Brittni’s Blog

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The most interesting bus ride I’ve ever taken all started when I was at my hostel getting ready to go and I got a call from my bus company, Cruz del Sur, asking me if I could please hurry to the bus terminal right then because the bus was ready to go. I was a little confused at first, not sure if I was hearing the lady on the phone right or maybe my Spanish was failing, but after a few clarifications from her I ran to the bus station. Although I arrived 10-15 minutes early, sure enough there was a bus full of people waiting for me. It was full of kids from about 10-13 years old that had been on the bus since Santiago, which is at least 12-14 hours from where I got on the bus in Puerto Varas. The bus was hot, humid, crowded, and smelly, but the cultural experience was unforgettable and well worth the trouble. All the kids and a few adults were staring at me for about 5 minutes (which felt like forever) until finally one of the boys around 10 years old came up and asked me where I was from. Then the questions started! The kids were so curious about everything! “What is California like?” “Does everyone there look like me?” “What’s my name in English?” etc, etc, etc. Since they were in that special age group, the boys and girls couldn’t get too close to each other so I had to talk to them separately and answer each question a few times. I was having a good time with the kids, but I was also really into a book I’m reading so when their was a long pause with the kid’s questions I pulled it out for a bit. Then they where fastened with the fact that I like to read and had a millions questions about that. They made me show them how many pages my book had and then just kept repeating “348..348!” over and over. They even had me translate a bit of it. “The Street Lawyer” -> “El Abogado de la Calle” haha.

Since I’ve been traveling down in Latin America for a while now have had experiences similar to this, but never to this extent. The bus ride was about 4 hours and I talked to the kids most of the time which I’m sure was great for my Spanish. It was a very interesting experience and really renewed my interest in spending more time with kids. I’ll probably be looking into spending a few weeks teaching English to kids somewhere up in Central America.

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I’m in Santiago now and am about to go down to Patagonia and travel for the next few weeks. Here is a list of my destinations:

Pucon, Chile - 11/14-17

Puerto Varas, Chile - 11/17-20

Castro and Chiloe, Chile - 11/20-23

Bariloche, Argentina - 11/23-28

Puerto Madryn, Arg - 11/28-12/1

Buenos Aires, Arg - 12/2-4

Colonia, Uruguay - 12/4-5

Montevideo, Uruguay - 12/5-7

Buenos Aires, Arg - 12/7-8

Puerto Iguazu, Arg - 12/8-12

Buenos Aires, Arg - 12/13-16

Fly to San Francisco - December 16th

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Sunday (10/19) – I arrived at about 7pm and took a shuttle and the metro to my house. I moved into a big house with about 12 other students, which kind of felt like how I would imagine living in the house on “The Real World” would be. Then I went out for Chinese food with some new friends, and then met and hung out with people at a party in my new house.

Monday – I was nervous about starting my new advanced class, but it actually went pretty well. I learned a lot and have a really fun group in my class. After class I went with the school to the Santa Lucia Market and Cerro Santa Lucia which is a little hill in town that has a park, a castle, and beautiful view from the top.

Tuesday – After class I went with 5 other girls to the fish market where we had delicious sea food, which is something that Santiago is known for.

Wednesday – At night I met up with some friends and went to a fancy after office party at the castle on top of Cerro Santa Lucia. There I also met up with my old friend Amelia who is studying here for a year through San Francisco State. We had been looking forward to seeing each other for a long time and it was really great to finally see catch up with her.

Thursday – After class I went with the school to the cemetery. Later on that night I went to an international film festival, which played short artistic films, which I really enjoyed. Since the films where from all different countries and in different languages they mostly had English subtitles.

Friday – After class I went on a little run, did some Pilates, and then went to happy hour with a big group from my school.

Saturday – I went to Viña del Mar, which is a cute, little beach town about 1hour 45minutres from Santiago. There I met up with my friend Amelia and her friends from different universities in California who are also studying in Santiago for a year. That night I met up with some friends form my school, went out to dinner, and then to a big casino where I learned how to play craps and Black Jack (although, I only learned by watching).

Sunday (10/26) – I went from Viña del Mar to Valparaiso which is a big city of 8 million people and close to Viña del Mar. Then since the weather was nice I went back to the beach and soaked in some sun while taking a little nap in the sand. Unfortunately, when I was waking up I felt a tug on my backpack, which I had around my arm and saw the bag was open and a guy holding my wallet. He immediately put it back and then went back to talking to his girlfriend right next to me like nothing had happened. So then I felt pretty upset and just headed back to Santiago. Then I packed up my stuff and moved in with a Chilean family. It was nice that people in the student house I was living in were sad to see me go, but the family I moved in with is really great. The first dinner I had was delicious and we talked in Spanish for a long time after dinner. I can tell it is going to be much better for my Spanish practice.

