Flight to OKC...DELAYED

So, I did it. Changed my flight and extended my stay for another month. I'm not just staying for anything though; I will be backpacking through the middle of South America for a month! Current countries we plan on going through are Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, but nothing is set in stone yet. We are meeting up later this week to start planning. I will be traveling with 2 students here from Mexico, which means the entire month will be in Spanish. No English at all. We were talking about it yesterday, and on impulse I made the decision to join in. Sadly, this means I will be missing Christmas, New Years, and OU's bowl game, but the pros easily out weigh the cons. Once I know more about the official schedule I will let you know, but for now the places I would like to visit are:

1. The Atacama Desert - It is in North Chile, and it is one of the driest places in the world. There are tons of Geysers and also there are three different lakes that are three different colors!
2. Machu Picchu (Peru) - It is an Inca empire from around 1450. 
3. Salt Flats (Bolivia) - Google it
4. Lake Titicaca (Bolivia) - the lake at the highest altitude in the world

Without doing research, those top my list, but there are many, many more. I guess I will have to start being frugal with my money to try and save up for this adventure.


Upcoming calendar:
October 2: Trekking in the Mountains outside of Valparaiso with my Chilean friends

October 11-12: Santiago for the Chile vs. Peru soccer game in the 2012 World Cup Qualifier
November 8-13: PATAGONIA!!!
December ??-January 13: Backpacking South America
January 15: Fly back to United States

Second guesses

I'm starting to second guess whether or not I'm going to leave. I'm not talking about for school, but ever. This is by no means a joke either. I absolutely love it, every bit of it. I'm starting to make a ton of Chilean friends, and they are all incredible! Life is pretty similar to in the United States, but adding Spanish to the equation makes every activity a bit more interesting and challenging. I've never found a place that leaves me thinking "I can see myself growing old here." Me, talking about settling down?? It's crazy. I've only been here 2 months so I know all of this is very irrational of myself, but I can't help it. Chile just feels right. It has everything I love in life surrounded by a stunning country and rich culture. I face  an uphill challenge if I actually want to do this. I have to obtain citizenship, find a place, find a job, and basically start over, but I just see all of that as an incredible journey. I think what will end up happening is I finish my degree in Oklahoma, and jump ship after, possible Chile, possible somewhere else. I think I am one of the few people equipped well enough to live any where in the world, and I probably ought to take advantage of that. It's strange to think that I'm not having any case of home sickness, but only Leaving-Chile sickness. Currently, my return flight is booked for December 20th, but I can't guarantee you that won't face long term delays...

Sidenote: I'm getting a ton of feedback about my blog! I'm shocked people actually read it, but I'm thrilled to share my story with you guys.

Olay, olay olay olay RED HOT RED HOT!!

I've been on Spring Break since Thursday. We have all of the following week off from school. I kicked off the glorious week from the gods with a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Santiago Friday night! We spent the day exploring downtown Santiago before the concert. It is actually a really beautiful downtown. I had very low expectations because everyone here simply calls it "dirty and boring." I don't know what I saw in it, but it is a place I can see my self living in at some point. We ate lunch inside a fresh fish market that I saw on "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain. I had ceviche de corvina which is Marinated Sea Bass Ceviche in English.  It was my first time have good fish in Chile, and I can guarantee I will be returning to try everything on their menu. The rest of the afternoon included exploring the historic churches, napping in the center park, watching a military parade, and then it was time to head to the big show! The concert was in a soccer stadium so we all expected a lot of people, but there is no way we could have been prepared for how many were there. We arrived 3 hours before the concert started and there was already at least 5,000 people waiting in line. Instead of waiting, we decided to force ourselves into the front, and we were strangely successful. I guess that is one perk for looking Chilean, people don't really mess with you. After entering, it became a mad race to get the best spot on the field to see the concert. While everyone was rushing to the front like a herd of cattle, I thought I found a shortcut around a corner. Sadly, I instead discovered a police officer macing a guy for trying to climb a fence, and by found, I mean I turned the corner and ran directly into the stream. For about 5 minutes, the only worlds that came out of my mouth that I can post on here were "mother, god, it, burn in hell, and hole. It was terrible. I couldn't see or move for about 5 minutes. First tear gassed, now maced; I expect my mom to tazer me tomorrow. Once I regained the ability to see, we made our way to the front of the crowd for the first band. They were a famous Chilean rock group that I didn't know. The crowd loved them and went CRAZY! They pushed and shoved the whole time. I was with 6 friends and half way through the first song I managed to lose every single one of them. I gave up on trying to find them and just enjoyed the music. I still hadn't found anyone by the start of the second group, Foals, so I began to explore. I was unsuccessful in finding my friends, but I became friends with 4 random Chileans. I partied with them for the whole second band, although Chileans were not to pleased with this group. No one expected a second band. It was supposed to be Chilean group and then RHCP. Through their entire set, the crowd furiously chanted "OLAY, OLAY OLAY OLAY RED HOT, RED HOT!!" They simply screamed through the entire set until the band gave up. It was very different, but I didn't mind it at all. I left the Chileans at the end of the second group to try one last time to find my friends. I left the crowd to get a little bit of air, and without realizing it, I was behind 10k people rushing to the front of the stage to get closer to RHCP. I decided to make the best and just the flow and push my way through. It was pretty easy because people would jump a lot during the choruses. I used the opportunity to use a couple in front of me as a battering ram and make my way through to the front. Half way through the show, I managed to find my friend Sven, and we just rocked out for the rest of the night. It was a phenomenal concert!!! Everyone was screaming the lyrics to the songs in their broken English. The crowd went insane when Flea, the bassists, announced his support for the "Educacion Gratis" movement. Chileans are very passionate, and it is quite inspiring. RHCP even started the national chant, which is similar to the Boomer Sooner chant at OU. It goes:
CHI!!! (one person) CHI!!! (crowd)
LE!!! (one person) LE!!! (crowd)
CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!! (all together and rapidly)

