International Cheesecake Reunion

For those of you who don't know, my sisters and I occasionally meet up with our Aunt Sara for a "cheesecake reunion" at the Cheesecake Factory. We usually order appetizers to share and then each get our own piece of cheesecake. Let me tell you... the cheesecake there is FABULOUS and if you've never gone I would HIGHLY recommend it! Well... although all of us are currently in different parts of the world, we decided to hold our cheesecake reunion anyways. We picked a day during which each of us would have to find a place that serves cheesecake, no matter where we are in the world, and go there to have a piece.


The place I picked to go for my cheesecake was Enjoy Cafe. Enjoy Cafe is a quaint little cafe situated right next to the ocean. The cafe is entirely surrounded by glass windows, so you can see out in all directions. It is an open cafe, and when we first arrived here in August they usually had the floor heaters running to warm up the place. There is seating indoors and outdoors. I usually prefer to sit indoors (as I am ALWAYS cold), but the day we went was the most PERFECT day for soaking up the sun with some of my friends. Although I've never eaten a meal there, they also have a full menu... entrees, drinks, GREAT coffee & tea, ice cream which you can order HUGE sundaes of, and of course what I consider to be their best offering... the tortas (desserts!)


Upon my arrival at the cafe, I immediately proceeded to the dessert window display. Everything looked DELICIOUS! I first asked the worker behind the counter to show me the cheesecakes. They had 2 kinds... blueberry & chocolate. Much to my disappointment, these 2 cheesecakes did not look appealing to me. I can't quite explain it, but they were definitely not up to par w/ Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, so I began asking about the other desserts. I saw one that looked kind of like a cheesecake... it was mainly white with a jelley-like raspberry or strawberry topping. They told me that it was "Kuchen de Ricotta", and that it was kind of like a cheesecake. Ricotta?!? Perfect I thought! Ricotta is definitely a type of cheese. So that is what I ordered, and it was pretty good. My friend Larissa and I actually ended up splitting it along with a Trufa-Manjar cake that was equally as good.


I, along with my friends (who LOVED the idea of our Cheesecake Reunions and were MORE than happy to partake), had a great time endulging at Enjoy Cafe. As we were leaving we vowed to return before we leave Chile in approximately 1 month. AHH!!! How the time flies...


Goal for the week: To get a start of my final literature paper which is due next Friday. AHH!!! AND to not stress out about it at the same time =)

Togas, Wine, and... CHRISTMAS?!?!?

On Wednesday evening our director organized a wine-tasting event at a great local vinoteca where he loves to buy all his wine. Upon arrival, our group of 10 was seated around a large table. Placed in front of each one of us were five wine glasses in addition to a glass of water. Two of the men who worked there led the event. Both of them were extremely knowledgeable in wines and they were able to answer all of the questions we put forth. They started by describing the best wine valleys in Chile as well as the wine making process as a whole. We learned which types of grapes are used to make which types of wine as well as why some wines are "drier" or more tinted than others. The drier or more tinted the wine is, the longer the skins of the grapes were left in with the liquid portion. Did you know that it is possible to make a white wine from red grapes? All you need to do is remove the skins of the grapes before you start the fermentation process. After learning about all of that we moved on to the wine-tasting! We started with a smooth, sweet white wine and ended with a dark, dry red wine. While tasting, they described each one to us in-depth as well as which types of food go best with which wine. After we had finished, my director asked me which one was my favorite. I thought about it for a minute and told him that I couldn't decide and that it would depend on the situation and what type of food I was eating it with. Each one of them was a high-quality wine and I honestly enjoyed trying all of them. I can't wait to get back now and cook a multiple course meal and pair each food with the perfect wine!

Yesterday afternoon two of my friends and I went to Valparaiso to do some exploring. We had a picnic lunch in Plaza Victoria and then proceeded to do some shopping! We ended up at Lider, a grocery store here, to buy some snacks for our upcoming trip to Chiloe. When I walked in the first thing I saw were Christmas decorations hanging up in the store. They weren't just selling the decorations, no... the entire store was decked out in garland, wreaths, and bulbs and it wasn't even Halloween yet! I think what made it the most strange for me though was the fact that all of the green decorations in the store were modeled off of conifierous, or evergreen, trees like ours are in the U.S. However, Chile doesn't even have coniferous trees around here! That color of green does not exist here! In addition, I don't think Christmas would be the same without the snow and cold and whiteness that we have in Minnesota during that time of the year. Right now though we are heading into summer here and the temperatures just keep going up! Anyways... I just wanted to tell all of you, "Happy Halloween!" er... I mean, "Merry Christmas!"

