we even went horseback riding in the mountains of argentina at night under the light of the full moon until 3 in the morning! 

Mendoza, Argentina

ken and i decided to go to argentina for the weekend. a short 6 hour trip through the andes, we arrived in mendoza, argentina. it was probably one of the most fun weekends here =) we went horseback riding at night in the mountains of argentina under the moonlight since it was full moon while we were there. it was really fun even though i got the wacked out horse who only wanted to eat everything on the path. by the time we finished at 2:30 in the morning, we had a campfire, ate with the people on the trip, and just hung out. on the way home, our car even ran out of gas so i wasnt until 5 in the morning that we finally made it home. we only had 2 hours to sleep since we had to be up and ready at 8:30 am to go rafting. so much fun =) we went river rafting in argentina for ken's 24th bday and then hidro which is kinda like boogieboarding. it was awesome on those class III rapids!!! made me want to try back at home .. haha. besides that, we ate so much while in mendoza .. huge steaks, drinks, soup, dessert, and more for a total of less than $10 for the both of us. yum. fun weekend for sure.

me doing hidro with my guide .. me and ken even had our own private guide 

we also did hidro in the river .. kinda like boogieboarding down the river .. it was awesome and so much better than rafting. 

for ken's 24th birthday we decided to go to mendoza, argentina for the weekend .. what a memorable bday =) 

ken and i went river rafting in argentina .. look at our raft!!! 

futbol game

Universidad de Chile vs. Quilmes. 35000 people showed up for the copa liberadores game against argentina. it was so CRAZY. when you think of south america futbol .. its that times ten. the riot police were decked out and ready .. tear gas and all .. they even had to break into the stands to stop a fight that broke out. another fight broke out higher up and i definitely saw a broom stick thrown around. we ended up winning in the 91st minute so the crowd went insane! the guy next to us lit a flare and some guy even picked up my brother swinging him around. the fans shot off fireworks when we scored and a firework even went off incorrectly in the stands. it was weird but understandable that no women go to the games since its pretty dangerous and i saw one guy with a broken arm. however the game was AWESOME. =) i wish we had games like that back at home .. so much enthusiasm .. tons of banners .. flags .. everyone knows all of the team songs and chants.

On TV and Valparaiso

Vina del mar was pretty awesome. we got amazing seats thanks to the Bings and since we were right infront of all of the media, we got onto national tv multiple times! journalists even took pictures of some of my friends dancing in the aisles and interviewed others. my chilean mom even saw me on tv several times back at home! ken came to visit me for the week and we had an awesome week cramming in as much as we possibly could. we came back out for vina on sunday night and sat in the gallery with all of the "people." i'd have to say it was a lot more fun .. someone even lit a tissuepaper latern which was cool at first until it lit itself on fire and chunks of fire started falling on the crowd. vina was pretty awesome though .. it was basically like going to the grammy's. the next day we went to Valparaiso which is a small port town right next to Vina and walked around the city checking out the ascensors (elevators) used throughout the town and the local plazas. there is even a picture of ken in front of the many colorful houses that fill the hills of Valparaiso.

the riot police were ready for us .. tear gas and all ..  

the crowd was crazy .. they lit flares in the stands and set fireworks off whenever U of Chile scored. 

Me and Ken at a Copa tournament .. 35000 people showed up for Universidad de Chile .. it was absolutely INSANE!!! 

Ken came to visit me for the week! Here's ken overlooking the cool colorful houses of Valparaiso .. a small city next to Vina del Mar 

dave, me, colleen, regan, and brian at the concert  

Vina del Mar concert .. the largest music concert in Chile .. it was awesome .. kinda like the grammy's for latinamerica 

Vina del Mar

The weeklong Vina del Mar festival started yesterday! Basically everyone in Chile and many other South American countries will be watching this concert for the next week. It's amazing how big this one festival is here with performers from all different countries for the next 5 days. It was fun to watch the opening ceremonies with my family and then stay up late watching as the concert goes until 2 or 3 in the morning. We are heading out to vina tomorrow to watch the friday night concert and ill come back out on sunday night when ken comes to visit. Should be awesome =) as a side note .. i found out that googlear is actually a word. haha how crazy.

the daily news

so the big story of the day was how one of the candidates for reina de vina was scandalously caught on film. it was the headliner for the day. haha. yes and thats chilean news. vina del mar started today and we're heading to the festival on friday thanks to once again the wonderful bings. what else what else .. a huge outbreak occurred with all of the seafood here and a woman even died so everyone is told to stay away from los mariscos. on top of that .. over half of the kids are sick here and several have been hospitalized with ivs and everything. though tonsilitis is contagious, no one can make the kids stay home so i'm crossing my fingers i wont get sick. agh.

rock and roll

class was interesting today. we starting a unit on chilean rock and roll which was pretty funny/weird to hear. its cooled off this weekend but the heat is finally starting to come back just in time for Vina this weekend.

tea time with the family =) 

mc donald's chilean hotdogs .. avocado (palta), chopped tomatoes, and mayonaise. too much mayonaise for me .... 

Birthdays

it's the year of the big 21 so its been pretty fun going out and celebrating everyone's birthday here in chile. yesterday was dave's 21st birthday so we went for ice cream and headed out to Veracura on the outskirts of Santiago where there's pretty good night life with restaurants, bars, and discotecs. i also got to see Las Condes which is another neighborhood where the other students live.. very suburbish .. that is very different from Providencia where i live in the heart of Santiago. it was also my chilean sister's birthday, Cecilia, so the apartment was filled with friends and family. of course there was great food at the party and i got to try some great chilean dishes.

night out in Veracura for Dave's 21st birthday 

Dave's 21st birthday!!! its fun since everyone is turning 21 here on the trip. =) 

me and my chilean mom and dad, Sandra and Pato, on Pato's bday! 

Cecilia, my chilean sister, birthday party at the apartment. the place was filled with good food and friends, family, and relatives. 

happy chinese new year

happy chinese new year!!! even all the way down in chile, i celebrated the new year today with the other two asians here with me. we went for chinese food at lunchtime and though it's not the same as my grandma's cooking, it was still pretty good. i'm finally done with my crazy week and have finished my 4 papers plus presentation. my chilean dad's birthday is today and tomorrow is my chilean sister's birthday so we're have a small party at the house tomorrow for the two of them.

Buenos Aires has crazy bustling night life .. everyone floods the streets once it hits past 12 .. 

there were tons of tango dancers all over the city! 

the massive buildings in Buenos Aires 

me in Buenos Aires at the widest street in the world .. 22 lanes!!!