Finally in Concepción

So, after a six hour bus ride from Santiago we are here in Concepción. We are staying with a friend named Oscar, who did an exchange semester in Albuquerque last fall. Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to check in at the Office for Foreign Exchange Students, all is well there. We also went around to look at apartments. We saw one yesterday that was amazing, 4 blocks from school, 24 hour concierge service, completely furnished (with all new appliances), two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a little balcony. We've also found an exchange student who needs a roommates and a place to live. His name is Yann and he's pretty cool. He came over to Oscars house last night for Oscar's birthday party, which was really fun. There were about 15 people over here eating snack and drinking pisco, whiskey and beer.
Today we are going to look at another apartment or two, and then hopefully we can make a decision by Friday.
The weather here is a trip, it's downcast most of the time, and raining off and on all day and night. On Wednesday we found out quickly that rain boots and rain jackets are a must. Within five minutes our shoes and ankles were soaking wet.

A note on the earthquake
There isn't as much damage from the earthquake as I thought there would be. We have only seen three buildings that were completely destroyed. One was a 20 or so story building that had basically snapped in half and the top half had fallen so the top of the building was on the ground, yet somehow still connected to the rest of it. We will take pictures of it soon, probably once we get an apartment a little more settled. While there is lots of visible rubble on the streets, most buildings are doing pretty good here. Just the side walks and roads are a little rough still.
I will also load a video of the apartment we saw yesterday, let us know what you think.