Wow

This is me when I was at my worst with my migraine... unable to move

Today in the Gimbert building where I was refused entry. Look at the tables and chairs!

Police vehicle/army thing with the police and shields because people are throwing things at the officers!

The police spraying the students that are protesting with water

The students protesting down the street... hundreds!!

Hello!

So a lot has happened since I last updated! My school is STILL on strike (called a paro in spanish) we are on our 3rd week and its serious. It's not like an ordinary strike.. and the students are striking not the employees or professors... which is stupid because the students pay to go to school! But apparently they feel like their demands are not being met. And the big thing is that the micro (bus) drivers are wanting to take away the student pass which means that everyone will have to pay $450 pesos each way to school... and right now with the student pass you only have to pay $150 which is like $0.30 to us. But many students don't have that kind of money so that is the main reason. Therefore... their is a lot of violence right now... today for example I was walking in Casa Central (a building) and all of these students came running into the main area and sprayed tear gas everywhere and so I got it in my eyes and it was horrible and it lingered for hours. And then they always spray water out of water canons... and they chant and protest and there is violence everywhere... they throw things at the micros and break the glass which is scary if you are on the micro! And they have weapons and its just a bad scene... so I have to be very careful where I go and my professors always tell me to be especially careful cause I'm an "extranjero". Today I was supposed to have an exam for my Recursos Humanos II class but I went to the building and the students took over the building in what is called a "toma" and they barricaded it not letting the professors or any employees into the building. They barricaded it with tables and chairs... I will post pictures. I went and told them I had to get into the building because I had a test and they simply told me that I was not able to enter and that I needed to turn around and leave... in that case I just said "ok chau" haha. But everyday there are protests and huge tanks and police with shields all over the place because the students have been throwing things and taunting the police and I have seen a couple of students get arrested and beaten with a baton by the police... it sounds worse than what it really was but at the still time I was like holy shit! Other than that not much else is new... I have been studying for a brutal exam that I was suppose to have today... and screwing around a lot because of the class situation, I feel like I am not even in school! I went out this weekend with some Chilean friends it was really fun! We went to some pubs and then I went out for tea and a couple of dinners. Nothing too exciting. But I am going to Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow!!! I'm pretty excited. I will post some new pictures... FINALLY! Enjoy!!

Love Ashley.

YES!

Hola Chicos!!

I AM BACK IN BUSINESS!!! So sorry about not posting for the last few weeks... I have been struck by something fierce while in Chile! So in summary, this is what has been going on in my life during the past few weeks:
The migraine. After my beach party 3 weeks ago I was struck with a severe migraine that lasted for a week... which included me not being able to eat, or get out of bed. I was restricted to my bed for days and I didn't leave my apartment for about 5-6 days. It was HORRIBLE. Plus I had a fever. Finally the following Saturday I woke up without a headache and was so happy. Sunday came along and mysteriously I opened my mouth and I saw white pus in the back of my throat. So I was freaking out because I have never seen that before!!!! I decided to go to the doctor on the Monday. By Monday morning my throat was so much worse... there was MORE pus and my tonsils had swelled. I randomly stumbled upon a Canadian doctor (THANK GOD!) that way I could tell him everything in english. He prescribed that I get 3 shots of penicillin to kill the infection. That was fun trying to get a nurse to do the injections... I ended up going to the University of my Chilean sister and the nurse there did it. I couldn't go to school all week last week because of my throat and plus I was horsing around trying to get these injections done. By Thursday my throat had gotten significantly worse when it should have gotten significantly better because of the shots. I went BACK to the Canadian doctor on the Friday and explained my situation and he couldn't believe it. He then said I had to go to a surgeon to get incisions in my tonsils. I went to the surgeon but after waiting for 2 hours I asked if they were going to call my name and they said "no". So I left. We then went to a doctor in Valparaiso but he was not in his office and his secretary had no idea where he was. GREAT! THEN... my Chilean Dad took me to a hospital... called Hospital Aleman... where I THEN had to endure 4 bags of penicillin through an IV for a few hours to try and fight the infection and clean out my system of the bacteria. This past weekend I was also instructed to stay in bed... which I did.. but I also put up a fight because I felt FINE minus my throat... but anyways I stayed in bed and then on Monday morning my throat was significantly better! I am happy to report that the pus is gone and the swelling has decreased almost 100%. I am on pretty strong antibiotics right now... for approximately another week.. Yesterday I had to go to the hospital again for the doctor to look at it and he said it is much better and prescribed me more antibiotics for this week. I have to return to the hospital next Monday for him to look at it one more time to make sure that its all gone and it wont come back!! Today was the first time that I have been to classes in 3 weeks! So it was really good to be back... um not much else new though! No new pics, unfortunately! Until next time ;)

