Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

Well it's been almost two weeks since my last entry so as you can guess life has been a little busy. Lots of thoughts and occurences and I'm still not sure what this blog post will hold but I guess we'll see :).

Classes are going pretty well but are definitely keeping me busy - especially considering that I only have 4 classes, when I'm used to have 5 or 6 with a lab.. however, three of them include a lot of reading and writing papers, which of course takes me a lot longer to do in spanish than it would take in english. I'm also getting pretty good (or bad..!) at procrastinating because there are so many other things going on that I would rather be doing. It eventually all gets done though, and done well-enough.. And I'm actually enjoying my classes despite the workload, I'm learning about a lot of things that I would have never learned about if I wasn't here - for example anthropology, modernism, poetry, and art, and all of this from a very different point of view than I would encounter in the states. It's made me think a lot and it's been cool to expand my knowledge to different subjects. I've also really enjoyed seeing the United States from a different perspective - it's helped me to see new things that are both good and bad about the US.

Other than school work, I've been spending quite a bit of time hanging out with friends here - both american and chilean. I've made a couple good friends in my classes and we'll hang out in the library and try to study together. We actually get quite a bit done but it's nice to have someone there suffering along with you, and distracting you every once in a while! Plus, it's nice because I can ask questions about words/concepts that I don't understand. I've also been helping one of them with his English homework which has been really entertaining for me, to read it and have it seem so easy, and then to watch him struggle with it. I'm realizing just how hard it is to learn english - I mean who decided that the plural of tooth should be teeth anyways? I also went dancing with a couple of them for the first time last week. Definitely a new experience. I'm not much of a dancer... let alone trying to dance to reggaeton, but I figured it was worth giving it a try. I can't say it was my favorite thing in the world, I would still prefer to stay in and play cards, but I did enjoy dancing and singing along to the few songs that  I knew. And wouldn't you know, it sounds like I'm going dancing again tonight, so apparently it wasn't that bad! :)

Another rather large noteworthy event was my trip to Argentina last weekend! Bariloche is a big tourist town in Argentina about 7 hours by bus away from Valdivia and so I headed there with the other CMU girl and a couple girls from another study abroad program who are also here in Valdivia. I knew one of them from class but none of the others so it was fun to get to know them and to explore Bariloche. It's known for it's chocolate (the shops alternate between t-shirts, artisan chocolate, and ice cream..!) and it's spectacular views of the Andes Mountains. IT was a really fun weekend and filled with lots of adventures and good food. Saturday afternoon we biked el circuito chico (short circuit) which was about 17 miles of hills and breathtaking views. It was very refreshing and I loved seeing a different part of God's creation. It was also a nice time to just be removed from busy life for a little bit. Then Sunday morning we went for a hike up Cerro Campanario (a hill/mountain) for another great (although cloudy) view. The weekend went by super fast but was definitely worth getting behind in my homework.. hah!

Here's my favorite picture from the weekend (I learned how to use the panorama function on my camera!). There's a link to more of them on the side of my blog for those of you interested!


Last noteworthy event is that I went to a Bible study this week on campus. I've seen a couple signs for various groups but have had class or something else at the times listed. Well, I decided I wanted to try to find one, even if I had to skip something, just to check it out - especially since I've had the chance to talk to a couple friends here about my faith. Anyways, the next day, sure enough I saw another sign for a Bible study the next night, right after one of my classes ended. So I went in search of it Wednesday night and found a group of about 10 students meeting for a small Bible study. I can't even explain the feeling I had when I walked into the room - it really just felt so comforting and like home. Definitely a great feeling. All the students were super nice and I talked with them a little bit before the Bible study officially started. One of the girls led us in prayer, and then led a discussion about one of Jesus' miracles (Bartimeo receiving his sight). I actually understood what everyone was saying, and the whole time just kept thinking how much I had missed being in fellowship without realizing it. It was just such a great feeling, and a cool reassurement of how expanse the family of God is (and that once you're a part of it, you're in no matter where you are) and how important my faith is to me, and how much joy it brings me. Anyways, so I'm excited to go back, and to get to know the people in the group because they all seem like a lot of fun.

Well this is sufficiently long. If only I could write this much in spanish for my literature class.. bah!

Thanks for reading.

Chauu!