(insert chile-related title here)

hahah so i've had a somewhat eventful past two days. first of all:
dear Temuco/Chile,
I AM JEWISH. i plan on staying this way for a while. entonces, please stop trying to convert me.

mkay, anyways. so the school part of monday was rather uneventful. we had a test in chemistry, so the teacher let me go to the library for two hours. sooo i worked on my spanish and whatnot c:
i don't think i did much that day. at least during school. oh the kids went kind of crazy during psychology. how kids act in the classroom here is soooo different compared to the U.S. they talk when the teacher's talking, scream, do crazy things, etc. haha it's interesting though. and i don't understand what the teacher's saying, anyways.

soooooo after school on monday, me, luci, and pau walked to the portal in town to go shopping! haha i had pau and luci pick everything out for me though :p and i ended up buying jeans, leggings, a skirt, shirt, and jacket. i love themmm.
Oh and while shopping, the sketchiest thing happened. We were in this store looking at stuff, trying clothes on, etc. and this guy that worked there was staring at me. However, being a gringa, this wasn’t anything new. Also, being the awkward person I am, I tried to make it as awkward as possible and obvious that I thought he was a creeper. Haha if I’ve ever hung out with you, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re curious, feel free to ask me at some other time and I’ll explain it better. So after I finished buying my clothes we were walking out and the creeper and I were having a staredown and I walked out and…HE WINKED AT ME. IT WAS SO CREEPY. Not that it should’ve surprised me. But bleck. Hahah so I freaked out after we left and then I looked back and the guy was standing outside of the store starting after us.
Hahah so yeah, guys here a little different than the ones in the U.S. it’s rather entertaining at times, though. But yeah, they stare. A lot. Luckily, no one has said anything directly to my face. Otherwise I’d have a slew of swears for them c: nobody messes with the gringa :P

Next comes today, Tuesday. Looking back on it, today was rather eventful. First, we had language which was the same: I didn’t understand anything. Then we had math, and I was actually able to do it, which made me super super happy. Next, something weird happened. We all filed into this…big room I guess? It had a stage and everything. And then we had a sort of assembly. About Jesus. Yep, that’s right. And then it struck me: I’m going a Baptist school. They did a few skits (which I’m sorry kind of upset me. But I think it’s because I’m used to the whole separation of church and state stuff) and had a sermon thing (I think) and we prayed a couple times. Haha a lot of people slept through it though. But yeahhhh that was a new experience. Then, at lunch i hung out with pau and fernanda. However, we forgot to go back to class after lunch, so we made up some gringa story about why we were late haha. That’s about all that happened at school.
After school, my mom and I went to this store to buy school supplies. I believe tomorrow my classmates and I are visiting a school for kids with special needs who are poor and we were told to bring school supplies for them. So we bought a few things. I also bought some lotion for my poor skin :c it’s been going crazy because it’s winter here. Anyways, so then we went home for a few hours. Then, around 7:15 my mother and I left.
In the absence of the Ellsworth High School theater program, I have joined a theater group. That’s right. A Spanish theater group. Even though I don’t know the damn language. Whatever, it gives me something to do on Tuesday nights. And I naturally relate to theater people, even if I don’t speak their language. Haha they were all really nice and we did some theater stuff so it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.

Something I’ve noticed: you need to have a strong stomach to withstand the driving here. Every time we have to drive somewhere, no matter how short a distance, I get carsick. Everyone gets so friggin intense on the roads. But surprisingly, I haven’t seen any car crashes yet.

Also, everyone here is really nice and loving and open and helpful. I like it here. <3

estoy enferma.

yep, that's right. i'm sick. don't worry it's only a cold. but it's a bad cold. and my sinuses are causing me pain, which has never happened before.
and i think if i'm not better by tomorrow, i might have to go to the doctor. please get better body!

anyways, so once again i haven't posted in a week. however, this time, my week hasn't been ridiculously eventful. so luckily, this post won't be ridiculously long.

let's start with the rest of my sunday. even though i wasn't feeling that well, i went on a hike with AFS. we all met at the bottom of Cerro Ñielol at 4:30. it was a pretty easy and short hike up the hill. we also stopped a few times to take pictures and whatnot. there were also some observatory things that overlooked Temuco. After we got to the top, we met up with this other AFS volunteer, Conti and had a picnic. first of all, Conti's friggin hilarious. secondly i've noticed that people eat a lot of ham and cheese sandwiches here. i don't mind, though. so after the picnic, Conti gave me a ride home because she lives close to my house. i also found out that she interviewed my host family to match them with me. so that's what happened with the rest of my sunday.

