The first visitors

As the end of my first semester came to a close, my first visitors came into town: my Dad and Gray. I cannot explain how wonderful it was to see some familiar faces from home. While I love Santiago and my friends here, it's always amazing to see your family and old friends from home. Anyways, I ended up having to meet up with them at my apartment because I had a test the day the arrived (lame), but everything worked out rather smoothly for them getting from the airport to my apartment (minus a minor taxi mishap that was easily fixed, thank goodness). I only got to see them for 24 hours because then they headed out to Buenos Aires for a few days, which actually ended up working out perfectly because I had my finals to finish up.

In any case, the end of the semester in Chile wasn't too different from any other end of the semester: stressful, lots of tests and essays. One nice surprise did happen though: I showed up to one of my exams only to be told I didn't have to take it because I had a high enough grade in the class! I guess that is sort of a common thing here, and it was definitely a huge sigh of relief for me. Other than that, everything ended up going pretty well at the end of the semester. I now that I passed all my classes...another good sign ;)

When my Dad and Gray got back from Buenos Aires we took a few days to check out the city. We walked around my neighborhood and downtown area, and I did my best to share the knowledge I had of the city. I felt a little bad, because I kept having to leave them to go do school stuff, but I tried to get stuff done the quickest I could to enjoy maximum time. It was kind of weird taking people around the city, and realizing how well I actually do know the city now, and how, just by chance of living there, I have already seen most of the major tourist sites.

One of my favorite nights that we spent together was Thanksgiving. I had my last final the morning of Thanksgiving (which was weird to have school on Thanksgiving), which was actually nice because the I could enjoy the evening and not be stressing out about school that night. We all shopping at La Vega, the big open air vegetable market in Santiago, for the freshiest veggies for dinner. Then we hopped on the metro and went to one of the biggest supermarkets in town (called Jumbo) to find the rest of our supplies. All and all, we were fairly successful in finding everything. Once we were loaded up, we headed back to my place to cook. My kitchen, and especially my oven, are not of the highest quality, so we had to do our best with what we had.

Gray and I prepared most of the food (mostly Gray teaching me what to do...), and surprisingly, there were no major mishaps :) We made some of the traditional foods and improvised some of the others: chicken (instead of turkey), cooked veggies, salad, beans and bacon, potatoes, pie... We had scheduled to have dinner at 8, so of course no one showed up until 9, which actually ended up working out well because the food was all ready at the point.

It was a really fun Thanksgiving, even if it was not the traditional one. I'm so glad that my Dad and Gray could be there to share it with me and that they were willing to prepare a big dinner and invite people over, in the Thanksgiving spirit. And, I'm so grateful that Gray was there to help prepare everything or I would have been completely lost! We were the only United Statsiens (I can't say Americans anymore, it has been drilled in to me down here), so for everyone else it was there first Thanksgiving, which I think made it all the more special and fun. We had Ivan and his parents, my roommate Pauline, Barbara and Eduardo (Barbara is the amazing woman who I stayed with when I first arrived in Santiago). Everyone seemed to get along, which was a huge relief, and the night passed quickly with a mixture of talk in English and Spanish.

Somehow, Gray's time in South America came to an end way to quickly. It seemed like she had just gotten there when it was time for her to hop on a plane back up north again. It was so much fun to spend time with her and my Dad in Santiago and I'm so grateful they got the chance to come down and visit me and I was able to show them a little piece of my life in South America :)

After Gray headed back, I had one more essay to write, which of courese I put off until the last minute (not totally my fault, my teacher kept pushing back the due date so I kept putting of writing it) until finally it was 12 hours before my Dad and I were supposed to get on a plane to Bolivia and I had still only written a paragraph...So, I ended up staying up rather late the night before finishing my essay, BUT I finished in time and got it sent off to my professor and a friend to print it and turn it in for me.

The morning before my Dad and I left, we tried to go get visas from the Bolivian consulate. However, they didn't have any (how a consulate cannot have visas, I do not understand. I think the only explanation is that Chileans don't need them to enter Bolivia, and not very many US citizens try and get them in Santiago). So, after a nice scenic trip to the Bolivian embassy, we were on the metro to the airport...

