conorlim

The past 2 weeks have flown by. After my first essay, it was time for a little break. But not too much of a break though, since I have two exams the coming week and a paper as well. So here are some highlights from the past 2 weeks. Californication Shout out to Trace, Brodie and Kristie for having this get together with the group from California. They opened their house to us and spent their some money to buy drinks and food as well as got a band together for what turned out to be an amazing get together. I must say, it was nice seeing the other kids from the program, a lot of whom I admittedly haven't seen in a while until then. All in all, it was good fun. Cheers to Trace, ... read more

It's been a busy week. We got our classes and registered fine and well. I got 4 that I wanted, with just a few "otros extranjeros" (other foreigners). At this point, I'm pretty glad for my fellow extranjeros, I'm sure we'll be studying with each other a lot since, realistically, it'll be pretty hard with the language barrier. So last few weeks have been pretty hectic and busy, and we've (I've) just been running around a lot. Sunday is a great day off, so I actually have some free time. Today was pretty awesome though, someone thought I was Mexican (I'm assuming because of the Spanish I spoke), which makes me pretty darn happy. That's all she wrote.... read more

It's been a busy week with school and such. But the doesn't mean that the adventures stop there. In fact, quite the opposite, hence, instead of blogging, I've been adventuring. Sorry for the lack of updates. So here we go! La Moneda. La Moneda is the home of the President of Chile. We went on die de los paros, day of the strikes, so so say the least, the Moneda was extra protected. Our ticket in was our passports. Carabineros were aplenty. We got in and saw the buildings and the interior. As cool as it was seeing the priceless artifacts in La Moneda, it was discouraging to see chandeliers made of pure silver and diamonds when there and countless people starving in Chile and so many more poor. Chile remains the most unequal country economically ... read more

So its been a busy week. We moved from our hostels to Homestay, where we live with Chilean families. We moved in on Wednesday, and I got my Bip card, a Santiago transit card, and a new phone. On Friday, we took a trip from Catolica to Algarrobo, a little beach town on Chile's coast. We bonded as a group and learned about our two professors, the outgoing director and the incoming professor. I'd like to give a shout-out to Professors Fransisco Lomeli and Luis Martin-Cabrera, who worked so hard to make this all possible. Algarrobo was amazing, and we bonded and got to know each other really well. At Algarrobo, we were at a hotel where we were given a nice introduction to Chilean culture and wine, Cueca dancing and "Gato" wine. When we got ... read more

So I got on an AeroMexico flight from LAX to MEX airport where I had a one night layover. I stayed the night in the Ramada at Mexico City Airport, which was pretty nice. After a long night's sleep, I boarded my flight into Santiago. I arrived pretty late in the night, around 10PM and got to the hostel at 11PM and checked-in, and the usual. After my first night in Chilly Chile, I had some bread and juice from a local store and later a lunch at a nearby restaurant. Tomorrow, we're (well really just me, and the hostel) expecting a large group of students from the UC to arrive at the hostel, so I'll probably wait for them for a little while, hoping I can find a right bank to get some cash or ... read more