also, it rains here a lot. but it's not cold enough to snow. just rain. and lots of it. and it's been raining on and off for the past week. but other than that, not much has happened.
on monday, i was home by myself for most of the day and night. and the power went out from all the rain and wind.
tuesday i went to the portal with my friend, yisley, to look around. i'm also going back there tomorrow (if i'm not sick) with some of my other friends to buy some chilean clothes c:
wednesday, i actually did something! exciting. i went to the ballet with my friend, karen. it was actually the first time i've been to the ballet. it was sooooo cool. and such a beautiful performance. it was don quixote, although he didn't appear in the ballet much. i also almost lost my camera, but karen's family found it, thank god.
thursday, i'm pretty sure i didn't do anything after school.
friday, i went to my friend silvy's birthday party! that was pretty fun c: we listened to music, watched music videos, and watched a movie. we saw shrek forever after. luckily, it was in english so i was able to understand it. it was soooo funny. i finally got home around 1:30.
saturday, i sat around being sick, and same with today.

sooooo that's my week in a nutshell.
i promise more detailed posts will come later!
lots of love.

super long post filled with amazing chile-ness!

so i haven't posted in over a week. sorry about that. andddd of course i've been doing a whole crap load of stuff, so this post is probably going to be ridiculously long. oh well.

i actually wrote this down on paper and was supposed to post it on tuesday:

"so i'm currently writing this in the comfort of the library at school, everyone has PSU (which is like the SATs) but the exchange students don't have to take it. we get to sit in the library for five hours instead. so Ipek (the girl from Turkey) has been writing Spanish vocab and i've been reading and translating this children's book.

oh i apologize for not posting sooner. i've had time but so much has happened that it's a pain to write all of it down.

so i believe the last time i posted was friday, when i went out. haha that was so fun. and i can't believe that i understood the majority of the movie. oh, i also had delicious ice cream. i had three flavors: caramel toffee, cappuccino, and mint chips. it was SO good. so after school, bowling, ice cream, and a movie, i was soooo tired. however, when i came home, ale was having a little going away party and all of her friends and classmates were here. they were eating cake and watching home videos that had all of her classmates. it was really cute. i also had to stay and somewhat mingle with the classmates.

next comes saturday. the whole family climbed into the car and drove for about two hours to this ski resort. unfortunately, the resort was closed, but we still got to ski. and my dad helped me learn how to ski. looking back on it, it was pretty fun. i fell a lot though. and friggin a it's hard to get back up. i tried my best though. we also had a picnic and made a snowman. it was so beautiful there. which reminds me, i need to make a flikr or something for my pictures. i also need to take more pictures. haha, i don't want to look like a complete gringa though. oh well, i'll do it eventually.

anyways, we stayed at the mountain for about three or four hours and then went home. man i was so tired after that, that i slept most of the way home. i also don't notice my carsickness when i'm sleeping.

sunday was Dia del Niño. I'm not entirely sure what it is exactly, but i think it's a day for kids haha.also, sunday here is like family day. so i met an abundance of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, a nephew (i think), etc. they were also here to see ale before she left. oh and one of my aunts is an english teacher, so i talked with her a bit. also, one of my cousins (he's older) understands english, but failed to tell me until much later.

i hate how stupid i feel when people ask me questions and i have no idea what they're saying. they all speak so damn fast. i know i've only been here a week, but i want to learn faster. luckily, my classmates, teachers, and family are patient with me. anyways, back to sunday. ale had to take a bus to Santiago at like 10:30 at night. so the family and some cousins came to see her off. we're driving to santiago on thursday though, to see her off at the airport. i'm gonna miss her :c it's so cool though that she's going to be two hours away from where i live. and her host family is related to one of my friends. small world.

sooo monday was an interesting day. not entirely bad but not entirely good. i'd say stressful is the word for it. so first off, i was rather tired in the morning. and we had chemistry. haha for some reason the teacher had a chemistry book in english, which was really awesome. unfortunately, it didn't help me at all with the worksheet we had to do. so i just ended up feeling incompetent and frustrated. that was a great start to my day. i also apparently started some drama among my classmates, without even knowing it. and so began the culture shock. so here's what happened:

the girls i went out with on friday, i've been spending a lot of time with them and sitting with them and stuff. like just being good friends and whatnot. i also kinda felt that some of the other girls didn't like me. however, that wasn't the case at all. apparently everyone wants to talk to me and get to know me, so they're kind of hurt that i've only been spending time with those girls. this has also started some cat fights and almost led to some of the girls going to talk to the teacher about it. so of course i want to get to know everyone so i have to figure out how to integrate myself into this group that's known each other for many years. without knowing the language. sweet deal. i also have to spend more time with other people without hurting my other friends' feelings. anddd i've only been here a week. so today after school i'm going out with my original friends, and on friday i'm going out with some other friends/classmates to a club. haha oh well, at least they like me :p

so that's what i've been up to for the past few days. love to everyone <3"

haha and that was supposed to be posted on tuesday.

