North Trip (Part 1!)!

It's time everyone!

For the north trip, the meeting place and time was 7:00 am in Plaza Italia in Santiago. So for the week before my trip, we played a fun game and tried to figure out how in the world I would get there for that early in the morning. And Vivien (German exchanger) was in the same situation. As we finally organized, my mom, Vivien, and I would take a bus to Santiago the night before (Wednesday)  and stay at my mom's sister's house. On my birthday I didn't end up getting much packing done. On Wednesday I went to school and left at lunch time. 3 days of school and then off for vacations again. :) pretty nice. 

We didn't plan on leaving until 5 or so, so I had time to pack. We met up at the bus terminal with Vivien and were on the way out of town by 6. After 3 hours we got there and met my aunt. We walked for a while and then took a taxi to the house. I was pretty tired.

My aunt and two sons were very nice and welcoming. We had once and talked for a long time. We planned on leaving the house at 6, so I was eager to get to bed. I was soooo exhausted from my birthday the day before and the days of school. So we got to bed, LATE again.

At 2:30 I got woken up by an earthquake. The house shook and I sat up in my bed. I was so darn tired that I thought to myself, "no. this is not going to happen. I have the trip tomorrow! An earthquake is NOT going to ruin that." In Ironwood, the only kind of natural storms there are are snow storms. But they can be predicted and people rarely die. But an earthquake is different. They can come at any time and don't have a warning. Sometimes they last 2 seconds and sometimes minutes. And sometimes there are little shakes and then a few seconds later comes a big one. Every time there is an earthquake I think "this is it. This is a BIG one coming." That one was the strongest one I've felt since I've been here. Luckily the one that night was a 5.3 and it wasn't bigger. My mom and aunt were in the living room talking and I thought I should go out, but I was soooo tired that I just pulled my covers up again and went to sleep again. Oh, Chile.

We woke up a few hours later to get ready and then we took a taxi to the meeting point. We ended up there a bit early and waited until everyone came at 7. I was kind of nervous since I didn't know anyone. I don't like going into things without knowing anybody. Especially since most of the other 40 exchange students knew each other from the south trip. Almost everyone spoke english. About half of the group was from the US and another gigantic part was made up of Germans and then a few random other countries. We left at 7:30 and we were off!

4 Rotary counselors from Santiago were with us, along with our awesome tour guide Alexandro.

I sat by Vivien on the bus. First picture of the trip!

We stopped for a bathroom break and then got name tags and were put into 4 different color groups. Yay for the blue group!

And we took a group picture:

When we got onto the bus they gave us a breakfast of a sandwich, apple, cookies, crackers, juice, and milk. I was expecting less.

We drove from there until 2:45 when we stopped to eat in La Serena.

A group pictures of all the exchange students! This was on Facebook and some of my classmates commented and said "woah Christy! It took me more than 5 seconds to find you!" hahahahha.

That was our destination city but we still had 20 minutes til the hotel.

We got there at 5, got into 5 person groups, and got our hotel keys!

I was with Annabel (Germany), Clara (France), Vivien (Germany), and Jodie (USA). The hotel place was nice. A bathroom, this lounge area, kitchen, and a balcony on the first floor and another bathroom, and 2 bedrooms upstairs.

I just want to start out by saying that Jodie is my very best friend from the trip. We met at lunch that day and we took off running. We were always together and had a blast. And we've taken soooo many pictures together. She's hilarious and nice and I love her. You'll be hearing and seeing more of her. ;)

After so many hours in the bus, we had some free time at the beach! We weren't in the mood to swim, so my group walked down the beach.

Me, Jessica, Jodie, Annabel, and Vivien.

Jodie and I!:

Some seagull friends:

 This little stream:

 Jodie was so confident she'd make it, but.... she didn't quite get there. hahahhaha. I love you ;)

 Mad jumping skills:

 Rotary Youth Exchange!