This past week was "Greek Week", or something like that, at our university. Last night we all dressed up in togas and went to our university for a Greek dinner. The night started with a theater production put on by other students. Then we all headed out to the patio where multiple tables were set up under a big tent. There were traditional singers, dancers, and even a bagpipe player to entertain us throughout the night. Supper was various types of quiches and dessert was a torta layered with the most manjar I've eaten in my entire life! It was all delicious as usual, and it was definitely a worthwhile event.

This afternoon I went with my host-sister and her boyfriend to his cabin in Horcon which is about 45 minutes north of here. We met up with a bunch of their friends from their university beforehand to buy all of the food, and then we all carpooled to Horcon. His cabin was a beautiful little cabin located right by the ocean. All of their friends were so nice, and I had such a great time with all of them. I hope that I can hang out with them again! They're all staying there for the entire weekend, but I unfortunately had to leave early to catch a bus back as I am leaving early tomorrow (actually this morning) morning for Chiloe. Actually we're leaving in about 6 hours so I need to get some sleep! Buenas noches!

Goal for the week: To stay warm in Chiloe! (For those of you who don't know... I am ALWAYS cold!)

I've Fallen SO Far Behind... Why Should I Even Try to Catch Up?!?

To whom it may concern: NO... I have not fallen off the face of the earth, and YES... I am still throughly enjoying my time here in Chile. Life here has been pretty busy, and we have recently been travelling quite a bit. Hence, the lack of blogging on my part. However, although I am WAY far behind, I do feel that it is important to let you all know what has been going on in my life for the past month. It probably won't be as detailed as past blogs, but I will do my best!

The first weekend of October a group of us travelled to La Serena. It is the 2nd oldest city in Chile and about a 7-hour bus ride to the north of Vina del Mar. Some of our group had left the day before the rest of us, so when we got there on Friday night they were already preparing supper in the hostel. The meal was spectacular! We ate pasta Rafael; which was basically noodles and a sauce that consisted of TONS of tomatoes, meat, onions, artichokes, garlic, and many many spices; as well as bread; wine; and of course... ice cream for dessert =)

Saturday we took a tour of Elqui Valley. Elqui Valley is the place in Chile where they make most of their pisco. Pisco is the most popular drink in Chile and it is made from grapes. On the tour we made several scenic stops... one awesome one at a dam, stopped at two cities where they had small art fairs set up, visited the town of Gabriel Mistral... a famous Chilean poet, ate lunch at a restaurant where they cook all of their food outside in ovens with energy from the sun (it was awesome and delicious!), and toured a pisco "plant?" where we tried 146-proof pisco (that's about 70% alcohol and it BURNED going down!). Don't worry... I took the tiniest sip possible of that stuff! The tour was actually pretty cheap and lasted the entire day. Supper that night was sandwiches at a local restaurant.

Sunday we went to Recova, the central market in La Serena, to do some shopping! They had a lot of vendors selling pretty much any type of artsy thing you could want as well as sweets and marmalades. After visiting Recova, we headed to the beach for the afternoon where we read, had a picnic, made sandcastles, and got burnt! That night we had a great meal at a Chinese restaurant for supper.

Monday morning we checked out of the hostel and went to explore the Plaza de Armas. There were a lot of old churches to look at, and we also visited a museum before eating lunch and then heading back to the bus station to load the bus for our long trip home. The ride home was quite amusing as we were all reading the same novel for our senior seminar class. All of us were withing about 100 pages of each other. It was quite comical when someone would gasp and one part and their seat partner would ask "what?!?" only to get the response of "keep reading!"

Skip ahead to Wednesday October 15. On this day our entire group returned to the stadium in Santiago to watch the futbol game between Chile and Argentina. This was a huge game because Argentina and Chile have a big rivalry as the two countries border one another. We were very forturnate to have obtained tickets to this game and even had GREAT seats! We were in the 13th row and could actually see the players this time! Everyone thought the game was going to be a blowout with Argentina on top as Chile hasn't beaten Argentina in something like 88 years. However, Chile scored the first goal in the first half and held on to the lead to win 1-0. Everyone went CRAZY! I can't even begin to describe the scene. It was absolutely nuts! As we were on the bus driving back to Vina I swear that the whole city of Santiago was out celebrating on the streets. It was definitely a scene I will remember the rest of my life.

