Day 15

"Tengo habilidades modestas. Combino estas con un gran portión de determinación, y me gusta tener éxito."

"I have modest abilities. I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed."
~ Sir Edmund Hillary

 ^^My new motto for this trip. On Friday everyone in the program had individual meetings with the program director and the homestay coordinator. I told them that everything was going great, though Spanish is a struggle. I am strangely excited to start working with my tutor on Monday, because I know all I need is a little help with some of the things I can't teach myself, and my Spanish will improve fast. Rossana (our program coordinator) advised all the girls in my program to speak Spanish always, including when we are with each other, and reminded me that that is why I came here. If I go home and feel that I did not give learning Spanish my all, I will be mad at myself for the rest of my life. As she said, "This is it. You likely will not get another chance like this in your lifetime."

After that I went to talk to Aida, the homestay coordinator, who reminded me of what she told me during my first day breakdown: don't sweat it. Relax and enjoy. Seemingly contradictory pieces of advice, but it will just be a matter of working hard and keeping a balance.

For example, all of the awesome classes I have been taking outside of the program. Last night I had bachata, which is such a surprising workout, while being very difficult and very fun. It helps if you have a good partner, and mine was sweet, but I realized how terrible he was when he told the teacher that I was having trouble with one of the steps. When the teacher danced that section with me, it was ten times easier. He told my partner that he was not being a strong enough lead. I honestly could have known nothing of the dance, as long as the guy is good, the girl looks good. Pretty sweet deal.

Then this morning I surfed for the first time (if you could call it that). The waves here are huge, and it is difficult not to get pummeled by them when you are strapped to a large floating plank. It was honestly a blast, and super cheap ($16 for 2.5 hours, with board and wetsuit rental). I'll be going back next weekend :)

My other adventure was trying to party like a Chilean. The bars here don't open until 11 at the earliest, and the clubs not until 2am. But I was determined to try a pisco sour like my grandpa advised me, so I went out after dance class with the girls from my program. It ended up being pretty boring. I never got my pisco sour, and I ended up coming home at 2 (when the party was starting) because I knew my homestay mom was waiting up for me and I didn't want to be too tired for my surfing lesson in the morning. I am probably the only college student in the world who hates the feeling of being drunk, but the dancing sounds really fun and I feel like going to a discotheque is a fundamental part of Chilean culture. I guess I will have to try again another night :)

Tonight I am headed to the centro with my sister to walk around and maybe shop, then to a futbol (soccer) game, which I am hoping will be as crazy as the reputation is, and maybe after that my pisco sour? :) <3