after school on tuesday karen, yisley, and i walked to pizza hut for lunch. silvy joined us later, but she had to finish this olympics thing at school. oh, also the waitress said that she really liked my eyes and would intensely stare at them when she came to take our order or bring our food. so during this lunch date, i realized some differences from america. first of all, in restaurants, you seat yourself. at least that's what we did at pizza hut. next, you don't get ice in your drink. i really do miss this. also, they eat pizza here with a knife and fork. haha i wanted to just pick up the damn pizza like i normally do, but i withheld. also the waitress puts the pizza slices on your plate, which was nice haha. also in this restaurant, you paid at the front counter, instead of having them bring you a bill.

so after lunch we walked to this mall downtown and got some ice cream. i was kind of full from all the pizza, but i got some anyways. they also made me order it myself haha to practice speaking to strangers in spanish. however the second i start speaking, it's completely obvious that i don't speak the language, so people are usually patient with me. haha so when i ordered i didn't actually know what i was ordering (which has been happening a lot lately) but it ended up being quite delicious. it was ice cream, manjar (which is slightly like caramel, but better), and oreo cookie things. next we looked around the mall for a bit and then walked yisley to the bus station, because she had to go home. next we walked to another bus station and took a bus to karen's house and hung out there for a bit. then my mom called and wanted silvy and karen to show me where the YMCA was. so we walked there and then we all walked to my house and hung out there. eventually, karen and silvy left though and i went off to bed.

to be honest, i can't remember what i did on wednesday. i didn't have to go to school because there were PSUs again, and i wanted to sleep in. oh right, so i woke up around 10 and had some breakfast. then i went back to bed and my mom woke me up at 2:30 and we had lunch. after lunch, my mom, javi, and i went into town to register my visa. then on monday, i'm going to get my carnet. then we dropped javi off for skating lessons (i think) and mom and i went back home. then i'm pretty sure i did nothing for the rest of the day.

thursday was a ridiculously long day. we all woke up at 6 to get ready to leave for santiago. at about 7:30 my parents, javi, two of ale's friends, and i climbed into a car and drove for 8 hours. i got to sit in the middle between two girls who i'd never really talked to before, so i didn't get to sleep at all. that was fun. i also ended up getting carsick, like usual. when we finally got to santiago (around 4 ish) we stopped at my dad's brothers house and had lunch there. i got to meet my uncle, aunt, and three cousins. oh yeah, my dad has 10 brothers and sisters. anyways, we had a BBQ and it was SO GOOD. like, usually, i don't like meat that much, but this was just so damn delicious. like legit.

so after lunch (we were there for a good two hours) we headed over to the airport to find ale. oh man, there were SO many kids going to the US from chile. like there are six Americans that came to chile this year. there were like at least 60 going to the U.S. oh i also found another person that was going to be living near me. i tried to talk to him to find out which city, but he kind of blew me off. but all of us sat around the airport for about three hours waiting for the AFS kids to leave. oh, also i'm not supposed to leave Temuco without telling AFS, and i wasn't sure if we had told my contact and all of these AFS volunteers who knew me were there so i was like ZOMG HIDE ME. i think i was all set though.

oh yeah, so i realized that it really sucks to be the ones watching someone leave for a year. so i'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone that i left in the U.S. for a year. it's nothing personal. i still love all of you and i'll be back before you know it c:

but seeing all of these people in a close vecinity crying was so upsetting to me. i'm not sure how the AFS volunteers do it.

so around nine we watched ale's plane take off, and then went to find our hotel. that was an adventure and a half. haha we had to use my dad's iphone to find our way around, and it still took us about an hour. so me, javi, and ale's friends entertained ourselves by making faces at the people we passed. eventually, we found the hotel and got all settled, and went to have dinner at like 10:30 or so. for old times' sake, i had french fries c: oh also, the juice here is different. it's like the actual juice, pulp and all. it's different, but i like it. and my fries came with a bunch of toothpicks in it. i wasn't sure if i was supposed to use them or not. but it was difficult to properly use them and get ketchup on my fries, so i didn't use them. then we went to bed at around midnight.

the next day we got up around 8:30 to get ready. oh yeah so i found out that there are things that i took for granted. like hotels that have lotion and hairdryers. and elevators that can carry more than three people.

