Day 7: Day at the "Spa"

Today we got to sleep in! We didn’t have to be ready until 10:30 and today we are off to the spa. I know what you might be thinking I’m jealous I wish I could go get pampered all day…yeah no, not a spa. Apparently spas in Chile are where students and children all play soccer together and relax by the pool. Believe me I thought I would be getting a massage and sleeping all day. Nope! But it was so much fun. This was a gorgeous hotel with over 5 pools and a beautiful lunch buffet. Believe me I ate way too much food but all FREE! We tried different authentic Chilean drinks and they were all so good. This weekend is one of the girl's birthdays so the waiters gave her a cake and everyone sang to her. Everyone here is so nice. 

Sadly we did not get to go in the pools because it was very cold but we did play soccer. No I do not play soccer but I did have my five seconds of fame and scored a goal..backwards! We actually never ended up winning against the Chilean students but we tried very hard. This is their national sport, if we brought them to the states I would play them in basketball and kick some Chilean butts! After playing a vigorous game of soccer we had a huge lunch then played some ping pong. 

After a long but great day at the spa we were off to the professor of the program's house for a yummy bbq. I was not that hungry but I found the room in my stomach to eat some delicious kabobs. We got together we all of the Chilean students in the program and everyone else and enjoyed a night of laughter and foosball.The students are very fun and have been really great to us. :) I never want to leave but I do miss home but LOVING it here!

Today was another great day and tomorrow is a FREE day! Can't wait to sleep in ALL DAY! :)

Day 6: Vino Vino Vino (Wine Wine Wine)

Today I have to admit was the best day yet. We got to sleep in, it was a gorgeous day, we had an amazing lunch, we went to the beach and best of all tried some of the best wine in the country. We traveled today two and a half hours to Viña Indomita where we toured a 200 acre vineyard and let me just say it was gorgeous! My aunt lives in on vineyard and would die at this place. It was a beautiful, huge white building on the top of a hill. Breathtaking! After touring the inside of the winery and wine cellar, we sat out on the beautiful patio and sipped three different types of wine, one white and two red. It was so classy minus that we were drinking three glasses of wine at 11am but that's okay!

After experiencing the country side of Chile we traveled straight to the sea where we ate the most amazing lunch. We were directly on the ocean sitting outside on this amazing day about to eat an amazing lunch. And fun fact for the day I LOVE FISH and TOMATOES! I know my mom will be reading this and going crazy. I used to hate fish but we had the best white meat fish and a tomato salsa on our bread. OMG I wish I could explain it better but lets just say...AMAZING! Mom you would be proud that I tried it.

After a fulfilling and delicious lunch on the beach we of course had to go explore the beach! So perfect the weather was perfect and 70s the tide was coming in and the waves were beautiful! We climbed all over the rocks sadly I didn't have the best shoes on, but that didn't stop me! We took beautiful pictures. (For more check my Facebook) But it was perfect my friends and I laid on a rock and soaked in the sun. Sadly we had to leave but we found cute shops and of course bought lots of good things (yes family I got you gifts).

After buying our gifts we took a tour of a famous writer for Chile, Pablo Neruda's house, which was also right on the beach. He died in 1973 so his house in now a museum. It was built to look like a ship going into the water, it was beautiful and he had the best view.

After the tour we had a tour bus ride back to our interesting hotel, which we had no water in this morning, that was the only damper on a perfect day!!

Day 5: Vist to Bosques del Mauco

Today after only getting two hours of sleep it was off to another lecture at the university at 9am. I'm pretty sure when my alarm went off my body still thought I was sleeping I tried to avoid it as long as possible but had to get up for the busy day. We left for the university at 830 and today. We learned more about culture with the same professor as yesterday. Today was more about society starting a business in Chile, cultural differences, advertisements in Chile then music. Luckily the professor was engaging or I may have fallen asleep but again another very interesting lecture. We learned a fun fact for the day today is the Chilean mothers day so happy Chilean mothers day mom! Love you. 

Anyway after an invigorating lecture we ate actually a very good lunch and it was time for our second company visit, Bosques del Mauco, which is a mushroom manufacturer. This was the company I had to research and I definitely learned way more than I could ever find in research online. Along the way we rode next to the Pacific Ocean and it was beautiful!! I would be okay with visiting here again. The owner of the company, who also owns it with his brother and father, led us around through the production of the mushrooms we had to wear our steel toed boots and hard hats and let me tell you I still don't like mushrooms the smell was well let's just say...disgusting. Once we got inside the buildings to see the actual mushrooms it was very interesting. There were thousands of shrooms and they have to hand pick all of them which I thought was crazy. It was a huge company and had a lot of people working there very interesting but I still won't eat them. 

Now it is time for our last dance class its going very fun I'm so pumped! Tomorrow finally the weekend!

Day 4: Off to LAN Airlines

After a relaxing evening of blog writing we woke up at 7 to go to our next lecture

and we received steel toed boots that we needed for a company visit they were so

uncomfortable. This time the lecture was on Chilean culture and it was very

interesting. We learned all about history, education, politics, geography, and how the

natural disasters have affected not only just Chile but the surrounding areas. We

learned about their latest disaster which occurred in February 27, 2010 and it

changed the lives of many it was very scary to learn that some of the high ways we

drove in on were completely destroyed two years ago but after those two years Chile

has come together as a country and is progressing quickly to repair the damages. The

teacher was very exciting and knowledgeable. 

