Last day...

Today is our last day...aka the worst day ever.  I woke up around 10:30 and got my last cold shower in Hotel America.  I thought I would never miss those, but I would take a cold shower in Hotel America any day if I could stay in Chile.  Next, I went downstairs to get a biscuit for breakfast and sure enough, Jorge was eating by himself so we had a nice little breakfast together!  It was really awesome because I got to learn about all the places he has traveled to and recieve his input where I should go.  I also got to hear about the Amazon program for next year that I am really interested in!  After breakfast, I realized it was 10:50 and I hadn't started to pack and needed to be all packed up by 12...tradition for me to procrastinate.  I tore everything out of my suitcase and refolded everything.  It smelled so bad!  I stuffed as much stuff as I could into my large suitcase because I knew it would be overweight anyways.  I put all my gifts and glass mugs in my carry on.  Out of my surprise, I was all packed and ready to go at 12!  Our entire group met downstairs and we set out to have our last lunch all together.  We ended up eating at Tiki Taco, the restaurant we had our first lunch in!  It was a great reunion!  Carly and I split fajitas again and they were amazing!  We also got my favorite salsa, salsa verde, which made my day.  I really am going to miss the amazing Chilean food...especially salsa verde and empanadas :(  We finished lunch at 2 and loaded our suitcases onto the bus.  The bus ride from our hotel to the airport was really depressing.  Carly and I cried.  It didn't help that I was also listening to my "depressed" playlist on my iPod.  The past 2 weeks in Chile just have really been the best two weeks of my life; I really am going to miss it.  I know I can always go back and I would absolutely love to, but it will never be with the same group of people.  Once we got to the airport, we had to check our bags and wait to get on the plane.  I was really overly friendly to the woman checking my bag and surprisingly she didn't charge me for my suitcase being overweight...yay parents will be proud!  We boarded the plane and I was all the way to the back.  The ride was 10 hours and I barely slept.  It was the worst plane ride of my life.  My chair didn't recline, I had no leg room, and I was so sore from horse back riding I could not get comfortable.  We got into Texas around 5:30, but had to recheck our bags so we barely had any time to do anything.  We boarded our next plane and this one was a little better.  I actually sat next to a guy doing research at Pitt all summer!  I slept for a little bit on this plane, but again, not much.  Once we got to Pittsburgh, I said my goodbyes because most people were going home from there.  Stefan, Caryn, and I had another flight to Philly at 3 pm as if 2 flights wasn't enough.  It was really sad saying goodbye.  It hit me right then that I wouldn't be waking up and hanging with my friends everyday.  After everyone left, we went to lunch and I got an espresso so I could be happy and awake when my dad showed up at the airport.  To my surprise, my dad and brother came to get me and it was really nice to see them.  After three plane rides I was ready to get home, but extremely sad to have left Chile :(( 

Plus 3 2012 group with Chilean students!

Footprints on the beach..bye Chile :(

Horseback Riding!!! Last day :((

Today was one of the most amazing days of my life, definitely tied with the day we
went to the wine company for the best day of the whole trip. It was our last full
day in Chile and Jorge scheduled for us to horseback ride the whole day. We woke up
and drove to the same area where we paint-balled...luckily we weren't doing that
again. We drove up this huge hill to a family owned ranch; it was gorgeous. The
house was so unique and culture filled. We went out back where we saw acres of open
land filled with horses. Next to the fields, there were smaller cages with piglets,
roosters, chickens and boars. There were also dogs, puppies, and cats all around the
yard. A woman and her husband own the ranch and as we are talking to them, I learned
that the husband began breeding horses when he was 11 and now they have over 40
horses! Some of us put on chaps ( I didn't) and the owners along with a few workers
put us on horses that best suited our size and horse riding ability. I was put on a horse called "Torondo" and he was the color of a cow. He was an awesome horse though!  All 23 of us walked down this huge hill in a big pack towards the beach.  The beach was amazing..we were walking along/in the water and I just felt completely free.  We took the horses across this river and through all these paths until we came to a big open area that looked like a desert.  There were just miles and miles of sand-dunes.  The owner leading all of us pretty much said we could do whatever we wanted up to our ability so I, along with a few other riders, galloped through the dunes.  It was unbelievable.  I used to ride when I was a kid, but never with that much free reign.  We then came to one really steep sand dune and my horse started falling down the hill!  Nick already fell off his horse and a bunch of others were having trouble getting around the dune.  I was screaming for dear life because I thought my horse was going to fall on me.  Luckily Torondo kept going and made it up the hill...PHEW!  We then were allowed to gallop all the way along the beach on the way back to the house.  That part of the ride was by far the most amazing.  When we got back to the ranch, the owners cooked us a huge feast. Jorge told us we were going to have a BBQ, but I was just imagining a few burgers and hot dogs.  I was wrong.  We had choripan (little sausages on a small bun) with salsa, meat, pork and veggies, potato salad, regular salad, wine, soda, cookies, and coffee/tea.  It was probably one of the best meals I had in Chile.  We just sat by the fire, ate, and talked.  When we left, we drove back and went to our last dinner with the Chilean students.  We had really cool, unique pizza and got to say our goodbyes to the students.  The Chile program was also nice enough to give each of us a sweatshirt from the university we took classes at.  I am seriously going to wear it every day.  Today was by far the best day of the entire trip.  The horseback riding and the feast made it amazing, and then being able to have our last dinner with the Chilean students was the icing on the cake!