On Thursday at 8:00 in the morning, a group of 13 of us boarded a bus for Mendoza, Argentina. It was about a 7 1/2 hour bus ride through the Andes Mountains, including a long stop at customs on the border, in order to reach Mendoza. We checked into our hostel and then headed to "Las Tinajas" for supper. Many people had told us that we could not go to Mendoza without eating at Las Tinajas. Las Tinajas was a restaurant-buffet. But when I say "buffet" do NOT think Old Country Buffet. No this place was amazing! It was really a nice, formal restaurant and we kind of felt under-dressed as we were eating. It was HUGE and had pretty much every kind of food you could ever imagine... salads, fruit, vegetables, pastas, empanadas, sushi, meat, cheese, desserts, etc. etc. etc. Argentina is known for their high-quality, grass-fed meat and this place did not disappoint the meat lovers. They had a HUGE grill of meat going with seriously every kind of meat in the world on it. I ate SO much food while I was there INCLUDING an entire plate of desserts! Everything was delicous. I was extremely full as I left the restaurant, but it was definitely an experience I would not have wanted to miss out on.

Friday morning we woke for breakfast in the hostel and then took a taxi to the small village of Maipu to begin our "bike and wine" tour. For only $10 we all rented bikes and took off with our map directing us along the route of vineyards. At the first stop we were given a tour of the winery and were able to try one of their wines. At the next place we were able to try their homemade chocolates and marmalades as well as sample their flavored liquors... we tried dulce de leche with banana, coconut, mint, and coffee. Everything was delicous! We continued on our tour through the beautiful, tree-lined streets of Maipu, stopping at various vineyards as we arrived to them. We all really enjoyed the relaxing 4-hour tour immensely!

That afternoon we had a tour of "La Cabana" factory which apparently makes the best chocolate in all of Mendoza. It was amazing! We sampled chocolates and I was so busy snapping photos of all of the action going down on the floor that I wasn't even listening to the tour guide! Afterwards we were able to shop in the store. For supper that night we all cooked a meal together in the hostel. It consisted of fresh-made guacamole dip and chips, cooked zucchini, and oven-roasted chicken that we stuff with a salsa we had bought at one of the vineyards on our bike & wine tour. It was all delicous!

Saturday morning five of us loaded into a jeep for the drive to Cerro Arco to parapente (a.k.a. paraglide)! It was so much fun. After getting all decked out in the correct gear, my guide got the chute in the air and we proceeded to run off the hill. We were lifted up into the air and thus began our 20-30 minute descent. It was so cool being able to see everything around including the Andes Mountains. I took tons of pictures and am really glad that I decided to do it. That night my friend and I bought our supper at a supermarket for approximately 4 bucks. Food in Argentina was cheap, cheap, cheap!

Sunday was a day for touring Mendoza. We bought chocolate from La Cabana, visited four of the five plazas and ate lunch at one of them, had coffee at a cafe, ate supper at a local restaurant (I split a sandwich and gnocchi with a friend), and ended the day with double-cone ice cream cones! The cone was actually two cones connected together, so you could pick two different kinds of ice cream... I chose SUPER manjar and white chocolate! Then we headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff and preceeded to walk to the bus station for our over-night bus ride back to Vina. What an experience! Since we were driving through the mountains, the bus driver apparently thought we were freezing cold, so the heater was turned on full blast and guess who happened to be sitting right over it. Yeah that's right... me! I could not sleep at all. We got to customs at 1:30 a.m., got off the bus so they could make sure we were bringing anything illegal back into the country, and finally left the place around 3:30 a.m. Thankfully, I was able to sleep most of the way back and also caught a couple hours of sleep before my 11:00 a.m. class! I absolutely LOVED Mendoza and if given the opportunity would love to return in the future.

Since Mendoza my life has been pretty low-key. We had two big mid-term essays due last week which I was happy to be done with. This past Saturday I went to La Feria with my host-mom which was basically like one big farmer's market with all of the freshest fruit and vegetables imaginable. All of it was super SUPER cheap too! We bought a kilogram (1.6 pounds) of strawberries for less than a buck! I'm really gonna miss those prices when I return to the states. That night I got together with a few friends and we cooked fajitas and fruit pizza together which was a lot of fun. We couldn't quite find all of the ingredients we needed for our fruit pizza, so it actually consisted of sugar cookies with the frosting and a piece of kiwi and strawberry on top. They were delicious none-the-less.

