Week 24 in Chile

Read about another fun week in Santiago. Plot twist: my mom and her friend come to visit me... Ohhhh! Exciting!

Monday, November 11, 2013

-Spent the entire day finishing up my take home final

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

-Meeting with Alejandra about my final and then class all day, but I turned my final in and am officially done with 1/4 classes in Chile. SO CRAZY

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

-Class all day; finally made my art presentation, which went fairly well I think, so that's good! For DDHH, we went to a Mapuche community in this comuna of Santiago called El Bosque
-Walked from Oriente to Casa Central; my sense of direction in this city is amazing and I know it so well know
-Went to La Piojera and to Bellavista for a few drinks with some people from my program and their new French friend

Thursday, November 14, 2013

-Fiscalia to make my statement about my phone and talk to a detective; was able to identify the guy who stole my phone and they said they are going to go to his house to look for it, so that's awesome that justice is getting served and so quickly too!
-Met up with Angie and Phyu Sin in Bellas Artes for lunch - Buffalo Waffles and my first time at Emporio La Rosa for ice cream
-Went to pay for all the tours for my family for the visit, can't wait for my mom to get here on Saturday and for everyone else to join the following weekend!

Friday, November 15, 2013

-Civil Registry to apply for my Chilean ID; with a registered visa, you can't leave the country without an ID or  you get fined
-Breakfast in Bellas Artes with Suzy because we were up so early that it was only 10 by the time we were finished with the Civil Registry
-Skype call with Career Services at Tufts to discuss internship opportunities
-Salsa club and Bellavista with friends; I was once again a really bad dancer, but my partner was very patient with me which was nice and taught me a lot of the moves, by the end of the class we could almost get through the whole dance at the intermediate level

Saturday, November 16, 2013

-My mom and her friend arrived in Santiago today! Met them at the hotel and then we went to my house for brunch with my host mom, they checked in and we spent the rest of the day walking around Bellas Artes/Lastarria, where we went for lunch, and climbing Cerro Santa Lucia. Had a nice dinner in Bellavista at Como Agua Para Chocolate

Sunday, November 17, 2013

-Breakfast in the hotel with Mom and Mrs. Burgess and then to mass at Iglesia San Francisco right next door; Today is election day so everything is closed and everyone is voting; Michelle Bachelet did all of her press and set up her campaign headquarters at our hotel, so we watched everyone set up and then watched her give a speech outside the hotel; our room faces the street so it's like we have front row seats to the whole celebration; the election was inconclusive so Bachelet and Matthei will be doing a run off in December; can't wait to see who wins!

Another eventful week! So glad my mom is here! Until next time.

Besos,
Lesley

Week 23 in Chile

Another crazy busy and fun filled week in Santiago! Hope you enjoy!

Monday, November 4, 2013

-Slow day, spent doing homework, planning my family's trip to Chile and finalizing those details, and taking care of some other administrative type stuff that I need to do before I leave the country

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

-Class all day and then spent the greater part of the evening finishing up my Charlie Chaplin essay; a friend drove me and two other gringo friends home; super funny car trip from campus back to our houses

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

-Class all day as always; spent a lot of time working on my paper and finishing it up; had a meeting with Alejandra, one of the program directors, to go help edit my paper
-Tried to go get a pedicure and made an appointment, but was refused service because the woman at the desk couldn't find my reservation and didn't believe me and then proceeded to be super rude to me; Customer services isn't really a thing here...
-La Piojera and Miercoles Po with my friends!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

-Nothing all day; there were protests and stuff and I was tired so I didn't go to class or do anything all day. Super productive!