anyways, so we had a lovely breakfast upstairs and then went across the street to this Castillo Hidalgo. i should've brought my camera :c fail. it was pretty cool and really old. we also climbed like five billion stairs up to this observatory that looked out over santiago. that was pretty cool too. then we started our drive home, which took foreverrrrr. oh yeah i also took fast food restaurants and not taking an hour to have lunch for granted. but oh well, the food was way better. anyways, so we finally got home around 9:30, but my night was far from over.

i quickly jumped in the shower, did my make up, got dressed and whatnot, because i had to go carreteeeeeeee. i got to my classmate carol's house around 10:30 (we got lost trying to find her house) and some of my classmates were there. we also had a BBQ (they said that they usually don't do that, but since it was my first time out in chile, they had to make it special :p). next we hung out and whatnot, and finally left for the disco around midnight. the guys took a collectivo and carol's dad drove the girls. we had to kind of push our ways in, and it cost about 6 bucks, which was pretty cheap. also, we almost didn't get let in but then my friend was like "oh she's a gringa and she just wants to get in" so i put on my 'i dont understand any spanish' face and started speaking in english. so i had to show them my passport (which i luckily had on me because i took it with me to santiago for ID) and they finally let us win. go gringa :p

so the disco was so so so much fun. i danced the entire time and blah i just loved it so much. i only got to stay until 2:30 though. then my mom picked me up. i'm so happy she let me go though!!!

and now it's saturday and i have a headache and stomach ache. and since i've been so busy i'm just taking it easy today.

buuuuuut yeah that's basically what i did in the past week. ahah and i'll try to keep on top of my blog so that this doesn't happen again :p

also, let me know if you want me to talk about something specific about chile and i'll do my best to cover it.

lots of love <3

my first outing.

yep, that's right. i have chilean friends who want to hang out with me. shabooyah. but let's start at the beginning of my day:

since it's friday and it's during the school year, i naturally had school today. during 'homeroom' (i'm not sure what they call it in spanish) we had to sign up for the PSU which is like the SAT. so i'm not sure if i have to take it because it's like a national test for kids who want to get into college and stuff. man i hope i don't have to take it. haha SATs were enough and that was in my own language. let's see, then i had art but we didn't really do anything. and then we had math and everyone had to take a test except for me because i didn't really understand what was going on. so i studied the spanish papers that i brought with me. i should find like worksheets to do or something. then i had my art elective and we continued working on drawing proportional bodies. i find it to be so relaxing. let's see, then there was lunch and my classmates helped me put my yogurt and chocolate crispies thing together; that was entertaining haha. the guys also like to say lewd things in english around me. well not all, but some. i think it's funny though. sooo after lunch i had my lenguaje elective with karen but i'm not sure if we ever do anything in that class. so far we've just sat there. so karen usually helps me with spanish during that class.
OH i had an adventure during language elective today!! i told karen that i wanted to buy food but i was nervous because i have to talk to strangers in spanish and if they respond and i don't understand i just don't know what i'd do. so karen said she'd come with me and help me. and soooo i bought something from the school snack shack thing!!! i was so proud. haha even though i used ridiculously simple spanish. but oh well. i'm learning.
i also had gym class today. which was a bit of a shocker for me. first of all, the classes are separated into boys and girls. for some reason, i just found that to be odd. but i guess one could say that it's more fair. i mean, aren't guys naturally more athletic? also i think it's less pressure of both of the sexes if they're with their own gender. ehh idk. we also played some type of baseball today. but it's either different in chile or they just changed it for the class. instead of have three bases and home base, you have to run around the entire gym and there are a total of about 8 or 9 bases. and whatnot.

soooo after school ended, i went to hang out with my friends at the portal (local mall). however, there was a bit of confusion between mi mamà and i. thank you language barrier. luckily though, she wasn't mad, just concerned. and i had to have my friends translate for me. all in all, mi mamà gave me and my friends a ride to the portal where we went bowling, had ice cream, and saw a movie. mannn it was so much fun. gosh darn i have to go soon, but i'll try to sum up quickly.
uhhhm the bowling was fun, ice cream delicious, and the movie was in spanish and i understood the majority of it!!! shabooyah.

and now i have to go.
besos.

school is cool.

haha i don't really like those title things.

anyways, so i just got home from my third day of school. i never thought i'd say this, but i'm really enjoying school. haha well i liked school back in the states, but i like school here even more!