This past Sunday was election day in Chile. I went with my host-mom and sister to vote. One thing that I find really interesting here is that once a person registers to vote, they are required to vote during each election for their entire life. If they do not vote for some reason or another they are forced to pay a fine. I think that is one of the big reasons that the percentage of chileans who vote is so low in Chile. It was really interesting to observe the crowds of people arriving at the voting center to cast their ballots. Ever since women were given the right to vote here in Chile, men and women have voted in separate places. So the women would enter the builiding to vote and their husbands/boyfriends/etc. were left waiting outside. In addition, the voting centers the people vote at are further divided by neighborhoods and first letter of the first last name. As a result, there were approximately 25 different voting centers throughout the city of Vina. Later that afternoon my family taught me to make a delicious torta. It was basically a pie with a filling of walnuts and manjar. I will have to make it for all of you when I return!

Today I went to St. Peter's school, the school that I will be volunteering at for the remainder of the semester. St. Peter's is an English immersion school for a grades 1-12. I helped in 2 English classes consisting of 4th and 1st graders. I really enjoyed it. Especially when all of the kids started calling me "Miss Abby" and the 1st graders all ran up and toppled me with hugs! In addition to helping with a couple English and social science classes, I am really excited to help out in the 9th grade biology course. It should be a great learning experience!

I guess that pretty much sums up my life of the past month! Sorry to have kept you all waiting and wondering! This weekend our entire group of 28 students, our directors, their children, a few professors, and 5 other students from our university are heading south to Chiloe for a week. We are going to have a pretty jam-packed schedule, but I am looking forward to it. I hope that all of you are doing amazingly well and I will try to do a better job of keeping you updated!

Goal for the week: To successfully register for my spring classes tomorrow! AHH!!!

I Love Life... Life is Good

Last weekend our entire group went on an excursion to Santiago, the capital of Chile. We left bright and early Friday morning and toured several landmarks throughout the day. We toured a concentration camp where political prisioners were tortured during the Pinochet regime, La Moneda (the equivalent of the U.S. white house in Chile), and ended the day at the Agosto Pinochet Headquarters where we were presented for the first time with a view from a military general who supported Pinochet and called him "my general". I left this last stop feeling extremely weird. On my way out I had shaken the hand of the military man who had just talked to us and your guess is as good as mine as to how heavily involved he was during the dictatorship. I wasn't sure that I had really wanted to shake his hand, but I did anyways. Part of me just wanted to go and wash my hands immediately before I had the opportunity to touch anything else. Although I felt this way, I feel extremely forturnate to have had the opportunity to see so many different places and sides of Chilean history. That night our entire group stayed in a hostel together. It was a fun experience and after trying several times and finally succeeding to get our gas heater lit, I surprisingly had one of the best nights of sleep ever. The next morning we woke up early, were served breakfast in the hostel, and then took the subway to the cemetary in Santiago. Afterwards we had lunch at a typical Chilean restaurant in a neat neighborhood and then preceeded to tour the house of Pablo Neruda, a famous Chilean poet. After an exciting robbery attempt while riding the subway, we arrived back at the bus station where we hopped on a bus for the hour-and-a-half bus ride back home.



Last Monday afternoon a bunch of us met at the house of one of the girls in our group. Her host mom, or Profesora Patricia as I am to call her, has graciously offered to give cooking lessons to those of us who are interested. She is going to teach us to cook traditional Chilean meals and desserts including empanadas, pastel de choclo, leche asado, leche con arroz, and much more! I am very excited to go to a few of the "classes" and then bring my new-found knowledge back to Minnesota where I'll be able to cook for you all!



The 18th of September is the day that Chile celebrates their independence from Spain. It is a huge holiday here and everything shuts down the day before and stays closed until the day or two days after. Everyone comes to the coast to celebrate and I've heard that during this week each year Vina's population doubles. Although many universities do not have classes during this week, we had classes through Wednesday. That night I was invited to an asado by Javiera, the host sister of one of my friends. I went and had a ton of fun. We ate a lot of bread and meat, drank ponche, and I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of cool Chilean people.



Two days ago, el dieciocho de septiembre, I went to Sporting with my family. Sporting is actually a horse racing track that is turned into one huge county fair, minus the animals, during independence week. It has stands selling everything from chocolate to jewelry to wine to scarves. It also has games you can play to win prizes including bingo. Furthermore, there are rides and several ramadas. The ramadas are places to eat and they line the center of the horse track. There are tons of them, and each one has grills in front where men are cooking anticuchos, choripan, and empanadas. There is more meat than you could ever imagine, and you can walk by each grill until you see one that has exactly what you want to eat being cooked right in front of you. That's how you decide which ramada to eat at. For lunch I had a delicious pino empanada. Afterwards we walked around the rest of the grounds and I even rode the ferris wheel with my host sister. That night a bunch of my friends came to Sporting, so I just stayed there for the rest of the night. However, it was so cold that we made many passes through "meat alley" as we liked to call it (the long stretch of ramadas) walking as close as we could to the hot grills. I was extremely content standing right next to one of the grills for most of the night. Needless to say, I woke up yesterday morning (without having showered yet) smelling like meat!

