The revamping is still in the works.  Currently all the old photos can still be viewed here.  Everything will eventually be relocated to the new site.

View the entire Flowers in the Buff set.

Week 1 in Santiago

Today officially makes it one week that I have been living in Santiago and I can’t explain how amazing it has been. I will try anyways. The people here are extremely friendly and fun to be around. Almost everyday I have been thanked by a Chilean for coming to their country. For the most part communicating with the locals has been like an endless game of charades. Its pretty amazing how we can have so much fun with people we hardly can communicate with. However, my Spanish is getting a lot better and I am learning very fast.
We have been going out almost every night and we have become somewhat like celebrities around our district. Even though the city is huge, we have bumped into people we just met in the metro and around random places. The city life here is great and unbelievably safe feeling. The girls get cat calls a lot but that is the worst so far.
Every morning I wake up to the sight of the city skyline with the most beautiful snow capped mountains towering over the buildings. You’ll all have to see the pictures to even get an idea of how amazing it looks (the pictures won’t do it justice). Unfortunately, I haven’t been taking a lot of pictures because we are always on the go.
All together this has been an amazing first week. There is so much to write about but my brain has been exhausted from absorbing everything. It’s is so hard to think straight when you are being timed and paying by the minute to be online.
So here it goes. We have been to a few museums, the oldest cathedral in Santiago, and a ton of farmers markets. My group of friends and I have already been invited to exclusive parties, a birthday party, multiple discos, and a bbq since we have been here. Some of us are already getting sad that we have to leave even though we still have a full month left.
I’m not going to lie, it will be sad to leave here but I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. If you get a chance email me because I really like hearing from you guys and its nice to read a little English once and awhile. Drop me a message or email me. I check my mail almost every other day. I hope you are all doing well. Enjoy the beach while I’m skiing. Adios.

Week 2 in Santiago

Well this week flew by really fast and I think that is how the rest of this trip will feel. This week was a little less hectic but we did a lot. I just woke up after sleeping in for the first time in two weeks. We usually have to get up at 7:30 every morning but today it was noon.
This week we had a really good time and it wasn’t as overbearing as the first. We have continued to tour around the city and to places not too far outside. Our week started off with the World Cup beginning and the city was basically shut down all weekend till Tuesday. The shops and pubs were all closed and the few that we open had people out on the streets offering us free drinks and special deals just to come in. Everyone was glued to the tvs or radios.
Later in the week we visited the Presidential Palace and saw the Changing of the guard. A few of us went to the Santiago de Chile Arte Museo to see a special exhibit of original Picasso, Miro, and Goya paintings. It was pretty awesome despite the fact some of Picassos most famous paintings weren’t there.
There was also an exhibit of Mexican art that has never been released outside of Mexico. The president of Mexico came to Santiago to present the art to the city so it was a pretty big deal. The exhibit itself was interesting and there was a lot of really amazing artifacts.
Yesterday we spent the day in Vina del Mar, which is about 2 and a half hours outside Santiago. The city was like a Hawaii getaway. I spent most of the day with a few of my friends running the Black Jack tables at the largest Casino in Chile. All of us came out on top. I personally made $75 just to sit and play cards with my friends. I think we all have a gambling problem now.
Last night we attempted to go to a reggae festival but we never found it. We apparently were walking in a very dangerous area but it never seemed too bad. The buildings were all tagged up and a majority of the people were gutter punks but I felt more comfortable and safe walking around there than some parts of Atlanta. I guess being naïve is bliss.
The first half of our trip is over and I have official finished Spanish 211 and will begin Spanish 212 tomorrow. We got a lot more events ahead of us and Im sure a lot more crazy times. I hope you are all we and would like to hear from you all soon. I have internet in my apartment now so Ill be able to write back. Hope you’re all doing well. I miss you guys.

