I spent Monday-Thursday studying for my second environmental engineering exam.  On Tuesday my professor had a help section for the exam.  I was excited, because I thought that she was going to give us some direction on what we needed to study.  However, it turned out that she just wanted to give us some more material to study for the exam, because she didnīt get the chance to cover it in class.  How disappointing.  Also I talked to her after class to make sure that it was ok for me to write my answers in English again.  I figured that it would be the same process for me as the first exam, but I didnīt want to take it for granted (good thing to because to my surprise she said no.)  Also, when I asked her what time to show up to the exam she said at the same time as the other students (last time she let me show up an hour early.)  Well I thought about asking her why she was mad at me, but thought better of it and smiled and said ok instead.  So Tuesday night was a somewhat depressing night for me, because my studying for this exam had just been doubled.  By Thursday night I think that I must have studied at least 20-25 hours for this exam (I usually study about 5 hours for an exam.)  The hour before the exam I was seriously thinking about not going because I was so nervous.  For the first exam when I sat down to write my answers in Spanish I froze and couldnīt think of anything, so I was afraid that it would happen again.  However, when I got the exam I read the questions (which I was able to understand without looking anything up, a good start) and I knew all the answers except one.  I also surprised myself by being able to write my answers in Spanish.  I was writing the entire two hours, but was only able to complete 4 question of the eight.  These exams are essay questions of multiple parts of which each answer should be about a page long.  So I was actual proud of myself in the end, even though it is quite obvious that there is no possibility that I passed the test.  At least I am learning about environmental engineering and learning Spanish even though I canīt prove it.  I find the class material interesting so I donīt mind studying it, and it also gives me a reason to talk to and hang out with Chileans.

Cristian, a classmate from my volleyball class, told me about a group that was coming to Santiago from the north of Chile to perform at the national library Friday night.  He said that he would call me to let me know if he was able to go or not, but either way he recommended that we go to see it.  So, he didnīt call me, but I convinced Heather that we should go anyway.  Only problem was that when we got there it was closed, so we ended up going to have a drink and talk at the first decent bar that we passed down the street from the library.  Then Saturday night my family decided that we were going to go to the coast to celebrate Motherīs Day, and so I canceled my plans with Heather to go dancing that night.  She was a little mad, but she understood.

We were very lucky and had pleasant weather for Mother`s Day.  The day started off with presents in bed for Iris.  I gave her a framed photo of her family and me from my birthday party, some chocolates & cookies, and a card.  She seemed to like them all very much.  Then we packed up and headed for the ocean.  Andrčs and I got window seats, because we had called them at dinner the night before.  So, Danae had to sit in the middle, which she was not very happy about for the first 15 minutes of the trip.  I find it humorous that siblings fight about the same things no matter what country you are living in (I took the middle seat on the way back because I am a good sport.)  We drove through Valpariso and Viņa del Mar (which I had seen before) and then we continued north to Reņaca and Concōn.  In Reņaca we got out of the car and walked around on the rocks and took pictures.  Sebastian`s parents live in Reņaca.  He has been telling me that I had to go there and see it, because it is more famous and beautiful than the other beaches that I had seen.  I will have to tell him when I see him that he is right.  Reņaca definitely has the most beautiful beach of the ones I have seen so far (huge rocks and big waves, just what I like.)  I could have sat and watched & listened to the ocean crashing against the rocks all day, but everyone else was hungry.  We then continued on to Concōn to have lunch.  We ate at a very nice seafood restaurant.  There is nothing like eating fish with a view of the ocean.  During lunch a man came in and sang a few songs dedicated to mothers, which I thought was a nice touch.  Then after dinner we returned to Viņa del Mar to have ice cream and watch the sunset.  The sunset was perfect.  Since we were on the Pacific Ocean with nothing blocking the horizon, we got to actually see the sun “sink” below the horizon.  Which is a very interesting thing, because it all happens within a matter of 1-2 minutes.  I got some good photos of it, but you will all have to wait to see them when I get back (because they didn`t make the cut of my best 4-5 photos of the day.)   As most of you know this was my first Mother`s Day, that I can remember, that I have had my own mother to celebrate.  My Chilean family does such a wonderful job of making me feel like part of their family, I am very lucky. This will definitely be a day that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Week 13 - "Motherīs Day
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