Yesterday is a day that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life. I was fortunate enough to have been invited back to my friend Caitlin's house to celebrate Fiestas Patrias with her and her host family. I felt a little intimidated and slightly out of place at first as it was just me and then Caitlin, her entire host family, and a bunch of their friends. However, any type of insecurities that I had quickly faded. Immediately upon my arrival Caitlin's host mom, Marcella, introduced me to EVERYONE. We sat out in their driveway talking, drinking ponche, and eating bread with pico de gallo and choripan for appetizers. Then they threw all the meat on the grill. For the actual meal we had many types of salad, one of the best tasting potato salads I have ever had, and the choice of steak or chicken for the main entre. I opted for the chicken and was definitely not disappointed. Caitlin's host dad, Javier, is an amazing cook. After lunch Caitlin and I played with her little five-year old cousin, Santiago, and his "autos". It was so much fun and it was easy to communicate with him as he spoke more at our level. The whole time we were playing with his toy cars we were not allowed to talk about anything but cars and we had to make car noises or he would yell at us. After playing cars and the dishes were done, we all headed back out into the driveway to dance. And oh did we dance! I learned to dance the "cueca" (the traditional Chilean dance) and Marcella and her friends taught Caitlin and I how to dance "chilean-style". It was quite hilarious as everyone else sat around watching us dance and cheering when they thought we were finally getting the hang of it. Although the party was to last much longer, I finally caught a micro home after one of the best days I've had since I've been down here. I honestly do not know how I was so lucky to have been included in their family gathering. They were all so welcoming and I had such a great time. I felt so fortunate to have been a part of it all and will remember it for the rest of my life.

This morning I got up early and walked with my friend Adam to catch a bus to La Campana national park. After finally getting on the correct bus we arrived at the park just in time to depart on a hike to the top of La Campana. It was a treachorous 7 hour hike in all but definitely "vale la pena" (worth the pain). At the top of the mountain we could see the Andes mountains in the distance on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Unlike Meghan who climbed the same mountain when she was here, got lost, and was only able to spend 5 minutes at the top... we were able to spend quite a bit longer up there. I often wondered how she could've gotten separated from her group on the way up, but after climbing it today I know exactly how she did it. This is because I have had the opportunity to hike with Meghan before I know how much she LOVES hiking. I can only imagine her hiking up the mountain, getting somewhat fatigued as the rest of her group treks on, stopping for a break, and there ya have it... Meghan lost half-way up a mountain =) Although I told my friends it was a good thing my mom couldn't see me as I scaled the cliff on the way up because she would've been watching it as if it were a scary movie and I probably fell at least ten times (no joke) on my way down... it was definitely a great experience.

Tomorrow I must start all of the homework that I have been neglecting for the past week. We'll see how that goes... =) I don't have too much planned for this week, but on Friday our Social Conflicts in Latin America class has been invited to Santiago to watch the U.S. Presidential Debates with other Chilean students. It should be a great experience and I am really looking forward to it.

Goal for the week: To get only the homework done that I absolutely need to and to eat ice cream at Bravissimo on the beach... it's been TOO long!

ESTA NOCHE... TENEMOS QUE GANAR!!!

Okay... so I first want to apologize for a couple of reasons. Firstly for not posting anything in a long time, and secondly for the fact that I apparently lied to all of you in my last post. Remember how I told you that I could eat anything I want? Well soon after my last post I found out that there was no way I could eat everything I want if my host mom were to keep cooking for me the way she was. To explain... one Sunday we all sat down to lunch. It consisted of meat, vegetables, salad, and for the first time ever... dessert! All of the food was really pretty good. The vegetables, which I had eaten a few times before, were blended up and thickened with something that I assumed was probably flour. Well... I soon discovered as I brought my dishes to the kitchen after I was done eating that it was definitely NOT flour that had been added into my vegetables. Sitting there on the counter was a green bag of powdered cream. The cream was not just any normal cream. No... it was powdered cream for old people that don't eat enough food... a.k.a. the stuff I would add to the resident's food at Charter House and then feed them. It is packed with calories, and protein, etc., etc., etc. I could not believe it. I freaked out a little bit. If I was gonna be eating all of those extra calories, I would at least like those calories to be in something I could actually taste and enjoy... like an empanada, ice cream, a churro, or a completo... not as some powder added to VEGETABLES of all things that have absolutely no taste! Well... I thought about it for some time and decided to have a conversation with my host mom. I didn't want to offend her in any way, but I wanted to make sure I got my point across. Thankfully, the conversation went really pretty well and I don't think she will ever add it to my food anymore. However... I'm pretty sure my host sister put it in the soup she made for lunch today! Whaddaya do??? =)

