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Yesterday began with a free morning where most of the group slept and packed or ran out for a few more last minute presents.  After everyone was packed up we all met up as a group at noon to go get lunch.  We went to Tiki Taco because that was where we had our first lunch as a group on the first day.  We then came back to the hotel and packed all of our stuff into the bus.  Everyone was talkative during lunch but no one was really talking about the memories from the trip.  I don't think that anyone wanted to think about leaving so soon.  We then left Hotel America for the last time on the bus and went to Santiago to the airport.  In normal fashion, I think most people fell asleep on the bus ride.  We got to the airport and went through bag checks and that is when we really started talking about all of the memories from the trip especially during the survey.  We then got on the plane from Santiago to Dallas, where I fell asleep for just about the entire ride.  We arrived to Dallas, Fort Worth and continued talking about all the memories. What better way to get reacclimatized to American culture than eating Auntie Anne's soft pretzels, flushing toilet paper down the toilet and not throwing it out in the trash and actually drinking water out of the water fountain.  I am currently sitting in the Dallas airport waiting to board the flight to Pittsburgh.  I am going to miss Chile so much.  All of the things I have learned over the past two weeks are more useful than anything I could have learned in a classroom in a semester.  I am going to miss all of the new friends such as the Chilean students as well as the Pitt students.  I guess all of the new friends is just an excuse to go back.  I would do all of this again in a heartbeat, even stay at the magnificent Hotel America (if it was not going to be torn down).  Adios to all of my Chilean friends and experiences.  Hasta pronto, hopefully very soon.

Last Full Day

Reality is finally beginning to set in knowing that we are leaving Chile tomorrow.  Not too much was said about the subject between any of the students.  We started to today by meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the lobby of the magnificent Hotel America.  We then took 30 minute bus ride to go horseback riding!  We rode for 3 hours along the beach and up and down sand dunes and through water.  It was definitely one of my favorite days here.  After the 3 hours of riding, they had an awesome barbecue set up and they had a small, dusty soccer field where Aaron, Christian, Allison, and I played for a little while.  They even had marshmallows set up around a campfire.  We all hung out around the campfire for a while and then left to come back to the hotel.  We are going to a big group dinner at 8 and then the Chilean students are taking us out after.

Paintball

Today started out as a free morning, which was amazing.  We all stayed up late the night before so most of us stayed in.  I slept in until about 11, just as everyone was getting back from breakfast.  The group then decided that they wanted to go hang out on the beach so we spent like 2 hours there.  I could sit on a beach and watch the waves all day if I had the time.  We then all came back to the hotel for our paintball session.  Our team struggled pretty badly and we lost all 3 of the games.  We just got back to the hotel and now are getting ready for dinner.  I think we are going to get chinese food so I guess we will see how it goes.  It's so sad knowing tomorrow is my last full day here.

Last Company Visits

We started today by heading to Hela a company that makes tools and other things you could find in a hardware store.  We saw the process in which the brushes are assembled.  I thought it was amazing how much machines can actually do.  After the visit to Hela, we headed to Centauro for our final visit.  There we saw the process of creating some fruits and vegetables such as a pumpkin paste.  We also tried peaches that were made and canned by Centauro as well as tomatoes and a tomato paste.  After the visit to Centauro, we had empanadas for lunch (what else is new).  We then went back to the university for our final dance lesson (we did not know we actually had to dance until earlier today).  Today's lesson was about Chile's national dance the Cueca.  It was sad leaving the university for potentially the last time.  I am finally going to get a good nights sleep because of the free morning tomorrow.

Last Lecture

So today we got started bright and early like usual.  We left for our last lecture at the university around 8:15.  It was sad knowing that this was our last early, crazy, near-death bus ride to an early morning lecture.  As we were walking up the steps, I was talking to a few people about how fast this past week has gone and how no one wants to leave just yet.  We got to our lecture room and we all presented our powerpoint presentations on a company and two key Chilean figures to Professor Jaime.  He was very intelligent and his questions definitely required a lot of critical thinking but hey, what else would you expect from Katz Graduate School of Business.  After a few last questions about Chile that we asked Jaime, we at lunch at the university.  We came back to the hotel and had two hours before we had to go play soccer.  My two hours were spent using a blow dryer to dry my shoes that were still drenched from surfing yesterday.  We then played soccer with a few Chileans who of course kicked our butts.  After the soccer game, Kirsten, Kelli, Allison, and I walked around the mall.  Clothes were a lot more expensive in Chile than they are in the States (we also got yelled at for calling the U.S.A "America" and not "the States").  We then got one of our favorite meals, empanadas, and are now preparing for a night of karaoke.

First Free Day

So today was the first free day we have had here in Chile.  Mike, Aaron, Nick, Stefan, Allison, and I decided to go surfing, in late fall.  The water was not too cold but we had other problems.  First was that the person who we thought was going to give us the lesson just dropped us off and left.  Then we had surfing instructors who spoke very little english.  After that, we tried to take a public bus home.  Luckily Nick had and idea of where we were and got us back safely.  We got back and just tried to relax before our formal dinner.  The dinner was awesome!  I had this grilled salmon thing and it was really good.  It was nice to just relax for the day.

The "Spa"

So today we had a very laid back day.  We went to the Chilean "Spa."  We played soccer against some of the Chilean students and the profesor at the Chilean university.  They were really good but I like to think we held our own.  Our team was comprised or Nick, Aaron, Christian, Allison, and myself and we weren't too bad.  We won the last two out of four.  The resort we were at was amazing.  They had so many pools and other things to do.  We played foosball for awhile and then hung out with the Chilean students.  After the resort, we headed to the profesor's house and had a barbecue.  It was a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know the Chilean students more than normal as well as the profesor who is in charge of taking care of us.

