Photos as promised

So this is what I have been up to this month (and a little bit of last month, oops.)

Never a dull moment

Once again, there has been quite the delay between updates. Things are really starting to pick up speed here, and it becomes increasingly difficult to find an hour to sit and blog about what I am doing. However, I think it is definitely important to keep everyone informed and to help me remember what all has happened in this crazy Chilean life of mine.

Well, I think I last updated you all about the soccer game, but I am not going to back nearly that far because sadly, we lost. Though two people on my team did get red cards and the goalie (el amor de mi vida) got a yellow card, which was pretty awesome. Plus after the game two of our players almost punched the referees. Anyway, later that same week, on the 29^th of September I was scheduled to have my final scan done. Max accompanied me to the hospital, and we left right after class since my scan was at 2 pm. As with most things in my Chilean life, it did not go according to plan. It turned out that I didn’t have the correct medical order to be able to have the scan done, so I had to head up to neurology to get said form from my doctor. We then found out that my doctor was out of the country and would not be returning until Tuesday, which was pretty upsetting since he not only neglected to give me the necessary forms but also because it meant that he wouldn’t be able to examine my scans right away. Finally, we got a different doctor to write me the form and headed back down to radiology to get the scan done, which turns out was the kind that required me to be injected with dye to help them see my brain activity. NOT OKAY for a person who is afraid of needles. By the time the whole ordeal was over I was pretty hysterical, thanks to the frustrating system coupled with not eating for many hours (I was told not to because of the scan). Anyway, it was definitely one of the low points of my experience here so far, but thankfully Max prevented me from totally losing it.

Since I couldn’t get an appointment with my doctor, I still wasn’t cleared to exercise and therefore couldn’t go on the bike trip that CIEE planned for us around the city that Saturday. Instead Max and I took a very very leisurely hike up Cerro San Cristobal on October 1^st. The views were spectacular, and the weather was great for hiking. I’ll post pictures later for sure, so you can see what I’m talking about. I would really like to take the funicular up as well though since it looked like a lot of fun, so I may force my parents and Grandmother to do that with me when they come visit. Nothing quite like a monorail up a huge hill. At the top of the hill there are people playing instruments and selling touristy things, and Max and I took it all in for awhile as we sat under the GIANT statue of the Virgin Mary. It was a pretty great day on the whole, and I would definitely love to go back up there (or at least explore some of the other excellent views in the city). The next day Max and I took a nice walk through Parque O’Higgins, and I got inspired to go paddle boating in there some time. The park is like a sketchier version of Central Park, but I think it merits some rundown paddleboat fun nonetheless. Plus, there is a giant fountain right outside the park with tons of kids playing in it that would be very tempting to jump into on a hot day. Not going to lie, I almost did it that Sunday.

On Monday the 3^rd, Max and I returned to the hospital to pick up my scans and decided to take our chances and try to make an appointment with a random doctor, upon finding out that my neurologist (freaking Pablo Reyes) had no available appointments for another 16 days (!!!!). Yeah, it turns out Pablo is the only inaccessible neurologist in the building (we saw him walking around typing on his Blackberry, clearly he was not a. in another country or b. incredibly busy), and we were able to meet with a perfectly competent doctor, who told me that everything looked perfectly fine, and that I could return to life as normal! I was basically beaming, and Max and I sprinted out of the hospital to celebrate. It was an amazing feeling to know that I am totally okay. It makes me happier than words can describe. Really.

Needless to say, it was a week filled with celebrations. I went out to dinner with Max on Tuesday night and had amazing Peruvian style ceviche (mmmm), and the next night some friends and I went to a bar in Bellavista and to a dance club. The next morning though I had to get up bright and early to register my Chilean visa. NOT FUN. So much waiting in lines and dealing with bureaucracy. However, I’m glad to have that out of the way and be able to stay in this country for the next few months legally. Thank goodness. Then it was off to class and then to take a nap (I had gotten up at 6 am) before Jo got into town. Yep, that’s right, Jo was in Santiago this past weekend. Thursday was a pretty rough day on the whole, what with discussing legal matters, having a conversation with my host mom about our house rules, and more flurries of activity on minimal sleep, but Friday was MUCH better. Jo and I had a girls day complete with sushi (delicious, though it gave me stomach trouble later), pedicures, a chat with Lauren Harden, and thus all was made right again in the world. We topped off the night by heading to a bar in town along with poor Max, who couldn’t eat or drink because of Yom Kippur. My host mom actually asked him why he endures such torture, not realizing that it was for religious purposes. Haha. 

I spent the rest of this long weekend with Jo and her friends from Vina, Gabe and Emily hanging around Santiago. On Saturday we went to a party at my friend, Felipe’s house, and I had an excellent time. Max enjoyed it too since by that point, he and I had broken his fast by stuffing our faces at the Chinese buffet in town. Not going to lie, I always like mixing different groups of friends, and it was nice to mingle with everyone. Unfortunately, yesterday was spent studying for my first exam of the semester, but studying with Max (aka me studying and Max reading ESPN) made it much more entertaining. I think the test went pretty well, though I most likely didn’t need to study at all. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

School here is pretty ridiculous. I have kind of given up on learning anything substantial. In all of my classes I have only two to three graded assignments throughout the semester. I go to all of the lectures, and I take pretty good notes, but sometimes I actually miss the intellectual stimulation of Wisconsin. Not that this is a critique of PUC as a whole, I just think the classes that foreigners are recommended to take are probably some of the less rigorous ones. I mean, it’s not like I am taking upper level engineering or anything like that. Still, the best learning experience I can take from this semester is knowledge about life. That sounds really cliché and stupid, but I actually mean it. This experience has taught me to roll with the punches. I can say for a fact that most of things that have happened to me so far I never would have expected in a million years. Arriving to the country with strep throat, being surrounded by months of strikes and student protests, having to register for classes in an unstable and confusing environment, getting hit by a car, learning a completely foreign healthcare system, and somehow ending up obscenely happy and healthy in spite of it all. I don’t know. It’s changed how I see myself, for sure. This week we had a meeting with our CIEE program directors to discuss all of our experiences so far, and I shared that one of my highlights so far this trip came after getting hit by a car. Sure it was scary, and I would never want to go through it again, but it proved to me that I really do know Spanish. I was able to communicate and get what I needed in that hospital for thre greater part of three days without any help (giving credit where credit is due to Patricio for dealing with all of the paperwork and legal processes). I just felt like I had succeeded at what I came here to do. I still have a lot to learn, but I would say I AM a Spanish speaker, gringa accent and all. I don’t know, it just makes me proud of what I have accomplished.

Anyway, life is good otherwise. I have some more celebrating to do on Friday, and I am hoping to play soccer that day as well. Oh and eat Friday lunch with the girls, of course. I have yet to go on a run since the accident, but since tomorrow marks five weeks, I think it will be a great day to go on my first one. Plus, I think Max may come with, which will hopefully keep me from freaking out too much at crosswalks. Other than that, I have been missing American food something fierce recently. It has gotten so bad that I actually compiled a list of things I want to eat when I get back to the states. Priority number one: Chipotle, followed closely by Davannis. Yummmmmmmm. I’m sorry, but Chileans just can’t make tasty food. Someone needs to show them how to flavor things. Seriously.

Well, now to plan some trips and catch up on reading. Life really does move too fast. Sometimes I can hardly believe it.