so let's see, what have i done in the past two days? basically, just went to school. so yesterday i made like my official first two friends. i was so excited. oh i also had christian class yesterday. we all got these phrases that we had to read and discuss and when it got to me, the teacher was like oh you don't have to read it, but i was like NO ima read it. haha so i read it (but didn't really understand it. i mean, i got the basic gist) and after everyone clapped for me. haha i thought that was cute. also, I UNDERSTOOD PHYSICS AND BIOLOGY IN SPANISH. i can't explain how excited i was. i also got to take the bus home yesterday. my friend karen walked javi, her friend, and me to the bus stop thing. dude, my bus ride home cost around 20 cents. yeah that's right. 20 cents. haha it's great. also, for dinner i had this thing that i'm pretty sure was called a 'completo'. it was like a big hot dog with guacamole, tomatos, and what might have been mayo. but i'm not entirely sure. it wasn't bad haha. ohhh also mi papà bought me a pocket dictionary.

and what happened today? oh i noticed three cultural things today. one was everyone carries klenex things with them. another thing: so in language class i didn't say hi to the teacher just because idk that's what we do in the U.S. and then later i was 'distracting' a student (even though no one was really paying attention) and she yelled at me (which i didn't understand) and sent me to the other side of the room. and later my friend told me that the teacher said she was mad at me because i didn't greet her. soooooo that was new. also, i guess these two kids in my class started 'dating' and the rest of our class saw them sitting together talking and they all start screaming and chanting something about 'pololos'. that was also new. oh and everyone screams a lot. or makes weird noises. it's kind of like show choir practice. i also had my first art class today. it wasn't that bad. it was actually really relaxing which was nice. haha so after lunch i was hanging with my friend karen on this swingset thing and she called me gringa. hahaha it was great.
however, i got invited to the movies tomorrow. and a party on saturday. but i can't go on saturday because i'm going skiing with la familia. so we'll see how that goes.

hasta luego xoxo

first day of school.

okay so first off, whoever told me that i would stick out like a sore thumb (looks wise) is completely wrong. there are kids here who look like they came from the U.S. we even have someone with blonde hair and blue eyes.

anyways, so yeah. first day of school was today. and holy sht that was terrifying. well i kind of psyched myself out, but at times it was very uncomfortable for me. when i walked in the classroom everyone stared. and it was like that for about the rest of the day. well, at times. but all my classmates took care of me and showed me where to go and translated for the teachers.
hah, oh yeah in my first class i got yelled at for distracting someone. except i wasn't even aware she was yelling at me, so oh well.
for classes i have, language, psychology, math, biology, p.e., physics, history, etc. i also need to pick an area for my electives. however i haven't figured out how to say it or ask it in spanish. so as soon as i figure that out, i'll be all set.

so far, i've definitely noted differences from school in the U.S.: first, the uniforms. haha i'm not sure if i like them or not. it's really easy to get dressed in the morning though. also, they call the teachers tia and tio and greet them all with a kiss on the cheek or a handshake.
the kiss of the cheek thing, i like it and all, but i'm not sure when to do it. and i don't want to be rude by not doing it, but i don't want to get all up in someone's grill if i do it at the wrong time.

also, this whole thing has like wiped my mind clean. when i'm standing with other people i can't think of anything to say to them, in spanish or english. haha oh and this guy kept saying lewd things to me in english, but that was to be expected. and this whole language thing is ridiculously and completely overwhelming. like, it was only my first day of school but it seems like i'll never in a million years be able to understand anyone.

oh lastly i finally found the other exchange student here. i met her at the orientation and we have english class together. there's also a girl from the U.S. who's teaching spanish here. so hopefully i'll get to talk with her some.

now i have to go pick ale up from the airport. my love to everyone.
<3

subtitles, uniforms, and contacts OH MY!

hola a todos. haha i'm not even sure if that's right. mkay so this can't be a long post because it's late and i have school tomorrow. yeah that's right. first day of school. in a foreign country. think i'm nervous? you have no idea.

so this morning i got to sleep in til 11 which was very nice. i also have a tv in my room which is also very nice. i watched cartoons in spanish for two hours which started to hurt my head. then ale y yo had lunch which was super delicious. oh i also learned that there is someone who helps clean the house during the week. juanita. she's nice.

then mi mamà y yo went to pick up javi at school. i'm pretty sure that next when we came home ale gave me her old school books and school jacket. and then we went back into town to go shopping. oh man did we shop. we bought school uniforms, gym uniforms, shoes, socks, lots of school supplies, etc. haha it was so strange to be buying all of this at the beginning of august. and to be buying it in a foreign country haha.

i also got to go down town which was very very cool. lots of people though. haha mamà y ale made sure i didn't get lost though. so that was very nice. however we took a lot of time shopping so we came back home only for a few minutes so that ale could pack. she had to fly to santiago for a day. no sè porque. so we drove her to the airport and said good bye for a day.

next we came home and had dinner. dinner here is so different from the united states. like it's small. i like it though. haha i really like chile in general. anyways we had bread with marmalade and eggs and tea. delicioso. and partway through dinner my AFS contact came for a visit and to introduce himself. his name is eduardo. he's really nice and lives very close to mi casa.

afterwards we finished dinner and watched tv. and now i really must go sleep.
besos

¡Estoy en Temuco!

