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Published: March 23rd 2009
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Oh Hey! Today marks the third week that I’ve been with my wonderful host family in Chile. Here’s what’s been going on in my life…
1) School.
I’ve finally had all my classes. During the first weeks I think my professors thought it would be funny to spontaneously switch the times and rooms of my classes, leaving one particularly awkward and flustered foreigner (yours truly) to wander around in pathetic confusion. But now that I’ve got them (for the most part) figured out, I’m excited about my classes. However, I am realizing that they are going to be extremely time consuming. In the school system here, there isn’t ever really homework; just reading+lectures and then a colossal final exam at the end of the course. There are also tons of group projects/presentations and papers; Chile is all about group work!
So I’m taking my mandatory Spanish class with my program (I had a presentation this week which went fine), a Film class in the art department called “the evolution of film through history”; last week we watched “The Kid” which is a Charlie Chaplin film… I’m taking Human Resource management and interestingly enough there are lots of other
international students in this class; all together we have 7 countries represented (Chile, the US, France, Germany, Austria, Holland, and Mexico) so our professor calls us the “G-7.” He gets a real kick out of his own wittiness so he wrote an article about it in the Valparaiso newspaper and then made us read it in class which I thought was funny. Then I’m taking this Marketing class which is absolutely horrible; all the students are in their last semester of their business majors and the professor talks SO fast; I only catch about half of what he says, and that’s when I’m paying attention really closely. It’s painful! Finally, I’m taking an International Politics class in the Law department, which I’m really excited about. But to reiterate, my classes have a TON of reading, which wouldn’t be so daunting besides the fact that everything is in Spanish and thus it takes me twice as long to read it.
2) Bureaucracy.
The longer I’ve been in Chile, the more I notice the completely original and unique qualities that this country has. While some of these things are charming and delightful (Alpacas, penguins, frequent mini-earthquakes, “manjar” which is basically
caramel jam…etc), some of the other “quirky” things about Chile aren’t quite as endearing. For example, only in Chile are you required to get an HIV test and get fingerprinted and a full background check just to obtain your visa to study here. Now that I’m here, I had to get more fingerprints done by the police and pay more money, just to be given another piece of paper that I have to bring back in order to receive my I.D. Likewise, I haven’t been able to get my Metropass because I don’t have my student card or something. There is a lot of waiting around for things here and everything is really formal and rigid
3) Purchases.
Shopping here has been a charming experience. Things are still expensive because it is the tail-end of the tourist season, but if you look around you can find a huge array of cheap artisan-y handicrafts. Oh, and believe it or not, fanny packs are extremely popular here! Who knew that I’d live to see the day that you are only cool if you are wearing a fanny pack? There are tons of them around in all sorts of styles and
I just might have to bring one home.
However, my primary purchases have been directed towards candy. You really shouldn’t be surprised by this.
4) Winter.
When I first got here the weather was absolutely gorgeous; sunny, breezy and 75 degrees. I went to the beach as often as I could and got a wicked tan (I’m actually still awkwardly peeling from one particularly intense day). Now it has gotten cloudy and it is soooo humid! Nights can be particularly chilly, and no buildings have heating so it seems worse than it is. Not to mention, Chile had daylight savings time so now the sun sets at 7pm instead of 8. Weirdly enough, the time difference between here and Minnesota is only one hour now!
5) Miscellaneous.
So I’ve been running a lot because it is just so gorgeous; I get to go along the ocean for miles and watch the sun set and see birds flying around the rocky parts of the coast and fishermen on the beaches. Sometimes even a stray dog or two will be feeling festive and decide to jog part of the way with me. But something else I’ve noticed
is that women here NEVER work out. I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen other girls running (and they are usually foreigners too). So basically I am just a huge spectacle when I go on my runs because it is so bizarre. People stop what they are doing (driving, biking, talking) and just STARE at me and my weirdness. It can be really frustrating and obnoxious sometimes and I want to become invisible. I feel that as a general rule of etiquette, if you are going to stare at someone, it is best to be sneaky and covert about it; at least that’s what I do…
Fortunately, I made a Chilean friend who I run with every once in a while. It’s also really helpful in that he helps me with my Spanish because I can practice talking with him. I also joined an ultimate Frisbee club here and I’m starting to make friends (it’s really exciting!!). This weekend we went to a super-festive dance club; it has 5 floors with different types of music on each level (live bands, 80s/rock, Reggueton, Pop, and Salsa).
6) Travel.
This upcoming week, I don’t have a lot of my classes because it is a Freshman festival or something. Whatever the excuse is, my friends and I are taking advantage of it and flying to Patagonia for 5 days (Torres del Paine). We plan on camping and hiking around Torres del Paine national park, which is supposedly a beautiful place. I’m really excited. In preparation for my trip, my host sisters took me to this massive supermarket so I could buy food for my excursion. That was an adventure in itself because they brought the three kids along just to make it super festive. I finally found peanut butter (Chileans don’t eat it so it’s really hard to find) so I feel as though I’m prepared for my trip; although in reality we have very little planned and we’re going to be spontaneous about it.
OK that’s all.
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