chilean friends

We made our first Chilean friends the other day and they are SO much fun. Annya is the best. Her pololo (boyfriend) is Walter but everyone calls him Balter. Don't know why lol. Everyone here has a nickname too. Nikolas is Niko, Natalia is Natu, Magdalena is Mona... Not gonna lie, at first I thought one of the guys in the crew was a creeper, or jote (pronounced ho-tay). But he's cool now. I took a pic with him and his "I need a girlfriend shirt" and I made a "omg he's a creeper face" haha. On the other hand, we met a new one of their friends today named Tuto and he IS a creeper. At least when he's drunk. He asked uncomfortable questions too. On the carride back home he asked me what the name of my last bf was, if I still love him, and asked why to anything I said. Plus the fact that he kept switching cars (we had a whole crew going from their house to a discoteca that we ended up not going in and then rides home) to be in the one I was in. Or maybe just the one with the most girls. Beghh. But the dinner was a lot of fun... we had a BBQ with all of them and the food was AMAZING. I seriously ate so much-- two hotdogs, two mini brats, potato salad (buenisimo!!), chicken... and then soda along with that. I was a lil hungry lol. It was Kris' bday and he pounded too much alcohol ehhh... got sick. Alex and Allie from our program were at the house too (they all came with Kris' host bro Miguel) and so that was fun. Juan Paolo was SO nice and brought Monica, Allie, and me all directly home and it's a lil bit of a drive. He's a lil older than us... Monica and Allie think he's 28 but I think they were joking and he said he's 23. We'll have to ask him. AGES are sooooo hard to tell here... it's weird.

There is one name that if I understand it without any context of a sentence by the end of the semester, I will know I've mastered Santiago Spanish. "Pedro Valdivia". This is the name of a metro stop and also a street. It's impossible to understand when they say it. It's amazing-- I've heard prolly 30 times since I've been here and if I don't see a sign or they don't slow down when they say the name... impossible.

All the Chileans trying to say "Suzanne" is SO amazing. I love it. It's usually something like "Suze-ay-und." I say, oh just say Susana.. and they're like no, what's you're name in the US? lol. It's fun.

Today I was in such a better mood. I talked to Mom and Dad about the recent family drama that I guess had been weighing on me and it all came out. So I think stress level is significantly down. WOOT WOOT!

I miss people back home. I guess I'll just have to call them and swap stories for awhile. Then we'll be back together soon : ). Classes start Monday... we'll see how that goes!