GAH HI. ZOMG i'm in Chile. and it's AMAZING. sooo much has happened since i last posted. i'm not even sure where to begin. well last time i posted i was in chile, correct? oh and sorry about the not capitilizing. this keyboard confuses me and has small buttons haha. i'd hate to generalize the past few days but SO much has happened. like ridiculous amounts of things.

first at the orientation, we sat around a LOT. like too much haha. and first the people going to brazil left. and next is was the people going to paraguay. so the six of us going to chile sat around the pool talking for a very long time. then it was time to leave for the airport. but before we left, we met this nice christian group going to cuba to help do something. they all had southern accents. i liked it haha. then we were escorted to the airport with two AFS volunteers. one of them was named steve. he was my favorite. they had to leave us at security but the six of us stuck together and found our way to the right gate. the plane took off about half an hour late, but it was all good. i got to sit next to my friend erika, who i figured out is a lot like me which was great. i miss her. she's like 20 hours away is Copiapò though.

anyways, i slept for the majority of the plane ride, but definitely not enough. i was sooo tired when we got off. and then we had to find our way to customs and all that jazz. in spanish. that was somewhat stressful with the lack of sleep. also, it was FREEZING. i guess they don't keep the airports heated and we had just been in miami where it was like 90 degrees.

then we found the other AFS (there were about 62 others) and sat around with them for a few hours, waiting for everyone to arrive. we also exchanged money and whatnot. hahah when we walked by all the taxi drivers were like "gringos....muchos gringos".

eventually we all piled into two buses and took a 20 minute bus ride through santiago and ended up at this giant house/retreat. that also wasn't heated. so i had to wear at least two sweatshirts all the time haha.

so we got to just chill for the rest of the day. eat, sleep, shower, mingle, play games. so that was very fun. and the volunteers were all very nice and funny. also, everyone smokes haha. we also all crowded around this little wood stove so we wouldn't freeze to death haha.

oh and i had a roommate name jana huber from switzerland. she didn't really speak english but she was so cute haha. and we had to act out a lot of things. so we went to bed around 9 or 10 and were woken up at 7:30.

for the whole day we had these info sessions about chile and our responsibilities and what to expect. we also found out when we were leaving. however we also had a lot of free time and breaks haha. oh well, i didn't mind. i spent some of my time talking to these girls from norway and finland. they were very nice. it's all very strange though. like us americans have only known each other for a few days but i feel like i've known them for a lot longer. and we all stuck together at the orientation. haha i guess that's a good thing.

anyways, at 7:50 erika and i had to leave for the bus station. haha oh yeah i completely forgot to pack and ended up leaving my shampoo, condition, and lotion at orientation. gosh darn.

so then we had to sit outside at the bus station for a few hours. it wasn't that bad. and the volunteers were really funny. eventually erika had to leave me though :c and then at 11 me, two other girls, and the volunteer got on a bus to Temuco. it was really cool though because the seats turned into beds! haha i was so tired that i slept the entire way.

hahah oh and the bus attendent guy woke me up by shaking my elbow. and then when he came back he didn't think i was awake so he turned the light on and i was all groggy and grumpy and was like "okay, okay, i'm up, i'm up" but he didn't speak english and laughed at me. i thought that was cute though.

and when we got off the bus the girl from italy, martina, her host family came and greeted all of us. which was a kiss on the cheek, which i actually really like. like, you automatically feel accepted. it's the best. and then my host family got lost, but martina's host dad found everyone. haha oh yeah, so my host parents, sisters, and about 4 or 5 cousins came to get me. it was great. i love them all so much.

so then we came home and had breakfast at 8. then we exchanged gifts. they got me the most adorable mug with the family picture on it. then i got to sleep for a few hours cuz i was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired.

then we had lunch and went to this national landmark thing at the top of this hill that was overlooking the entire city. it was so so so pretty! i wish i had my camera to take pictures :c

then we went to the mall to shop for food and looked around. next we got home and i took a shower which starting was an adventure and a half haha. next we had dinner and talked a lot. it's so nice here. i can't explain how amazing the past few days have been.

and i've spent a lot of time writing this and my head hurts from all the spanish haha.

¡besos!

last day on american soil.

