First Weekend

I have already been here for a week!! Its hard to believe. Friday night, I went with Gonzalo (a past exchangee who speaks English and who I talked to before I came), Julia (an exchange student from Australia), and some of their friends to the theatre. I understood some of what was going on, between the words that I knew and the actions of the actors. Then I hung out with them until 1:30 and went home. After the play, an exchange student from another program (Philip from Germany), his sister, and a friend joined us. The next day, I slept in. When I woke up, I went for a one hour walk to explore my neighbourhood/the shopping district about 10 minutes away. It was fun, and good to get exercise. In the afternoon, a friend from school (Gisela) picked me up and I went to her house for a few hours. Two other girls and 2 guys from school were also there. Later, the girls and I went downtown with Gisela´s bro and a friend. We walked around, through stores them teaching me vocab. We also went to the arcade and played ´taca taca´ ie foosball. After this...I went with Johanna to the disco...ie club. We did some crazy dancing, and I salsaed with some of the guys we went with!!!!! (I am bad tho...definitely need some more intensive learning if i´m going to do it when I get home...) I got home at 5 am....insanity. Johanna usually is out til about 6 30 or 7...... I can´t imagine!!
I slept til 1 the next day, and woke up with the cold that I have felt coming on for several days. After brunch...I went with Johanna and Maxiel (my unofficial other host ´sister´) to Maxiel´s house. While there, I saw a huge Catholic parade that happens once a year. There were tons of man powered floats of Christ, Mary, crosses, and many many huge flags. I was blown away by the number of people.
We drove to a place that overlooks the city, and took some pics there (I hope to load them onto the comp sometime soon so that you can see). then Johanna dropped Maxiel and I off at the plaza (city centre) where we took some more pictures. I saw the first house of the city (now a museum, and yes Dad...i plan on going) The first bank, the 2nd house (now hotel), the municipal buildings (much more elegant than wiarton) as we walked home. The walk was very scenic....about 2 1/2 hours. Many people go for walks on sunday afternoons, it was nice. We walked through the cemetery, which seems weird, but it is beautiful. Maxiel told me that it is the second most beautiful in all of South America. The first woman of Punta Arenas is buried there, in a huge, ornate building with gardens all around it. There are fences to keep people out of it. It is hard to describe...but beautiful. Then we walked along the Strait of Magellan, and again more photos. Back at home, we warmed up (there is crazy amounts of wind here) and then watched cool runnings. I tried to blog last night, but just as I finished, the internet crashed. This morning, Mema (my host mom) did not hear her alarm, so I slept through school, waking up at about 10. It was good though, I needed the sleep and school this morning would not have been nice with my sore throat and runny nose.
Well...that basically sums up my first weekend of adventure....
xoxo