The concert wasn't too long, but it was a great night rocking out. We spent the night in Santiago with Sven's family and then made our way back to Viña del Mar the next day.

Uh oh, I'm changing....a lot.

I've been in Chile for a month and a half now, and I already feel like a completely different person. Culture shock has already begun changing my mindset. Statements like that take a little bit of explaining. Here is the Top 10 things I have learned:

1.  Life is just as enjoyable in second world countries as it is in the USA. Things are different here than in the US, but that by no means makes it worse. There isn't good coffee, you can't flush toilet paper, service at restaurants is much worse, etc. but life isn't based on objects. I've learned to care less about materials and more about my experience. I can honestly say I can see me moving to Chile after college. Day to day life is different, but just as enjoyable.
2. Optimism will open your life to more opportunities than winning the lottery. Optimism is key in the situation I am in because communication can be very difficult and very frustrating. If you quit, you are going to miss out on the experience of a life time. My best moments in Chile have come from great time with friends from all around the world and not from things you buy. Without optimism, you will never try the best things in life. I have grown and learned from having absolute openness.
3. We communicate more with our face than our voice. I can't talk to Chileans over the phone. Can't do it, not possible. I cannot understand them at all, but the second I am face to face with a friend, we both are able to have full deep conversations. You don't have to speak the same language to understand emotions when you are looking at each other.
4. Sometimes, just have to dance. Going out in Oklahoma is very different than going out in Chile. Usual nights out in Oklahoma include beer pong, photos, and more drinking games. Nights out in Chile include dancing, pisco, dancing, latin dancing, more pisco, and more dancing. We literally dance all night, and I think it is one of the best forms of therapy. You can't frown while dancing; it is 100% impossible. I don't know what I'm going to do in the Oklahoma if I can't find a discotheque. There would be much less drama if people would just shut up and dance.
5. The travel bug is here to stay. I'm sorry, but this will not be the last adventure of my college career. I'm already making plans to visit Germany, Mexico, and Australia in 2012 with some friends back in the states. I'm also speaking with a university in Switzerland about graduate school in 2013. Furthermore, I've decided come hell or high water I will be in Brazil for the World Cup in 2014. My new goal is to visit every continent before I'm 30. I've learned too much about myself to not continue exploring. I lived in the states for 20 years, and I think that is long enough for one life time. My only desire in life right now is to fill up my passport. The thirst for culture is now a permanent part of who I am.
6. Two languages aren't enough. While being bilingual is great, it limits me to where I can travel. I've decided as soon as I am completely fluent in Spanish I am going to start on a third language. Currently thinking either French or German, but I'm very open to my options. There are students here from Germany that speak 4 or 5 languages! I want to be like that one day! If I really wish to travel the world, I need to expand my horizons. 
7. My new religion is fútbol. I love watching American football and basketball. I love playing fútbol. This is my sport. I'm too skinny for football, too white for basketball, too poor for golf, too interesting for tennis, but I fit right into the soccer culture. I can play every single day and still want to play more. By no means am I good yet, but that is the joy of the sport. You don't have to be the best player in the world to play. You just have to try. I will definitely be joining a club when I go back to the United States.
8. Activism is a joke in the United States. Feminists, Pro-Life Advocates, and Tea Party members should all turn on their TV to the Chilean news. Students here could teach activists so much. There are students literally living in the schools in protest to prevent any teaching from happening until there is serious education reform. They stage kiss-athons in the middle of public to draw attentions with crowds over 10,000 people. They have massive flash dances in costumes. They do it all, and they refuse to stop until they receive the change they want! It has been going on for months. The school year is lost, but these students and teachers are not budging. There are teachers who quit their jobs to help in the movement. Liberals, take notes from these kids because we need serious change!
9. Today is more important than tomorrow. Every day in Chile has become more valuable to me than some friends life. I love this and never want it to end. It has taught me to seize every opportunity possible and never put things off for another day. If I had put of studying abroad until the next semester, I might not have ever made it here. If you want to do something, do it today!
10. I want everything in life. I saved the most important for last. I've realized here that settling is just not in my path. I will live in the mountains of Switzerland, watch the World Cup in Brazil, travel to the beaches of Thailand, learn a third language, and much much more. Friends and family are great, but I want more out of life than they can offer. I'm not speaking of money, but experiences. At no point will I ever lose these ambitions. No one in family has ever really traveled the world. I plan on changing this. Currently, I have zero desire to settle down and stop moving. I'm not running from anything, but much more running for the open doors of life. We settle way too quickly for my interest. Hopefully, in 10 years I am able to call the world my home. Call me crazy if you want, but it might be hard to do so because I could be in the jungles of South Africa with no signal.

