7/2 In class I watched a movie called Machuca about the hard times socially and politically Chile survived in the 70s and 80s. It was sad, and pretty intense but interesting too. I took a class of vitrofusion. I painted glass and it will be melted into a small bowl. I am excited to see how it came out. The house where we took the class was in the cerros(hills). I have learned alot about my family my dad is one of like 10 children if my memory serves me right. My parents have been married for about 21 or 22 years too. They met when my dad was still studying at a university. My dad works in an international business company and he has been to the U.S. several times.Miami, New York, and Washington D.C. My mom is German. Once in awhile the German culture is seen in some desserts and dishes she likes. My dad showed me lots of photos of the family, and grandparents. He even showed me some newspaper articles of my brother Tomás. He was the president of his colegio (high school). So he was featured in some local papers. Pretty impressive.

7/3 I hung out with my friend Chris. He is Chilean and also goes to school at my university. He is studying nursing. (and he reads my blogs too so ¨hi Chris¨ =P You are awesome!) We walked around Valparaíso. We ran into a friend of his who was here in Chile for 4 months. It was pretty wild meeting this guy from Germany, who spoke a little English but the language we shared in common was Spanish! He came 4 months before speaking very little Spanish and now he is getting pretty close to being fluent. Together with him and Chris´s other friend we went to La Sebastiana (0ne of Nerudas houses). We grabbed café with them and then went off on our own. We went up to the hills-cerros in an ascensor which is pretty much like a little tram but they are pretty old and mainly made of wood. It is great because Chris is learning English so he speaks to me in English and I talk to him in Spanish. We correct each other. It is fun. haha and we laugh at our mistakes. I learned about the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her release. Taken hostage for 6 years.... wow. I got café with my intercambio partner. He treated me to a sandwich and fresh jugo (juice) I had piña (pineapple). yummy. At dinner we talked about grades here. Here there are no letter grades only numbers. 7 is the highest and perfect and hardly anyone really receives 1s. Matias made me some cds with Chilean music and other Spanish music too! That was really nice of him! I am listening to Spanish everyday on my Ipod and each day understanding more.

7/4 Deportes Extremos!
I went with my friends Joel, Jolito (our name for my other friend Joel), Miriam, Tori went to Con Con to do extreme sports with our guide and friend Philippe. Philippe and 3 of his friends took us Rappeling and Driving in the sand dunes. We rappelled down this rocks right on the beautiful coast. Then we also rappelled off a bridge and did some trust falls. So fun!! The dunes were gorgeous and looked too pure and unreal. Everyday they look different too because the sand blows and shifts around. After we had an Asado - BBQ with pollo, carne, potatoes, and Choripan this delicious sausage.

7/5 Viaje!
We had to meet our group at 8:30am. My mom made me breakfast and a little lunch for the bus ride. We went to La Chascona the second house of Pablo Neruda. We also drove in our bus to Santiago. We saw the Plaza, the Moneda ( the president´s house- Michelle Bachelet) and the Catedral. - I am not a very religious person but being in the Catedral made me feel at peace, and calm. I could see the years of hard work to create this gorgeous building. The art was amazing. The ceiling art was breathtaking and this one altar piece made of Palta (silver) from Argentina. We ate at a nice seafood restaurant above a mercado (market). Finally we arrive in Cajón de Maipo in the mountains. We said in cabins (cabañas). After dinner the dining hall became a fiesta with fun music and lots of dancing.

I have to help with lunch prep so i´ll finish updating you all later. =)