Last weekend our entire group went on an excursion to Pomaire. Pomaire is a little town that is known for it's pottery. It was a cute little town completely lined with pottery and other craft shops. After walking around for awhile and doing a little shopping we all ate at San Antonio... one of the most AMAZING restaurants I've ever eaten at! The colors in the restaurant were beautiful, and oh my gosh there was SO much food! The waitresses brought it all out, set it on the table, and then we shared it all. We had salad, bread, empandas del horno (oven-baked empandas. WAY better than the fried ones! Mmm... I wish I had one now!), pastel de choclo, and the biggest pot of meat I've seen in my entire life! No joke... the food was scrumptous. After the meal we were asked if we would like dessert. Are you kidding? Of course we would! When I think of dessert I usually think of ice cream, or cake, or cookies, or something along those lines. That is why I was completely surprised when they brought out mote con huesillo, a traditional Chilean dessert. It consisted of a peach that was previously dried and then re-hydrated in mote (a syrupy liquid) with huesillos which is basically grains of wheat. Although it was definitely not what I was expecting, it was interesting to say the least. As my friend Katelyn said after being asked if she would have it again, "If I had the choice of ice cream or this I would definitely pick the ice cream. However, if there was nothing else and this was my only option for dessert... then yeah, I would eat it again."

As I woke up yesterday morning with the sun shining through my window, I knew it was going to be a great day. I had gotten up early to go on a short run before my one and only class. It is perfect running weather here right now. Towards the end of my run I was running up a steep hill as I crossed paths with an elderly lady walking downwards. She was walking with a cane at a slow pace down the hill. This lady, wearing a long black & yellow coat, had a striking appearance. It is extremely rare here in Chile to have passing conversations with people on the streets, but as I ran past her she looked at me a said something. I stopped and asked her to repeat it. I'm not 100% positive of everything she told me, but it was something along the lines of how happy it made her to see me out running and how great it was that I was doing it. WOW... I thought. She is walking with a cane and I tried not to look at her as to not make her feel bad that I was running up the hill while she walked down with a cane, and she is the one who says something to me! When you run into people like that lady they just make you realize how good life is... how some things in the world just don't matter and the ones that do are the ones that you should focus on. I love Chile!

Yesterday during class I kept checking my clock every few minutes. I felt like I was back in elementary school on the last day of school... waiting for that final bell to sound signaling the start of summer. Why you ask? I knew that after class I would be heading home, eating lunch, and then jumping on a bus to Santiago for my first futbol (soccer) game here. The game was between Chile and Colombia and we all had bought jerseys on the street to support the home team. The game was unreal! We arrived at the stadium 2 hours early in order to get good seats as our tickets were general admission. I was a little bit nervous as we walked up the stairs and tons of guys were whistling, yelling, and singing a song about gringas (Americans) our direction. We had all been warned that soccer games can get pretty crazy as the fans drink a lot beforehand and get extremely into the game. I thought it was interesting, though, that no alcoholic beverages are sold in the stadium and none are allowed in. Probably a really good thing! As we sat there waiting with the Andes mountains in the background and the sun going down, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. We really couldn't do anything about the rain. Instead we just stood up, pulled on our hoods, and sang every cheer with the thousands of Chilean fans around us. The rain finally let up just in time for kick-off. It was a great game! It was a qualifying game for the World Cup and we ended up winning 4-0. Afterwards we had a crazy time getting back to our bus. However, I eventually made it home safe and sound, slept really fast, and then got up early in order to get to my 8:00 class... ugh!

Tomorrow we are meeting at the bus station at 7:00 in the morning to leave for Santiago. We will be staying there through Saturday and will be touring various places throughout the city... I'm really looking forward to it!

Goal for the week: to try a Terremoto in Santiago (it is a popular drink in Santiago which consists of wine and ice cream!)

I'm Gonna Eat What I Want!