Let's see, what's happened since I last posted? Well for starters I've officially started my AFS adventure. Yesterday at 7 a.m. I left Bangor, ME and traveled for several hours to Miami, FL. That alone was an adventure. I mean, I've traveled by myself before but I usually get lost a few times along the way. haha the first time was in Philly. I didn't necessarily get lost but I ended up walking the wrong way for a while. The next adventure was landing in Miami. After collecting my luggage I was expected to hail the Embassy Suites shuttle from the side of the road. Yeah, that didn't really work out. I stood on the corner for at least an hour until I found some other AFS kids. Together, we were able to get the shuttle to pick us up.
After arriving at the hotel we had program specific sessions informing us on what to expect. I also found out that my batteries in my camera are dead and I forgot to pack more. Darn.

So here I am in Miami at my gateway orientation. We have some free time right now so I figured I might as well post one last time before I leave. There are 6 people here going to Chile from the U.S: three for the semester and three for the year. We're also here with people going to Paraguay and Brazil. And there are more coming today who are going to Honduras, Ecuador, and Panama. Gahh I hope I can get to see my friend Nick today!!

Anyways, we're all done with all of the orientation stuff so we have a lot of free time at the moment. However the Chile people aren't leaving the hotel until 8:30 pm. And then our flight doesn't leave until 11:30 at night. Yay red eyes!
So we should be getting into Santiago around 8 am and then we're immediately whisked off to our next orientation on the outskirts in some retreat. I'm not sure how long that orientation will be but I know I'm meeting my host family on Sunday. Oh yeah. I get to take a 12 hour bus ride from Santiago to Temuco. Shabooyah.

Luckily we've been so busy here that I haven't found much time to accept the fact that today's my last day on American soil for the next 11 months. However I have found time to call everyone back home and touch base with them.
And it's almost lunch now so I guess I gotta head out of here. I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again, but I'll try to post ASAP.

Love to everyone. I'll see ya on the other side.

ZOMG HOST FAMILY

FINALLY!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D
So after getting off work at 10 at night my brother tells me that my parents have to talk to me. Being the rebellious teenager I am, I instantly thought I was in trouble. However, I quickly found out that I FOUND OUT WHO MY HOST FAMILY WAS!!!!!! My host mom (Paulina) is a nurse and my host dad (Solomon) is an engineer. I also have two host sisters, Alejandra (17) and Javiera (13). I'm going to be living in Temuco, Chile and going to a Baptist school.
I'm friends with my host mom and sisters (and cousin) on facebook and my host mom messaged me c: They all seem so so sooo nice!

I'M SO EXCITED! i'm also kind of terrified. I haven't moved to a new school since I was 5. And I've never switched to a new family before. However I am leaving for miami in a week and Santiago in 9 days!

Just wanted to update you. I'll post again before I leave.
xoxo

And the waiting continues...

It's been about a month since I posted, so here's another update! Today I received an email about my gateway orientation. I have to be in Miami by 3:00 p.m. on July 28th. So mumsy booked a flight out of Bangor at 7:00 a.m. on the 28th. However, this is the only thing I've found out. Still waiting on a host family. And I'm leaving in exactly one month.

Also, today I had an interview with someone at the Ellsworth American about my exchange next year! The article should appear in the newspaper tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Let's seeeee what else have I done recently? Oh the other weekend I had to travel to Boston with my parents to go get my visa. Luckily, it didn't take that long and the two guys were pretty nice. There was a lot of paperwork required though.

Hmm as for my other AFS friends, Imogen left for Turkey a few days ago, which is superrr exciting! I hope everything's going well for her. And Nick found out his host family the other week. Lucky.
As of right now, the only things I have left to do are find out my host family, pack, and say goodbye. Oh and finish paying off my tuition. Blahh I still have like $8,000 left =/

Ugh I'm also starting to get ridiculously nervous and excited at the same time. Some days I can't wait to leave and start this whole adventure, but other days I don't want the next month to pass. I'm also not sure when to start packing. And how much to pack. And what to pack. Blahhh oh well. haha i'll get it together :p

Mkay well those are all of the updates I have for now. Be back soon to update, I hope!

AFS Orientation?!

Sooo just to keep everyone updated, I was officially accepted to AFS Chile! All I have to do now is get a visa and wait to find out where I'm going. Except...I'm not a patient person. This whole waiting thing is killingggggg meeeeeee. But oh well, I don't really have any choice but to wait.

