Say Yes to Elliot

I am chilling on a bed with a friend's laptop in the beautiful and rich port, Vina del Mar (with a ~ tilde over the 'n', it's impossible on this computer). My Spanish is good, but it needs improvement - something I constantly work at. And I have definitely learned a lot of Spanish while I've been here. It all depends on who is your "teacher" - in other words, your friends. And if your friends are gringos from gringolandia then you're not likely to learn a lot. Fortunately, I have made an effort to make Chileno friends and not give in to temptation to associate heavily with English speakers.

Then again, it's about taking aprovechar (to take advantage) of the situations presented to you. For instance, last night I decided to go with ten friends of mine to a club - Exfabrica - and after loosening up with some pisco and with my friend's encouragement, I asked a gorgeous girl to dance and she said yes. She turned out to be a model. For some reason, however, I lied to her and said I was from Ireland and not the United States. The lie kinda slipped out and I am disturbed that I did it, but once it was said there was no real turning back. The girl and I really hit it off and her and her friends went to her apartment in Santiago Centro to chill (this was 6 in the morning). Since I was the only gringo there, believe you me, I was definitely practicing the Spanish. Anyways, she said in the middle of the trip that if I was from America she would not have invited me back. Haha! I also learned really strange fashion slang words. All of us shared music that we love using the magic of the internet and amazing speakers. At around 10 AM I was ready to crash so her friend drove me home (the trek in this area of Santiago is very dangerous even during the day, so it was necessary to drive).

In totale, it's doubtful I'll ever see her again. But it was definitely a crazy night.