(for those who didn't realize the post below this one is also new even though it says it's from November, just FYI)

Buenos Aires, continued, and Colonia

Monday: We decided to go check out the San Telmo neighborhood some more, as well as go to two big shopping, pedestrian areas. (aka cars can't drive down those streets). We spent a lot of the day just wandering around looking at the architecture and taking in the vibe of the city. We checked out a couple of places where they had tango shows and the theatre district to find a play to go to. While we were buying tickets for the theatre, we got in a long conversation with an older Argentinian woman about the linguistics of spanish, which was actually fairly interesting. We saw a lot of the city because we walked EVERYWHERE or took the bus (my theory is that once you understand the bus system of a city, you've got the city down). There is a lot of cool graffiti around the city which we enjoyed looking at. That night, we went to a tango concert at the Museo de Carlos Gardel, who is one of the most famous tango musicians. It was interesting to learn a bit about the history of tango music while listening to live bands perform. A couple of the bands were really good, and it was fun to hear a variety of bands with a variation of instruments and styles.

Tuesday: The next day we headed to an area of town called Palermo. It is now one of the upper class neighborhoods--filled with boutique shops, big green, trees (it's spring here, so all the leaves, flowers, etc are blooming) and a couple of huge, beautiful parks. The neighborhood used to be a lower-middle class working neighborhood on the outskirts of town, and it's where the famous Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges grew up. I insisted on finding his house, because it was in the guide book and I really like his work. We wandered up and down the street (named Jorge Luis Borges in his honor) and couldn't find much--I expected it to be a little museum or something, but finally we found a plaque the said "Jorge Luis Borges lived here during his childhood from 1901-1914" You would think they would preserve the places where he lived a little better seeing as he's, oh I don't know, the most famous author from Argentina. After finding his apartment, we wandered through the shops in the area and admired more street art. I really wanted to find a pair of nice leather boots (Argentina is famous for their good quality, inexpensive leather) and finally after almost giving up, I found a nice pair in a little boutique shop. After that, we headed to the parks. There are a couple of different parks are really close together--a botanical garden, Japanese tea garden, rose garden and "regular" park--and they were all so beautiful and open and green and nice to get away from the city in (Santiago is definitely lacking in this aspect of their urban planning, they don't have a nice big park to get away from the city in). First we went to the botanical garden, which had everything in full bloom since, like I said, it's currently springtime down here. Then we wandered down into the bigger area of the parking, just taking in all the greenery and open spaces. Over by one of the little lakes we saw some baby ducklings...they were very cute. Last, we made our way over to the Rose Garden. It was absolutely gorgeous, they had roses in all colors of the rainbow (literally, I even saw some blue and green ones, I'm not sure how) and of course it smelled really good all over. We spent a while just sitting on one of the benches enjoying the beautiful colors and tranquility. Then, we decided it was time to head back because we wanted to go to a tango show that night. We ended up at a café called Café Tortoni which is one of the most famous ones in the city (Borges used to frequent it). It's pretty cool on the inside, although very touristy. We had dinner and a show--the dinner was quite yummy, I got a salad and (ironically) a hamburger, and we all split some wine. The show itself was awesome. There was a live band playing the music and the dancers were incredible. The did a variety of different dances from couples to just the men to just the girls, and there was a little bit of theatrical acting mixed in. I had just read an article about the Argentine tango the night before for one of my classes, so it was fun to see everything I had just read about being acted out. It's a much sadder dance than most national dances, and it's absolutely amazing how the just whip across the stage. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Wednesday: Bright and early we headed over to the boat station to catch our boat across the river to Colonia. The boat was really nice, it was really big--three stories plus an outside deck, a café, some comfy chairs with TVs, and even a duty-free store. The ride was 3 hours across the river (it's more like the ocean than a river) and it was really pretty. While we were pushing back there were two ladies who decided to dance tango on the top deck which was fun to watch. It got really windy, though, so I decided to head inside and sat at the front of the boat so I could get a nice view of where we were headed. When you're in the middle of the river it really feels like you're in the ocean because you cannot see land anywhere, which is kind of a strange feeling since you know you're on a river. When we spotted Uruguay, we decided to head down to the bottom deck to watch as we pulled into Colonia. When we got down there, it was a pretty cool view. It was also an open deck right at the level of the water, and there were a bunch of cars! I hadn't realized before that the boat could transport cars. When we got to Colonia, I was instantly in love. It's a small little colonial city right on the river that is just peaceful and beautiful. We went to two hostels before deciding on the one we wanted...it had free bikes, instant selling point. We ended up getting our own room since there were three of us (Carolyn, her roommate Alex and me) and the hostel itself was really nice--it had a couple two big courtyards which all the rooms opened out onto. We took three bikes, signed them out and headed out on the town. Oh yeah, they had no bike locks, they said we could just leave or bikes wherever and no one would take them...weird. We were like, are you sure? And they said, yes, it's really safe, don't worry! The town has a bunch of small museums which you buy one ticket for entrance to all of them for a whopping $2.50. We went to the two museums that wouldn't be open the next day (the close on a rotating basis) and then headed to get some lunch. (Going to the museums didn't take too long since most of them were 1-5 rooms each; we went to the tile museum and indigenous museum that day). We went to a little stand by the river that served milanesa, a really delicious sandwich that they, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my health) don't serve in Chile. Then we walked down to the beach and munched on our sandwiches. After relaxing a little bit and enjoying the peace and quiet of being out of the big city, we headed down the road into the main part of town (where I don't think too many tourists go). It was absolutely gorgeous.