After class we ate an interesting

to say the least lunch in the cafeteria and then we were off to our first company

visit at LAN airlines two hours away in Santiago and of course all of us are

sleeping the entire way. We arrived and met one of the men who worked there and he

took us through his website and showed us the numerous airplanes they have and their

newest project a brand new HUGE airplane that is coming out in October. It was very

engineering oriented after seeing a few airplanes and not needing our steel toed

boots. 

We left again taking a nap and made our way to our last salsa class. Not many

of us were awake enough but once we got moving it was a lot of fun. We learned

turning steps with a partner it was tough but very fun my partner sadly wasn't the

teacher again haha after dance class it was time to go out with the Chileans we went

to a four story club and it was sooo much fun also because they played English music

after a late night it was time for bed another lecture and company visit tomorrow ;)

Day 3: Off to Santiago

Last night was a blast but not a good idea to stay up late because we had to wake up
at 6am! Yes I heard my alarm go off and yes I snoozed it and went back to sleep for
another half an hour but don't worry I woke up on time and off to another two hour bus ride to Santiago and I      slept the entire time let me tell you Santiago is huge!! Definitely like 100 of the city of Buffalo put together. 

Learned a fun fact that Santiago is building the tallest building in South America. 

First we went to the Santiago stock exchange which was very pretty but very different they don't have a trading 

floor like in New York so it's not loud but it's definitely a bustling city.

Then we walked through a major square with tons of shops I know where I will be
shopping on my free time then we made our way to one of the most amazing cathedrals
in all of Chile. It was the most beautiful I have ever seen and right outside there was a
cool man made of copper because Chiles main export is copper after this we went to a
Chilean history museum it was so interesting! Not going to lie though I was starving
and thinking about food the entire time ha :) 

We went to an authentic Chilean restaurant a marisqueria a fish and meat market and you could definitely smell it but it was good! I had a chilean favorite lomo a la pobre steak with a deviled egg on top sooo yummy! We then 

hiked to the incline and saw all of Santiago and a gorgeous statue of Mary from the top of one of their tallest hills gorgeous!!! 

After walking back down we were off to our next dance class this time regaton which is

kind of like hip hop so fun and I definitely got more sweaty this time but we got
some Chilean students to join in and had a blast tonight we did not go out and Alli
Carly alyssa and I went shipping for snacks we found Chilean Doritos and they re
delicious I'm bringing them back home and yes found one of the only North American
restaurants to eat dinner at...pizza hut! They had so many different flavors and it
was so yummy getting to bed a little earlier tonight tomorrow is our first company
visit and I can't wait! Another fun filled day in chile :)

Day 2: First Day of Class!

This morning we woke up at 7am for our first day of classes at the gorgeous
university. We explored the grounds and saw that it was straight across from the
ocean. Beautiful! We then went to two hours of lecture and learned a lot about
Chilean and South American business and how much of a developing and strong competitor chile is. We then ate 

an interesting lunch at the university sausage and mash potatoes. We

stick out like sore thumbs here and everyone stares at us but it's okay I like the attention.

After a filling lunch we began our journey on a four hour bus tour of Valparaiso andViña del Mar with two new chilean students Daniella and Valerie. Let me tell youthey were some of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen colorful houses andpaintings on almost every stairway and there were a lot of stairs got my work out infor the day we also rode the incline and saw a beautiful view! For it supposing tobe winter it was 70 degrees and lovely outside. One of the most exciting things that happened was we met an Australian who was running all of Chile for cancer. It was so cool. Getting that tour really allowed me to feel immersed deep in the culture the two students were a lotof help with the language barrier but my Spanish is definitely getting better.

The tour was a lot of fun and i saw some beautiful sights my favorite was definitely 

by the  water. After touring chile we went to get our first real great authentic

chilean food...empanadas! They are little dough things filled with pretty much anything you

desire mine was tomato and spicy and also spicy meat! So filling and so good we are
bringing these to the US after refueling with some energy food we attended our first
salsa class!! So much fun! We shook out hips and learned how to partner dance and
you know who my partner was? The teacher! I was a little intimidated but he said I
did very well but my hips are sore and I got very sweaty! It was a lot of fun and
there is a video on Facebook but the night wasn't over we were off to kareokee!! No
I do not sing but some of my fellow buds did very well we danced and sang the night
away that wasn't the best idea because we had a long day the next day going to visit
the stock exchange well until tomorrow :)

Arrival Day!!

After a long flight and flying over the majestic Andes Mountains we landed in Santiago, Chile at 7:30am, and was I in for some culture shock! Spanish, French, English, languages I couldn't even recognize every where I turned. Then something new...customs! Luckily with my intermediate levels of the Spanish language I successfully made it into the country and onto baggage claim. Luckily no lost luggage for anyone and we were re screened and sent to meet one of the Chilean students, Javier and our trip faculty advisor Jorge, who led us to get some pesos! Who knew that there would be a 10,000 dollar bill!

We left the airport on a tour bus in Santiago to ride another 2 hour bus ride to Viña del Mar where we would be staying in Hotel America!

After a successful check in we found our rooms in this quaint hotel and went onto lunch at Tiki Taco, where my good friend Allison shared 8 fajitas and boy where they good! Also on our way we passed numerous dogs in the street, yes dogs! There is not too much animal control here but they were cute.

<-- Yummy!                        Doggies-->







After a fulfilling lunch we were off to see some authentic fútbol with the local Viña del Mar team, and yes they did win! I have never seen such great city spirt, they were cheering the entire time and they definitely kept the moral up and we even got into some of the cheering. It was a great experience, minus the rain and minus that I already soaked my new shoes but YOCO! (you only Chile once ~Carly) So far one of the best life experiences and it's only day one! Now time to relax, lecture starts tomorrow :)




 <-- Let's go Viña!    They won -->