LOLLAPALOOZA

Lollapalooza

first show - moviemiento original

Imagin Dragons

Manjar

Breakfast

And yet another week in Chile has gone by!

We’ve been here for more than six weeks by the way! : )

Another school week – they’re starting to be routine, nothing very new or different anymore.

Then on Friday I went Lea and we walked to our gymnastics gym for practice, when we got there everything was locked down and we were told that there were no sports at all that night because of the ‘Juegos de Sudamérica’, when we got back to her house we decided that we have to do something so we ended up going to the cinema. We watched Captain América 2, we both thought it was pretty good! The two tickets were 5 thousand Pesos together, which is like 8 Fr. I loooove that going to the cinema is so cheap here!

On Saturday we went to a festival called the ‘Lollapalooza’, it’s pretty expensive but totally worth it! It was an AWESOME day! We went with a whole bunch of people from our school. There were lots of different bands on different stages from 12 am to 12 pm. We saw/heard Movimiento Original, Joe Vasconcellos, Nano Stern, Capital Cities, Cage the Elephant, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding(not up close), Phoenix (not up close) and at the end Zed. The one I liked best was Imagine Dragons , Zed was really cool too though!
But really there were more than 30 concerts going on all day, some at the same time - so you had to pick where you wanted to go. You really could find anything from reggae to electro...
The whole event happened at the Parque O’Higgins, it’s a huge park but it was filled with people!!
The day started out being very cloudy – the cloudiest day we’ve had in Santiago so far, but then it cleared up it ended up being very sunny for a couple of hours!
Here’s a link to the Lollapalooza website: http://www.lollapaloozacl.com/

It was an amazing day and both Lea and I were really tired when we finally got to her house.

Oh and then I also uploaded a picture of what our breakfast here might look like. Oh and a picture of MANJAR! Manjar is awesome! It’s like Dulce de Leche, like condensed milk. You can find it anywhere in anything in Chile, cakes, pastries, cookies… they even put it on bread! : )

Hot Days and time flying by

school:
Catherine, Lea and me
my classroom
and Lea and I (in uniform!)

at the park with lots of Chileans

random Santiago:
colorful trees
the 'river' of Santiago
and my room

movie nights and THE BEST chocolate! : )

our new clothes

us, Maxi and Ursula

Another week has already gone by and tomorrow is the start of the last week of March.

Lea and I started doing gymnastics Wednesdays too now, so on Wednesdays I also go to Lea’s house and then to gymnastics from there and my host parents said they can pick us up afterwards most nights.
We’re both really happy that we can do gymnastics even more now! : ) Athletics was ok, but we both prefer more gymnastics to running around for 1.5 hours!

On Friday after school we went to an ice cream place with some people from 3^rd Medio. It was the birthday of one of them and she thought it would be fun to show us a nice park in the city center.
Then after gymnastics I slept over at Lea’s house again, we decided to watch the polar express while drinking hot chocolate and eating bread with Nutella! : ) It was actually really nice even though the day had been SUPER hot!

Yesterday morning we went to an outlet clothes shop with her host mum. Lea found a really nice skirt and I found a dress that I really like.
Later we went by my house so I could drop off some of my stuff and then we went to Plaza Engaña, that’s the mall that has the pianos. Lea played some of course and we bought some random stuff.
Then we went back to her house and watched Lord of the rings with her host sibling while eating Pizza and later we watched the second part of Narnia.
We also had the MOST AMAZING CHOCOLATE IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! Milka Oreo chocolate!! : )

Today we had breakfast at like 9:30 and then Alejandro (Lea’s host dad) drove me home around 11am. When I got here everyone was sleeping. : )
After lunch everyone left and Andreu and I decided to go to the movies.
We got back home around 6 and I don’t know when everyone will be back – I guess I’ll found out eventually though. : )
Friday and yesterday were SUPER hot days it was like up to 35 degrees Celsius during the day!
But aside from that it’s starting to cool down and there are already leaves on the ground.
I’m starting to be more and more confused! Shouldn’t it be starting to be spring now?? : )
My Spanish is starting to get better – it’s nice not to be tired of concentrating on figuring out what people are saying as much anymore! : )
Even though being in Santiago isn’t always easy - time is flying by with being at school so much, gymnastics, being at Lea’s house, learning more Spanish every day and just getting to know new things!
Lena

