I'm a Student Again!

Hola todos mis lectores fieles!

I know I'm starting to get behind. It's because life is picking up. I guess that's a good thing...

I started classes today!! But I'll start with Sunday because I don't think I told you all about my day of exploring Valparaiso. I went into the city with a couple of girls to look around and explore and get more acquainted. Martin gave us a map with a detailed route. We had a lot of fun! In order to go onto the hills of Valparaiso you need to use an "acensor" which i guess is like a lift or elevator and you go almost vertically up! A lot of them have been in use for a long time and have lots of cool old pictures of the city. We walked around this little Bohemian neighborhood and took pictures of the views and more beautiful murals! I have yet to upload the pictures but its on my list of things to do. (For those of you who haven't seen, I have lots of pictures up on Facebook, I need to add them to Snapfish or something too!) We went into a little shop too and talked with the owners, who moved from Santiago to Valparaiso. They were very nice and explained where all the things in their shop came from. A lot of indigenous stuff from Bolivia, actually. We kept walking and came across an awesome place called Color Cafe. Its super hippie-dippie and bohemian. There was a sign that said something along the lines of "Machismo Muere" which means Machismo kills. This place was all for womens rights. It was cute. We all ordered Iced Chocolates. It was a mix of chocolate milk and a milkshake, I guess. I got mine in mint flavor and it tasted like Thin Mints :). We also ordered a fruit salad which they drizzled in chocolate. I guess that defeated the purpose of a healthy snack but it was worth it. Then we all got on the Micro to go home. Since I live in East Bumfuck Vina I was on the bus for a lot longer, but I made a friend! She was about 3 years old and showed me her cute little sunglasses. She kept asking her mom to speak English with me. Naturally the lady didn't know a word of English but we talked and the girl was adorable.

On Monday I spent the day at the CIEE office. I didn't have time to run home for lunch so mama brought me food at the office. She was so proud to have packed me apples with peanut butter! Everyone in the office couldn't believe I had found peanut butter. But I did and I missed it a lot! I hadn't seen Martin all day so he asked if I wanted to see a movie. We ended up going with a bunch of his friends to see The Hurt Locker. It was in English :). How much did I pay you ask??? 4 bucks. That was on sale, usually its expensive. And by expensive, Martin told me was 7 dollars!!! I plan on seeing a lot of movies here if its that cheap! Yesterday was my first class at the CIEE office. I am taking a class on Chilean and Latinamerican short stories. There are about 8 girls and a professor who is super cool. It doesn't sound overwhelmingly hard and it seems fun. Mama also took me to Starbucks yesterday! I got a raspberry mocha cuz I know how to say that in Spanish. Skinny Vanilla Latte is not on the menu in Spanish. I'll have to figure out how to say that, haha. We also went into the dance studio to find out available classes. I wanted to take Ritmos Tropicales which is relatively cheap and only for a few months. I asked about Jazz too but thats 5-6 months and 3 times a week, including a ballet intensive, which is mandatory for all who take class that isn't one of the specials like Ritmos Tropicales. Meanwhile, when I got there only myself and an old man had enrolled so the teacher didn't show. The director lady let me try beginner contemporary even though by then it was 15 minutes into the class. It was me and two other girls and the most beautiful dancer lady i've ever seen. We did yoga, pilates, and a combination. It lasted longer than scheduled: an hour and 45ish minutes. After the teacher asked me where I was from. I told her the US and she said that's what explained my blank looks after she explained things. She also asked me what I've studied cuz it appeared I had danced before. Besides for the language barrier, I was a little more advanced than the girls which was kind of cool. I am sore today! Then last night I went to the bar with a couple people for a little bit. I probably shouldn't go out tonight because I have class at 10am but I think Wednesdays are like Thursdays at home. We'll see.

Today I had my first class at La Catolica but it wasn't until 5:20. I managed to take the bus there successfully all by myself! It was Chilean and Latinamerican Literature 3 which is Contemporary Lit. I have read a number of the texts before. It's going to be tough but the prof makes the tests a little bit easier for the international students, of which there were many. I found another CIEE girl. I went to introduce myself to the prof and he asked if I was Jewish. He happens to be the only Jewish prof at the university!!! He gave me the phone number to the temple and said that Rabbi Rosenberg was very nice. He is going to Seder with friends but said to ask about the one the temple does. I think his class will be challenging but great. He also let us two CIEE girls have the syllabus (profs here don't hand them out). I need to figure out how to use the libraries here. You don't buy books, you go to the library and they photocopy it for you! There are also no due dates, just have the books read by the test dates. We'll see how that works out! The guy seems cool, nonetheless.

Tomorrow is a busy day but I think there are CIEE people in all my classes. This weekend we are going to Olmue for the orientation we never had. Sounds dumb. Apparently this town consists of 2 streets and we go there so we don't go out at night. Which sucks, cuz my friends from Santiago are coming to Vina this weekend....

Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Caroline