holaaa, soo we went to cafe journal thursday night, that was really fun and interesting, i got to meet some chilenos and hang with my group too. speaking spanish in a loud club and understanding is very difficult, i suppose the chilean beer and pisco sour didnt help. the alcohol is much stronger here, just fyi, if u ever find yourself drinking here. and they seriously fill up your glass like more than half full with rum or some other alocohol and only like a little coke on top...ridiculous. the night ended up very interesting with some blonde guy in my group proclaiming his lust for me...awkward and annoying. then i went home with 2 other girls on my street, i am really lucky that i have girls who live close, its pretty dangerous here at night, especially for us gringas (although according to the chilenos here i kinda pass as one if i dont open my mouth hah)

so then friday we had 3 hours of orientation classes and then had lunch in the plaza de vina. it was cute, we ate on the steps to a fountain in the middle of the city. i kinda dont like when im in our huge group tho because then we definitely look like a bunch of gringos. so then we went to la sebastiana! its pablo nerudas house that it built way up on a hill in valpo. he has a magnificent view of the ocean and all of valpo and vina. its 5 stories, has soo much cool art and colors and is just really unique with random roooms. after that we went on a walking tour of valpo to see some of the graffiti. that was awesome too, there are soooo many artists in valpo, its a really unique and cool place.

umm then later that night i went to get pizza with some kids from the group and then out to some random bar with maggie (a girl who lives by me) her sister. who is so so awesome and helpful, conner, laura, vanessa and some other chileno. it was really fun, some bars here arent what u think of usually. they are just lots of rooms with tables so u can sit and talk. of course there are others for dancing, but there are just sooo many you can have both kinds. the only think that kind bothers me is that you can smoke anywhere here. like grocery stores, anything. so in the bars and things its kinda hard to breathe sometimes and the smoke is rediculous, we all always look like we are high out of our minds when we leave cause the smoke just hurts so bad. but besides that, its really fun.

then sat morning i went surfing! we got up early and met at some surf shop a boy in my groups brother owns. we drove like 40 minutes away to playa ventana, i kinda secluded small beach up north. we got all suited up and then had a very quick lesson on the beach before just basically being told to get in and go. it was actually easier than i thought. i mean i wasnt good by any means, but balancing was really easy if u just laid or kneeled on it. i was able to stand up 4 times, not long, but its a start! it was really really fun, even just watching everyone else was fun. i really reccomend trying it anytime u can. then on the way home we stopped and got emapanadas. if there is anything im going to get fat off here its the empanadas and ice cream. and thats saying something cause the portions here are fucking huge. mmm.

when i got home that afternoon i awkwardly walked in on a family lunch at my house. there were lots of people i hadnt met yet so i had to sit and eat with them and try to make conversation. its really nerve wraking (sp?) meeting new chilenos, especially cause usually if they arent involved in the program somehow, they talk super fast and arent as understanding if u dont get what they are saying. but it was still good. o my god, also they werent kidding about the best fruit in the world being here. honestly, its not fair that we cant always experience this. i already feel sad that im not going to get in the future. i cant explain how delicious and juicy and sweet everything is. its absolutely amazing.

bueno, then i went out last night to my friend jenny's house and met her mom and sister and all her friends. they are crazy but so much fun. they just sit around drinking and smoking with her mom (and i mean like drinking alot, chain smoking and marijuana) her friends were so nice and had no problem helping us out or being patient. i felt so lame cause they were just wasting time til 4am when they were going to go out....i was so trying to be in bed by then. chileans really never sleep. en serio. then her mom and chrisitina/maggie played the guitar and we had kinda a makeshift sing along. they know all types of english music, its so cute to hear them sing it with an accent tho. so we did that til they left at 4 and took a collectivo home, which is like a taxi but with a set route. and this morning a got up late and had breakfast lunch with the fam, now we are going on a tour of runeca and con con, two cities next to mine!

also, ive almost been here a week! holy holy cow time flies!