birthdays and parks

caaaaaaake

where we have lunch at school

shopping

Plaza with Lea

park

On Friday we had a great Spanish class; it was the birthday of Catherine and Gracia so we had cake and just hung out and talked. After school we went to Lea’s house and then later to gymnastics. In the end I got to do some tricks on a fabric!! I was SO happy!! : )
Directly from there we went to Eliana’s birthday party, she’s a girl who is in Lea’s class. It was a very relaxed party, out back in the garden with carpets to sit on and music and lots of talking with the Chilenos.
On Saturday everyone was up rather early, Lea and I had breakfast at 9:30. In the morning we went shopping for a while and then after lunch to a plaza close to Lea’s house. While walking around we noticed that it really is starting to be fall! The trees are changing colors and it's getting colder too.
In the afternoon we watched a movie with her family and then they drove me to my house.
I really enjoyed the day with Lea and her family and I’m already excited for next weekend - it looks like I might have a movie night with Lea and her siblings on Saturday.
Today I slept in and then we went to a park (parque de la reina) all together. We took some bikes and then rode around for a while. There’s a little lake in that park and it’s really nice!
So far my favorite places in Santiago are the Cerro San Cristobal and this park!

More cakes and school weeks

pool! :)

our cakes

huuuuuge cakes for the birthday kids

avocado bread

Hola People!
I’m trying to be good about posting more so now you’ll hear all about my last couple of days! : )

On Sunday we went to the abuelos (grandparents), lots of people came I think they’re all related but who can tell! Lots of them were the same ones as the ones that were there on my first day in Chile!
My ‘cousin’ lives right next to the grandparents and they have a pool so the boys and I did some ‘swimming’.
On Monday I had my first day in my new class (M4). Steffi, another girl who is also an exchange student from Switzerland, is also in that class. M4 is a lot smaller than the other one! There’s only like 13 or 14 people, they’re all really nice and are trying to help me with Spanish and stuff. But the 4^th medio, which is the whole grade/year, has only got a total of like 40 kids so really there aren’t that many! Lots of times we just all hang out together so I get to see my old class now and then as well too. I now recognize most people of my grade and lots of people of the 3^rd medio as well. I’m not quite as far with names, but I do know most of the people in my class now! : )

After school I went to Lea’s house and later we had gymnastics, it’s pretty tough but we both love it!
Yesterday (Wednesday) I had sports in school first and later 1.5 hours of Atletismo (athletics), Lea and I both decided that we wanted to do that before we even knew about gymnastics. Yesterday we were only 6 people and it was just as tough as school sports.
Well you can probably figure out that I’ve got some pretty sore muscles today! : )
I also took the ‘Micro’ for the first time by myself yesterday! The micros are the buses in Santiago.
The whole bus system is pretty complicated but I figured it out. I think my host parents were more nervous about it than I was, but now they know that I can take the bus by myself and that gives me a lot more freedom!
Today I had another long school day and then went to buy two huuuuuuge cakes with Lea. Well actually first we went to a café and just enjoyed the after-sports-high and had some great cakes ourselves! Tomorrow it’s the birthday of two of the exchange students and the rest of us intecambios wanted to do something – so we decided on buying enormous cakes! : ) Then I took the bus home again, I really like it a lot more than the school bus!
As a random fact, people here often eat mashed avocados on bread! It’s actually really good and definitely one thing that I’ll keep doing when I’m back!

Well I’m sure some of you have been wondering about my weekly schedule. Here it is:
Every morning we get picked up by the school bus at 7:20. School starts at 8 and then it’s always 2 hours of school and then a 15 minute break. That happens three times until there’s a lunch break at 1pm until 2pm. Then the afternoons wary!
Monday: 9 hours of school until 4:30 then I go to Lea’s house and at 6:45 we leave for gymnastics, then at 9:30 Paula picks us up and we drop Lea off at her house
Tuesday: 8 hours of school until 3:30 home with the school bus (it takes foreeeeeever!! I don’t get home before 5pm!!)
Wednesday: 9 hours, school until 4:30 then athletics until 6pm (at school), then home by micro (bus)
Thursday: 10 hours, school until 5:15, home with the school bus
Friday: 8 hours, school until 3:30, then to Lea’s house, gymnastics, then sometimes sleepover at Lea’s sometimes going back to my house… (I think)

Well that’s what my week looks like! : )
I’m pretty sure that I’ll always take the normal bus home, starting in a couple of weeks. I like the furgon escolar (school bus) in the mornings alright but in the afternoon it drives me crazy and it takes forever too! And if I go home by micro I’m a lot more independent too, I can just hang out with people for a while and I don’t have to leave right away.