Call me Messi.

Since I am in South America, one of my main goals is to get good at soccer. I've played in 3 games since being here, and I can say one thing for sure: Chileans are the gods of soccer. The first two games were no where near as serious as the game I played in yesterday. It was McKenzie (USA, plays soccer for a team), Sven (Germany, good at soccer), 12 Chileans (basically all Messi), and me ("what's soccer?"). We played for 2 hours with 3 teams of 5. Every time a team scored a goal, the other team had to change with the team on the bench. The team with the most goals at the end of 2 hours won. Sven and McKenzie were put together on a team with 3 Chileans. I happened to be paired with 4 Chileans who spoke almost no English. To say it was rough, would be a massive understatement. I started the game playing defense, but it became clear that players could easily out maneuver me with 1 move. For some strange reason, they moved me to goal keeper. Lesson of the day: I can't play goal keeper either. During the second hour, I played forward. Turns out I can out run almost every Chilean. I can't necessarily keep the ball, but I am easily able to slip past the defense. I moved to the lead forward when the score was 6 (my team)-6-4. While I was at Forward, my team yelled at me a lot about where I was supposed to be, but I understood none of it. They don't teach you Chilean soccer slang in a university. I just kind of did what I thought they were doing, but most of the time I was wrong. I scored my first goal during this game! It was kind of weak, but it was a goal. I managed to kick it off one of their defenders foot and it slowly rolled in. Once the score was 8-6-5, I started to really get the hang of the Forward position. I was taking a lot more shots on goal. I scored a badass second goal. Tim Howard couldn't have even blocked it. One of my teammates sent me a cross and I nailed it into the corner of the net without a single tap. My team freaked out. Most likely not about the goal, but the fact that I did it. The Messi inside of me came out and I ran and jumped on my teammates. The final score was 10-6-6. We kicked some major ass. I scored 2 goals which is 20% of our total goals. There were 5 players so each person is expected to score 2 goals, so I guess that means I am as important as the 4 Chileans (not). While I wasn't very good, I absolutely loved playing. It is a very hard sport when you are new to it and playing with people who have played every week for their entire life, but the passion in soccer hypnotizes me. It is something you don't see in other sports. My performance earned me entrance to their Facebook group so hopefully I will get to play more ofter. I have been running every other day to try and get in better shape. My goal is to join some type of league when I return to the states. Soccer is a sport that some day I might actually be decent in! I'll let you guys know when Barcelona and I finish our contract negotiations. Ciao amigos!

Friday kicked so much ass.

