Day 10

Sooooo this past weekend/first part of the week has been an adventure of course. Algarrobo was soooooo much fun and so beautiful! Its about 2 hours outside of Santiago by bus and the drive there was really cool. We passed by a lot of wineries and hilly areas that remind me a lot of california, but this beach was so pretty! The water was so clear and blue, very clean beaches and semi-warm weather that was a nice break from the negative degrees in Santiago haha. Although a lot of the time was spent in meetings learning about the program, how to prepare for school, and the preparation for the spanish, it was still a lot of fun to have time to walk along the beach and get to know all the people in the program. Everyone was very easy to talk to, shared the same feelings about being in Chile, and overall I've been so happy with the people that I have been able to meet. Oh, and did I mention I saw the worlds largest swimming pool? :) thats right haha. Anyway! So after returning from our retreat, July 3rd, the American Embassy told us that they were hosting a 4th of July celebration at a place called California Cantina, hooray! This place was so cool! It looked like a regular bar downstairs, but upstairs was a little patio area with lights, and pictures of california painted on the walls and a lot of other americans there, so a good way to celebrate. Then! The next night, Chile played Mexico in the Copa America.....and who do you think won? CHILE!!!!! Downtown was really cool to experience, lots of cheering and celebrating, and may I add that the Chilean flag colors are red white and blue....so it was basically another 4th of July celebration. All was fun until the tank drove by, so we know thats when it was time to go. Not only was it a celebration, but due to a lot of discontent and demonstrations by the students, the large gathering had some undertones of political statements. Not too much has happened this week, just going along with my 4 hours of spanish today. Oh, well we did watch this movie called "La Nana", which was really interesting. It depicted the lfe of a nanny/housemaid that is very common to see in south america and the effects that this lifestyle has on the family, but more importantly how it affects the nannies. But for now, that's all. My hands are getting too cold to type, hasta luego!