Week 9 in Chile

Hey Everyone,

It's been a crazy hectic week and a half with my boyfriend visiting for the past 5 days, so I've barely had time to go to class, let alone look at my computer or compose a half decent blog entry. He arrived Friday morning, so my posts from this past weekend are very short and go over what we did in very little detail. It was a great visit and I am sad that he's gone now, but I only have to wait until December to see him again. Woo.

Hope you enjoy this week's entries!

Monday, July 29, 2013

-Went to work for my final presentation and meeting; Everything went really well and I gave both of my presentations all in Spanish, so I was really happy about that outcome and about finally finishing up my job for the summer; it was a great experience and I learned so much in terms of spanish and business

-After I finished up at work, I headed to a "Fototecnika" to take some passport photos for my student visa application because I really need to get that soon or I will get kicked out of the country in less than a month... After getting the photos, I headed straight to the program office to get my visa sorted out as well as to look at reviews of university classes that former program students had written; this week we have advising sessions about our classes this semester in Chile; after spending a good amount of time looking at courses and working on my visa application, my friends and I called it quits and headed to meet up with some other people to start planning some trips during our upcoming breaks; we are thinking of going to northern Chile to San Pedro de Atacama and the desert up there or to Buenos Aires in Argentina; I think which destination we choose will come down to the price of the trip

-After hanging out most of the day, I headed home to have some dinner, catch up on sleep and Skype with my friends back home; I'm still a little sick, so I am trying to rest a lot so I start feeling better

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

-Woke up bright and early to meet up with everyone at the program office so that we could all head over to the La Catolica orientation together; we got there really early so that we could look over the course books and get good seats for the orientation because unlike our other two orientations, this one was for all international students and not just us; we heard an overview of the school and of Chile in general; we were also introduced to the various student groups available to make international students feel more welcome; the biggest of these groups is called CUAC and it hosts a lot of functions for international students and acts as a liaison; after orientation ended, there was a nice lunch in the courtyard for all the international students to mingle and get to know each other as well as to meet the CUAC student ambassadors; after that they had session where you could go ask questions to various people from all the departments about classes and registration; and finally, we got our student IDs, so I am finally a student in CHILE!

-After that I headed home to figure out all my courses for this semester because I had my advising meeting with the program director later that day; I am tentatively taking 2 classes at UDP, 2 at La Catolica and 1 CIEE course, but who knows that could all change since we have 2 weeks to test out courses at all the different universities

-After that I went home and chilled for the rest of the night and hung out with Nora; she's a super cool lady and a great host mom!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

-Slept in late today because we didn't have anything scheduled for the morning; but I did have to go to the notary to deal with some final paperwork for my job, which of course took forever because everything in this country has a line and you have to take a number; you have to take a number even to check out at the pharmacy; so after waiting forever at the notary and finally getting the paper, I had to hand deliver the paper to my job so that I could get my final paycheck; I guess they've never heard of the fax machine... or snail mail... but it's okay I got paid! Then I rewarded myself on a job well done this summer with a shopping spree at Parque Arauco, which is a mall super close to work; I found some really cool leggings at Falabella, a huge department store, and a great light weight coat at Zara, which was on super duper sale; stores are currently introducing spring fashions so all the winter clothes (really fall clothes) are on super duper sale, which is awesome

-After my shopping spree, I headed back to the program office for my first class of the semester, which was "Derechos Humanos en Chile" or Human Rights in Chile; the teacher was late, which was fine because all we did was watch a documentary called "The Judge and the General," which is about Juan Guzman, a lawyer who worked on the case to indite General Pinochet for hundreds of thousands of crimes against humanity; it was a really fascinating movie and I really recommend it to everyone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judge_and_the_General); after the movie ended, our teacher finally introduced him self; and it just so happens that our teacher is Juan Guzman, yes, Juan Guzman of the documentary... how freaking cool is that?! I am so excited for this class and about the teacher and about the semester in general!

