It was all going so well...

Hello all, well I am writing this post from Sam's laptop...as alas my laptop has gotten suicidal on me. It's very bizarre, last night I noticed that the screen was darker than usual, and tried to adjust the brightness, which didn't help. I figured my eyes were just being weird and it was probably nothing, but then later when I went to turn it on...nothing. Well, not nothing, actually, it makes all the normal noises it makes when turning on, little lights flashing and whirring happily, but the screen remains completely blank! Sigh. So yeah, had a minor freak out last night, as of course this happened the night before my big exam. I was being good and made a whole bunch of flashcards online, and looked up maps and stuff to memorize, online...see the problem? Oh technology. Fortunately, Sam doesn't have internet at her place anyway, so she graciously let me borrow her laptop to use at my place for the night, so i was able to get all my studying in. After many, many tries, I still have not however managed to bring my laptop back to life. I'm planning on calling the support service after I finish making dinner, and we'll see what they say. The good thing is that it is still under warranty, but I have a feeling that dealing with this from abroad is going to be a big pain in the ass. Oh well, I'm sure it will all work out...stupid computers.
On another note, I had a really good weekend, yay! Thursday night Laura invited decided to invite everyone over to her place for drinks and some hors d'oeuvres. It was Paul's birthday, so most of the group went out to dinner beforehand, while Sam, Laura, and I got the apartment ready. I made sangria, dad should be very proud, it was quite the hit :). It was really fun, a bit crowded, as so many of us were in there small-ish apartment, but we ended up hanging out there for a long time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Afterwards, we all headed over to Momo's, which we frequent pretty often, and hung around there for a while talking, drinking, etc. After about an hour over there, about half of us headed over to a nearby Discoteca, where we danced for a while, fun! After dancing for a while we all headed out, it was really late at this point, and we were all pretty tired. Friday, I slept in, and spent the rest of the day relaxing and studying for the exam I had today in my Transatlantic Spanish culture class. Not a very exciting day, but the studying was very necessary. Saturday, we had a group excursion to Oursense, about two hours south of Santiago. We went to Allariz, a pretty little town known for its textile industry. It was also where the film "La lengua de las mariposas" (roughly translated as "The tongue of the butterflies") was filmed, which I thought was pretty cool as we watched the film for class last year. After a little free time to get a snack and go to the bathroom, the group headed over to check out some museums. The first one showed the old way of making leather and other types of fabric, followed by another dealing with wool/weaving and such, and then another that I honestly don't know what was about, haha. The museums weren't particularly exciting, but our visits there were short and sweet and we were able to see some of the old machinery and such, which was cool. After the museums we had a couple hours of free time, so Florette,Sam, Laura, Marnie and I headed out to explore. We walked along a path by the river; it was so gorgeous, perfect weather, really great. After that we were getting hungry, and decided to head into town to find a place for lunch. After wandering around a bit with no luck, we came across a cool looking place advertising tapas and such. Although the place was pretty crowded, we mananged to find a table in the corner, and proceeded to order several plates for all of us to share. It was a delicious, delicious lunch! All my favorite spanish foods: squid, tortilla espanola (eggs/potatoes/onions), chorizo (a somewhat spicy sausage), and some chopped potatoes with a couple sauces. Yum! After a long lunch (lots of food, plus the place was pretty packed so service was slow), we went and wandered around a little bit before it was time to meet at the bus. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we admired the old town and a pretty church, and then sat and sunbathed for a bit. Then it was off to the forest! A famous artist from the Basque country had painted a bunch of big rocks, as well as trees, so we went and checked that out, walking along the trails and enjoying the outdoors. I must say walking around out there made me feel a bit homesick, I miss living out in the woods! But it was a really fun time, and nice to get of Santiago for a bit. A couple hours bus ride later and we were back in Santiago. After stopping in at the grocery store and a candy shop, Florette, Laura, Sam and I all headed back to Sam and Laura's place to hang out. We ended up having a really fun time, just us girls, and we played some intense games of Ucher late into the night; a really fun Valentine's Day :). Sunday, I caught up on sleep, and then spent the rest of the day studying for my exam, so much I had to memorize! In the evening I finally got out to walk around the city and take a break, returning to find my computer in it's angry state. Today (Monday), I had my exam, which went really well! Oh, and I now have a roommate, which is exciting. His name is Leo, and he's from Brazil. Seems like a nice guy, although I haven't gotten to know him very well yet, and tomorrow he is going to Portugal for several days to stay with his Uncle. Alas, I have to go back to sharing the heater soon, but it will be nice to have someone else around the place...I miss Samuel! Other than that today I have just been studying a bit, and reading the final book of the Twilight series. It's going to be sad without Twilight in my life, but fortunately I got a little Valentine's Day package from Kristin in the mail today. She sent me "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and some candy, yay! Well, I am now going to try and skype the Microsoft people and figure out what is going on with my laptop. Wish me luck...
Love,
Brit