Halloween!

This is where I live! They go on forever and ever (literally, the Rocky Mountains is a continuation of the same mountain range)
And a few from Easter Island:

some pictures, finally.

I've been trying for weeks to put up more pictures but I can't so instead here is an update on me: I look pretty much the same. I wear lots of clothes that I've made here. I listen to Swedish music and little indie chilean bands and hiphop like it was 10th grade. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen in the middle of the night staining all of the kitchen pots solferino and turquesa with bright colored dye and that's probably what they'll remember me for when I leave here. I like to find sunny spots on the lawn of the art campus to read Pablo Neruda's memoirs and imagine that Chile really is like that. Sometimes I make funny pieces of artwork with things I've found in the street that illustrate parts of my dreams. Sometimes my dreams are so good I don't wake up until 2pm. But every time I have woken up early it's been cold and foggy until noon so I don't think I'm really missing anything. I like reading about performance art and the feminist movement in Latin America as well as articles professors post on reserveweb. As always, my room is full of lists and unrealized plans for projects and goals. it's also a mess. I haven't done laundry in a month and I'm running out of clothes. I had fleas 2 weeks ago that I got from the hostal in Buenos Aires but I got rid of them and only got 5 bites. I pick fresh fruit from trees in the street everywhere I go and mostly live on fruit and vegetables and desserts that I bake. Everyone laughs at me when we have barbeques because I fill the grill up with asparagus and zucchini and then for dessert have a bowl of cherries. I'm excited about working on a farm even though I know I'm romanticizing it. I miss home and fall and my family and everyone and sometimes more than anything I want to just come home but I also equally love doing this and am really happy about all of it.

yes! i found concerts and amazing bars and live music and bands who love how i dance to their music and give me gigantic smiles from the stage. so santiago is great right now. I also love the swedish and I think I'm going to travel to Colombia with Carolina and Ola this February. and work on a farm in argentina with andy in january. I'm really excited about all of it, but especially knowing where to see concerts and liking silly santiago bands who i can see every week when they play.

I found people to spend chrsitmas with!!! The swedish kids invited me to get a cabin at the beach in Pichilemu with them. It's not the most exciting since I've already been to Pichilemu and they don't really speak spanish but I like them and we all like the same music and spending christmas relaxing on the beach, although strange, sounds really nice. so mom and dad, you don't have to worry so much anymore. also, I only have one more month in chile! Did I mention already that so long as everything works out with getting into the Universidad de Buenos Aires I'm going to move there in March? So I have three months free to figure out before that and then I'll be in Buenos Aires until July. Also, even more importantly, I made nispero crisp today with nispero that we robbed in the middle of the night from the empty house across the street. It was insanely good and the oven didn't destroy it and I know this is not the type of news anyone wants to read about on the blog but it was so good and I'm really excited that I haven't lost my baking skills because I thought I had. And even better, I made it without a recipe! I wish that everyone could try nispero because they're kind of an integral part of my experience in Chile and I think I talk about them a lot. in Peru they call them mispero apparently. but i'll stop since no one has any idea what i'm talking about.

sike. the nose ring just fell out when I was washing my face and I can't put it back in. now there's snot coming out of the hole. gross.

buenos aires was amazing. i applied to some colleges there. i'm also thinking about rio and montevideo but i guess i'm definitely leaving santiago. even though after being in Buenos Aires I realized how much i love it. but it was really exciting being in Buenos Aires too. There's so much art happening and giant parks everywhere and it's full of people. Except they are all to skinny and fashionable. BA has the highest rate of eating disorders in the world. None of the stores made pants that were bigger than me. Only sizes 1, 2 and 3. Jenna and I were on the metro one day and it was really crowded and suddenly this man started yelling, Oh my god, get this woman a seat, she's pregnant! It was pretty ridiculous. But it was humid and hot like home and there were thunderstorms and parks full of passed out cats and homeless people selling art magazines on the street so i fell in love. But now I'm back and for the first time since being here am really stressed out. I have all these applications to do and I missed a week of school (excused, don't freak out, parents) so I have tons of projects due and I decided I'm leaving Santiago on December 11th but that's really soon so I have to decide where I can go. . . halloween was ok. there was a party at our house but it didn't get too exciting and then Melanie had a crazy alergic reaction and had to go to the hospital so we didn't end up going out or even eating candy. I was a pirate. I pierced my nose for three dollars too. It matched the costume. I kind of hate it though, it's too sparkley but mostly you can't even notice that it's there. today was the best day. The whole house woke up at 2 and we went downstairs and found a ping pong table on the patio and nate and I played ping pong all afternoon and then we got out the grill and made a giant bbq of asparagus and zuccini and onions. and did i mention that I had the genious idea of buying the house a hookah? yeah, its great. Except ping pong plus grill plus hookah means I am never going to leave the house again and it's already midnight and I haven't done any of those things that I needed to do today. yes.