Today I finished my first week of classes. In some ways it feels as though the time is flying, and in others as though I have been here forever. Life living in the city is really wonderful. I love the fact that every convenience that I could possibly want is here, that there is always something to do, and that all at the same time it is surrounded by beautiful mountains. One theme I really noticed this week was that American cultural influences are everywhere here.
One of the "city-highlights" was heading out of the metro stop where I am staying and running into a concert in the middle of the street. I was amazed at how many people had stopped in the middle of the street to watch these guys play. I stayed for awhile, and managed to grab a little video to share. They are actually pretty good, but it´s a little ironic that they sang mostly American songs.
This week I managed to make my yearly trip to a club :). For those of you who know me well, I am NOT a "discoteca" kind of girl, but more of the brew pub type. But even more than that, I am the type of person who if you ask me to do something, there is a great chance I will say yes just for the experience! So when the group of Brasilenos asked me to join them for a night out, I said "yes". The first club we went to was called After Office (that is not a translation, but how it is called here in Santiago). The have no cover fee if you show up before 9, which was a little tricky for a group of people who work on Latin American time (I am including myself in that). We literally RAN up 8 floors to make it there at 8:59. PHEW! It was really a good time. It is atop a 10 story building, and the main part of it is on the roof. So with a rooftop view of all of Santiago lit up, I was super happy I decided to go out if only to get that kind of view of the city. The second club was more of the type you would find in Ybor, kinda dirty and no "wow" effect. I was amazed at both that about 95% of the music was American, unfortunately the prices for the drinks were the same as well. All in all we danced, drank, and lived it up. 
Last night I headed out with some other new friends from my classes. One of them is leaving Chile in a few days and has really wanted to try a nicer restaurant called, Liguria. The food was more Italian than anything, but nonetheless, delicious! The Chilean wine wasn´t so bad either. Afterwards, we decided to head out to the mall in Santiago. It was as though I was in the US and could have been in any American mall. We strolled around and got some ice cream. There is a huge movie theater there and I am hoping to catch a Chilean movie (most of what they offer is from Hollywood and subtitled or dubbed).
Although life in the city is wonderful, the plan for the weekend is to enjoy a bit of the AMAZING nature here. Tomorrow I am headed to a place called Cajon Maipo, where we will hike and then enjoy some hot springs (I will try to find a bathing suit today for this, which will be really difficult mid-winter). Sunday, I am heading to the Andes to ski! It will be my first experience and while I am a little nervous, I am mostly ready to embrace winter. If things don´t go amazingly skiing, I will be posting lots of pictures of snowy mountains. :)
Hasta la próxima!
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