...well this is from about 2 months ago, so I will let you all enjoy this as I try and update some of my other adventures :) Basically, Buenos Aires was really fun and a much need break from school in Santiago before the final push to the end. I had a really great time exploring the city, but when it was time to go home, I was definitely ready. When I was first picking my study abroad experiences, I was kind of bummed that my school didn't have program to Buenos Aires, but now I'm really glad it turned out that way. I had a great time visiting and saw a lot of really cool things, but I love Santiago and Chile way more than I ever think I could love Argentina. Colonia was also really nice, we were blessed with amazing weather the whole time we were there, which was definitely a bonus. It was a nice little escape from the city, giving us time to just take a step back, breath and relax. Now, onward with the adventures :)

Buenos Aires

Thursday: Well, the conquistadores had one thing right when they named this city, it does have good air (note: for those who don't speak Spanish, Buenos Aires literally means Good Aires). It was so nice to see a clear, blue sky after living in Santiago for 3 months, where the brown is always a brown-ish color. I went with my friend Carolyn who is also an exchange student at La Católica from Berkeley; we decided to bus instead of pay because being an American citizen we're hit with a $150 entrance fee if we fly into an airport in Buenos Aires (because the US charges the same to Argentinian citizens). The bus ride was 20 hours...well, hypothetically. Going there it was 24 hours because were stuck at customs for 3 hours-at least we got to be out of the bus during that time. So, we left at 10 am on Thursday and arrived in Buenos Aires at 11 am on Friday morning. The 20 hours passed a lot more quickly than I thought it would, considering I slept for about 9 of it, it wasn't actually too bad. The majority of the ride is spent driving thorough the pampa of Argentina, which is kind of the equivalent of the prairie in the US, but a little different. It was actually really pretty, although I'm sure it would have gotten a little dull if I had been awake the whole time. Anyways, between reading my Lonely Planet guide and planning for my other trips this summer, watching movies, sleeping, listening to music and staring out the window, the drive passed quicker than I thought it would.

Friday: When we got to Retiro (the bus station in Buenos Aires) we went to buy our return tickets for Santiago (because we had only bought one way, and sometimes things are cheaper in Argentina; but we also knew we needed to get them right when we got there or we wouldn't want to come back to school). Then we made our way to the metro station (called the Subte...aka subterrano...aka underground in Buenos Aires); it took a few times of us asking where it was and people giving us funny looks for calling it the metro, but then we found it. Then we had to figure out which metro stop we needed to get off, so we asked some more people for help, and eventually figured everything out. The metro in Buenos Aires is very, very old and dirty, I missed the Santiago metro immediately. Luckily, we were able to get to our destination metro station without a problem; when we came out from the metro we asked for some more help in finding the street where our friends lived. (We stayed with a friend we had met in Mendoza, Argentina back in July who studies in Buenos Aires.) Finally, we found our to the apartment. We called upstairs and after a little bit of confusion (our friend was at school, so it was just his roommates who were home, but they knew we were coming), someone came down to let us in.

We went upstairs and met his other 3 roommates, all of whom are really cool, nice people. We dropped our stuff off, freshened up a little bit and then headed out on the town.