 Chi-chi-chi! le-le-le! VIVA CHILE!

I really like this one! Annabel, Jodie, and I.

After the stroll on the beach it was time to go to the mall. So lame to go to a mall on a bus tour trip. boooo. But we had a job to do. They told us that later in the trip we'd be stopping by a school and that we needed to buy presents. Everyone had to buy a girl present and a boy one. Most of us ended up in the arts supply store buying markers and crayons. And I got a pack of Spiderman markers and AristoCats crayons.

We got back to the hotel and ate dinner. By that time I was completely dead. And they announced that we could go out dancing. And so I went and changed and when we went back to meet with the group, they told us we weren't going. Apparently the adults had been talking and giving instructions and everyone had been talking and not listening. So we didn't end up going. We went back to the room and talked and talked and sang some karaoke off Vivien's phone. And we got to bed at 1:30. I knew from there that the trip would be one with little sleep!

Curicó is in the seventh region (Maule) of Chile and we traveled all the way up to the 4th region (Coquimbo) We ended up in La Serena, which is the capital of that region.

So that was my first day of my fabulous trip to the north!

100 Days Video!

Hello everyone!

Remember that one time my classmates surprised me with a slideshow with videos of my family on my 100th day of Chile?? And how I said I'd get that video up on here for everyone to see? Well, today, about 120 days AFTER my 100th day, I'm finally uploading it. :) Enjoy!

THE VIDEO!

A sad note to my foreign friends Vick and Carolin that appeared in the video: my friend just gave it to me on a pendrive. She had two versions. But one of them wouldn't download. But this one doesn't have you two in it! So I'll try to figure out how to get the other one ok?

A Few Random Things...

I went to see Rio 2! I really love kid animated movies. It was a nice fall day and the changing leaves made me happy.

Our school celebrated El Dia del Libro by decorating classrooms. Every section of each grade in high school was assigned a book or series. My class got the easiest (and best!) one, Harry Potter! 

Here's how the decorations turned out. I'm always impressed with how my class works together...

The Nimbus 2000:

Watch out for the dementor!

We even had our class plant be a mandrake.

After we decorated everything, we had to do a PSU practice test. Once a month we have ensayos (testing days!) and so we get a bunch of tests and like a good girl, I try for the first ten questions and then fill out the rest of the bubbles randomly.

In my school there is a little snack stand where students can buy things during recreo (recess!). There are two but I go to one more than the other. And I know the guy who runs it only as Tio. (In Chile, it's common to call an elder you know on a bit more of a personal basis "Tio" or "Tia") Last year, the exhange student from the US signed and gave him a one dollar bill. And so I decided to one-up her and give him a TWO dollar bill with my name! :) He was super excited.

My Chilean Birthday!

On the day before my birthday Dad set up a Google hangout session and Dad, AnnaMarie and her family, Michael and his, Marianne and William, and Abbey came on to say hi. That was great. We talked for an hour and a half about everything! The kids are getting SO big! Aiden and Jack can now say something resembling Christy. So that's exciting!

My actual birthday was absolutely fantastic! And chalk full (chalk full??? what does that even mean?) of surprises.

So I woke up and got ready. My family said happy birthday and Jessica got me a pretty scarf and a pen. Then we got off to school.

Everyone in my class knew it was my birthday and every single one of my 42 classmates greeted. ;) we were outside the classroom waiting for the teacher and thy sang happy birthday to me loudly. :D

Chile gave me a present! An earthquake! When they talk about earthquakes here there are two different degrees. A temblor and a terremoto. A temblor is a short one thy doesn't really do damage. And a terremoto ia a big one. We had just started class when everything started shaking. That was he longest one I've felt and it lasted for about 5 or 8 seconds. We evacuated the room and all the students me in the center courtyard. But everything was good and we were back to class. 

Throughout the day they sang to me in class.

