Week 10 in Chile

Hey Everyone,
Another fun and eventful week in Santiago! Hope you enjoy!

Monday, August 5, 2013

-Woke up early and had breakfast in the hotel again and then we went and climbed up Cerro Santa Lucia; it was a beautiful day and there was minimal smog so James could finally get a view of the beautiful La Cordillera of the Andes mountains; When we got back to my house, Nora had prepared a mini asado for us with some friend chicken, salads, and vino

-Then I had my human rights class at the program office, which was super interesting per usuaual; I think this class is definitely going to be my favorite course that I am taking here in hile

-After class, James and I headed over to Las Condes to the house of my former host mom Ximena to share once (tea time) with her and catch up; I really wanted James to meet her because she has been an integral part of my experience here; I also really want my parents to meet her meet; I was hoping James would be able to meet Keku too because she's been an integral part of my experience as well, but she wasn't there; she's leaving for the US soon and so hopefully I will be able to see her before she leaves; after Ximena's house, we headed to Kris' house to make dinner and hang out; James and Kris grilled some burgers and vegetables and I prepared a salad; Later in the evening, my friend Diana came over and we all hung out and talked until the wee hours of the morning

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

-Breakfast in the hotel with James and then I decided to skip my class to hang out with him more since his time here is so limited; besides I have several friends in the class and it's syllabus week so I really wasn't missing anything all that important, but I am really exicited for this class its called Estetica del Cuento Hispanoamericano, which is a short story class that I am taking at La Catolica
-We had lunch up the street from James' hotel at a sandwich shop; we got there at 12:30 which is freakishly early for lunch here and the staff was really confused as to why we wanted to eat so early
-In the afternoon, I headed to class at Diego Portales for a political science classedChile y el sistema internacional; its really interested but really difficult as well because it's an upper level class and I don't really know anything about Chile and their foreign policy, but I want to learn
-After class, I ,et up with James at Nora's house because we were supposed to head to Plaza de Armas, but we decided against it and went to get empanadas and jugo instead
-After our snack, we met up with some friends at a bar in Providencia to watch the U Chile vs. Real Potosi (Bolivia) soccer game and hang out; university level soccer teams from around the continent playing in La Copa Sudamerica; originally tried to get tickets but it was too complicated and there wasn't enough time to sort it all out because it was so last minute; UChile ended up winning 5-0!
-After watching the game, James and I went to dinner at a mexican restaurant which is just super  classic Lesley and James because our favorite restaurant in Boston is Border Cafe which is a great mexican/cajun restaurant!; Then we went back to the hotel to hang out and Elaina came over to chill with us

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

-James' last day in Santiago :(
-Woke up early to eat breakfast and head to class at La Catolica Oriente Campus (4 campuses); met Elaina at the subway station, but we got lost on the bus and got off at the wrong stop so we had to take a cab; went to register for our course and then walked around for 45 minutes trying to find auditorium 1 because everyone we asked led us to the wrong auditorium 1 because there are 2 apparently; by the time we found the classroom we were too embarrassed to walk in and there was no way to sneak around into the back so we headed back to Nora's to meet up with James and make some lunch and nap before our second class and before James' flight; Biz came over too
-Sent James off to the airport and said our good byes until December; so glad he came to visit but I'm sad that he is leaving and I'm gonna miss him so much; then Biz, Elaina and I all headed to our Human Rights class; we were supposed to have a field trip, but since it was raining it was cancelled, so we had a normal lecture
-After class, Nora hosted the Program Emergency Plan meeting because her house is the point house for this comuna/neighborhood in Santiago; so if there is an earthquake and you can't get to your house come to Nora's house or to another point person's home in a community that you are close to; all the homes are supposed to work as a safety network if there is a crisis or a natural disaster
-Nora provided food and tea for everyone and so everyone stayed a while after and ate and drank and chatted; it was cool to meet other host moms and see other students with their families as well
-Hung out at home because it's cold and miserable out and I have literally no desire to leave my bed; got a lot of work done in terms of applying for transfer credits and organizing my courses and making sure that I have a smooth transition back to Tufts come January