Iván (one of the roommates) was nice enough to come with us before he had to go to school to help us get oriented a little bit. We headed down to part of town called Puerto Madero because we wanted to get boat tickets to go to Uruguay. Puerto Madero is basically a part of the river that has been turned into a canal and now has restaurants lining it and a path for running, walking and biking. We walked down most of it, passing a "famous" bridge in Buenos Aires called Punte de la Mujer (Woman's bridge) that is very modern looking. It was pretty, but there wasn't a whole lot to do. We went to one of the boat places where the told us it was going to be $100 to go to Colonia, which was more expensive than what we had been hoping for; but then we went to the other place...it was even more expensive! We eventually found a deal for $60, which we ended up getting. Then we went to a pedestrian street called Avenida Florida which is one of the famous Avenidas in Buenos Aires where there are a lot of shops and street vendors. We told Iván we needed to find something to eat because we were both really hungry and starting to feel sick because we hadn't eaten since the night before (it was like 2pm at this point). So, we made our way back over by the bus station because they had the cheapest food. We got Milanesa, a really yummy sandwich that they don't have in Chile. Afterwards, Iván had to go to school so Carolyn and I headed back to the centro to kill some time before going back home.

The Plaza de Mayo is one of the main plaza's in Buenos Aires where the Casa Rosada (equivalent of the White House) and one of the main churches are. On our way we walked down the equivalent of what looked like Buenos Aires Wall Street, it was a cobblestone street with a bunch of banks on it. One thing I noticed right away when we got there: the architecture is amazing. And, as everyone says, it is definitely very European-or at least it seems like it to me. Anyways, we wandered around the Plaza de Mayo area for a while, there's a lot of buildings to see in that area because it's the "center" of town. Then, we headed back home because our friend was due to be home. That night our friend had a joint birthday party with a few of his other friends from the university; it was pretty fun-we had to dress up: Carolyn dressed up as a vagabond, I dressed up as a Chilean flag.

Saturday: The next day we went to La Boca with another friend, Diego. La Boca is an area of town where the lower class lives; historically it was where the workers who immigrated from Italy lived. Now, part of it, the older part, is converted into a tourist shops and the like, but the area is still where the lower class lives. The apartments are tiny and sometimes 6,7,8 people live in one. The historic part is really cool though because it's all painted really bright colors, and there are cool tango murals everywhere. But, you're not supposed to visit during night because it gets a little bit sketchy. We went right before dusk, but once it started to get dark, one of the store owners told us "you guys better hurry up and get out of here. It's not safe after dark, there will be a bunch of thieves and the like." so we hurried back to the bus stop to head back into town. We then walked around a little more including going to Teatro Colón which is one of the most famous theatres in Buenos Aires. You're not allowed to go inside without a tour or going to a show-we wanted to go to a show but the were the closed the first 2 times we tried to go to the ticket office and then the third time we found out there was only one show and it was the night we were coming back from Colonia so we couldn't go. But, we got to see the outside which is a work of art in itself-really beautiful architecture. Then we walked to Avenida Corrientes which is the Broadway of Buenos Aires-it was fun to walk up and down and see all the theatre's and people meandering around. Then, finally, we went to the oblisque, which look very similar to the Washington monument in DC, but is in the middle of the Avenida 9 de Julio which is supposedly the widest avenue in the world (it is pretty wide, something like 10 lanes). It's kind of funny that they just have this monument stuck in the middle of the Avenue, but you really can see it from anywhere in the city. That night we went a concert way in another part of town. I don't really know how to classify the kind of music it was, but it was really cool. It was like what I would imagine hearing in a little club in France. The club was super run down, but isn't that always where the best music comes from? The band started with a little skit which was really funny: it was a guy talking to a psychologist, who was dressed as skeleton type thing, talking about how he thought he was insane, and how he had failed his life, etc, etc and how the only thing he really wanted was for the band to play again. The psychologist murdered him, but then the band started to play. They were all wearing masks (like what you wear to a mascarade ball) and old style clothes. The music was really good, I enjoyed it a lot.

Sunday: The next morning we went to the San Telmo market, which is a famous artisan market in the neighborhood of San Telmo. We spent the whole morning just wandering up and down the street it was on because there was so much to see. It was fun to see all the different things people were making. After that we attempted to go to Teatro Colón which was, of course, closed again. So we just wandered around the city a little bit, looked into some tango shows, enjoyed the architecture. That night, we stayed home and just watched a movie with our friends, which, of course, I fell asleep during.

Okay, I think that is sufficient for now, I will continue with the rest of my week later.

