The Norwegian Getaway

7 days cruise in the Caribbean.. It was AMAZING!

We went with the Norwegian Getaway cruise, which is a completely new cruiseship (2014) and could carry 4000 passengers. (!!!!!). 18 floors in total,  with lots of awesome, all you can eat food (didn't know I signed up for the waist-width gaining club on the cruise), amazing latin dance shows, lazy days on the sun beds, more food,  funny shows, dancing lessons and more activities! etc. etc.

Samba lesson, and sweaty bear hugs for free:

What do we love equally as much as eating? Watching cooking shows

Braiding my hair vs normal hair?

                     

Miami

After the last day of school I went straight to Miami to meet my family that had already arrived the states 3 days ago. 

First impression of the US: 

People are SO TALKATIVE!! (and friendly)

I arrived at 4am, stood in line for 1 hour to go through immigration, and I though that the immigration policemen would be really grumpy since it was so early. But no! I came there, and the police guy asked where I came from, I said Santiago, and the he started talking to me in Spanish. I had to ask him to slow down since my Spanish was not that good, and he did, so we had a great talk!

At 5.30 am I came to Subway and had breakfast. The guy working there was so happy and were singing, dancing and talking to me. If I were to go to work at 5 am I would not have been singing or dancing at all..

Later I finally found the bus terminal and wanted to buy a ticket. There, again people were super friendly and was helping me. A policeman was giving me lots of information about Miami, where to go for shopping, how the bus system works, asking me about Norway etc etc..
I had to give him a couple of hints that I needed to go now, but he kept on talking and talking haha.

Also on the bus, the driver was so nice, and after 20 minutes I was finally at the hotel and meeting my family again :)

Miami  Beach

4th and last week of the course

The last week of the Spanish course went by so quick!!

Watching Germany winning over Argentina in a super crowded bar with lots of Germans, eating out together, and wanting to go out for the last time together (but didn't really work since we were all tired from partying and had to study for the last exam!)

Friday the 18th of July we finished our last exam, ate empanadas together with the teachers and we were singing and dancing in the classroom. Afterwards we went to a cafe for a drink, and that was the last time we were all together :( The Spanish class people had a last party the same night, but I was on my way to Miami to meet my family!

Cheering for Germany! 

Eating empanadas

Two of our teachers: Carina and Margot

Last beer with the people before heading to Miami

Zoologico Nacional Cerro San Cristobal

On Saturday we wanted to go on a hiking trip to Cerro San Cristobal, but because of the smog, we wouldn't have seen much of the city anways, so we changed our plans and instead went to the zoo at Cerro San Cristobal! 

It only costs 3000 pesos (35NOK) for adults, and 1500 (16NOK) pesos for students! (only during the weekdays). I still can't believe that it was so cheap. If you go to the zoo in Norway (Dyreparken i Kristiansand), you will have to pay 399NOK which is 35752 Chilean pesos (65USD).. 

Even though we were not on the top of Cerro San Cristobal, we still had an amazing view!

Lucky lamas having this view everyday!

legalize Chilean visa and obtain Chilean ID card

Dear future students going to Chile:

To legalize(register) the Chilean visa and to obtain the Chilean ID card is a mess!!!!

If you don't have all documents, or have an error in your name on your visa (in your passport), or if the immigration police at the airport did a poor job stamping the date you arrived- you won't be able to get the Chilean ID card unless you fix the problems. 

To legalize your Chilean visa (in my case-student visa) you will have to go to the International Police department. There you have to show 3 documents: pass, visa, and the paper which you get on the airplane. You will get a document by the police, but make sure that your name is stated correctly and is the same as the one in your passport. (If your name has æ,ø,å or letters with accents etc. it also need to be in your name on the document) 

Be sure to be there early: the later you go, the longer the lines and the more you have to wait.. 

After obtaining the document from the police, the next stop is to go the the Civil Registration place (to get Chilean ID). 

Here you need copies of all the documents from above, and be sure to not have these errors, or you need to go back to the police station.. 

- Incorrect names on the document from the International Police

- Date poorly stamped by the immigration police at the airport, so they can't see what day you arrived (If this is the case, ask for a certificate of travel when you are at the police station) 

- Incorrect names on your visa (in your passport)

In total it took 5 hours at the internation police and civil registration place. In the end I could not get a Chilean ID because the date in my passport was poorly stamped so they could not see which date I arrived to Santiago. So the next day I had to go back to the international police station, and then go again to the civil registration place. 

We were a group of 10 people doing this together, and it took so long time. In the end of July, 250 exchange students are going to do this, in two days.. 

Good luck to you all 

Valporaiso y Viña del Mar

Field trip to Valporaiso and Vina del Mar!! 

Lama!!

Veramonte Vineyard

Valporaiso

The same cliff railway that Che Guevara took in 1952!

I'm loving all the colourful houses :)

Street art

Vina del Mar

Sea lions by the beach :D