Me and Torondo

Carly and I with our matching horses

All of us riding along the beach 

The amazing feast we had after riding 

Carly, Javier, and I at our last dinner

BEACH and paintballing!

Today was another amazing day in Chile!  It all started out perfectly.  We had a free morning so we were able to sleep in!  I slept in til 10:30, showered, and Molly, Carly, and I went to starbucks for tea and breakfast.  Afterwards, we drank our tea and walked to the beach.  It was our last morning we could do what we wanted so we needed to spend it on the Chilean beach.  We spent the whole morning just looking out in the water, laying in the sand, taking pictures, walking alongside the shore at all the rocks with famous spanish sayings on them, and just admiring all of Chile's gorgeous scenery.  Carly, Molly, and I got some awesome pictures...we were just missing Alyssa who decided to rent a 4 person beach cruzer.  Being on the beach, though, really made me realize how much I was going to miss Chile.  It is literally the most beautiful place I have ever been and I just can't leave.  Everyone is so nice, friendly, patient, polite, etc.  The scenery is breath taking. I really would like to come back during Christmas time when it is summer and Id be able to swim in the water and be in shorts!  Unfortunately, we had to go paintballing next.  I was kind of excited, but also very upset we had to leave the beach.  Anyways, we got to paintballing and they provided us with "very stylish" one piece camoflouge outfits, chest pads, and a mask.  Our arms, legs, back, etc was all exposed.  The guy who was running paintballing explained to us the rules and then proceeded to pick me as a captain to choose my team.  I didn't know what to do so I just picked all my friends...this was not a good idea.  The other team was mostly strong, tough, angry guys and we were all girls who weren't really into the idea of paintballing, but regardless, we got red pinnies and went to our tower in the paintballing field.  It went downhill from there.  The whistle blew and the blue team charged and just shot us all- no mercy!  I've never been in so much pain before.  I got hit on the thumb, shoulder, and back.  So many of our team got hit in the head too!  The other team did not go easy on us at all and even in round two, more and more injuries continued to happen.  Paintballing was miserable; something I will never do again.  After this, though, we were all starving and a few of us went to this well known Italian place.  I got raviolis and a salad.  It was so good!  It definitely made up for the lack of fun paintballing was.  My, Alyssa, Molly, Carly, Evan, and Stefan all went to Italian with our advisors, Jorge and Sarah.  It was really nice and informative to go to dinner with them.  They are two of the most knowledgable people I have ever met and I am so lucky to have gone on this trip with them! 

View of the beach and Chile from the rocks!

Always Smile :)

Me and Carly love palm trees!

At the beach <3

Red team after paintballing...

Cueca!

Today was an okay sort of day.  We woke up early and had two company visits.  The first was Hela, a tool making company.  We took a tour of the company and saw how each tool was hand crafted.  It was really interesting to learn that every tool was made partly from a machine, but also by hand.  People had to monitor every tool being made.  I also got to see some tools I had never even seen before.  My grandpa would have really appreciated this company visit.  We then got back on the bus and started on our way to the second company, but had to make a pit stop at the gas station.  One thing completely different from Chile and the U.S. is that Chileans have to wear full piece uniforms at the gas station.   All of us went into the gas station and bought Doritos and water…Im sure the lady ringing us up at the station was so excited we all came.  Then we visited Centauro, a company that makes canned food.  The man giving us the tour was extremely nice.  Their two most popular items are peaches and tomato paste so the man put them out for us to try.  The peaches were amazing- the best peaches I have ever had.  The tomato paste was okay, but very strong.  We then took a tour of all the machines that compresses the tomatoes and then the machines that can the peaches.  Centauro is actually starting a new product of pumpkin paste, so we were able to see it being made.  That was an exciting visit actually.  After the two visits, we came back to the city and got empanadas for dinner…what else is new?  Next we traveled to the university and met up with two native Chileans who taught us the national dance, Cueca.  The dance was extremely difficult and it was not my favorite, but I was lucky enough to dance with Jorge, our advisor.  It was so much fun dancing with Jorge!  I was so tired after Cueca that I came back to the hotel and went right to bed.  It was one of the best sleeps of my life…I slept from 9 pm – 10:30 am.    

