The end is coming...what I've been up to and what's next.

I’m back!...my biggest apologies for really sucking at blog-writing and not keeping you all updated more frequently! Thanks for your patience and for continuing to read about me.

Well, it’s been a long time since I last wrote, those things seem like forever ago…and the end is now upon me. My amazing experience is soon to be over, and I will be back in the USA on July 15th. This week is pretty much my last week here in Viña and Valpo. Ahhhhhh, I’m in total disbelief! In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday that I was back in snowy Minnesota in the dead of winter, working my butt off and preparing for my trip, waiting so anxiously to get here…but yet I do feel like I have been here for SO long, and it almost seems unreal that I’m leaving this place that I know so well now and going back to a different life again—my old life. In all honesty, I had serious thoughts about staying here for another semester and actually kind of got my heart set on it, but in the end it didn’t work out with St. Kate’s and there was no way I could do it. Just not meant to be right now, I guess, but I know I will be back here someday, somehow, having another experience here…I suppose the fun will be in seeing where the road takes me and how/where exactly I end up after all that I’ve taken away from this. Anyways, I’ve been getting really excited about coming home for certain things I really miss…but I’m also really nervous about coming back and really terribly sad about seeing the end of what has been a 5-month adventure more incredible than I ever could have imagined or asked for. I’ve become so adapted and accustomed to life here that I truly am nervous about going back because I know how totally different it will be, and I’m devastated to have to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I’ve met in my time down here, especially the three closest friends I’ve made who I spend all my time with and know so well and don’t know when I’ll see again.

Okay, enough of that sad business…sorry, I’ve just been really reflective lately with everything coming to a close…it’s kind of like graduation, letting ago of a certain period of your life and everything that happened there in that place with those people. As I was saying long ago, this is my last week in Viña and Valpo, and it’s a busy one. I’ve been studying hard for a final I have on Friday (with that, I’m done for the semester, woo!)—art and society in ancient Chile, and it’s KILLING me! My friend Abigail’s host family is cooking dinner for our group of friends on Thursday and we have a big farewell dinner with the CIEE staff for all the kids on my program on Friday, plus I’m trying to do all the last things in the my beloved cities that I’ve wanted to do before leaving—I have a “to-do” list and don’t intend to leave with anything un-checked! Saturday is coming quickly, and it’s a big day because Abigail, Sarah, Misha (my faithful companions), and I are taking off for a HUGE adventure, a 12-day trip to the north of Chile and to Bolivia!!! Maybe I’ll write one more final blog after I get home to tell you all about the trip because it’s going to be amazzzzzzzzzzzing. After that, we come back to Chile on the 12th of July to pick up Abigail’s boyfriend who is coming to visit, LIVE UP our last two days, and head out back to the Estados Unidos on July 14th…it’s going to be a whirlwind!

Alright, what have I been up to in all this time I haven’t written? A quick run-through of the events. The 21st of May is a Chilean national holiday for all branches of their armed forces. I went and watched the parades (the navy men are my FAVORITE, I even got a photo with some of them on the street last week), which were awesome with all the armed forces, traditional Chilean cowboys and cueca dancers, and I even saw the President as she attended the ceremonies in the plaza. With my entire group from CIEE we traveled to the north of Chile to La Serena and stayed in cabanas on the beach all weekend, doing tons of educational field-trip stuff but then having a crazy costume party that made it all worth it (theme: dressing up as your favorite thing in Valpo). We also went to Isla Negra, also on the ocean, to see another one of Pablo Neruda’s houses, which was awesome, and to tour yet another vineyard. My host family and I have been having and attending lots of asados (barbeque/grill-out type things…lots of meat, lots of alcohol, lots of talking with family and friends…for hours), which are always DELICIOUS and typically provide some pretty entertaining stories the next day too. On a sad note, my host-dog Duke just died of cancer last week, so the family has been pretty devastated by his loss and now we have a hamster named Kiev to replace him. Other than that I’ve been spending a lot of time out and about in Valpo, like spending a whole day in the hilly neighborhoods of the city taking pictures of the amazing art and grafitti (I’ll just have to show you my pictures, there’s no way to describe it); going to the old prison that they stopped using in 1999 and have now made into a community cultural center for art, music, artesan workshops, and a museum to preserve the memories of those suffered in the jail; eating in my few favorite restaurants; scouting out and buying souvenirs that I want to bring home with me; occasional walks/runs along the beach and the coast; and I guess just spending lots of time with my host family, my three good friends, and sometimes their host families doing and seeing all the things I want to before leaving and just enjoying the time I’m with them.

Well, I don’t know, that’s about it…nothing really exciting, just the same stuff I’m always doing because I’ve really settled into a life here and now I’m about to turn around and head home and attempt to transition all over again. There’s big stuff about to happen in my final weeks, but I’m just in the lull waiting for it right now, so I’ll have to write one more blog after it’s all happened to tell about it! I’m excited to be done with school for the semester, I’m excited to see all the people back home that I miss so much, I’m excited to see all the things I’ve taken away from this experience when I’m back in my old environment, I’m excited for certain American foods that just can’t be replaced by anything here, and I’m excited for summer! It’s SO cold here…well really not that cold, but when it’s 40º outside and also 40º inside your house because there is no heating, you start to get really sick of the cold…I’m wearing 3 layers of long-underwear under my clothes everyday and I can see my breath in large puffs when I’m sitting in my bedroom!!! So, on that note, I hope you are all enjoying summer to the maximum because the cold and intense rain that comes for a couple days every week is really a drag. Well, I’m signing off and heading to bed, see you all sooner rather than later, thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to being able to share my stories and pictures in person when the semester has finally wrapped up! Saludos y cariños desde Chile :)