From Santiago to Vina del Mar

Where to even begin?! Since the last time I posted, I've experienced a ray of different emotions ranging from miserably sad to incredibly happy.  A friend helped me realize that I'm only going to be here for 10 weeks and then I'll be in America for the rest of my life, so why not spend every moment here exploring and learning new things and not crying and missing everything about my home?? That being said, I am fulling embracing Chile- the ups, downs, accomplishments and struggles.  My spanish has improved leaps and bounds since Thursday (when we got here) and last night my Chilean mother was praising me for speaking so well! God is good and all is well within my soul!!

That being said, here's what I've been doing!

On Saturday we all got up and took a bus to an AWESOME winery, Vina Cousino Macul, where I'm probably going to get married to the Chilean man of my dreams because it's beautiful!! We got a tour from a pocket-sized Chilean and free wine and it was basically a darty (day-party)!

Gorgeous, right?!

The baby vines 

Me standing next to the huge barrel that the wine is fermented in 

Giggling in a vineyard. Is this my life??

After the vineyard we had lunch in a suuuuuuper cute area called patio bellavista with lots of outside shops and little stores everywhere.  From there we went and visited the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's house (he has 3, but we visited the one in Santiago).  It was pretty cool, considering the fact that it was turned into a museum and y'all know how I feel about museums...

His casa

Then we went back to the hotel and I passed out (sans dinner) because I wasn't feeling too hot. The next morning we woke up and I was feeling much MUCH better and decided to go to a catholic mass with some girls in my group! It was a really neat experience because I've never been to a mass spoken in spanish before.  I was lost pretty much the whole service but it was nice to just sit and listen and watch. 

So pretty, even under construction! Everyone was passing by like, don't mind me I see beautiful churches all the time

After mass, as a group, we loaded up and headed to pueblo de los dominicos aka a bunch of arts and crafts shops. Very cool. I bought a sweeeet bowl to put earrings in.  We ate in one of the outside restaurants and I reaffirmed my love of empanadas.  Cheese, wrapped in bread, cooked to perfection. So good. We walked around the center, took lots of selfies, and had just a wonderful afternoon overall! 

The sign above the center 

God's gift to Chile: empanadas 

An orchestra casually playing in the middle of the center

After the arts and crafts center we headed to the place Santiago was supposedly founded! Cerro Santa Lucia- an old lookout point surrounded by a beautiful building. From the top of it we could see literally all of Santiago, and because it had rained the day before, the Andes mountains! Smog free! While I was standing up at the top, I had a hard time understanding how people just don't understand in God. He was evident in every slope and rise in the mountains and every cloud in the sky.  It was a very humbling experience for me and my "hispanic panic" as my friend Jonathan calls it. (Hispanic Panic is anything and everything that stresses me out about living/being/speaking in a different country. As of right now, my HP is at about a 2 :)) 

Just hanging out in front of a the fountain

See what I mean? Simply beautiful 

Don't mind me, just riding a cannon 

After looking at the top of Santiago, we all loaded up for the last time and left Santiago and headed for Valparaiso to meet our host families!! Valpo, as the natives call it, is like a Chilean San Fransisco. Seriously, google image Valparaiso. You'll die. I died. It's more beautiful in person.  I'm living in Vina del Mar, which is only like 8 minutes from Valpo by metro (I know, I'm so cool saying that). We were all pretty nervous when we arrived, but I didn't need to be because my family is simply wonderful! I'm sure everyone else is saying that but mine really is. My "mama Chilena" is Patricia but I just call her "mama" and my "hermana Chilena" is Camilla, or Cami. They're beyond what I imagined.  Cami and I both love One Direction, Justin Beiber, and she tweets like every fifteen seconds like me!! God knew what he was doing putting me with this precious family.  My mama calls me "my love" at the end of everything and they think I'm funny when I mess up words! They teach me new vocabulary in spanish and I then tell them the english word! Ah, I just can't get over them.  (I'll try to get a picture of them soon!) 

I am happy, healthy, and living in a beautiful city. I love Chile. I love Vina del Mar. I love my ISA friends. But mostly, I love the constant encouragement I'm getting from 6102 Knoxville Dr. as I undergo this exciting (and sometimes frightening) adventure!! 

Thanks for the love, you all know who you are--

Chao! 

Aves