PS Sorry I have not been posting as much, it's just that Chile is my normal life now, so there's not that much to post about. But, summer is coming soon, and then there will be plenty to post about :)

First Visit to a Colegio

On Friday I got to do my first bit of research for one the professors I am working with. It is something I have been waiting to do ever since I started working with her and finding out about the project and going to the meetings, but it has taken a while to get everything coordinated so I could go. They didn't want to send me by myself the first because a) my Spanish isn't perfect and they wanted to make sure someone could do the tests with me the first time and b) I don't know the area where the colegio is/they think I will get lost if they send me on my own ;) Anyways, it was definitely worth the wait because it was a lot of fun.

I went with another one of the girls who works the professor-she is working on her master's in developmental psychology and will be using some of this research for her thesis. We met up at the metro station near my house at 9 in morning and took the metro allllllll the way down the blue line (on the way south-west end of Santiago). Fernanda (the girl who I went with) showed me the "tests" we would be giving the kids and we practiced during the metro ride. As Fernanda said, according to Katy (the professor) this school is the most flaite (aka ghetto) school we are working with. When we got off the metro, we had to ask about 4 people for directions to find the school. However, we eventually made it there. When we arrived, it reminded me a lot of the schools in Guatemala. We had to be let in because the whole school was surrounded by a big, yellow fence. Once we went in, we got shown to a room where we would be working with the kids. Then, the first kid came.

Fernanda administered the first test, and I observed, following along with an additional copy. There were 6 parts-the first 5 consisted of reading stories to the kids and showing them images and then asking them questions about what we had read. They all had to do with memory and being able to see things from someone else's point of perspective. For example, one story is about Ana and Sophia. Ana has a ball, which she puts in her basket; then she leaves and goes outside to play. Sophia takes the ball out of Ana's basket and puts it in her box. Then Sophia goes out side to play. Ana comes back inside. Then we ask: Where will Ana look for her ball? Where is Ana's ball in reality? Where was Ana's ball to begin with?

It was really interesting to see how the kids responded. We got a couple of really interesting answers, including "in the plaza"...okay...where did that come from? The last test was a little different from the first ones. (Well, they're all different, obviously, but the first few are fairly similar). In this one, we have a list of words and each word corresponds with a picture. For each word, we show the kids 4 different pictures and ask them to pick the picture that best represents the word. The was definitely the test (or "game" as we called them) that they enjoyed the least...by the middle of the test most of the kids looked bored out of their mind. I can't say I blame, it does get a little old after 20 words...

Anyways, all the kids were really cute. One of the girls corrected me when I was asking her one of the questions...I asked her "show me which one is the kangaroo," she looked at me and said "you mean "Can-goo-ru"" pronouncing it correctly. I was like "oh, yes, sorry" and she was like "okay, I just didn't understand what you asked me". It was really cute and funny. And, a major accomplishment for me...I understood what all the kids were saying apart from when one girl answered one of the questions (she had a little bit of a different accent, and was stuffy, and she used a word I didn't know...all things that complicated my understanding her), but apart from that I felt pretty good. (Katy had been concerned that I would have a lot of trouble understanding the kids, because they would't take pity on me and realized that I'm a gringa who doesn't speak perfect Spanish, they just talk how they talk.)

Anyways, it was a really great experience and I really enjoyed working with the kids. I hope that I did well enough that Katy will let me go again!

As Fernanda and I were walking back to the metro we started talking about the school system in Chile. She told me that the colegio where we had just been was the reality of most colegios in Santiago, not the colgeios that I'm used to seeing in Providencia (where I live, a nicer area). Then she was explaining to me that there are basically three levels of school: public, semi-public and private. The public and semi-public ones tend not to be very good; the only difference with the semi-public is that the parents pay a small amount of money for their kids to attend. But, the quality of education is not much better (if any better). However, just paying for your education in Chile gives you status, even the school is not any better. I was like "well that seems silly," and Fernanda was like, "yep, but that's how it works here." I shared a little about the education system in the US, but as I told her "I have a bit of a warped view because I grew up in a middle class town where the public schools were excellent." Anyways, it was interesting.

