Chile Blog Numero 5

I've been in Chile for exactly 8 weeks and 3 days. Time has flown by quickly, and I can not believe how much my Spanish has improved. I am not nearly where I want to be conversational wise, but I can understand much more then when I started. I have even begun using the Chilean idioms and slang. That took the most getting used to and, I have a nice grasp on it now so that feels good. And if I have a conversation with just one other person I can basically understand everything. It is the following and listening to conversations between more people and long lectures in class that are the tough part. I have been reading Harry Potter in Spanish lately, and that is helping me learn new vocab and understand the gramatics of Spanish better, and it gives me something fun to do that is not just Spanish homework. There is a lot of that and it involves often reading newspaper articles and writing 3 page papers in Spanish. Granted I try to use my dictionary as much as possible, but I'm still falling in to using Google Translate...So hopefully by December that will not be in use anymore. I promise I am trying really hard to not use it. I recently just passed my home sickness period which lasted 2 weeks, so I am glad that is better, it is just hard for me because there has been a lot happening in my friends' lives back home that I am missing out on. So being here I feel isolated at times, but thank God we have the internet and Skype. That has been helping me stay connected, but it does not compare with the physical touch of the people. School is plugging along, and I still am loving Valdivia, but I am definitely ready to start traveling more and meet new friends. Hopefully Chilenos. I am going to talk with my program cordinator today to see what activities I can do. I'm glad I have a great support group here with the program leaders and my family and friends back home. Thank you all.