Mi Clase	The Castle on the hill in Santa Lucia
From the top of the hill	Lunch in the fish market
The fish market	The view from Jamie\'s apartment
Before the Castle Party in Jamie\'s apartment	Ready for the night out.
At the Castle Party	-
My old friend Amelia (aka Amy Joe)	The enormous cemetery in Santiago
The flower clock in Viña del Mar	The beach in Viña del Mar

Since I keep telling everyone how busy I’ve been I figured I better prove it, so here are most of the things I did in Buenos Aires:

Week 1

Sunday (9/21) – I arrived in Buenos Aires at about 8am and took the bus and metro to my house in a neighborhood called Palermo. Unfortunately, no one opened the door so I waited outside on the doorstep for about 2-3 hours. Then I decided to go to a café and played Sidoku while I was waiting. I eventually got into my room at about 5pm. It wasn’t a great start to my trip because I couldn’t really go sight seeing with my luggage, but I still had high spirits most of the day and couldn’t get “Don’t cry for me, Argentina” out of my head.

Monday – I took my placement exam at my Spanish school (ECELA) at 8am, but then found out that I had afternoon classes (from 2-6pm), so I walked around town and went to the famous Recoleta Cemetery with some new friends. After class I went to the Bienvenidos (Welcome) Orientation where Rocio (the activities coordinator) gave us mate (a traditional Argentine drink) and the 101 on Argentine culture. Later that night I went to a bar with friends.

Tuesday – After class I went to conversation club and learned a little bit about Che Guevara. Then later that night I met up with friends from the school at a student house and we went out for drinks and then to a drum and base club called Bahrein.

Wednesday – I went to a Milonga (a type of tango) class at La Viruta with a bunch of firneds from the school and then we went to a big dance club called Museum.

Thursday - At night we went to a drag club in Palermo called Club 69. The music and show were good and I met a lot of interesting people. By this point I was starting to get used to the crazy Argentinean schedule – they generally go out to the clubs at about 2am and stay until 6-7am. It was a little tricky doing this at first, but it was nice that my classes where in the afternoon.

Friday – After school I went on a little 3 mile run in Palermo. Then I went to La Cabrera for dinner with friends. I had my first Argentinean steak, which came with a bunch of great sauces and was very delicious. After dinner we went to a bar called Spot Bar where we met up with a bunch of people from my school and then to a club called Kika (the photos with the bubbles). On the way home (around 6:30am) Cydney and I ran across a pretty busy hot dog place and had some really decadent hot dogs and met a fun group of locals whom we chatted with for a while.

Saturday – I went with some friends, Dave and Richard to a touristy neighborhood in Buenos Aires called La Boca (on only 3 hours of sleep). We saw the colorful buildings, tango in the streets, lots touristy souvenirs, the Museo de Bellas Artes de La Boca, and saw a beautiful view from the top of the museum. Then we headed back to Puerto Madero, walked around a bit, saw La Casa Rosada, and had a nice lunch on the water. Later that night we met up at an area with a bunch of bars called Plaza Serano in Palermo.

First night in BA!	On the patio at my new house.
On the top of the museum in La Boca.	La Casa Rosada
At the restaurant La Cabrera with friends.	-
Its true - Argentina has amazing steaks!	-
At a club called Kika in the neighborhood Palermo	Bubbles!
-	On the way home from Kika.
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Week 2

Sunday (9/28) – Shoot. I’m sure I did something very interesting this day, but for the life of me I can’t remember what I did.

Monday – After class I hung out at home and drank mate with Cydney and my two Colombian housemates.

Tuesday – After class I went to the conversation club again. Later I went to a party at the student house on Maipu for a birthday party and then we all headed back to the club Bahrein.

Wednesday – I met up with some friends to go to the Bellas Artes Museum, but they closed early so we just got a bite at a place in Recoleta. Later that night I took a salsa class at a place called Azucar and then went with my school back to the club Museum and then to a fun Brazillian club called Maluco Beleza.

Thursday – After class I took an empanada cooking class at the school, which I really enjoyed. Then Richard and I watched the vice-presidential debates.

Friday – In the night I met everyone from the school at The Spot Bar and then we all went to a club called Crobar.

Saturday –I rented bikes with some friends and road around the ecological park and San Telmo for a while. Then we had another lunch on the water in Puerto Madero. Later that night I went with a bunch of friends to a nice bar in Recoleta called Porto Zuelo and then to a club near by called Pancha.

The birthday party in the student house	Quite the turnout
My and my housemate, Cydney	-
-	Clase de cocina - Empanadas!