Week 3 & 4 in Santiago

Wow I can’t believe that two weeks have past since I last posted a blog when it seems like just yesterday I posted one. A lot has happened these past few weeks but Ill try and make it quick. Last week we went back to Vina del Mar because our ski trip got cancelled due to bad conditions on the mountains. We hit up the casinos again and I made $110 off the blackjack table. That makes $285 total compliments of Chile. I have developed a new found love for the game of blackjack.
Probably one of the most exciting things we have done is when all went to a Colo Colo (Santiagos Team) futbol game. It was a semi-finals game, which was pretty crazy. From before the game started to way after, the fans never stopped chanting. I swear the must have at least a hundred different chants.
They ended up winning 2-0. We only got to see one goal because the riot police escorted us Gringos out of the game 15 minutes before it was over. Apparently it is really dangerous and we were told its not uncommon for people to get stabbed or shot at a game. The finals were this week and we were told that we couldnt get on the metro because it was too dangerous but we did anyways. The most I saw was constant chanting and the rocking and bouncing of the metro trains.
A few days ago a couple of us went to the fine arts museo which was pretty awesome. They had a special exhibit of Elliot Erwitt, a photographer I really like. If you don’t know his works search for him sometime and check him out. They also had some pretty amazing sculptures and paintings.
We also took a short trip to this town a few hours outside of Santiago where they make a lot of pottery and things out of clay. It was all pretty cheap but I didn’t buy anything because it was either too big or I didn’t think it would make it on the trip back.
Well tomorrow is my last day of class and then we are packing up and leaving on a 13 hour trip down to Porte Mont. We will be spending time cleaning a school one day and then relaxing for three more. Porte Mont is supposed to be beautiful. One day we are taking a trip to see the waterfalls and volcano. There is a volcano that is apparently the second most perfect cone shaped volcano, whatever that means.
So that’s about it. Everything has happened so fast since we got here. Ill be heading home in a week from tomorrow which seems unreal. This has been the fastest 5 weeks ever. This will be my last blog I post while I’m here but I hope you will all continue to keep in touch. I’m really going to miss the city, people, and culture here but I’m looking forward to see everyone again. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Final Blog about Chile (I have returned)

Ok so here is the final blog of my Chile trip. I have spoken to a lot of you since I have been back so you are going to get a lot of redundancy. Feel free not to read the most amazing piece of bloggage ever created. Let me just start by saying that even though I have been home for a few days I cant believe how depressed I am that I am not still living in Santiago. There isn’t anything I rather be doing right now then hanging out with the crew at Heineken or dancing with the beautiful Chileans, which I still dream about.

Currently I am trying to force myself to find American women attractive. It will come back to me sooner or later. I hope. I’m in the process of finding an apartment in New Hampshire. So much for the big city life. I’m also working on getting myself a real job after spending 5 years in college. Making ice cream just isn’t cutting it anymore.
Enough about current events, here is the low down on my final week in Chile. This is very brief. The last week we traveled to Puerto Montt which was and amazing little city on the seacoast that reminded me a lot like a mixture of classic New England and Seattle. We spent a day cleaning up a school in one of the poorest communities in Chile. It was really humbling and amazing experience. A few of us had the opportunity to sit in on a kindergarten class and interact with some of the students. At first they thought we were a singing group from Mexico. We quickly shattered their excitement when we sang them a few songs.

Colo Colo (Santiagos futbol team) won the championship and it brought out the crazy in everyone. We witnessed riots, even though we were 12 hours away form Santiago at the time. I had the privilege to see a 12 year old get thrown in the drunk tank and I witnessed a truck getting totaled by drunks jumping on it. Needless to say it was a pretty crazy experience.

We returned to Santiago for the last few days and had our final hurrahs. No need to go into details, but it was filled with memories I’ll never forget. It really sucks that the phrase all good things must come to an end holds true. I really wish my time there didn’t have to come to an end and I’m even sadder that my time with my new found friends and my love for the locals are all just memories.
On that sad note, I have officially graduated and its now time for me to grow up and move on with my life. If any of my friends from the trip are reading this I just want to let you know (here comes the pure cheese) that I love you guys and miss you a lot. I’ll never forget the times we have had and I hope that someday I’ll see you all again. I wish I could have given you all a proper goodbye. Take care and keep in touch. Viva Chile!!!!