And, a note about Santiago, I know that cities are divided by social class in the US and schools are better in some areas than others-but take that and amplify the problem by ten and that is how it is in Santiago. Where I live, Providencia, and the surrounding areas (Las Condes, Vitacura, etc) are very nice. They are where the people who are more well-off live, the schools are good (although most kids attend private schools anyways, because, as I said earlier paying for your education gives you status), but as you go farther away from city center, east, south, especially, it's a completely different Santiago. It's like Santiago has split-personality-disorder, it's one city, but with many, many different sides. I guess that's inevitable in a city of 9 million (15 million, aka half the population of the country, literally, in the metropolitan area), but it's amazing how drastic the change is when you take a 30 minute metro ride. And I know that I haven't even been to some of the most impoverished areas of the city, I've been the lower-middle-class parts, which remind me a lot of places like Guatemala actually. Just the style of the architecture, the way everything is set up. It really hit home how little of the city I know and understand when I was out with one of my friends a few weeks ago. We were in a neighborhood called Quinta Normal which is the museum district of the city. I had only be near that area to Estación Central to buy tickets to go on the bus. I was asking him to explain where everything was in the city so I could orient myself (I couldn't see the mountains that day). He did his best to explain to me, but at one point he pointed to Providencia/Las Condes and he said "that's where you live. That's where your life in Santiago is. Everything you know is over there." And, I realized, that's really true. This city is huge. And I only know a tiny portion of it.

Life Outside the Classroom

Well, in my last post I rambled on about my classes and what not--so what have I been doing outside of my classes? Well, I do spend a lot of time doing stuff for my classes (especially the last few weeks, because it's midterms/essays due/presentations to be given time)...but I do have a life outside of that too!

I'm working with two professors on their research--both work in developmental psychology and I'm the only undergraduate who regularly works with either of them. Right now "working" with them consists mainly of going to meets although for both projects I'm supposed to start helping with the actually conducting of research soon. One project is focused around technology--we use iPads and iPods to evaluate kids. Basically we find games that require different kinds of skills, then we have kids play them and evaluate them based on different variables. The eventual hope is that with the games they will be able to diagnose different things: like ADD, dyslexia, etc. It's a project that's in the trial stage, so it's interesting to see how projects develop. The other project evaluates kids learning in school--it's a longitudinal study that just started this year. There are 5 different tests that are administered (although not all kids get all 5 tests)...for the most part the tests are focused on language and memory. It's administered in (I think) 8 or 10 different public schools from around the city.

Finding out how to get in touch with professors was a bit of an adventure when I first got here. It's not at all like Berkeley where all the undergraduates want to work with professors and there's a whole system set up to find Research Assistants and what not. During the first week or so of classes I went to the Psychology departments main office and told the secretary I was an exchange student who was interested in working with professors in Developmental Psychology on their research. She gave the names and emails of a few of the professors in the department. I emailed them explaining who I was and a little bit about the work I had done in the states, everyone I emailed was super friendly and either offered to meet with me or referred me to another professor who they thought I would be better suited working with. In the end, I chose the two professors I'm working with because their projects sounded the most interesting and most like what I could potentially be interested in doing in the future. I'm the only undergraduate who works with either of them (although with the project that's in the schools I met one other undergraduate who goes to the schools and helps evaluate the kids), but other than that it's me, a few graduate students and a few faculty members. It's been a really great experience because all of the professors are really friendly and open, and interested in me and the projects I do the states, how I'm feeling in Chile, etc, which is cool. And, the fact that they let me tag along with their research is awesome since it's not something common for undergraduates here.

My other main activity outside of class is soccer. It took a while to find, but I eventually found the girls soccer team for La Catolica. We have practice twice a week in the evening (luckily on the days where I have class later too). Although I can't play in the regular games this season (because it's the middle of the year for them, and they have to have their team ready at the beginning of the year...or something like that) I get to practice with them and I'll get to play in some of the end of the season tournaments with them. The coach is really nice and so are all the girls...and it's nice to get out and exercise a couple times a week (the smog is still awful, so I haven't been going running).

Other than that I hang out with friends, wander around the city, do my homework...

Oh yeah! And my culinary abilities have expanded while I've been here too. I can now make rice on the stove and refried beans from dried beans. I was very excited when I successfully made beans, because they are a staple in my diet in Berkeley and I had been missing them (they have canned refried beans here, but they cost $4 per can)...and it was totally worth the 3 hours it took them to cook on the stove.

Well, until next time...

Thinking outside the box...

...is apparently not an idea that really exists in the university here. I feel that my university here is a lot more similar to high school than to college. The whole atmosphere, the way the classes are structured, the way the tests are...it's kind of weird...

Anyways, in regards to my above statement-I mean that in the sense that the professors have an idea about something (in the novel, etc) and that is the ONLY correct response. Which is rather frustrating coming from Berkeley where professors regularly encourage you to come up with your own ideas...just make sure you have evidence to back up what your saying. Not so much the case here; like I said it's more like high school where the professors "spoon feed" you the answers and then expect you to regurgitate them on the test--not exactly the kind of test that I enjoy taking, but so be it.

