Me Encantan Empanadas!

Today was a wonderful day! I experienced empanadas for the first time.  They were so delicious!  I’m going to miss them so much when I come home.  My dear friend Evan and I decided we are going to open an Empanada restaurant when we get home and make Americanized empanadas.  We are going to name our restaurant “Gracias y Empanadas” and serve empanadas stuffed with buffalo chicken, pizza ingredients, big mac empanadas and many others.  Before I ate the empanadas for the first time, I had a day full of activities.  The day began with our first ride on Chile’s public transportation.  I think I saw my life flash before my eyes multiple times while riding the bus.  The bus drivers here drive like maniacs and reach speeds I never knew achievable for a bus.  After the frightening bus ride, we attended our first lecture at Universidad Technica Frederica Santa Maria.  Profesor James gave us a lecture full of information about the economics of Chile and other countries in Latin America. The campus is absolutely beautiful! It overlooks the ocean and has amazing landscaping throughout the campus.  I wish Pitt could look more like the campus here!  After the lecture we toured Vina del Mar.  Vina del Mar has so much character! All of the buildings are colorful, and in many places the buildings have intricate murals painted on them.  The only thing I disliked about the tour was the excessive amount of steps we had to climb to get to the top of the hills to see the view of the bay in Vina Del Mar.  I have so many pictures from the tour I can’t wait to share with everyone back at home!  After a long day of lectures and touring, we went to our first salsa class.  While entering the salsa class, I was playing on my phone and ran into a bench in front of a lot of students.  I already stick out like a sore thumb here and that certainly made it worse!  The salsa instructor began the class by asking us all which girl fell into the bench and then he assured me that everyone saw me do it  Besides the pre-class trauma, learning how to salsa was very fun.  I definitely want to practice the dance a little more before I try to dance with any chicos in the clubs!  When the dance class concluded, the Chilean students took us all to a Karaoke bar near our hotel.  We all had such a great time! Three boys in our group put on an amazing backstreet boys performance for everyone in the bar.  From salsa dancing to singing in a karaoke bar, I think we have been a great source of entertainment for the Chileans! 



One of the adorable stray dogs on the streets of Chile and delicious empanadas (top)