Volcano!

Our big plans for Buenos Aires were cancelled this weekend, due to a Volcano that erupted in the South of Chile! The volcano itself is about 12 hours from where I live (it takes 72 hours to get from the bottom of Chile to the top) so I am in no danger here, but the smoke cloud has made visibility in the Cordillera region (the Andes mountains) extremely difficult, and since we would have to fly over the Cordillera to get to Buenos Aires, we couldn't go. However, the lady at the airport helped us switch our tickets for next weekend! Its probably better this way, as it was raining volcanic ash in Buenos Aires the other day.
Classes are going well, I have already given one oral presentation (in Spanish) about my internship, and I have my first test this week. We are also making lots of Chilean friends, and they took us out to the Casino in Vina del Mar yesterday night for a private party at the discotheque! It was fun to see some of the Vina nightlife, but the music here is so different. We are beginning to learn some of the popular songs, and some of us are getting pretty good at salsa dancing.
I have managed to get myself completely lost on the Micro once already, which was quite an experience, but luckily I eventually found my way home with the help of my host sister. Due to our plan change, we are thinking of going to a soccer game this weekend. The La Catolica soccer team is in the playoffs for the national championship, so we are going to try to catch one of their games! Hopefully we will win...
Viva La Chile!

Julia Marie

Heres a picture of the group on the bus to Santiago to catch the plane to Buenos Aires, little did we know we would be coming back to Vina in a few hours!!