It's really interesting to me that the classroom is structured that way here because OBVIOUSLY the students are more than capable of thinking on their own and taking control--just look at all the political protests that are happening right now (I think they're finally getting some coverage in the States...?) I guess in some ways Chile can be more "conformist" than the US--in the sense that they have more a collectivistic culture...but in some ways the US is WAAAAYYY more conformist than Chile. Again, look at the student protests. As university fees in California rise and rise and rise we make half-assed attempts at protest that are only supported by a minimal amount of the general public and have very little force (comparatively) from the student body and last one, two days maximum and then are broken up and it's "life as normal" in the university. In Chile, there has been NO SCHOOL since at least May for many universities and high school because the students (and about 80% of the general population, according to polls) want to change the way the education system works here and are actually willing to put the time and effort necessary in to make that happen and make their voice heard.

Aside from being frustrated from that standpoint about classes I am enjoying my classes and life in general. We have been in school for two whole months now which is really hard to believe. I don't know where the last two months have gone (hence, the lack of updating my blog...though to my credit I do THINK about updating it on a regular basis, it just always gets pushed to the back of my priority list.)

Anyways, I am taking 4 classes: Ensayo Chileno e Hispanamericano, Vargas Llosa, Novelista, Literatura Brasileña, y Cultura y Sociedad Latinoamericana...3 literature classes and 1 psych class. They're all interesting and it's fun to learn about things from a different standpoint (I feel like being politically correct is not as much of an issue here...) example from my Brazilian Lit class. We were reading literature from the colonial period of Brazil...letters from the Portuguese who are in Brazil writing back to Portugal...so of course what do they write about? What appears strange and different them (I think that's true about anyone when you travel, it's always the "different" that stands out), including the funeral rituals of the indigenous people. So, we start talking about funerals in Brazil, and Chile, and Latin America in general where when someone dies it's a big deal and they tend to have very elaborate funerals including parades through the cemetary, honoring the deceased, etc. I'm sure everyone knows about Day of the Dead...death is not as much of "the end of your life" in Latin America as the "beginning of the spiritual life." So, we're talking about all these rituals and ceremonies that they have, and my professors goes, "yeah, they don't do that in Europe or the United States, it's much more taboo when someone dies, and they don't honor the body as much." One of my classmates turns around, looks at me with wide eyes and says (not in these exact words, but basically with this tone) "You just dump the body in the ground?!" I'm pretty sure I laughed when he said that, but I was just like "No, we have a funeral and reception and things, it's just that the ceremony isn't as elaborate and we don't have like a specific day (like Día de los Muertos) to go visit the graves." Anyways, it was kind of funny, but also kind of shocking to think what kind of views people have about my culture.

What else...I have a lot of anecdotes and stories, but it would take all day to write them all. Another thing about being here is that I feel like I"m in a constant state of learning. Every day I learn something new (and not in the sense of in my classes, or like it is Berkeley, where obviously I'm constantly learning too), but in the sense I'm always discovering new things about the culture, language, city, people, whatever. It's really exhilarating and makes feel like I'm a kid again sometimes (like where everything is just new and wonderful), but it can be exhausting and the same time. And I'm not just talking about the language, because that's a given. But on that note, I feel like my Spanish is improving (I would hope so seeing as I've been living in Spanish speaking places for 4 months now...) but I still can't think of how to say things sometimes or how to express myself correctly which can be extremely frustrating--but it also means that I'm constantly learning new words and phrases.

Well, that's a brief update of my life. I've now had the chance to visit Mendoza, Argentina, Pomaire (pottery town), Sewell (mining town), and Valparaíso (ocean town)...all of which have been really fun and different from on another.