The rocky cost

The dunes

 Friday

The national park from a distance

That is the slope we climbed down

We have no classes here on Fridays, so 2 other students and I decided to take a day trip to the sand dunes of Cóncon, which is about 45 minutes north of Viña del Mar. We were going with the intentions to sand board, but the man with the boards was not there. We ended up spending about 4 hours exploring the dunes and the surrounding area. The sand dunes were massive! It literally was a 5 minute brutal hike to the top. It was beautiful from the top. It overlooked a rocky coast. We all decided to just sit and relax on the top of the dunes for awhile. The best part about the trip was taking your shoes off and just digging your feet into the sun-baked, soft sand. After relaxing and watching the waves for awhile. Another student from OU and I decided to explore. We managed to find small area one the other side of the dunes that looked like a national park from a distance. We couldn't really tell so we decided to walk to go discover what it actually was. The dunes led us to quite literally a vertical side of the mountain that we had to climb down. Once we arrived, we realized the journey was worth it. This was one the most beautiful places ever. It was a small jutted part of land in the ocean. It was surrounded by gigantic rocks in every direction. It had a view of the entire coast, and the entire area was covered in beautiful fauna. It resembled what people dream of in paradise. We decided to be very adventurous and climb across the rocks to get as close to the ocean as we could. Originally this seemed like a great idea, but once we got about 15 feet out it dawned on us that we were standing on jagged edges of rocks 2 stories about tons of rocks below us with no harness. Instead of turning around like sane people, we carried and risked death. I have left out one important detail, we were still barefoot from our time in the sand. Once we reached the edge we stood and enjoyed one of the best kept secrets in the world. Climbing out there was something I will never forget. I think that was the closest to life or death I have ever been. The view was very worth the journey, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We stayed at the dunes for another hour chatting and dancing to music on our Iphones. After the dunes Mckenzie (the student who went on the rocks with me) decided to meet up with a Chilean at the mall here. The Chilean's name is Sebastian, and we actually know him because he studied at OU for a semester. It is really nice to know a local and learn from some one who understands what it is like to be so far from home. During the night, all of the international students went to the same club in Viña for 2 students birthdays. We danced the night away until about 4am. There really is nothing as fun as dancing for 4 hours to a mix of Chilean and house music. The entire time you are smiling, laughing, and sweating more than you ever have before. All of the international students love to dance, but no one is that great at it so there is no judging. All together a badass day. There are a bunch of pics below from the day in Cóncon, but the rest are on my Facebook if you want to see them.

We made it to the end of the coast!

McKenzie trying to sandboard on a piece of wood

Look at that drop!

Asians! There are no Asians here.

Beautiful picture of the cost

You can't beat this place

Climbing back

A place I like to call home

Life has gotten better than ever imagined this week! Chile has made the transition from vacation to home. I have stopped fearing my Chilean family and started absolutely loving them. Friends here are moving from acquaintances to people I know I will never forget. I think it took me a month to lose that attachment to home. My shell has come off, and I can't say I ever want to leave here. I have found my once lost passion for life. I can't say enough how lucky I am to have this experience!





Major Developments
1. I bought my tickets to Red Hot Chili Peppers! I'm going with my friends Sven (Germany) and James (Colorado). The concert is on the first day of Spring Break in Santiago on September 16th. We are taking a bus to Santiago and just partying all day. I have wanted to see them in concert my entire life, and now I finally get to! And in South America! Sooooo awesome. We are staying the night in Santiago and just going out in the bars there after the concert. They just came out with a new phenomenal album so the concert should be incredible!
2. I have started hanging out with a lot more students from all around the world. Tuesday I was the only student from USA in a group of about 20. I spent a fantastic day at the beach with students from Germany, France, Mexico, and Brazil. We even had a North America vs. Europe soccer game. I spoke Spanish all day and really made some good friends!
3. Beach weather has arrived! I spent 2 straight days at the beach all day. The beaches here are stunning. The sky is bluer than any where else in the world. The first day was with students from around the world, and the second was with students from USA and Canada. We were on the beach from lunch until sunset. The waves here are very calming and fulfilling. It's hard to describe, but it is everything I want in life.
4. I bought my plane ticket for Patagonia!!!!!!! This is huge! We are going for a week in November. It is easily one of the most beautiful places in the world. I can't describe how excited I am for this! More info will come on this trip when we get closer to it. I am going with 2-4 other students. This will easily be my best trip ever.
5. I am going sand boarding for the next two days in Concon! It looks badass. You skate down these massive dunes right down to the coastline. I think I am going to try to surf too on Saturday!

There is so much going on it is hard to fill it all in here. Everyday just gets better and better. I hate when people ask "how are you" because my answer is always "Indescribable." I have been here one month and this trip has already changed my life (and possible my major in the future). Time for dinner with my family! I'll talk to you guys later! Hasta luego!!