-After class I headed home for dinner and then met up with my friends for a pre game at one of their houses and then we all headed to Miercoles po for another fun night of drinking and dancing! I'm just loving the night life here in Santiago! Super fun!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

-Woke up early for my first day of classes at La Catolica San Joaquin campus, which is pretty far out on the metro but only like a 30 minute commute for me so not too bad; the campus is beautiful and really has a quintessential college feel; I arrived to campus a few minutes before my class was set to start at 10 and ran into a friend from Tufts as well as a few friends from my program while walking to the class, but when we arrived at the classroom no one was to be found, not even a professor, so we went to ask the secretary about the class and she said that it was no longer offered and that the course book we were given during orientation is frequently incorrect and that we should consult the list outside of her office for up to date course offerings... so there went my entire schedule for the semester, so I spent the entirety of the rest of the day trying to figure out what to take; I went to a class called Literatura y Cultura but it wasn't about Spanish lit, so I can't take it; then I went on a tour of the campus led by the CUAC group; I met a guy from Colorado and some french girls as well; there are a surprising amount of exchange students in Chile, which is unusual for me because Americans don't traditionally study abroad in Latin America because they normally go to Europe; most exchange students at La Catolica seem to be American or European, but more Europeans I think; after the tour I met up with some other friends from the program and headed to a class about Pablo Neruda; the class was exceedingly boring and the professor was impossible to understand, so I definitely won't be taking that class; after that my friends and I tried to find a class about mystery books, but again the course catalog was wrong because the course wasn't actually offered at the San Joaquin campus but at a different campus in the city; so needless to say, it was an exceedingly frustrating day, but I think I know what I am going to take and hopefully all the classes exist and hopefully I will be able to register for them tomorrow; in order to register for courses at La Catolica you have to physically go to each and every department in which you want to register for a course at the specific campus where that department is located; it's a really complicated system... and I thought the Tufts course registration system was bad; never again will I complain about iSIS

-After a frustrating day at school, some of my friends and I took the metro back home, but stopped along the way to grab a chorillana in Bellavista and chat about upcoming trips we have planned to visit all the various different and beautiful regions of Chile and maybe even Argentina and Colombia for me so that I can visit my roommate; there is so much exciting stuff coming up, but the nearest and most exciting thing is that my boyfriend comes to Chile in less than 12 hours! Can't wait to see him!!

Friday, August 2, 2013

-Met James at airport early in the AM; took transfer to meet him, which is a very cheap way of getting to the aiport

-Came back to Nora's house because he couldn't check into his hotel until 2pm or so
-Visited Iglesia San Francisco and walked along Paris and Londres streets and then we went to Mercado Central for lunch, and ate at Donde Augusto and had delicious King Crab from Patagonia and Corvina aka Chilean Sea Bass; walking around the city

-Check into James hotel in Providencia; really nice and great location

-Met friends for dinner in Bellavista (biz, Elaina, kris) and went to a really nice tapas place after I misunderstood whether or not we needed reservations for the first restaurant we wanted to go to (we needed reservations... oops)

-Walked around Bellavista in search of a bar or disco, but got tired and called it a night while everyone else in our group continued to search (and to no avail)

Saturday, August 3, 2013

-Breakfast in the hotel cause it is complementary and very good; woot woot!

-Came back to Nora's for an asado or BBQ with terremotos (typical Chilean drink of pineapple ice cream and pipeño, a type of white wine) and typical Chilean food of porotos y rellenos con pollo which is beans and noodles with chicken, which is one of Nora's favorite things to eat in the winter; Kris, Biz and Elaina joined us too and they all loved the food and we had a great time hanging out at my house; as Nora always says "Mi casa es tu casa" and she truly means it

-James and I had dinner reservations at Astrid y Gaston, which is a phenomenal Peruvian restaurant; the flagship restaurant is located in Lima, Peru and is ranked as one of the top 15 best restaurants in the world; we started with pisco sours (the best I've had here) and then had an appetizer of 3 different ceviches with some white wine to match and then we both had different fish/seafood based pasta dishes; James had a king crab pasta dish and I had a shrimp risotto dish; both of which were amazing

-After dinner we came back to the hotel to hang out and watch a movie; just like we would do if we were back at school

Sunday, August 4, 2013

-Breakfast in the hotel again; it's so tasty and free! Yay!

-After breakfast we headed to Nora's house for a bit and then made our way to the Human Rights Museum, so I could explain to James a little more about Chile's recent and very sad history

-After the museum we met my friends at the Parque Arauco Starbucks to plan trips for the semester; we want to go to Pucon, San Pedro de Atacama, Torres del Paine, Peru, Argentina, Easter Island, everywhere! There are so many cool places to go to in Chile an in the surrounding countries.

-After the meeting, James and I grabbed lunch at Tempura a Thai and sushi restaurant; sushi is really popular in Chile; then we headed back to Nora's to relax and then later that evening we headed to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant that she recommended
-Then we went back to the hotel and Kris came over and hung out and we all watched a movie

What a fun week it was!

Best,
Lesley