Thursday, December 12

Today I woke up around 10, showered, packed up all my stuff to leave Talca, ate a quick breakfast with the family, and then my grandma, Laurie, and Monse took a micro with me to the bus station. I bought a bus ticket with their help (even though I didn’t really need it, it was nice to be completely sure I was doing things right since this was my first time taking the bus alone and taking the bus from Talca to Rancagua). We loaded my suitcase onto the bus and I thanked my grandma for everything and said goodbye. I got on the bus and made a few calls to schedule plans with my friends until I realized that I was the only one talking loudly in English on the bus and that I should probably stop. Then a little while later, one of the attendants on the bus came over and started talking to me. He was a very socially awkward person, but I kind of like talking to that kind of people because I get to practice my Spanish more and take more chances because I don’t feel embarrassed if I make mistakes. He literally didn’t leave me alone the whole two hour bus ride, and then when I got off in Rancagua he gave me his number. That was not the end of the awkward flirting for the day though because the bus dropped me off along the highway outside Rancagua and my mom couldn’t come pick me up, so I had to walk to the house dragging my suitcase and wearing my short shorts. It was literally comical how many honks I got along the highway, and I was just cracking up laughing the whole way home. When I got back to my house I was surprised to find my mom there because I thought she would be in Santiago with Eric. She let me in and I unpacked my suitcase and then repacked it with the clothes I would need for the next 3 days. Then Katie Ward came over and we went in collectivo over to the Techo Para Chile office in the middle of town so that I could pay for the community service trip I am going on in January. Then we went to the Jumbo to buy supplies to bake cookies, and back to my house to get my suitcase. We went back to the Jumbo and ate ice cream at this super yummy and fancy ice cream shop.

Then we caught a micro over to Katie’s house (super awkward carrying a suitcase in a micro) and chilled in her house for a little while. I took a shower, did my hair, and got ready for the party we were going to that night. Then we went downstairs and talked to her mom for a while. I really like her mom and her whole family, but it’s always a little weird with them because I will probably be moving into their house sometime during my exchange. After a while, her mom took us over to our friend and Katie’s cousin Mery’s house. With Mery, we baked sugar cookies topped with manjar and we told her all about our trip to Patagonia.

Then we changed clothes and Mery’s brother drove us over to the school. From the school, we were all (most of the people from Katie’s class, and a few from B and A (A is mine)) planning on taking the bus to the party because it was in Donihuae, which is about 40 minutes away and in the countryside. We packed about 20 people into this tiny white van, and traveled the 40 minute singing and screaming in Spanish and it was downright insane. We actually stopped at a supermarket along the way so my underage friends could buy alcohol. Then we finally got to the party, and to get the drinking started everyone played never have I ever. Then we got bored of that, and Katie and I sat with a few girls who absolutely love speaking English (and even more when they’re drunk), and played a game where every time they spoke in Spanish or we spoke in English they had to take a drink. The night was really fun—we danced a lot, I talked to a lot of people from my school that I’d never talked to before, and watching the drunken people stumble around (and fall in the nearby pool) was really hilarious. I met some of Katie’s friends from another school, and we had this huge joke that one of them wanted to marry me. He even got down on one knee and gave me a ring made out of a bent stick. They kept yelling at me to kiss him, but I don’t even want to think about the awkwardness that would follow me around forever if I kissed someone in front of my classmates. Speaking of awkwardness, Juandi, that dude whom I went to the movies with like 3 months ago, was at the party. After we went to the movies, people bugged us so much that we kind of stopped talking to each other and he was actually sort of mean to me. Then a few days before the party he sent me a message saying he was sorry and he wanted to be friends again before he leaves for his 3 month exchange in the US. He was the one who invited me to this party. Anyway, he was super drunk, and came up to me (with backup from his friends in his class) and asked me (in English because drunk people basically only talk to me in English) to give him a kiss. It was so awkward because I thought we were already passed all this. I laughed and played it off like he was joking. Anyway, the party was fun until about 5 am, but when the bus didn’t come until 7, I was definitely ready to go home and sleep a while.

We all got back on the bus at 7 and basically all slept on top of each other the whole 40 minute ride back to school. Then Katie and I had to walk over to catch a micro that would take us to her house.

We got home around 8, explained to her mom why were home so late, and then went up to her room and crashed.