Friday, November 8, 2013

-My mom is coming to visit in a week and we have a nice dinner planned at a hidden restaurant called Dugnad, but since the restaurant is small/private you are required to pay beforehand, so I had to go to the bank to deal with that. Then I went to Las Condes to the Fiscalia to deal with more stuff for my stolen phone. I have to go back in a week. Because I was over by where my former host mom Ximena lives, I decided to give her a call to see if I could stop in and say hi. So I did that and got to meet her son Diego who was visiting from Canada and also see my friend Keku who is back from the US. Later that night, a few friends and I went to the most amazing electronic music festival called Creamfields. Highlight of the night: being front row for Zedd at 5am. It was quite an awesome experience!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

-We all slept at my friend Biz's house because we didn't even get there until 6:30am. We spent the majority of the afternoon hanging out and making mac n cheese because we were all craving some American food. For dinner, I met up with some friends for our friend's birthday dinner. I couldn't stay for the party afterwards though because I was so exhausted from the night before, so I headed home.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

-Working all day! Take home final due Tuesday! We are in the midst of the final weeks of the semester, so now I finally have all my work due and am extremely busy. Good news is that my mom gets here in less than a week!

Until next time!

Besos,
Lesley

Week 22 in Chile

Another beautiful week in Santiago, Chile. Hope you enjoy!

Monday, October 28, 2013

-Spent the majority of the morning working on internship applications and getting some work done and then I had class in the afternoon
-Mondays are always low key days for me here in Santiago, especially now that the semester is coming to a close, I need to be able to utilize my free time to its fullest

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

-I was sick all day with a stomach bug, so I didn't do anything except for sleep and not eat anything and work on some applications. I did learn that I was offered an internship down here for the next 6 weeks at Instituto Igualdad with another student from the program, so hopefully my schedule permits me to take this opportunity because it sounds amazing! If not, maybe I can come work for them over the summer.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

-I was supposed to leave to go to Chiloe, an island in the south, tonight, but because I am still sick I decided to cancel my trip down there. I don't think I'll have another chance to go though, which is kind of a bummer.
-La Piojera and Salsa/Cumbia bar with some Chilean and Gringo friends. I tried to salsa and utterly failed. I was definitely the most awkward gringa in that bar. I have zero rhythm and my Chilean friends tried to teach me, but to no avail. I'm just not a good dancer apparently.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

-Literally did nothing all day except plan my parents trip and start working on my paper that is due next week; I have  ridiculous amount of work due these next 3 weeks because its the end of the semester. I don't have any finals, just a lot of stuff due until finals start.
-I FELT MY FIRST TREMOR IN CHILE though which was exciting. It was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, with the epicenter just outside of Santiago. The whole house was shaking. Really interesting experience.
-Went on Pub Crawl to celebrate Halloween with Tufts people and CIEE people. Chileans actually do celebrate Halloween. Lots of people were dressed up and we even had some Trick or Treaters stop by!

Friday, November 1, 2013

-Spent the day doing homework and relaxing at home and then met up with some friends later that night at a really cool bar in Bellas Artes, a trendy neighborhood near my house. The Bar is called Bar The Clinic and is based off The Clinic newspaper, which was a really liberal paper. The bar also has an art gallery and a movie theater inside. After the bar we went to a party at a Chilean friends home with all of his friends from colegio (high school). A lot of them spoke some English, but they all grew up speaking French at school because they went to a French school. I've met a lot of Chileans who can speak French because of their school, but not English. Nora's grand kids go to an Italian school so they can speak Italian.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

-It was a beautiful day out, so I met up with some friends and we all went to our one friends house to lay out in her garden and sip fresh squeezed juice. I ended up getting sunburnt, per usual, but my friends all got tan. After a long day in the sun, we walked over to Plaza Nunoa to grab some milkshakes and then we all headed our separate ways. Lovely day!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

-It was even more beautiful day today than yesterday, but unfortunately, I was kept inside all day writing a paper. I did get to utilize my little balcony to enjoy the beautiful day! Spring in Santiago is just wonderful!

Time is flying by! I don't think I'm ready to leave yet. There's still so much I want to see and do here in Santiago and in Chile in general. I won't get to do anymore traveling though, which is a bummer. I guess I'll have to come back to Chile to visit Chiloe and Easter Island. Although I am headed to Patagonia in December which will be amazing!

Well, until next time!

Besos,

Lesley