So... here's the deal. For all of you out there who do not know... you need to learn now. Diabetes insipidus (which I have) is NOT, I repeat NOT, the same thing as diabetes mellitus. When most people hear the word "diabetes" they automatically think insulin, blood sugar levels, shots, etc. Those are the words that go along with diabetes mellitus. I wanna know who the genius is that came up with the name for my disease, because I would like to have a talk with him. The only reason that the name of my disease has the word "diabetes" in it is because it has similar symptoms to the more common and well-known form of diabetes... diabetes mellitus. This fact has often caused many problems for me, and my experiences thus far in Chile are of no exception.

This past spring, as we were filling out our forms for housing placements here in Chile, we were required to list any of diseases or disorders that we have. Obviously I listed diabetes insipidus and did my best to explain (in Spanish) that it is NOT the same as diabetes mellitus and that I have complete control over it as long as I take my medicine.

Then my first night here, as I was completely overwhelmed and having a hard enough time communicating in Spanish, the topic came up at the dinner table. I was actually pretty impressed with myself following the discussion as I felt that I had made it clear that I do not have the common form of diabetes and no, I do not have to regulate my blood sugar levels. My family seemed to have understood everything I said as they sat there nodding their heads. Little did I know...

Every meal that my host mom cooked for me was super healthy. She made sure to emphasize that the food was "sin azucar y sin sal" (without sugar or salt). "Wow this is great," I thought. The food was (and continues to be) healthy and at the same time really good. Then one night a large group of us decided to go out to eat. We went to a place called "Margarita" on the beach and had a great time. The next morning as I ate breakfast I told my host mom about the previous night. All of the sudden she gasped really loud. I thought she was upset that I had walked all the way home, so I started explaining to her that I was with another guy on our trip who lives nearby the entire time. No, that wasn't it though. The reason she gasped was because I had eaten a sandwich. That's right... a sandwich. The sandwich was bad for my health because it has so much salt etc. etc. etc. My mouth dropped. "Oh no," I thought, "she thinks I have 'los diabetes'." I did not now how I was going to explain everything to her, nor did I have the time to do it then because I needed to leave for school.

For the next couple of days I tried to figure out the easiest way to tell her that I don't have the diabetes she thought I did. I needed to do it quickly though because I was going to being going to an asado (BBQ) and did not want to receive a lecture on how bad the food would be for me. So one day over the lunch table I just told it how it is. It took a lot of explaining, and I wasn't exactly sure if I was getting my point across. I left the table that day feeling like I had done a pretty good job of convincing her not to worry about what I eat so much, but I wasn't positive. However, I knew that I had finally convinced her when the next night she came into the bathroom as I was getting ready to leave and offered me an alfajor (a chocolate desert filled with dulce de leche). Needless to say... I gladly accepted it. =)

Goal for the week: to eat more of what I want because I don't have to worry about getting a lecture anymore!

She checked the list... and my name was on it.

So I made it through the first week of classes here without too much trouble. I think I'm going to get really used to my schedule with only one or two classes each day and zero labs! Unfortunately... we've found out that a few of the professors feel as if we have a lot of extra time on our hands. As a result, we seem to have a fairly heavy reading load for each class. But alas, what can we do?

Wednesday night was one of the most amazing nights ever. Our entire group of 28 students loaded a bus at 4:30 in the afternoon for the hour and a half ride to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Once there, the bus driver dropped us off in front of La Moneda (the equivalent of the U.S. White House except in Chile). As a result of some great fortune, we were in fact there to watch the premiere of El Largo Exilio de Ariel Dorfman: Una Voz Contra el Olvido, a documentary on the life of Ariel Dorfman who is a famous Chilean author. One of the directors of our trip was his student at Duke University for several years and that is how we obtained this great opportunity. After taking some pictures out front, we preceeded to walk into the building. One by one we walked up to the main podium to identify ourselves and receive a program. When it was my turn I told the lady my name. She checked the list and yes... my name was in deed on it! Beforehand we were all served wine and cheese and had the chance to mingle with all of the important people there. I have no idea how we got so lucky. Many of us felt as if we were not even worthy to be there. It was such an amazing experience that I can hardly put words to describe it. We eventually made our way into the theatre to view the film. The film was very well done by a Canadian producer. There was a Q & A session following the film after which we headed for home. It was a long ride home, and most of us did not arrive to our houses until 1 A.M. only to be up in time for class at 8 A.M. the next morning. Nonetheless... the experience was well worth it!


