Week 12 in Chile

I had another whirlwind week of classes and traveling to around the 5th Region of Chile! There are 15 regions in total, and so the 5th region is the region right above Santiago which is called the Metropolitan Region. I had such a blast traveling with all my friends from my program. Hope you enjoy!

Monday, August 19, 2013

-fly home from Calama and get in around 1:30; home to unpack and get lunch
-DDHH class at Villa Grimaldi which was a torture center during the Pinochet era; very sad visit about a very sad topic
-Sushi in Plaza Nunoa with Kate and Marta
-Home to hang out with Nora and do homework; convo with Nora about how she was a bad ass and protested Pinochet and had friends who disappeared and family members who fled or were exiled and how her family is proud of her for always fighting for peace and democracy

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

-class in the morning; nothing special; lunch with some new friends from a different study abroad program in the US and there was a giant fiesta at lunch at the engineering building with music and mechanical bulls and snacks and cheering; homework in the library; class in the afternoon; nothing special really again
-met up with my cousin Eric's friends who have been living in Chile for the past 5 years for dinner at their home; ate American food and swapped stories about our times living in Chile; they were awesome people and so kind and I hope I get to see them again soon

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

-Class in the morning at Oriente and then after class talked to the professor with some other gringos; he's a really cool dude and totally an art history hippie; next wednesday we have a field trip to a museum for class
-Headed home to relax and catch up on some work and then headed to my human rights class at the program office; interesting class as usual; I'm really happy with all my classes here in Chile; everything I'm learning is very unique and helps create my image of Latin America as I am getting a political perspective, art perspective, literature perspective and cinematic perspective of Chile and of Latin America
-Later that night I packed up my bags because we are leaving early Thursday morning to head on our first CIEE excursion to the 5th region of Chile

Thursday, August 22, 2013 - Sunday, August 25, 2013

This past weekend, the program travelled on our first excursion to the 5th region of Chile. Some highlights of trip include empanada and pottery making in Pomaire, visiting one of Pablo Neruda's 3 houses in Isla Negra, exploring the beautiful cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar on the coast about 2 hours from Chile, and finally exploring the beautiful Valle de Aconagua and getting a real taste of Chilean culture through our activities and the food that we tried. All in all, it was an amazing, fun and informative trip! I am excited for our next trip in October where we will head south to La Serena and other cities nearby. Below are a few pictures from my trip: