later though. It{s dark and I need to figure out how to get home haha.

Thanks for all of the comments, they made my day! I have had some frustrating moments so far, but have been trying to stay positive. Classes today were great '- grammar! Woohoo! I feel more confident though, even though classes are taught completely in Spanish. I am taking classes with two guys from Korea, one girl from Germany, and Melissa, who is from MSU too. My family here is awesome and very very sweet. My papa is hilarious and I am lucky enough to have my own room with a connected bathroom. They are very small, but it{s nice to have a little bit of privacy. I learned how to use a gas stove and turn on the gas to get hot showers last night. Apparently I didn{t do it completely correctly because I only had about a minute of hot water. Oh well, I will ask my mama tonight for help. The family has two pets - a three legged dog named Benitoand a cat named Blanca. Benito reeks but is very sweet.

Well, gotta go! I{ll try to write more this weekend! Hasta luego!

Oh geez, I'm leaving tomorrow!

Wow! Time sure has flown the last couple of weeks! I am all moved out of my apartment. My stuff is all over the place - some is at my Mom's house, and some is at Mykl's house. Plus, I have a table at Mykl's sister's house. I am so lucky and thankful for all of the people letting me store stuff everywhere!

I've been ignoring my wedding plans. Most of it can wait until I get back. I've left Mykl with the task of finishing the invitations and sending them out. Then, I'll just have to get busy when I get back! I've got most of the big picture stuff settled. It will just be a matter of buying decorations, figuring out food plans, and that sort of thing.

Tomorrow evening I will be flying out of St. Louis, stopping in Atlanta, then spending a long 9 hours and 45 minutes on a flight to Santiago. I was able to put the audiobook of the fourth Harry Potter on my mp3 player, so that should help me pass the time! Plus, I'm supposed to be sleeping then, so I may attempt to do so. I had such a hard time sleeping on the way to Spain though that I'm not sure how successful I will be. I'm planning on not getting much sleep tonight - maybe that will help! This time I will have an inflatable pillow that goes around my neck. Fancy!

If anyone needs to contact me, the easiest and cheapest way will be to e-mail me at jacobs718@missouristate.edu. If you are just dying to hear my voice (like so many of you are! Heh just kidding) than you can e-mail me or call my mom to get my phone number. The time difference isn't too crazy this time, so you should be able to call anytime.

I can't believe I'm going to study abroad again! I've been enjoying the nice weather today. I'm sure I'll be missing it by this time Thursday when I feel the winter weather. I hate winter! Oh well, winter won't be too bad there I suppose. I'm excited about trying new foods again, and practicing my Spanish. I will be taking classes during the morning until around 1:00, and then I'll be free the rest of the day unless I can arrange a volunteer opportunity. I'm hoping to do a little bit of traveling, but my funds are a bit limited. I may only get to visit one or two other cities. Hopefully I'll get to go skiing! Chile is well known for their great skiing conditions (most of their country is mountainous for goodness sake!).

Well, this is getting long (again). I will probably be posting again this weekend sometime. I start classes Friday! Eeek!

Less than two weeks to go!

Woohoo! The trip is coming up so fast! Yesterday I finished my last three finals, and I feel like a free woman now. Right now I am working on packing up my apartment since I'll have to be all moved out before I leave for Chile.

On to more exciting news - I got some information about the family that I will be staying with! Their last name is Otarola Arce. My señora and señor are both in their fifties, and they have two daughters - one is 29, and the other is 16. It sounds like I might end up with my own room, which would be fabulous! They live in a part of Santiago called Las Condes, which is apparently a very nice part of town that is considered to be the financial district. I even found the street that I will live on (Luz - which means "light") on a map in a library book. It's right next to the U.S. Embassy, according to the map.

When I look at pictures of Santiago, it kind of reminds me of Denver because it is right next to a mountain range. I love mountains! If I had to choose between going to the beach, and going to the mountains, I would definately choose mountains. They just take my breath away!

Here we go again!

That's right, another season of blogging! This time, I will be studying in Santiago, Chile for a month during the month of June. Woohoo! Needless to say, this blog won't have nearly as many postings, and probably less pictures than last time. I decided to change my blog location because this one is way easier to use!

My old blog is still up and running for any old-times who still want to read about my fantastic adventures in Europe last summer.

Click here---->http://allijacobs.blog.com/

Hopefully I will get to do a little bit of traveling while I am down south, but my funds are limited so there is no telling what will happen. Hopefully I'll get to visit Valparaiso (just pretend there's an accent over the last i) or maybe even Buenos Aires, Argentina. We shall see!

Many people are surprised when they discover that when it's Summer here, it is Winter in Chile (and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere). So instead of bringing swimsuits and shorts, this summer I will be packing sweaters and coats. It looks like my attempts to pack less this time may be in vain because sweaters take up a lot more room in a suitcase than swimsuits or tee shirts! I hate winter, but Chile's not supposed to be too cold. I thought it would be at first, because one website boasted that Santiago gets down to zero degrees at the lowest - but they meant zero degrees Celsius (or around 32 degrees Fahrenheit). However, I did hear that most places don't have central heating. I'm sure I'll make due - what doesn't kill me will make me stronger! (Or at least make me come back to South America in December instead of June!)

This summer is bound to be a crazy one. I will be leaving May 30 (right after I finish finals and moving out of my apartment). During my first week back, I will be celebrating both the 4th of July (which I missed last year!) and my brother's wedding. Then, I will spend the rest of the summer consumed in my own wedding plans, which will hopefully result in a beautiful and unstressful August 4th wedding for Mykl and me. We'll honeymoon somewhere (Mykl's surprising me), have a week or two to get settled, and then Mykl and I will start school again.

Many people think I'm crazy for trying to do all of this in one summer. I probably am. But I don't want to pass up the chance to study abroad again - especially when I've been awarded a scholarship that will cover the expenses. I love experiencing other cultures. I love traveling, and practicing my Spanish. It is an exhilarating experience that makes me feel like a more complete person.

That's all for now. It's late and I should probably be sleeping. Those of you that have read all of this deserve a gold star or a cookie or a tasty strawberry (for those dieters out there).