Week 3

Sunday (10/5) – I went with some friends to La Boca v. Los Estudiantes which is a local football (soccer) game. It was quite an experience. We sat in the “public” area, which mean the cheap seats. Even though some people say don’t sit in this area because it can be dangerous, I think its actually a much better experience because the fans are so enthusiastic. We were really packed in like sardines and stood the whole game, but the fans where singing almost the whole game and jumped in unison for parts of it. I really liked how even though La Boca lost 2-1 the fans where still enthusiastic and seemed to be in good spirits after the game.

Monday – This week I was switched to morning classes (9am-1pm). Even though I found it hard to get up in the mornings after staying out late most nights, I ended up really enjoying having the afternoons free to do more sight seeing. After class we went to a garden in Palermo called Jardin Botanico. Later that night I went out with Cydney to some bars in Palermo where we met six Brazilian girls who wanted to practice their English so they called us over to there table and we talked for hours.

Tuesday – After class I went on a 10 mile run around the beautiful parks in Palermo where I came across some huge trees and hung out in one for a while. Then Richard and I watched the second presidential debates.

Wednesday – I missed a bit of class to go to an event at the US Embassy where I submitted my absentee ballot. There was also a lot of great free food, a live Jazz band, and the ambassador gave a nice speech on the history of democracy and the importance of voting. Then I went to school, and then to three museums. Well, two real museums (MALBA and Bellas Artes). Then we went out to a delicious Sushi dinner and then back to the club Museum.

Thursday –I took a tango class at La Viruta. That dance is not as easy as it looks, but the class was a lot of fun.

Friday – I had an excellent steak dinner at Desnivel. Then later we went to spot bar and then to the Brazilian club Maluco Beleza.

Saturday –I went to an area just outside of Buenos Aires called Tigre. There we took a boat ride on the river, had a nice picnic lunch on the boat, walked around a bit, and had very tasty ice cream. Later that night I went to the Infected Mushroom concert with James, Cydney, Rocio and some of her friends. It was definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to! I danced from 10 hours and only left because they closed at around 7am.

Mi clase	-
Outside La Boca stadium after the game	My housemates in the park. The signs say, \"Free Hugs\"
On the boat in Tigre	In Tigre
-	My housemate from Ice Land
The Infected Mushroom Concert	-

Week 4

Sunday (10/12) – I went to a Scandinavian restaurant for brunch in Palermo with my housemates Cydney and Jon. Then we met up with Richard and went to the Recoleta Mercado. Then we walked around Recoleta to a few bookshops. Then Richard made a delicious pasta dish for dinner and we watched a hilarious English show called “Grumpy Old Men.”

Monday – There was no school today because of a bank holiday. I had a pretty lazy day. I slept in and then watched some more “Grumpy Old Men.” Later we went out to dinner at Porto Zuelo.

Tuesday – I went back to Azucar for another salsa class with friends. It was a lot of fun and was glad I took classes through UCSC and while I was in Mexico, but needed the refresher course.

Wednesday – I went to Desnivel again with a big group. Then we headed back to the club Museum (yes, for the fourth time).

Thursday – After class I went home for a bit and took a little siesta. Then went to Zoologico de Buenos Aires which was a pretty nice zoo. Then we went to the store and bought ingredients for empanadas, which actually didn’t turn out to bad. ☺ Then we watched part of the third presidential debate from Tuesday on Youtube.

Friday – I passed my big test today and graduated from Intermediate 2B. It was exciting even though I was pretty nervous to start advanced classes the following Monday (in Chile). I went to the school’s Almuerzo (lunch) and had hamburgers, got my diploma, and gave my little speech thanking the teachers and staff. We went to the Congressional Building. It was Richard’s birthday so we celebrated it by going to a jazz show called Tolvan Big Band from Buenos Aires’ International Jazz Festival. Then we had pizza at a restaurant in San Telmo and then went to the replacement Spot Bar for Rocio’s birthday party to say goodbye to everyone. Then we went met up with some friends in at a club in Palermo called Tazz and danced for a while.

Saturday – I packed up my stuff, and then worked on postcards while listening to music, drinking mate and making empanadas. Then we went out to a really nice dinner at a restaurant in San Telmo called La Brigada (yet another fantastic steak in Buenos Aires!). Then to an opera called Maria de Buenos Aires. Then we finished presidential debates and watched the English version of The Office.

Sunday (10/19) – Woke up, had some empanadas, and headed to the airport for my flight to Santiago. One of those very sad, yet very exciting times.

Best steaks in BA	Richard and I in Desnivel
At the zoo	California\'s rep.
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Congressional Building	-
Receiving my diploma	The jazz concert