Me and Jorge at Hela Company

A bunch of us at Centauro company

Cueca teachers!

EMPANADAS EMPANADAS AND MORE EMPANADAS and Soccer Champs

Today was an empanada filled day…oh boy.  We had our last lecture at the University this morning; however, it was a more interactive lecture.  Before the trip to Chile, we were split up into groups and assigned one of the company’s we were visiting.  We had to research and create a PowerPoint presentation about the main points and on two important Chilean figures. We presented our presentations again to the professor after editing them from the company visits.  We also had the opportunity to ask any lingering questions we had about Chile to the professor who knew everything.  In between the lesson we went to get coffee because we were all so tired, but we ended up getting empanadas as well…of course.  Chileans, again, don’t believe in milk so I had to drink it black.  My dad would be proud.  After the lecture we had lunch at the university and it was surprisingly eatable.  We then went back to the amazing Hotel America to change for soccer.  We went to these soccer fields above the mall and the boys played Chilean boys and us girls split into two teams and played each other.  Even though no one on my team except one girl could play soccer, we all were so aggressive we ended up winning.  We literally ran down the field and beat the other team; all their players ended up on the ground.  We obviously also had a wonderful cheer we did after every goal.  The soccer game was really fun, but we got very tired and needed a break…shopping!  We ended up back at the mall for the second day in a row.  My mom would not expect anything else from me.  I was able to buy lots of gifts for people and some small things for myself.  On the way home from the mall, a bunch of us stopped in at our favorite empanada place and got empanadas for dinner.  It was literally the most amazing dinner ever.  We talked to Sarah, our advisor, who told us all about her travels, scholarships, jobs abroad, and love life.  She really inspired me to take any opportunity given to me and not follow the regular path set out for every American consisting of college, job, and family.  I have so much motivation to travel as much as I can and I would love to one-day live abroad.  I now have so many countries added to my bucket list now thanks to Sarah.  Because it was Monday, we had karaoke that night!  Carly, Molly, and I sung “The Time of my Life” from Dirty Dancing.  It was much better than my first performance.  It was another great day in Chile. 

Empanadas for breakfast at the Univeristy

(Alyssa, Me, Carly)

After our intense game of soccer

Singing karaoke :)

(Moll, Carly, Me)

Free Day!

Today is our only free day to do whatever we want...oh yes!  We were finally able to sleep in :) I woke up at 11:30 (amazingggggg) and Molly and I went on our first run in Chile!  We ran along the shore; prettiest run i've ever been on.  We ran 6 miles and ended on the sand at the beach!  Even though the water was freezing, we were so sweaty we stuck our feet in the water.  Little did we know the tide was rising and within 5 minutes we were soaked from an unexpected wave.  We started our walk back, but of course, I stepped in glass and sliced my foot open.  Luckily for Molly, she cleaned my foot out and bandaged it up.  We then showered and got ready for the day.  At 2:30 pm, Molly, Alyssa, Carly, Evan, and I went to get Empanadas on the go for lunch and walked 14 blocks to the Chilean mall.  I laughed because I knew that I, of course, would find the mall anywhere I go.  I was able to experience Zara for the first time...omg I am in love <3 We continued to shop throughout the mall and then went through outdoor shops as well!  Everything is so unique and handcrafted; I wished we had things like this at home.  After the mall, we stopped to get coffee and I would usually get my iced Americano with vanilla, but Chileans do not believe in cream.  I decided to try a Chi Tea Latte and it was amazing!  We got back to the hotel and got all dressed up for our fancy group dinner.  Jorge made a reservation to this amazing steak house on the water.  We walked there and it was so nice.  It was so fancy and adult like- I never want to leave Chile.  I tried shrimp and loved it!  That was the appetizer Jorge ordered for all of us.  For my course I got steak and vegetables...yummy!  Then I got cheese cake for dessert.  Best dinner I have ever had.  We just sat at dinner and talked for 2 hours.  Chileans do not rush you at restaurants like they do in America.  Again, today was so relaxing and just made me love Chile even more! 

After the run in the water!

Restaraunt on the water!