Vina Indomita and Pablo Neruda

So we got to sleep in this morning for an extra hour (which is a big deal when you are only sleeping for about 4 a night).  I guess the trade off was the fact that we did not have running water this morning.  Everyone, still dead from the night before, piled onto the bus and headed to Vina Indomita in the Casablanca Valley.  We got a nice tour and learned about how Indomita produces and makes all of its wine.  We also got to taste some of the wines that Indomita produces.  Coming from a family of wine enthusiasts it was awesome trying the different kinds.  There were two red wines and a white wine.  After the tour of the winery, we headed to Isla Negra, Pablo Neruda's (a famous, Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile) home.  We ate at a restaurant next to his house which was amazing.  It was an ocean side house and restaurant.  We then hung out on the beach for an hour or so before heading to Pablo Neruda's home.  The waves were gigantic and we were enjoying every minute of it.  I could have sat on those rocks for hours.  

We then had a nice tour of Pablo Neruda's home, which turned out to be the one where he always went to to write.  We headed back home, went to get some ice cream with Mike, Aaron, and Stefan, and now everyone is getting ready to celebrate Allison's birthday.

Day 5 (finally done with dance classes)

We started the day with Chilean culture classes once again, only this time we learned about the different music and art.  I enjoyed watching a few of the different types of dances that are native to Chile.  We also went over some Chilean advertisements.  After the lecture we went to see a tour of Bosques del Mauco, a mushroom company.  It was interesting to see how much time and resources go into producing the mushrooms.  We then came back to the university where we had an hour to kill.  Mike, Aaron, Nick, Christian, and I played foosball with a few of the Chilean students.  It was difficult to communicate with the students but despite that, it was a lot of fun.  After the hour, we had our final reggaeton class.  It is a very exhausting dance.  We are now going to get empanadas for dinner and then go out with the Chilean students.

LAN

So today we had classes on a few things such as Chilean culture, the geography of Chile, and some of their natural disasters such as the common earthquakes.  I thought it was very interesting how many earthquakes occur in Chile.  I was talking to one of the Chilean students, Pedro, and he was telling me that they had a 5.6 earthquake the week before we arrived.  After the classes we went back to Santiago for a visit to LAN Airlines.  I liked how we learned about the different contracts and mergers that LAN has with different companies such as TAM, Boeing, Airbus, etc.  We then went to our last salsa dancing class.  As usually, I struggled, pretty badly.  I am learning pretty quickly that I am not a very good dancer.  We came back and are starting to get ready for tomorrow.

Chilean Stock Exchange

So after waking up early (after a night at a karaoke bar), we headed to Santiago in order to visit the Chilean Stock Exchange.  We had a nice presentation and video that explained how it worked.  I thought it was cool to see that just about all of the stocks are traded electronically and not really on the floor.  We learned about MILA which is a group of three Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, and Colombia) that trade each others stocks so brokers can buy another country's stocks.  She then lead us to the trading floor which was awesome.  It was empty because just about all of Chile's stocks are traded electronically.  After the stock exchange we went to grab lunch and then went to an incline which gave a great view of the entire city of Santiago.

After the incline, we went to our reggaeton  classes.  I think it is safe to say that I was much better at reggaeton than I was at salsa dancing.  We got back to the hotel went to a mexican restaurant called Margarita for a dinner which had pretty good chimichangas.  We came back and are turning in for an early night in preparation for tomorrow.

2nd Day In Chile

So after I posted the blog yesterday, we went to a Mexican restaurant called Tiki Taco for lunch.  The food was not much different from anything that we could get in America.  After that we just hung out for a little and then went to a smaller bar and grille for dinner.  I split chicken fingers (just a heads up, lunches are the primary meal which means it's the biggest meal) with one of my roommates Stefan.  It was a really good way to get to know the rest of the group.  This morning was the first time we went to the Universidad Technica Federico Santa Maria.  We got a very good tour from two of the students at the university or uni as Javier called it (one of the Chilean students).  We then sat through a lecture about the economics and governments of Latin America.  After the lecture we went to lunch which was more hectic and crowded than say Market Central.  Maybe if I was better at spanish, it would not have been as difficult.  After the lunch we went on a bus tour of Valapairso.  It was awesome seeing all of the places in the gigantic city.  My favorite part of the bus tour was probably the painted steps.  We then got empanadas (which were awesome).  After the dinner we came back to the hotel for a break and then went to a karaoke bar. Mike Householder, Stefan Nordsiek and I sang "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys, of course a favorite.  We had a nice crowd around the stage.  It was awesome getting to know other  Chilean students even if we did look a little ridiculous.

First Day In Vina Del Mar

So we have been in Vina del Mar for about two hours now and so far the city looked amazing.  The road we took to get here gave a great view of the city.  We arrived at the hotel and things began to go downhill.  First, we could not get the key to work to open our door.  Then after trying to open the door for awhile my roommate Stefan and I bent the key.  The hotel does not have a spare key so we are stuck with a bent key.  Then we couldn't connect to the hotel wifi so I am writing this post from the McDonald's a block down.  We are going to a soccer game after lunch and then have a free day ahead.  Oh and here's a picture of the key.

I was not able to blog yesterday because I couldn't get wifi in my room in towers so I am just going to combine yesterday's post and today's.  Yesterday was pretty uneventful.  A lot of the guys on my floor just hung out. My roommate Evan and I woke up at around 9:30 this morning, packed up all of our things and met up with the rest of group to walk to the bus stop.  We were on the bus for what seemed like forever (it was an hour) and checked in and went through security.  I am now in the airport waiting for our flight to Miami, which is in another 2 hours.  I am very excited to go to Chile and I can't wait to get there!