This afternoon our university had a free asado (like a BBQ) for all of the students to start off the semester. It was at the university in Valparaiso which is a city right next to Vina del Mar. Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are often described as being like the St. Paul and Minneapolis of Minnesota. Anyways, five of us decided to try taking the metro from Vina to Valparaiso. I had never been on it before but was excited to try it out. What an adventure the trip was! We managed to purchase our tickets, ride the metro, and get off at the correct station without any problems. Then we started walking towards the university. As it turns out the university was WAY to far away to walk to, so a man told us to take bus # 705 to get there. We got on bus #705 and after asking around discovered that we were definitely NOT on the right bus. So after riding a few more blocks we jumped right back off. We had no idea where we were or where we wanted to be going. We talked to a couple of boys on the street and they told us to get on bus #701. Multiple buses continued to pass us as we stood there on the side of the curb without seeing bus #701. All of the sudden a bus numbered 704 pulled up to the curb to let people out. The doors opened up and lo and behold what do you know? Some of our fellow American students were sitting in the seats, staring at us from up above. "AHH!!!" we screamed as we ran towards the bus to jump in. We rode the bus the rest of the way and got off at the correct stop. I have absolutely no idea how we would of found the university had that bus not pulled up at that exact moment. Isn't it funny how somethings seem to just work out perfectly?

Goal for the week: to figure out the micro (bus) system!

Demolition Derby… Chilean Style

For all of you who have been wondering… I made it to Chile safe and sound. We arrived in Vina del Mar last Friday to pouring rain and temperatures in the low 50’s. It is there winter here and unlike what most people think, it really is pretty cold here right now. However, I must say that I am quite spoiled as I sit in my bedroom with a space heater blowing hot air directly me. We (my Chilean mom, Maria Elena; my sister, Fran; and my brother, Guillermo, on the weekends) live in an apartment on the 4th floor of an apartment complex that sits on a hill. Not only do I love my family so far, but I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect room. In addition to the space heater, I have an electric blanket, a queen-sized bed, a closet, a desk, a power strip cord with adapter plug-ins, HUGE windows that give rise to the best view ever of the ocean and the city of Vina, and to top it all off… my room is yellow! Yeah… just try to tell me it’s not great.

Anyways… this morning I went to mass at a church near my house. It was all in Spanish, so I couldn’t understand too much of it yet, but it was easy enough to follow along. Communion, though, was another story. When it came time for people to go up for communion I had absolutely no idea what was going on. People behind us were going up to receive communion before people in the 2nd row had even gotten up. People were going up so randomly and I didn’t know what to do, so I finally looked at my friend and we decided to go. Most people after receiving the host simply turned around right where they were and started walking back to their seat. Pretty soon we had one big traffic jam going on in the middle of the aisle. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure everyone managed to make it back to their seats in a surprisingly quick fashion without getting hurt.

After church a larger group of us met up and walked down to la playa (the beach). We walked by and looked at all of the artesanarías (art/craft booths). Then we stopped to grab something for lunch. I had what I’m pretty sure was called a churrosco. Others had hamburgers, churros, chicken sandwiches, and completos which are HUGE hot dogs and buns with TONS of stuff on them (I’m sorry Meghan for never wanting you to make them because I am SUPER excited to eat one now… they look AMAZING!)

Right next to the place we were sitting and eating our food on the beach, there was an area with all kinds of activities for kids. The one closest to us was a small racetrack. After paying their money, each kid was able to pick out their favorite power wheel car drive around the track. It was so entertaining to watch… let me tell you! All of us got such a kick out of this one little girl in a blue jeep. This little girl had a look of determination in her eyes as she whipped around each corner of the track. I can’t even tell you how many cars she ran into as a result. The funny thing is, when she ran into a car she didn’t just stop like most people probably would. No, instead, she kept giving it more gas until one of the workers would come, grab her jeep, pull her back, and point her in a new direction. One time she even hit a car going so fast that the front of her jeep drove up and was resting on the back end of the car in front of her. We were all laughing so hard as I sat there trying to decide if it was this was the new version of bumper cars or simply a little kids demolition derby. It looked like so much fun though, and I think it’s interesting to think that there is absolutely no way you would ever see anything remotely close to that in the United States. It’s kind of sad to think about, but if there was a little kid’s demolition derby in the U.S. like the one they have here, you know there would be lawsuits flying left and right.

Classes start tomorrow. I’m taking 4 classes. For our first senior seminar class on Thursday we are taking a bus to Santiago. When we get there we will be going to La Moneda (the Chilean equivalent of the United States White House) and watching a documentary on the life of Ariel Dorfman (a famous author from Chile). Yeah are we lucky or what??? One of the leaders of our trip was a student of his while she was a student at Duke University and that is why we are able to go. I am really excited.

Goal for my next trip to the beach: to eat an entire completo.