Me, Molly, Carly, and Alyssa at dinner

My meal :)

The mall has palm trees...this is my dream

 

Another "Best. Day. Ever"

Today was amazing, by far one of the best, most relaxing days ever!  This entire program started out so busy with a ton of different places to be/visit every day- the first 4 days were so jammed packed and everyone was exhausted, but these past 2 days were unbelievable.  The night before this morning, a group of us stayed in and just went to bed early to catch up on our sleep so we were completely rested and energized for the morning.  We took a bus to the "SPA."  In our Plus 3 Chile workshops during the school year, Jorge had prepared us that the SPA was not a regular spa and there would be cold pools.  All of us were really not looking forward to the day.  We got to the SPA and it was absolutely gorgeous.  The place was so fancy.  They were expecting us and had waiters waiting on us hand and foot.  The weather was beautiful to start with...sunny and warm!  This is crazy considering the students who went on plus 3 last year warned us that the weather was going to be cold and rainy.  We have been so lucky.  Anyways, we walked around the entire enclosed area and were in shock..there were about 6 pools, water slides, gorgeous paths with grapes hanging above our heads, soccer fields, and buildings with massages, haircuts, etc.  We played pingpong under the grape vines, sat in the lounge chairs in the sun, danced to the songs the DJ played, had an unbelievable buffet lunch with unlimited ice cream.  We played this one song with the DJ where he played songs from movies and we had to guess what movie they were from.  I got three in a row and won a mug!  After the SPA, the program advisor from the Chilean side hosted a BBQ at his house with all the Chilean students.  We experienced Chilean kabobs and Choripan!  We love hanging with the Chilean students...they are so funny and this is when we seriously learn about the culture.  The day was so relaxing and laid back; we weren't really on a schedule and it was so nice to just enjoy the weather. 

water slide at the SPA

paths through the SPA

grapes :)

Best. Day. Ever.

Today was literally the best day ever.  After today, I am 100% living abroad at one point in my life.  We finally got to sleep in today and did not have any lectures.  We woke up and went to a company visit, the company I was in charge of researching before the plus 3 Chile trip- Indomita, the wine company.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The vineyard takes place in two major valleys located in Chile and 1 type of wine is grown in each.  The company is located on top of the valley overlooking all the vineyards.  The sun was shining and the view was unbelievable.  One of the main workers at Indomita took us on a tour.  We learned about the different factors that affect how wines grow and what types of wine they can even grow.  Factors like climate, temperature, steepness, etc. affect the wine.  We then took a tour inside the company and saw the large steel containers that the short aged wine is stored in.  We also saw the barrels in the basement that the aged wine is stored in.  One interesting fact I learned about Indomita was that all the grapes are picked by hand- that is literally mind blowing.  Afterwards, we came outside on the porch of the company overlooking the vineyard and tasted the wines.  We were taught the exact ways to taste wine and how to stir and smell it.  We tried two red wines and a white wine…I really liked all of them, but my favorite was the white wine.  This was literally so much fun, just sitting drinking wine at 12 am.  After the company visit, we drove another hour and went to Pablo Neruda’s house for lunch and a tour.  Pablo was a famous poet in Chile.  The restaurant is connected to his house.  We had a reserved table outside overlooking the ocean…I was amazed.  It was literally the prettiest restaurant set up I have ever seen.  It is a really nice place and we got clam appetizers, fish for lunch, and a unique pastry for dessert.  After the meal, we went down to the beach and rocks and just laid on them and took pictures.  It was the most amazing, relaxing time ever.  It was such a nice break from earlier in the week with the busy schedule.  It made me want to move to Chile and never leave.  We took a tour of Pablo’s house and learned about his life.  He was buried outside his house which was really sad to see his grave.  We then visited some of the shops on the street and I did some shopping for my family and friends!  I was so tired after the long day, so we just came back and just chilled.  It was the best day I have had in Chile so far.   





View from the vineyard!









View from our lunch spot at Pablo's house



Molly, Carly, Alyssa, and Me at lunch overlooking the ocean!



I love Chile! 

