Lauren: Coming Home.

So, Aneya and I are definitely coming home at the end of June. Tickets are bought, we've given our notice to our landlady and by the end of June we'll be moving back into summer -- again.

I didn't come to Chile with many expectations. I just wanted a different perspective, to know how feels to live somewhere else, maybe improve my Castellano. But the one thing I did expect was to get a job. I'd been applying to jobs since two months before we moved down here, and I thought undoubtedly, I'd get something. But I didn't.

Instead I got tons of really incredible memories, and I think moving without expectations only made it easier for living here to exceed anything I could have wanted to happen. I've made really good friends, lived through a major catastrophe, traveled all over this skinny country, and yes, improved my speaking and reading quite a bit.

Although Aneya and I initially thought we'd "try to stick it out" at least six months, once we flew by the six month mark we only wanted to stay more. Not having jobs though, really hasn't helped us make this happen.

I'll miss our new friends, and walking down the street and bumping into a 400-year-old building amid towering skyscrapers. I'll miss the libraries in the parks, people doing street art, and the general friendliness Chileans have toward each other that I've never seen in the U.S.

And unlike our initial voyage down here, we can't say that we'll be seeing these things in a short few months, because we don't know when we'll be back. We both have agreed though, that we're coming back. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

I am really sad to leave, but in every way living here has been (almost) entirely wonderful and I'm so glad that we made this happen.

-- Lauren