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Published: January 21st 2010
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vina del mar
one of the parks there Sorry it's taken me so long to post again. I tried to do add an entry yesterday in the computer lab at school and I typed it out and saved it and everything, or so I thought...because I came back and there was still only one entry. So, take two.
Today was the last day of my second week of class, but I'll start from last Thursday to make the entry as long and boring as the other one! You're welcome. Anyway, last Thursday my track four language class went to a museum (el centro cultural palacio de la moneda, or some combination of all of those words. crazy spanish long names.) to see the Ancient Chinese Terracotta Army exhibit. I don't know if people have heard of it before, but one of the Chinese emporers from the Qin dynasty (I'm pretty sure) commissioned an entire Chinese army be built, along with weapons and animals and other war materials and stuff. One of the things I heard about it is that each soldier has individual characteristics, like it's an entire army of separate people, instead of of a mass-produced soldiers from one mold. It was pretty cool, but I'm mostly
vina del mar
another picture of the park talking about it because I took some pictures and I'm putting them up if anyone's interested. Anyway, classes are going pretty well. I'm taking two spanish language classes, one for the first half of the semester and one for the second half. Also a conversation class, a literature class, a politics/history class about modern latin america, and a dance class. Laugh all you want, but Anna and I are owning it up and we'd be happy to provide a demonstration of the dances we're going to learn when we return home in the summer/fall. Right now we're learning the merengue and after we'll learn to salsa, samba (I think...), and a little bit of the tango. Good stuff. I like the combination of classes I'm taking because I feel like each one addresses a different language skill, and I need to improve all of them so I'm looking forward to having a better understanding/grasp on the language by the time I come back. What I don't care for is my schedule...Anna and I have either one or two classes in the morning, a three hour break, and then a class or two in the afternoon. So we leave for class
vina del mar
view of one of the main streets at 9 or 9:30 and don't get back until the late afternoon, or on Tuesdays at like 10 because we have dance from 6-8. But, no classes on Friday, which is awesome and I guess I shouldn't complain. The other thing I'm not used to is living off campus--we only have a 30 minute metro ride/walk to campus, but I don't want to go back and forth during the break and stuff, and I miss being able to walk back to the dorm to sleep or do whatever. Apparently no/very few universities in Chile have on-campus housing, and it might be a South American thing in general. But in Santiago there are like 10 or 15 universities around the city, and on the street that my campus is on, there are three or four other universities. I'll take some pictures eventually of the street Universidad Andres Bello is on (it's called Republica), because it's gorgeous--the street used to be residential in the late 1800s/early 1900s when the rich Chilean families had huge houses for their huge families, so most of the campus buildings are converted from these mini-castle-esque residences that the government bought from the families. As a side note,
vina del mar
another view from the bus all of my classes are in Spanish but I only have class with other kids in my program. It's the summer break for all of the Chilean students because it's summer in the southern hemisphere, so they'll all come back at the beginning of march. Right now the campus, and city in general, is pretty empty because a lot of people go on vacation on the coast, but I'm kind of glad because it's been easier to adjust to living in a big city that way.
But enough about school and class. This past weekend Anna and I and about 10 other people from USAC went to Vina del Mar, which is about an hour and half bus ride from Santiago west to the Pacific Ocean. It's a popular vacation spot for Santiagans and also a pretty popular tourist destination, and if anyone is ever traveling in Chile during the summer I would highly recommend a visit. Anyway we left Friday afternoon and went to the bus station, which is a few blocks away from one of the meto stops. Apparently buses are a popular mode of transportation here--they go to a bunch of different destinations in Chile and
vina del mar
one of the churches in vina Argentina, and we bought a round-trip ticket on like a nice tour bus for USD$10 total. It was awesome. And the actual ride was beautiful--mountains the whole way and some great views of valleys and desert-like areas. I've included pictures. We stayed in a cute little hostel (for USD$15 a night...pretty much last weekend was a financial win) Friday night and Saturday. It took all of us forever to check in to the hostel but after we walked over to the beach (about 10 minutes) just to look it, and then Anna, Julie (one of our friends from the program) and I ate dinner at the hostel and then went out with some Brazilian guys who were also staying there that night, and it was really fun. Latin American music is where it's at, dancing-wise. And they also play a bunch of techno remixes of American songs, which I appreciated. Then Saturday we went to the beach in the afternoon for about 5 hours and that was glorious. As a side note, it was pretty much freezing for most of the weekend (like 60 degrees, which I know sounds funny and like my blood has thinned, but when you get
vina del mar
one of the houses I found particularly cute in vina used to 90 degree heat and humidity, it's quite a change. I managed to survive though) but it cleared up Saturday afternoon and the weather was gorgeous. The ocean was legit freezing though, and I could only jump in for about five seconds until I had to get out. Anyway the Presidential election for Chile was actually this past Sunday and everything in Vina (and probably the whole country) closed early on Saturday night, so we all stayed at the hostel and hung out with the other people who were staying there on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon we took the bus back and did our homework and watched election news. The two candidates were Pinera and Fre...it was one of Chile's closest elections, but Pinera ended up wininng 52% to 48% or something like that. The political parties are defined differently here than in the US; like they still have "left" and "right" wing but the candidates' stances on the issues we're the same as a liberal or conservative politican in the states. Fre was the socialist party candidate, which has dominated the past 30 years, since the overthrow of Pinochet's right-wing dictatorship, so it was surprising that Pinera
vina del mar
another view won because a lot of our professors were comparing him to Pinochet, even though I'm sure he's not as extreme.
Anyway, enough boring stuff. Last night Anna and I and a few friends went to watch a jazz concert in one of the plazas in Santiago. It was part of the Santiago a Mil, which is a month-long cultural festival where the government (and other organizations) sponsor cultural productions like music and theater and literary stuff. Most of the songs turned out to be English, which I wasn't expecting, but it was still an enjoyable evening. This weekend Anna and I and probably a few others are going to go shopping at a few of the open-air craft markets (and probably some real shopping too...I'm excited) and maybe go to a few museums or something. More about that next week. I hope everyone had a good long weekend (I was jealous...apparently MLK isn't such a big deal down here), and chao until next time!
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Lindsay
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its been real.
yo. i'm at work. FYI It was like reading MLIA aloud to jordan as i read your post. we were a fan of the MLK refrence :).