Where do I begin?!

A lot has happened in the last week, so I have decided to break this blog into parts. First of all:

*** The Terremoto! ***

Holy crap. This is one to tell the kids. On my second night in Santiago, on the 11th floor of a not-so-new building, I woke up around 2:30AM to a door creaking. My first thought was that one of my room mates was making a lot of noise when she came in after partying. My second thought was "Why the hell is she closing the door so many times?" The movement got stronger, now making a rumbling sound and shaking my bed. I bolted up.

The girl I was sharing a bedroom with sat up in her bed and we looked at each other in shock without saying anything. I was still in a bit of a haze having just woken up, but when my bed started rolling around and the TV fell off of its sturdy shelf and crashed face-down, the word "earthquake" finally came to mind. The picture on the wall fell and we continued to sway and bump around. Hard. Honestly, I wasn't too scared. One, because I felt like I was just on some kind of amusement ride, and two, because I was still in a bit of a haze from being asleep until the earthquake was almost over.

The plan was for the whole ISA group (about 50 American college students) to have three days of orientation in Santiago. The kicker is that we had had a safety orientation that morning. The leaders warned us not to be alarmed in the case of tremors. These "earth tremors," they said, would be considered earthquakes in the US but were totally normal in Chile. Was this a tremor?! Surely not, but it crossed our minds. We went out into the hall, stepped over large chunks of plaster, pointed out horizontal cracks, and braced ourselves during a couple of the 30 (yes 30!) aftershock tremors as we tip-toed down the stairs. After spending a couple of hours with a partly drunk, but mostly just tired-looking group, we went back upstairs. Our leaders really didn't know what to do. Someone even saw them run to each other in the hall and frantically say that they didn't have a protocol for this sort of thing. And why would they? Anyway, the next morning we realized

just how bad the terremoto was. Bad enough

to be the 6th strongest ever recorded. The streets of Santiago were deserted except for a few people

surveying the damage. It was weird to see the quake on CNN

and yahoo.com. Santiago was hit bad, but not as bad as

Concepcion. Chile has suffered and is continuing to

suffer. I thought that it was

exciting to experience an earthquake, but that is because I didn't personally get hurt or know who was getting hurt. Much help and many prayers are needed for those in the south of Chile!

***Viña del Mar***

Um, so I may still be in the "honeymoon phase" but I live in an awesome, gorgeous city! Imagine a place with California's weather and ocean, a place where it is impolite not to put your elbows on the dinner table and being 15 minutes late is the socially-accepted norm. Mullets a

nd fannie packs are in, popped collars are out, and songs

like "slim shady" and "We built this city on Rock and Roll" come on the radio. The country's flag is almost identical to that of the great state of Texas, and the men are hot. Does it get any better? Well, maybe if you can speak the language... but that is another topic.

***Spanglish***

Ugh. Ok, so I can't really complain here because I knew it would happen, but it kinda sucks not knowing the language. Asking for directions is no piece of cake. Imagine a clearly foreign girl getting lost and trying to ask for help using only hand motions. I am sure it is quite a sight to the passers by. :) I am hoping that this problem will wane after some time and classes have passed. It gives me more reason to learn, and I am getting plenty of practice!

***What else?***

After the terremoto, ISA's plans to take the group to Pucon in the south of chile Chile were canceled. School stuff doesnt begin happening until this Wednesday the 10th, so we have had a week and a half of free time. :) (A&M started back nearly 2 months ago. How badass is that?) I have hung out with my host family and their friends, gone to the beach and explored with some other Americans, and danced the night away at "El Huevo." Yep, that means "the egg".

Its a pretty bumpin place. There are 5 dance floors and is apparently the place to go in the Valpo region. I just got back from having a completo with my gringa friend, Kristen. They are huge hot dogs slathered with sourkraut, avocado, tomatoes, and mayo. Totally diet-friendly, of course. I saw the place on No Reservations with Anthony Bordain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR_LncmNH5U

Its a total hole-in-the-wall, but makes a great hot dog! Tomorrow the plan is to go lay on the beach in Reñaca and later head to the sand dunes. ( They rent out "surf boards" for you to surf down the sand dunes on! )