Buena onda

February has come and almost gone, and I sometimes still can't believe that I live here. More than that, I sometimes can't believe how normal it feels to live here. I have found a home and a family (of friends) that keep me feeling completely comfortable to be myself. I've lived in my new house for about a week and a half, and I absolutely love it here. Every afternoon or night that I come home, we sit and talk as a family and eat lunch/dinner together to share what has happened in our day. I feel extremely lucky to have found a place to call home.

This weekend, I escaped with some friends for a little while to camp in Pichilemu, a small surf town about 4 hours outside of Santiago. It was a much needed break from daily life in the city, and it was a great way to test my camping skills. I don't have much experience with pitching tents and cooking over campfires, but I was all up for it. We left from Santiago at about 10:30pm (since our bus was 1.5 hours late...typical Chile) and we arrived at 2:30am. We found a campsite nearby the bus station and pitched our tents in the dark. By the time we got the first part up, we were rolling on the ground laughing at our abilities, or rather lack there of. At about 3am, we joined the rest of the town in the center to walk around and eat empanadas and ice cream - the typical summer diet of Chileans. At some point, we decided that our tents were calling our names, so we retired to get a frozen, hard, uncomfortable sleep on the ground of Pichilemu. Although we barely slept, we felt rested in the morning due to our excitement of camping and being near the beach. We cooked oatmeal over the fire and passed around fruit and bread.

The day was lazy. We sat on the beach playing games, making guacamole, taking pictures, and swimming in the ocean which was just as frigid as the shores of Boston. The further south you go, the colder it gets, which is still a concept I haven't fully grasped. Therefore, I was a little surprised at how numbing the water was, but I braved it anyways and swam for a little while once I could no longer feel my body. We spent the rest of the day being beach bums and enjoying each others company. At some point, we headed to the bus station to buy tickets for our return the next day (to make sure we wouldn't get stuck) and we found out that all the buses were full, and there was only ONE left going to Santiago for the rest of the weekend which was about to leave in 20 minutes! Long story short, we RAN to our camp site, packed up our tents and bags quicker than anything I've ever done, and ran back to the bus station with our tents and bags in shambles and in tow. The bus had already left, but we spotted another bus with "Santiago" on it, so we rushed over. It was about to pull out of the station and had no space, but we persuaded the driver to let us sit on the floor next to the bathroom. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable trip home, but it was certainly an experience.

Upon our return to Santiago (at 11:30 pm), we were incredibly tired but we weren't ready to sleep. We spent time in my house relaxing with some red wine and conversation to help our "difficult" transition back to the city.

Things since then have been insane. I have recently signed on to work with a new company and they'll be offering me a contract that'll be good for legal work for about 5 years (don't worry, I don't plan on staying that long). Therefore, this week I'm finishing up classes with my other institute and I'm preparing myself to start somewhere else. That means a lot of paperwork, quite a bit of stress, and little free time.

They have told me that March brings swarms of people back from vacation to live in Santiago, so I'm preparing myself for the waves of new faces and packed metro rides (though walking is my preferred mode of transportation). For now, I'm enjoying the "quiet" streets and open parks, though I have little time to enjoy them.

I'm missing you all quite a bit. Some days are easier than others, but some days it hits me hard knowing that I am so far from home and so far from my past comfort. Luckily, the home I have found here offers me a lot of new comfort, but there are some things that are simply just not the same.

I hope you're all doing well.
Keep the hugs flowing and send some to me along the way.

Lots of love.