My real semester has finally begun!!

Hello all! I'm writing to you on a cloudy afternoon. What's up with that? Well anyway, things here are going very well! I just got back this past weekend from La Serena, a coastal city about 6 hours north of Viña. It was a lovely weekend, a more relaxing weekend compared to my volcano hiking self the week prior. We (it was the entire study abroad group) left Thursday morning, arriving in La Serena/Coquimbo (they are like twin cities, like Viña/Valpo, only on a smaller scale) around 6. We went straight to the grocery store, and my roommates and I decide to have a chilean asado, which is like a traditional chilean grill out type action. We bought some meat, some veggies, some beer, and headed back to our nice apartment complex. We grilled the night away, and had a really great time. The food and drink was delicious, definitely a nice start to the trip. The following day we had some free time to explore La Serena, so we hopped on the micro and went on an adventure, eventually hitting up an archeological museum and a really cool Japanese Garden. The day was a little cloudy, but I still had a really nice time.

Later that night we went to an observatory in Vicuña, a nice, small city further up into the mountains. Let me tell you, the stars were incredible! It was so dark, the stars were right there in your face. Twas a really great time, the stars shining and twinkling bright. I could have very easily spent the night under the stars.

The next day we had lunch at a solar restaurant! I thought initially it would be a restaurant run via solar electricity, but the food was actually cooked by the sun, in ovens and stoves right out under the sun. I've never had a more tender piece of meat! The food was delicious. From there we went to the Capel Pisco Factory, and had a little mini tour. It was cool to see the process and to understand how the pisco was made. The smell of alcohol was very apparent throughout the factory; I can't imagine working there with a hangover, most unpleasant. I have to say, since being in Chile, pisco has been my beverage of choice. I will be sure to bring back a bottle or two. :) From there we did a quick stop at the Gabriela Mistral museum and then headed back to our apartment for a little food/celebration in our last night in La Serena.

This past week has been kind of hectic with school and whatnot. I finally have my official Chilean identification, so I don't have to carry around a copy of my passport has an ID, so that's definitely a plus. The semester is really getting going, I don't think we have a schedule break until the end of May. So it would seem that traveling might be out of the question for a while, but you guys must remember, I don't have any class on Fridays, so anything can happen. In the next week or so I have two papers to write, a quiz to study for, and an entire book to read. So that will be a lot of fun. NOT. But I'm sure I will get it done without much ado, but still, I would much rather be climbing a volcano, let me tell you.

Well I think that's all for now. Hope everything at home is going great.

Ciao Ciao Bye Bye