My Birthday Weekend

So, not only was this my 18th birthday, but even better, I got to celebrate it in Chile!! I guess I will start off on Thursday night, which wasn't really part of my birthday, but definately a fun part of the weekend. At midnight (or so they said, but it was actually more like 1am) I went to my school to meet the people in my class who are studying biology. We took the bus together with the biologists from the class below us to Santiago, about a 6 hour bus drive. We got to the city around 8 am, after stopping for breakfast at a gas station (mmmmm.) Then, we drove through the morning traffic to the Museo de Historia Natural. We got there around 9, and surprise! we were early!! We had to wait in the park outside the museum until it opened at 10. Inside the museum was the regular stuff you'd expect to find at a Museum of Natural History, lots of animal bones and stuff. I really like museums, so I enjoyed it. We also got a tour of a new section at the museum about copper, the mining of which is a very important part of the economy. There, there was a map of where else in the world you could find copper and my class got a could laugh out of the fact that the only part completely empty was north america. Until I told them that we have diamonds in Canada.
After the museum, we went to the mall Parque Arauco, the well known "rich" mall in Santiago. It was like being back home, with the Starbucks, McDonalds, Zara and yes! Yogen Fruz!! We ate lunch there and after, at 2, we went across the road to where the Bodies exhibit was. The Bodies exhibit is an exhibit of human bodies, and parts of bodies on display, and all of it is real. I have been really excited to see this, and it was so amazing! I was never expecially interested in Biology before I saw this, but now I am excited for Bio next year! Afterwords, we had an hour in the mall again (I, of course had my Starbucks) and then we met at the bus to go home. The trip home seemed fast, because I slept all the way. It was a short trip, but sooo much fun.
On Saturday morning, I slept in. At 1 I woke up and showered, and went down for a little family BBQ. My mom decided to celebrate my birthday on Saturday because she knew my friend Christina was coming from La Serena to celebrate with me, but would have to leave in the morning on Sunday. At 2, not only did Christina arrive, but she brought four other of my friends from La Serena, Nynne, Kate, Heidi and Kelsey. It was a really nice surprise. We ate a huge BBQ. After, I took them on a little walking tour of Ovalle, which took an entire 30 minutes. I took them to a little ice cream shop that is famous in Chile because it is one of the only ones that makes cinnamon ice cream. I am really going to miss that. My sister Xime took me to have it on my first day here and I've been hooked ever since.
At night, we had tea and my cake. My friends and my mom and I decorated the living room, Even though we weren't really having a party in the house. My host mom gave me a necklace for my birthday, that had my picture engraved in it and said Felicidades Chile and my birthday on the back. It was so sweet of her to get me something so nice for my birthday, even though I am not her real daughter. After singing happy birthday, me and my friends got ready to go out. We went to my friend Loreto's house, where my class threw me a party! It was a lot of fun. I especially loved having all my friends, exchange and Chilean, together for my birthday. My friends left on Sunday. It was a short visit, but so much fun. And definately an unforgettable 18th birthday!!