In class with Romina:

At the first recreo, Romina have me a bracelet with elephants on it. And Rodrigo gave me chocolate. Natalia gave me a cutely decorated box with a dream catcher inside. And they promised a surprise for the afternoon.

Romina and Paula:

Leo:

Natalia and Carolina:

Eating some coconut cookies:

Romina, Paula, Rodrigo, Carolina, Leo, Valery, and Natalia:

 

Michelle, Carolina, Lobos, Natalia, Romina, and Leo.

In the second recreo Carolina gave me a bracelet and this: Super pretty wooden house that plays music!

Unfortunately, that day was gym day. And we take it right before lunch. So we worked hard in gym. (So much more work than in the US.) and after that, we gathered up a group and we went to the mall for lunch. I got a pizza and had a great time talking with my lovely friends.

The class we had when we got back was orientation hour. Just a time with our class Jefe (The main Mrs. Kanipes-like lady). She assigned us an assignment and then she said 'and now I need to talk to a student about their problem' and 'Christy go to the hall please'.

We walked down the hall and sat on a bench and talked. We talked all about my family (here and there) and how I've been doing. And I was feeling super good about my Spanish when she told me that it had improved a ton. That what I love to hear!

By that time I knew something was up... And when we went back to the classroom and the classroom was transformed. Everyone of my amazing friends were there smiling and gauging my response.

I got crowned with a balloon hat by Nico.

Rodrigo came up and gave me a beautiful boutique of flowers.

Rodrigo and I: He's really the best friend I could ask for here. 

Lots of flower pictures. Stay with me.

Nico and I:

Leo:

Pablo and Nico:

Group pictures!

And Ariel came up and he gave me a present from the class which was a pretty blue scarf. And then we started in on the cake. I honestly didn't know what to say!

Leo and I with our cake!

We ate some cake and they gave me two pieces. But that, later on, turned out to be a bad idea. As we were getting things back together to start class I asked if I could hand out some candy and she said yes. She asked me if I wanted to talk and I said uhhh sure!

And so I stood at the front of the class and explained that my sister had asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I hadn't known. So I asked for something for my classmates. And I told them how big of a part of my life they are. (Followed by an "awwwwwww!" from my audience)

And then I handed out the ring pops! They liked them ;)

Some behind the scenes pictures. I love having friends who like taking pictures... (Fernanda and Leo).

 

After my little party was over, we had the rest of school and I took the bus home. It was super duper crowded because it was 5. And I had gift bags, flowers, and a back pack to carry. But I made it!

When I got home I started packing a little bit for the North trip. And I got to open the greatly anticipated pile of presents from Caroline, AnnaMarie, and the kids.

Soon, my mom called me out and they had decorated the dining room with balloons and had my cake there. And so they dimmed the lights and sang to me. It was so perfect.

I'm so happy to call these wonderful women my family. Jessica and my mom.

And we put the cake in the fridge and ate dinner. They took a casserole dish, and but chunks of meat in it, along with french fries, and a few other things. And so we took our forks and ate it out of there. It was super good! And after that we broke out the cake. And that was super good too!

I had talked to my old mom earlier and she said she would come by and drop off some paperwork I needed for the North trip.

Just as we had finished eating, Debora (old mom) called my mom and said that she was outside the house and wanted to talk. I was kind of worried... After five minutes or so, my mom came in and turned off the lights and Debora, Sergio, and Vivien came through the door with another cake!! It was such a surprise and so, so, so sweet of them. We talked with them for awhile and Debora gave me this cute blue leather purse that I'm in love with. And then they left us to talk for a bit. And eventually I got to bed!

My third cake and fourth piece of cake of the day :)

Being 17 is great and it'll be a fantastic year. Full of surprises, changes, difficulties, and big events! Yay!

I had such a great day. I felt so very loved. I received a ridiculous amount of facebook messages, emails, and in person hugs. Flowers, presents, cake, cake, and more cake! Thank you for everyone who helped make my day special. It's definitely a birthday I won't forget!