Las últimas semanas...APROVECHANDO

So much has happened in my last few weeks in Chile that it's really hard to put into words...but it's definitely worth a try. I decided that the highlight of my time with my host family was definitely our Thanksgiving dinner. Allyson and Alice came over and we prepared dinner with my host family. Since my host sibilings were not too impressed by a traditional vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner (I don't blame them!), they decided we should make tacos. Since we wanted to add a traditional dish from the US, we decided on Mac 'n' cheese, tacos, and brownies. Obviously, not very traditional for Thanksgiving but fun and delicious nevertheless. We sat at the table talking for a long time, which was so fun since that never happened with my host family.

One of my most interesting moments of the semester was when I went with a few friends to a soccer game between La U and La Católica. It was the most intense sports game that I've ever seen that I was actually afraid. The fans of the different teams had to enter and sit on separate sides and couldn't exit until all fans of the other team has already exited the stadium. There were also tons of police throughout the stadium to

make sure that fights didn't start. Most of the people that go are insane fans and yell profanities during the entire game...even if they are 12 years old! It was really quite a scene but the stadium was beautiful, especially with the Andes behind it. It made me think about how different the games are between UCLA and USC!

CIEE hosted a cena de despedida (good-bye dinner) for all the people in my program. It was really nice to be able to see everyone and be together one last time before people started to leave the country. Everyone came with one of their host parents, but since my host mom couldn't come, I sat with Allyson's host dad and some of our cultural ambassadors.

Allyson and I went to Viña del Mar for a weekend because we had bought tickets to the Américo concert there. We had wanted to see him in concert all semester

, so when we found out he was going to be in Viña, we immediately bought tickets. He played at the Quinta Vergara which is an outdoor venue. He was really good but the best part was just being with all the crazy fans...most of which were 40 year old women! We then spent the entire next day on the beach in Viña. It was really similar to the beaches in Santa Monica...except with a lot less tourists!

When I finished my finals, I had about a week before I left for Patagonia. It was really nice to be able to spend time with my CIEE and

Chilean friends and enjoy Santiago without having any classes or homework. Alice, Allyson, Danilo and I went to MIM, which is the interactive museum. It was full of chi

ldren on field trips, but we managed to share the exhibits with them and have lots of fun. I also went with Alice and Allyson to Viña Concha y Toro, which is a vineyard right outside of Santiago. It was beautiful and the tour was very entertaining since we hadn't done many tourist activities during our time in Santiago. I spent one day with Fernanda and Andrea, two friends from my so

ciology class. They took me to Parque Quinta Normal and the Museo de Ferrocarriles.

Also, Allyson wrote an entry in her blog which is only a preview of the book we are going to write and call "The Adventures of Allyson and Alison." We haven't decided if it should be children's book or a chapter book...and then Alfredo told us we should just make two versions! Here's the link to her blog entry: http://allysonenchile.blogspot.com/2010/11/adventures-of-alison-and-allyson.html