Hola

So sorry i haven't updated all week... i've been so sick and only recently able to get out of bed. I've been in bed since Sunday night and haven't left my apartment in a week. But thankfully I feel a lot better now and I'm going for a medical exam tomorrow to make sure that I just have what the doctor thinks I have. I have had a severe migraine all week, dehydrated, throat infection, and all my muscles are soar. Its the oddest thing!! But anyways there are no pictures because I haven't left the house haha.. but until next time when something interesting in my life happens.

Hace Calor!!

Hello!
Well I had a pretty eventful weekend... on Friday night me and my sister and a couple of her friends bought some pisco and just stayed at home and drank and chilled till 5 in the morning.. then I just chilled in bed pretty much all day until Saturday night when I went to my friend Jen's house who is from U of L too and she lives here in Valpo.. and we predrank at her house with our chilean cop friends and some other randoms.. and we predrank there until about 3 in the morning then went to the club Goose which is in Vina.. and it was a lot of fun!! I met some interesting people and the clubs here are so different but I love them. Then Patricio drove me home at 5 because I was so tired and had such a headache. Then yesterday I finally awoke at 3 in the afternoon and went to go meet allison and jen and cristian and lorena and patricio for chorillana.. which is fries, hot dog, egg, cheese, onion, and beef. IT SOUNDS SO DISGUSTING BUT IS SOOOOOO GOOD!! Then we went bowling at the mall!! Then we went to the beach for awhile and chilled there with some wine and food and we made sandcastles and a mummy? THEN we went to buy more wine and went back to Jen's house to order a pizza and drink more and then we went home at 1:30 am. THEN today I woke up with such a horrible headache and I had a fever... that I stayed in bed all day cuz I wasn't able to get up and walk around. I think its the weather or the air quality here but its beating me up pretty bad. Then tonight I had to do hw for spanish class that was ridiculously hard..... blah. But that was my weekend! I'll post pictures of last night as well. Until next time!!

I am back!

The volcano that I climbed

Me finishing climbing the glacier

Me and Allison around the lava

Allison and I on the glacier again

Happy!

Hello!

I have returned from Pucon... I got back this morning after a 13 hour bus ride! My trip was super fun... I left on Monday night and Allison, Hannah, Laura and me arrived in Pucon on Tuesday morning and then went to our hostel called "Donde German"... it was super nice and really clean which is the main thing. Right away we signed up for a horse back riding tour somewhere out in the mountains and on a native reserve... so we got to see indigenous people of Chile and it was great. The horse back riding here is so chill... not like anything back home where the horses know the route and you never actually have to do anything. Here, we had to wear all this horse back riding gear... and we actually had to steer the horses and the guide at some points just took off so we had to do everything ourselves and then we ran in the sand and down by the river and it was really fun. Then that night we went to bed early because we wanted to climb the volcano that is in Pucon... it is the second most active volcano in South America and it stood at 900 meters or something like that. Anyways it took HOURS to climb and get back down.. and I didn't realise that there would be a glacier involved also. So we climbed for a couple of hours the first part which was all rock and dust, then the second part we had to put on a snowsuit and claws on our feet and use ice picks to climb the glacier.. then the last part we had to climb through more rock and it was so hard. I was one hurting unit after that. Then that night we went to the hot springs and drank wine for a few hours to try and rest our muscles. The next day we had some friends come to Pucon that are exchange students also and we just chilled all day.. sat on a few patios and drank pisco sours/mangos all afternoon until it was time to leave for the bus. This weekend I met a ton of interesting people, mostly at the hostel, who thought it was necessary to share life advice... very interesting.
Anywho's here I am today, very tired, and hopefully going to nap all afternoon!! I will post pics for you to look at!
Talk soon!
Besitos!