It's funny how even though I don't know that many people in Valdivia, I still manage to run into enough familiar faces to make me feel at home. Yesterday I met up in a cafe with a girl named Allison studying abroad in Chile for the year who is also from Washington. Considering how much we have in common it's a bit odd how little we talked last year. I met her at a Techo Para Chile event and we became friends of Facebook, but other than that we didn't really talk. I think we both were just so busy adapting to our new lives in Valdivia, and at the same time knew that we'd have a lot of time in Chile together during the second semester. 

I think everyone is constantly searching for someone who understands them, right? And to be honest this semester it is more challenging to find that due to cultural/language/geographical barriers. However, when I am able to find someone who I can relate to, it is such a special moment that I have a hard time forgetting. Granted, with Allison I already had a bunch of core stuff in common. But that did not take away from the excitement of being able to freely blab on about my summer and hear about her adventures and realize that we both absolutely loved Valdivia and were so happy to be back home. Unlike me, Allison was more of a wandering traveler this summer. She went to Argentina, Peru, as well as the far North and South of Chile. We both had completely different experiences of course, and we fulfilled our different personal objectives. After hanging out for two and a half hours, we decided that this semester we would stay in better contact since we had already adjusted ourselves to the Valdivian lifestyle. 

On my way home I stopped by Marcelo's mom's office to ask if I could come over on Saturday to hang out. Her name is Katia by the way, I don't know why I label everyone in terms of Marcelo because my feelings towards them are not based on my feelings towards Marcelo. Tomas had invited me earlier but I wanted to confirm that before showing up on their doorstep. She wasn't there, but on the walk home I ran into none other than Tomas himself, so I was still able to confirm my dinner date with the family. This is why I love living in a small town...As I continued walking I realized that I was walking behind my friend Cachorro, the guy I went to the beach with a few days ago. Again, love living in a small town during this age of my life...

When I got home I had one of the most joyful Skype conversations I've ever had with three of my closest friends in Seattle =) It made me realize how long it had been since I last talked to them, and I want to make sure that I don't go that long without hearing from them again. I have been thoroughly enjoying this week of utter relaxation, and was thinking about calling it an early night. But, when I saw that Marcelo's little sister Regina was online, I figured that she probably had nothing to do on a Friday night as well and asked her if she wanted to watch a movie or something. Living so close to them makes it very simple to spend time there, since I literally walk for 10 seconds and I'm already at their front door. I spent my evening watching a movie with Regina, Katia, and a bar of Argentine chocolate Katia brought out halfway through the movie that I had actually given them. Girls night in, I guess you could call it. A German student had just arrived at their house that day, who will be in the room where Devin was last semester. I was always curious who would be living there because I figured I would get to know the person fairly well one way or another. I can't remember her name, but she seems really nice. Considering how little she's studied Spanish, her ability to communicate is really impressive. Plus, she is brave enough to immerse herself in normal biology and physics classes with all the Chilean students...wow. Her friend from Germany was over helping her move in, and go figure I had actually taken a Spanish class with him last semester so he was another familiar face. He's leaving for Germany this Wednesday, so it was nice to say a proper goodbye in a house that I knew so well. I love it when worlds collide like that. So yes, that was my Friday. Quite a bit of English speaking with people that I hadn't talked to in waay to long, and the rest entirely in Spanish with people who I consider family. Today I am going to continue with my personal project of organizing my collection of photos, eat lunch, go on a walk, and then eat dinner over at Marcelo's house. This whole time he hasn't been there because he's on vacation up north, but I still love to hang out with his family.