Mushrooms...yuck

Today was a busy, busy day, but not one of the best.  We first started out with lectures at the University.  Today our lectures were on Chilean culture, music, and how to do business with Chile.  When we were learning about the music, the professor showed us multiple videos of the local Chilean dance and songs…it was so interesting!  It was also really informative to learn about how to do business in Chile.  We were able to learn about the way Chileans work, for example, they are never timely when turning anything in or getting tasks done and Chilean family is a major part of Chilean business.  This was extremely helpful, for me and other business majors in particular, because if I ever need to do business in Chile/South America, I will have some general knowledge.  Next we had lunch at the University and today’s lunch was actually pretty good; we had pasta and salad.  Compared to the previous University’s lunch I think anything could have been better.  After lunch, we had a company visit…the mushroom company.  Before Chile I have been dreading this company visit.  When we got off the bus, I literally thought I was going to throw up.  The smell was so bad.  We all got really attractive hard hats and had to wear steal toed boots- perfect.  The owner of the company took us on a tour of the entire company.  We started off outside viewing the manure used as the mushroom food.  I had no idea mushrooms needed food, but I really did not need to see/smell it.  We then walked through the company, through the rows and rows of mushrooms growing.  It was interesting to see how mushrooms are made, but it was really gross as well.  If I didn’t like mushrooms before, I definitely will not like them anytime in the future.  Straight from the mushroom company we went to our final reggae tone class.  We all smelled lovely after the company visit…the class was really fun, but sad that it was the last one.  I will seriously miss our dance instructor.  That night some of the Chilean students took us to a bar and then to a club in the casino.  It was a really fun time!         

Me, Jorge, and Alyssa at the mushroom company with our attractive hair nets and masks..

Packaging the mushrooms

At the bar!  (Molly, Carly, Alyssa, and Me)

LAN company visit pictures

 Plus 3 Chile group at LAN airlines 

 Four of us at Journal Club 

(Alyssa, Carly, Me, Molly)

Plus 3 Chile group in Santiago!

LAN company visit!

Today we had more early lectures at the University!  Today's lectures were much better and more interesting...they were about the Chilean culture, previous earthquakes, literature, and the history of Chile.  The man running the lectures was a past student in Chile who was involved in the program that worked with the Pittsburgh students.  We ate lunch in the Unversity again, but it was not very good.  It was an empanada filled with meat and onions.  We also had Flan with it, but I could not eat it because it was so disgusting...lunch was not very good today.  Today's visit was to LAN airline company.  LAN is the main airline company in Chile.  We sat in on a presentation about the company and were able to ask a ton of questions about how the company does business with other parts of the world, how they developed into the major company in Chile without any competition, and how they are planning on improving their planes.  We were also able to get pretty close to the planes, but were not able to go in them.  It was very interesting to learn about this company and the types of decisions Chileans make in their business, for example, during their hiring process, people are required to speak spanish and english.  It was a great experience and very helpful to learn.  The company visit was all the way in Santiago again so by the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to go to salsa class.  Today I had a new partner and we practiced more advanced steps...I am pretty good I must say so...just kidding! Haha.  Lastly, after salsa class, the chilean students picked us up around 11 pm and took us to a club called Journal.  It was two stories and we all sat around and mingled with other Chilean students.  Also at this club were a lot of other international students as well.  There was a ton of dancing and it was a lot of fun!

Santiago!

Today started off brutal because we had to wake up at 6:30 am to go the stock exchange in Santiago, Chile's capital.  Santiago is 2 hours after from our hotel so we got to take a little nap on the bus.  The Stock Exchange itself was very interesting and we got to see a whole presentation and visit the trading floor.  Afterwards, we took a bus tour and walked around Santiago.  We visited museums, the cathedral, and many other famous locations.  The chilean students, Javier and Javier, walked us around Santiago and took us to a fish market for lunch.  I got steak!  It was a very fun environment and there were guitar singers all around the market singing to us.  In the market we were also allowed to go to shops and see more figures part of the Chilean culture.  I bought a few things for my family :)  We continued to tour Santiago and went up a huge incline to see the whole city.  It was unbelievable!  I could literally see everything..Chile is beautiful.  We also walked up a lot of stairs to the top of the mountain and saw statues of the Virgin Mary in a large garden.  When we came back down to ground level, we went to another local market and got ice cream.  We picked our yogurt flavor and real fruit!  I got vanilla and strawberries...it was sooo yummy.  We got back to the University and had our first Reggae-tone dance class.  I liked this way better than salsa because it was more fun and we actually danced to songs I know of.  Once this was finished, we went to the grocery store to get some snacks and experienced our first visit to Pizza Hut!  We went to bed early to try to catch up on sleep.

Trading Floor at the Santiago Stock Exchange

 Fish Market!

Santiago with the police force on horses!  

(Me, Carly, Evan, Stefan)

View from the top of the incline at Santiago

University, Bus Tour, and Empanadas!

View from the University 

Another view from the University 

(Alyssa, Molly, Me, Carly)

Some of the art painted on steps/walls around Vina Del Mar

Me loving the palm trees around Chile 

Empanadas!

At the Karaoke bar (Alyssa, Carly, Molly, Me)