Oh yes, one more brief thing. Fiestas Patrias was weekend before last and it was SO FUN. Fiestas Patrias is like Chile's 4th of July (the 18 of September is their independence day) but it's a WAY bigger deal here. The whole country goes all out...everything is red, white and blue, there are flags EVERYWHERE (apparently there's a law that you have to hang a flag for the 18), but if even taxis and cars have little car flags. It's basically 4 days of partying, eating, drinking, going to fondas (very similar to county fairs), hanging out with friends and family. The famous drink of the weekend is called Chicha and it's a really sweet drink...basically everyone drinks it because it's "the drink" of Fiestas Patrias...I"m not really sure how to describe the taste of it, I guess kind of like really sweet wine. Food includes...meat, meat and more meat...empanadas, kabobs, choripan all made on the barbecue... It's really yummy, but not so healthy (it's basically like their Thanksgiving and everyone ends up gaining like 10 pounds). The fondas remind me a lot of county fairs...the best ones are on the outskirts of the city or out in the country. They have lots of carnival games and rides (like Ferris Wheels!) and of course dancing (cueca...the national dance of Chile) and food and drinks. One other thing that the weekend is famous for is flying kites. But they're kites made out of crepe paper, so the tear really easily, and you have to use some special technique to keep them up in the sky. It's not just run with it behind you and hope it catches the wind like I did when I was a kid. No, theres a whole, pull the string in this direction when the tip of the kite is pointing in that direction...it's actually kind of hard, but it was fun :) And there's just open filed full of hundreds of people flying kites. Apparently some people try to have competitions where they try and cut the string of other peoples kites (kind of like in Kite Runner), but others just go just to enjoy flying the kite.

Well, I will try and post pictures on Facebook soon to accompany all the things that have been happening...and I will TRY and keep updated more often (although no absolute promises ;)

"Mañana es feriado"

Here's a post that I forgot to post a while ago about my trip to Mendoza:

So, I swear I have heard that phrase a million times since coming to Chile..."mañana es feriado" aka "tomorrow is a holiday!" I don't know how they have so many holidays, but it seems that about every other week there is a holiday celebrating something or another, which will be nice now that I'm in school and won't have to go to school when it's feriado, but, it can be a little frustrating when everything is closed. Especially because a lot of times feriados are on Mondays, and already on Sundays 75% of stores are closed, so then it's two days in a row of everything being closed. This happened when we were in Mendoza, we got there on Saturday night, Sunday everything was closed, then Monday even more things were closed. It ended up working out though, because most of the things we did were just out doorsy and we were still able to do everything because it didn't depend on things being open.

We had a week break between when ILP ended and when real classes started, I decided to go to Mendoza, Argentina with a few friends during the break, just to get out of the city and do some things outside. Saturday morning my friend Carolyn and I showed up at the bus station and bought our tickets for Mendoza. The bus was pretty nice; we had to get the semi-cama seats because they were the only ones that they had. But, they gave us food and everything on the way over. The bus ride itself was about 6 hours including clearing customs and everything. It's a really pretty ride though, because we had to cross over the Andes and drive through the countryside and everything. At one point during the ride, Carolyn and I weren't sure if we were in Argentina or Chile (because we had no idea what kind of customs control they had), but we later figured out there is a real customs check point, so you can definitely tell when you cross from one country into the other. Customs is literally on top of the mountains, meaning it's really cold when you have to get out and stand in line to get your passport stamped and then have them check your luggage. But, overall, the bus ride wasn't too bad.

Saturday afternoon and night we just hung out around our hostel, which was right near the main plaza in town. We wandered around Plaza Independencia (the main one in town); there was a market so we checked that out, got some cotton candy which was delicious, people watched...Then we went and found a restaurant that had choripan (a sandwich type of food that is famous in Argentina and Chile). When we went into the restaurant it was only us and one other family--who kept staring at us! However, by the time we left, the restaurant was packed with people. Apparently we went to eat too early (at 9pm).

The next day we went biking around the huge park that's at the edge of town. We met a guy from Colombia who was really cool, and the 3 of us went together. We rented bikes from a place near our hostel and headed out. In the park it was like it's own little town--they had a zoo, golf course, soccer stadium, theatre, lake, fountains, etc. We spent most of the day biking around and checking it out and hiking up the hill at the back of the park. The hike up the hill was probably the most fun thing of the day...the view as we were hiking up was incredible. We could see the whole city and country side around it. It's really dry and desert-y, and really pretty scenery. We also saw one of the stadiums where the Copa America was played which was pretty cool; we really wanted to go in but unfortunately it was all gated off, so we didn't get to go in, only see it from afar. After biking around we stopped to get Pancho's for lunch (Argentian hotdogs...aka hotdogs with lots of different types of condiments on top, pretty tasty actually). Then we went to watch the final of the Copa America which was being played in Buenos Aires. However, it was between Uruguay and Paraguay, so there wasn't a whole lot of interest in Argentina.

The next day we went on a trekking, repelling, hot springs trip.

I guess I didn't quite finish...