Finally feeling better

Last night, I was reminded in an email from my mother that it has been a few days since I updated you all on my adventures here. Honestly, Tuesday and Wednesday were more of the same. Nothing too exciting happening in the afternoons there. I’ve been attending my required workshops on Spanish writing, and it helps to have a little bit of last minute preparation for classes starting. I can’t believe it’s that time already, but I really am so excited. Honestly, it’s been sort of monotonous being here without a purpose. I feel like starting classes will help me to appreciate my free time more, and it will motivate me to do more things in the time I do have open for activities. I guess it all stems from my love of being busy.

Anyway, yesterday was a pretty full day for me between orientation in the morning and adventuring in the afternoon. The orientation at La Catolica was both professional and informative. We learned how to sign up for classes and how to get involved in a student group for foreign students that goes on excursions and hosts other events for us. They also gave us a planner (very much appreciated) and a course guide with maps in it (even more appreciated). The course guide also listed the office hours of the people in charge of class registration for different departments. That’s right, we have to register in person, on paper. As a person who loves to do EVERYTHING online, this blew my mind.  I am actually very scared of not getting into the classes I want, but for now, I am trying not to think about it. After examining the course guide, flipping through the class reviews from past CIEE students, talking to students at La Catolica, and looking at possible equivalents at Wisconsin I finally came up with a list of six classes I want to visit next week. I am hoping to take a Spanish communications course, a course called Great Authors taught by a supposedly awesome professor, a seminar on Latin American history, geography, and politics in the 20^th century, and a course on the culture and society of Latin America. It sounds like it could be a challenging semester, but I guess that is what I am here for-- to push myself and to learn more Spanish.

After the headache of scheduling was finally over, I walked around downtown with some friends. We decided to start our exploring by visiting a museum in Barrio Londres/ Paris. This museum turned out to be a house that had been the site of torture during the Pinochet dictatorship. I have to say; it was the most bare bones museum I had ever seen. The house had unpatched holes in the walls and the ceiling was peeling and there were barely any pictures or descriptions of what we were seeing. But it didn’t matter. The impact it had on me was even stronger than if it had looked just like every other museum. It was exceedingly haunting to stand in such a place and realize the amount of terror that had been inflicted on innocent people in those rooms only 30 years before. I can’t imagine how horrifying it would have been to live through the Pinochet era. The atrocities Pinochet committed are unforgivable, but I am glad to be in a place where I can learn about them. It’s amazing to me how little we learned about genocides and mass murders in the United States (excluding the Holocaust), but as somber as it is, I am proud to be broadening my understanding these kinds of issues in Chile.

After we had left the museum, we walked around the city a bit more and eventually wandered into the National Library. Let me tell you, it is a magnificent library. I would love to study there sometime, but I am afraid I would be distracted by the high ceilings and beautiful architecture. It would be so worth it though. After we finished traversing the library, we stopped at a café for delicious mochas and then headed back to the CIEE office. After the afternoon class session, I finally got my scores back from the placement test we all took about a week ago. It turns out that I won’t have to take the Spanish refresher course offered through CIEE, which made me very excited. Less excited about not having to take the class and more about the fact that I should be semi-prepared for my university courses. However, I was not so enthused to find out that while I had received a 95 percent on the written portion of the exam, I scored a mere 60 percent on the oral portion. Oops. Looks like I have a long way to go in terms of improving my speaking abilities. Still it’s good to know where I am at and to know in what areas I need to work harder.

After class a friend of Abing’s (my ex- cross country coach/ Spanish teacher) who is also studying at La Catolica this semester, told me about a party for exchange students that was being held at an infamous Chilean dive called “La Piojera”, so I agreed to meet him there in hopes of meeting more people at my university. When I finally arrived, the place was PACKED. We are talking standing room only. However, I did manage to get my hands on a terremoto since I was recommended to try one by everyone in my group. I’m going to be honest; I’m not a huge fan. Nonetheless, it was worth the trip to meet more people from not only the United States but also from Germany and Finland and Columbia. I hadn’t realized there were so many exchange students here, but apparently there are more than I thought. I was also introduced to a guy from Wisconsin, which shocked me since I thought that all Wisco students had to go through the CIEE program. Turns out he was from the business school, and they have a completely different program here. Go figure. I also struck up a conversation with a guy wearing a Minnesota Twins tee shirt. He was very excited that I had been able to identify the logo and told me that while he is from Chile, he spent a year as an exchange student at Burnsville high school back in 2007. Crazy! And not only that, but he told me that he is leaving in a week to study at none other than the University of Wisconsin- Madison for the next year. Small world! Of course, I requested that he find me on facebook so that we can hang out/ speak Spanish when I get back to the glorious town of Madison.

Anyway, I ended up talking to Abing’s friend, Ben, for most of the night and eventually we were both starving so we went to grab some food at a nearby café. I had some delicious Chilean street food called a churrasco. It’s basically just a bun with shredded steak, avocado, tomato, and a ton of mayo on it. I opted to eat mine without mayo, and the avocado really made it delicious. I’m definitely getting that again. When we were both full, we decided to meet up with his 27 year old Chilean roommate, Javier, to figure out what to do next. Javier drove from the grocery store to pick Ben and I up in his truck, and we all headed to a bar on the other side of town. While the bar usually charges a $12 cover, Ben and I were able to get in free for being Americans. Score. We all went in and chatted, and Javier taught us some more Chilenismos. It was a good time, and I liked being in such a relaxed atmosphere. However, by midnight it was finally time to go as Ben had orientation the next day, Javier had to work, and I had a doctor’s appointment, so Javier dropped me off at home safe and sound. On the whole, it was a pretty excellent night.

Today I had my third and final doctor’s appointment, and the crazy (but increasingly lovable) doctor told me that I am completely in the clear, so that was a total relief. It feels good to be almost back at full strength. Key word of course being almost. Although our class session today wasn’t the greatest (word to the wise: don’t choose to give a presentation on Chilean politics since everyone in Chile LOVES politics and therefore knows a ton about it), I am excited to go out to a concert tonight to see a cumbia band, and since I have never heard cumbia before it should be very interesting. Tomorrow I am hoping to get together with my host mom’s friend again to explore the city. However, I missed her call today, and I think I may have the wrong number for her, so it makes communicating kind of difficult. Oh how I am beginning to miss unlimited texting… Otherwise, things are good here. Finally starting to plan my trips and more importantly starting to feel at home.