Thursday, August 8, 2013

-I had class early in the morning at La Catolica; it was my short story class and it was really interesting; there are quite a few foreigners in the class and the professor is really easy to understand and I could follow about 90% of his lecture which I was really happy about; after class the professor also made it a point to ask all of us if we could understand him or if we needed him to explain anything better; he seems to really like foreign students and really wants us to do well in his class
-After class, I had to dash across town to Diego Portales for my Chile y el sistema internacional class; at first I couldn't find the room because it was moved to the basement, but I ran into a friend in the class who was also lost and we eventually found the room together; the class was really hard today and I feel like I am missing the big picture of what he is talking about because I can only understand about 40% because poli sci is really technical and then I have no basis for this information because I've only studied US foreign policy; after the class the 3 of us who were in it were all really unsure whether or not we wanted to continue taking it because we were all really confused; so we headed to the program office to look at other class options because the drop/add period is coming to a close very soon, so our time to figure out classes is running out; I am going to to go to a spanish literature class called El cine desde la literatura at La Catolica on Tuesday instead of to Chile y el sistema internacional to see if I like it better and then maybe switch into that class; I have until Wednesday to figure everything out because that's when drop/add for La Catolica ends and on top of figuring out what classes I can succeed in, I also need them to count for Tufts credit... it's all super annoying
-Anyhow after that struggle and meeting with the program director for a few minutes, I don't really feel any less confused... I guess it will come down to what classes I can get Tufts credit for; so after that I headed home for dinner and then met up with my friend Kris to go to his housemate Maura's play in Las Condes; she's the producer and it was called Dejate Perder; it was about the mind games that couples play with each other and was very interesting and funny; very well done; I could understand most of it as well; the ending was confusing because it was very abrupt, no curtain call, nothing; it just kind of ended and then they started taking down the set; in the end, Kris and I learned that that was the point of the play to gauge the audience's reaction to a weird ending and seeing how they would leave the auditorium; there were cameras or something documenting everything and we had to sign release waivers at the end
-After the play, we met up with some of my friends at Plaza Nunoa for some drinks and some food and then just kind of hung out for a while and chatted and then my one friend's host brother appeared and he took us to one of his friend's homes nearby and we played cards and practiced spanish and hung out

Friday, August 9, 2013

-Woke up early to meet some friends (both from the program and Chilean) to head to Cajon del Maipo, a mountainous town outside of Santiago with fresh air, lots of stars and beautiful views of the mountains; we met early to go white water rafting on the Rio Maipo in some class 3 and 4 rapids; it was a really fast moving river and so much fun to go rafting even though the water was really cold and none of us could feel our toes after the trek down the river
-After the rafting adventure, we all grabbed a very typical Chilean lunch of empanadas and churasscos at a local restaurant in town; after lunch we walked around the town a little and just enjoyed the sunshine; after a while, Claudio and Benja's friend Mark came and picked us up in town and took us back to his house up in the mountains for an asado and to just hang out (holla at Chilean friends and Chilean experiences!); it was great trip and a great day even though it was cut short and we had to head back to Santiago that night; after dropping our stuff at our respective homes, I met up with my friends again to head to another Chilean friend's home for a relaxing night of hanging out and practicing Spanish

Saturday, August 10, 2013

-Slept in really late because I was randomly exhausted and then I had some breakfast, caught up on blogging, relaxed at home with Nora for a while until about 4:30 when I went to meet some friends from the program to hike up to Cerro San Cristobal to see the sunset; Cerro San Cristobal is the highest point in the city and is also where the Virgin Mary stands overlooking the city; it was a long hike but so worth it when we finally made it to the top to see the beautiful sunset on the Andes mountains and on the massive sprawling city of Santiago; while we were up at the top we split mote con huesillo, which is a Chilean drink of peaches, peach juice and wheat germ; after our snack, we took the funicular down the mountain and then headed to a restaurant in Bellavista for a celebratory chorillana and drinks

-Later in the night, I met up with some friends again for a pregame at a Chilean friends house and then we all headed to a bar in Bellavista for a fun night out, which culminated with a delicious completo from a street vendor in Bellavista

Sunday, August 11, 2013

-The laziest day I have had in a long time; didn't even get out of my pajamas; I guess I need to rest up for the week ahead of me because we have a long weekend so we will be traveling down south for a few days! I can't wait! But first we gotta plan everything...

Besos,

Lesley

P.S. This is my teacher for my Human Rights class. He is a boss. http://www.cnnchile.com/noticia/2013/08/11/juez-guzman-por-resultado-de-caso-riggs-confio-en-la-decision-del-juez-cerda