Down by da beach man!

So, guess what. I went to the beach today. Did you? :) It was wonderful. We even met a new friend! Story time: Chaz, Annie, and I were just sitting on a small ledge, overlooking the soft sand and beautiful water, and all of a sudden this man started talking to us. He was talking really quietly and we couldn't quite understand what he was saying. Turns out he was talking in English, and just wanted to say hi. Well, that's what he told us at first. So, we humor him for a little while, talking a mix of spanish and english, and then he pulls the whammy. He was an evangelist! haha He was there preaching the word of God. Real funny! He was really nice, only a tad bit creepy. So that was an interesting experience.

Today overall has been a fantastic day. I woke up this at about 8. I was worried my tiny battery powered alarm clock wouldn't do the trick, but it turns out I have enough electronic savvy to make it work. Showered quickly, and breakfast was put on the table. CEREAL. I dislike cereal immensely. But I was a trooper, and it turned out to be not completely horrible. I had it with yogurt and bananas, and it was crunchy and chocolatey to begin with, so it was bearable. Then I got on the micro for the first time, which let me tell you, this will be interesting throughout the semester. The Micro is a bus system that travels between Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, stopping anywhere and everywhere in between. So I'll take that basically anytime I have to get to class, or visit Valpo for any non-curricular reasons, if you catch my drift. So upon arrival in Valpo we started a little mini walking/bus tour that took us to all the different schools of the college. We visited Casa Central de la Pontificia Universidad Catolica, we went to Gimpert, another building that is a part of PUCV. Then we went to Santa Maria university, and it was gorgeous. Far and away the nicest college campus I have ever seen. Gardens intermixed throughout, a wonderful view overlooking the bay. Pretty sweet. GET THIS. It's known as the MIT of South America. I might take a class at MIT this spring. haha. From there we went back towards Vina, stopping at two other universities, until it was time for us to part for lunch.

The small group I toured with consisted of all the kids from my program who arrived in Chile early, so there was just 7 of us. One of the girls was in southern Chile when the earthquake happened! Right in the thick of things. Thankfully, her and her host family at the time were all ok. Pretty scary. She said it was an indescribable feeling. Everybody I met was incredibly friendly and really easy to get to know. Which is quite nice. A couple girls from MN so that was fun! It's weird knowing that other people around can speak English. You debate on whether to speak Spanish or English. It's a goofy mix of both.

After lunch I went on a mission to buy a pre-paid phone. What a pain. An expensive pain at that! Makes me thankful for nice, simple family plans. :) Then some wandering, some shopping, the beach, and now some relaxing before dinner. Probably a chill night at home, establish some good rapport with my family before I socialize in the evenings. haha.

Well that's all for now. I have plenty of time right now to keep this updated, so when classes start, don't be distraught if you're missing me. :)

Ciao!