ITS BEEN A WHILEEEEEE!

Hola a todos!

Since my last post, my family has come and gone, I have finished finals and school is done, AND Andrew has arrived :)

Having my family here was absolutely one of the highlights of my whole time here.  It is pretty incredible to me how much fun we have all the time together and I feel so lucky to have a family that can spend 10 days together, 24/7, and not get into a single fight.  My mom came to school and my internship with me, we walked ALL over Santiago, climbed up Cerro San Cristobal, went wine tasting in Valle Casablanca in the pouring rain, visited Valparaiso and Viña del Mar with Francisca, and watched A LOT of soccer.  It was honestly the most perfect way to spend my time with them and I am so thankful that they came and that we got to spend that time together.

Then I had another stressful week of school, cramming in all of the last tests and presentations and then ANDREW GOT HERE!  It has been so incredible seeing him and within about 2.5 minutes of being together again it was as if no time at all had passed.  We fell right back into our rhythm and were laughing all smiles, except this time half of it was in Spanish! It has been really cool speaking spanish together and just feels really good being back together.  In fact its crazy how things have changed! For instance, instead of me talking to him through a phone or computer, we are no sitting next to one another doing our own work/things we need to take care of on computers haha but at least we're next to each other! We have spent a lot of time just catching up and walking around the city, but we also spent the weekend in Valparaiso with his sister and her friend who are also traveling through Chile right now!  We plan to leave for Argentina on Monday so my next post will most likely be from Argentina!

It is definitely bitter sweet as I spend my last week in Santiago.  I think I am ready to get out of this big city and go exploring a little bit more but it is really strange for me to realize that I will not be returning back here.  It really has become my home and all of my housemates have become my family.  I don't think its really hit me that in about a week this will all seem like it was just a really longgggg dream and that this whole stage of my life and home will no longer exist!

I love you all so much and can't wait to see all of your smiling faces when we get back!

Zach Mom and Me walking around Santiago

 Dinner with the Del Rio family! (the family that grandma put me in touch with) Olivia is on the far left, Gonzalo (Martin's best friend) is in the middle and Martin is to the right of me!

Ascensor in Valparaiso.   Convenient way to get up and down the steep hills!

... dad didn't like that too much

 In Viña del Mar!

Franzie :)

Zach and Mom standing before setting sun in Viña

Mom cleaning my room..... because she was bored

Zach and I went out with some friends to a world cup themed party, and Z got really into it, apparently... holding the Chilean flag!

Two of my little babies from work :) they're twins

His first meal in Chile -- Peruvian food! We went to Olan Peruvian Food!

Saying goodbye to Kelsey who is off to Peru (Left to right: Kathleen, Me, Kelsey; all from Berkeley exchange program)

Visiting Andrew's Aunt Sylvia who lives about an hour from santiago! With his sister Paula

Steak spinach tomato grilled onion grilled cheese!

In Valpo with Ali (Paula's friend), Me, Paula (Andrew's sister) and Andrew

ice cream!

Paula and I being divas

View of Valpo's port

This is where we watched the Chile vs Brazil world cup game with 30 chileans!

reading some batman in the park in Santiago

Andrew came to my internship with me and the kids loved him!

my last day with my babies :)

This morning Andrew made me breakfast and of course displayed my apples, bananas, granola and peanut butter beautifully ;)