Also, I just got back from my pre-departure orientation in Poland, Maine. It was soooo much fun! And I miss everyone :( So it all started out at 5:45 am on Saturday. I don't think I've ever woken up that early on a Saturday... Anyways, Danielle Cyr's mother picked me up at 6:45 and she drove Danielle (going to Turkey for a semester), Imogen (from GSA to Turkey for the summer), and me (to Chile for the year!) to Poland, Maine where our orientation was. We talked about AFS and listened to music the entire time; it was pretty chill. However, we got there about 15 minutes late and were the last ones to arrive. S'all good, though. There were about 15 kids going abroad at the orientation, but some didn't show up, for whatever reason. And a lot of them are going to Germany. Anyways, we sat in a room from 9:30 until 1:30 talking about being an exchanger, keeping an open mind, culture shock, etc.

Random story: Nate (going to Germany) made cookies for his talent (we were having a talent show later that night) and so he had like 80 cookies that he brought. So he left them in the kitchen, and apparently everyone else ate the majority of them during our talk sessions. And I felt so bad!

Back to the orientation. After four hours of talking and activities, we went back to the lodge to eat lunch and mingle with the hosted kids. Babi (who's from Chile and goes to my school) was there and I met someone else from Chile (Fernando). So I got to talk to them about Chile for a bit during lunch. Afterwords, I believe all of us split up again and the 'sending kids' went back to the brick building to discuss culture shock. Then we had some more free time to mingle with the other sending and hosted kids. Finally, it was dinner time which consisted of a whole bunch of salads, hot dogs, and hamburgers. There was also this strange salad that had marshmallows and tangerines in it. Then after lunch, there was even more free time and just hanging out, but only for a bit.

Next, was the talent show. It was soooo much fun and I have some pictures of it on my facebook. Hm, I should probably get some sort of thing to put pictures on of this whole adventure thing. I'll let y'all know when I get one. Anyways, I was the second one to go and I did 'the worm' haha which was the only talent I could think of. Other people sung, danced, read stuff, juggled, did tae kwon do, origami, etc. All in all, it was extremely entertaining. At about 10 or 10:30 we all walked down to the lake (which was slightly difficult since no one really knew where they were going and none of us had thought to bring a flashlight) for the boat launching. Earlier in the day, we were able to make little boats out of stale rice cakes and decorate them with candles, flags, leaves, etc. So we lit the candles and launched them into the lake. I thought it was a pretty cool experience. And then they all kept track of who was in the lead and some tried to sink others' boats. After a while, we all headed back up to the hill where some of the volunteers had started a bon fire. Once again, there was more mingling and relaxing and joking around. I hung around with Emily, Nick, Imogen, and some people whose names I forget from Italy (I'm better with faces than names) and finally got to bed around 1 in the morning.

The next morning our cabin was woken up at 7-ish by one of the volunteers, Carmen. And to get us up, she sang us a lovely song. I was determined to go back to sleep, but Imogen convinced me to go get breakfast before it was all gone. Then we ended up being the first ones there. After breakfast there was more mingling and I ended up playing Bullshit with a few people. Oh, I also want to learn how to play poker before I leave. Anyways, then my parents came and we attended the parent info session which was basically a recap of the day before. And after many goodbyes I finally left around 12:45 and got to drive home.

All in all, it was a lovely experience and now I'm even more excited to leave! Also, I apologize for the long post and I'll update if I find anything out!

¡Bienvenidos!

Hola, the name is Mimi Burmeister. First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog! I live in the town of Ellsworth, Maine and I'm currently a junior at Ellsworth High School. Just a few days ago, I applied through AFS to spend a year in South America.

In South America, I plan on immersing myself in the language and culture in hopes of broadening my horizons. Secondly, I hope to not only learn about a new culture, but teach others about American culture. I'm also extremely excited to become fluent in Spanish, for it has been a life goal of mine for many, many years. Once I learn the language, I would like to become a U.S ambassador one day. I believe a year abroad in South America will not only help me achieve this goal, but help me better myself as a person.

Throughout the year I like to keep myself busy by participating in the theater program (fall musical, show choir, and the one-act plays) and tennis team at my school. This takes up most of my time during the week during the school year. During the summer I also spend time volunteering at a bird sanctuary and animal shelter. I have a part-time job at my local McDonalds where I spend a lot of my weekends. I also try to find time for sleep, school work, and having somewhat of a social life.

Luckily, with my part-time job and other fundraisers I hope to have in the future, I can pay for part of my exchange. However, being a family of 6 (with my older brother going to RPI next year) my parents cannot pay for the rest of my exchange. Therefore, I'm hoping that you can help me fulfill this dream of mine by donating any amount of money. I hope to raise $5,000 by the time I leave. If you'd like to help me out, click on the ChipIn! gadget to help me with my journey, by making a secure non tax-deductible donation. Thank you again for taking time to visit my blog!