Another day...

Hi! It is Wednesday night and I have my first final exam tomorrow morning at 11:15. I studied for 3 hours earlier today, and I plan on studying more after I write some here. You might call it procrastination, but I call it relaxation. It is 10:42 pm here so I have some time before my test.

Well, I wrote a few comments under my pictures from this weekend on facebook. But, I'll go over what I have been doing.

Friday- Took a field trip with my Spanish class to Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago. He was this incredibly famous Chilean poet (who I had never heard of before) who won a Nobel prize and was an ambassador to all these countries. He was really strange, married but had a mistress, and his houses are really intersting to visit, because they were so sixties inspired and wierd. You know those machines that people used to try to lose weight with - where you put the big strap over your midsection and the machine wiggled you back and forth? Yeah, he had one. His house had 3 seperate buildings, with wierd windy staircases, low ceilings, and tons of artwork. I wasn't allowed to take any pics inside. This Friday, we are going to Isla Negra, to visit another of his houses.

Saturday and Sunday - I went with the family to a baptism in Vina del Mar/Valparaiso. The pictures tell the story. The baptism was completely fancy and totally different than I thought it was going to be. The towns are great and I will probably go back later in the semester.

Monday - I had class and then afterwards, I joined a gym. Since I don't have anything to do in the afternoons, I can work out now. It is really inexpensive and only 3 blocks away from the apartment. I also signed up for a personal trainer. Get this - it is only $12/hour for a personal trainer here (in Iowa City, a personal trainer was over $75/hr, I think, and more expensive in other places, so I figure this is a great opportunity). So on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will work with Oscar to get into shape.

Tuesday - Class, then had a consultation with Oscar to figure out what we will be doing during my workouts. It was really interesting trying to talk with him, because he doesn't speak any English and I only speak a little Spanish. Trying to tell him things like: this is too heavy, I just want to tone my muscles, and not bulk up, or should I do it again?- was really difficult. But it is all ok, because I'm slowly learning the language.

That brings me up to today. I had class and we reviewed for the final tomorrow. I had a meeting at 3:45 about our class trip to the South of Chile. The plan is to visit a ton of places in 5 days and the school plans it for us. I have already paid for it, but not a lot of other people are interested in going with the school. So only 9 people are signed up right now, and I know some of them are considering not going, and the trip will be canceled if 10 people aren't signed up. If it is, I won't have anything to do on spring break. I would have 11 days with no plans, so I don't know what I will do yet. Part of me wants to go visit other places here, but I can't travel by myself. Who knows...

After the meeting, I went to the gym and Oscar told me that we would do a complete workout tomorrow. I'm excited, but I can already tell that I am going to be really sore afterwards.

Anyway, I am going to study and then get some sleep. Miss you and love you all! Emily