Last Saturday we had a group tour of Valparaiso, a neighboring town which used to be (and maybe still is??) the most important port in South America. All in all, the city looks pretty much like Vina del Mar with the multicolored houses covering the hills, uneven sidewalks, and wonderful ocean views. A professor from Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (the university I am attending) was our tour guide but she was a pretty soft spoken so only a few people could here what she was saying. Anyway, it was fun to see a bit of the town and walk around with the group. One fun thing we did in Valparaiso was ride the acensores (lift/elevator things that take you up the hill.

Friday-Sunday my cell phone was not working. Whenever I tried to make a call or send a text message, I was told that the chip in my phone didn't belong to my phone, which it really didn't but the strange thing is the phone had worked just fine earlier. Eventually my parents helped me get it figured out, I think they called the 800 number or something. Now I have the phone my mom had been using but apparently my chip belonged to that phone...anyway, I now can have a fully functional phone.

On Sunday, Marcia (the older daughter) and Glen (her Gringo husband) came over/down (they live in the same apartment building) for lunch. I guess they come over every Sunday. It was nice to finally meet them. I had seen them in passing before but hadn't officially met them. They are both very nice and are the directors of an international studies program. For dessert, Marcia and Glen brought a walnut coffee cake like thing and vanilla ice cream. They called it a Gringo dessert because there was both ice cream and cake. I found that very interesting. Another interesting tidbit is that cake here does not have frosting or icing unless it is a birthday cake. My mom has made lemon bundt cake twice and simply puts a little powdered sugar on top.

Today Serina, Ana and I went to check out rowing. After changing in a sketchy bathroom we all got in separate boats and were shown how to paddle correctly. We practiced the strokes for awhile with the tail end of our boats on the beach so we wouldn't go anywhere. At the end we got to go for a quick spin on the lagoon. It was fun but I certainly have a long ways to go.

Here are a few more pictures of my house.

This has to be the smallest kitchen I have ever seen!

Yesterday it rained all day, just like the day I arrived. There were rivers and lakes in some of the streets so needless to say, after walking 10 blocks to a cafe to discuss senior seminar homework and then back home, I felt like I had wadded through a foot deep stream. Today on the other hand was beautiful, hardly a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, it just started to rain again so hopefully it doesn't stick around for too long.

Week One

I have now been in Chile for one week, on one hand I can't believe its been a week already but on the other hand I feel like I have been here for awhile, I guess I am getting used to life in Chile. I have decided that the metro is the best way to travel whenever possible. It is much easier to use and a little more accountable than the buses which don't really have a schedule, they just come when they come and are often very full, especially in the morning. Today I got/bought my student metro pass so I will get half off the price of the metro from now on so that is good and will save a bit of money since I will ride the metro at least twice a day if not more. In about a week we will get our bus passes so when I can't ride the metro I can get a discount on the bus. I'm still working on which buses to take where.

On Tuesday night almost the whole group went out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called Margaritas. My table got two fajita platters to share- they were delicious!! The chips and guac were great too. I cannot even begin to guess how much avocado I have eaten since I have been here but they have it at least twice a day (usually breakfast and onces). One thing we got a kick out of was on the menu, which was translated into English, it listed acid cream as a condiment. Acid cream is really sour cream just poorly translated, we laughed about this all night... please pass the "acid cream"- ha ha ha

On Wednesday our group took a quick trip (6 hours in total) to Santiago to see the premier of a documentary called El Largo Exilio de Ariel Dorfman: Una voz contra el olivido (A Promise to the Dead). It was shown at La Moneda which is the Chilean equivalent to the White House. It was a big deal. One of our directors was a student of Dorfman's at Duke and that is why we were able to go. It was a quick but fun trip. The bus ride there was neat because unlike on the way to Vina del Mar (when it was raining) we got to see the snow capped mountians, vineyards, etc.

Our directors Christina and Corey and their two kids, Matilda- not quite 2 months and Felix who is 3.

Today we went to a welcome bbq at the school. It was pretty fun but since it was only for students in "humanities" there weren't a ton of people. A few profs came too. At the bbq (asado) they had these huge sausages (not sure of their name), hot dogs and burgers. Of the three (yes we all ate everything) the sausages were the best. It was interesting b/c a lot of the music they played was American but from the 90s.

After a week of class, I have decided I have my work cut out for me, especially in senior sem. We are going to be reading a ton and have 200 or so pages for next week along with a writing assignment. The readings are not easy either, they are very intellectual and dense. I'll also have many other tests, research projects and papers for my other classes, so much for an easy study abroad. I think history and cine will be my favorite classes. Literature will be interesting to say the least, the prof is an interesting guy and to top it all off he is the brother of one of our Spanish profs at CSB.

Today was the first day of class. I had Chilean cinema and the History of Chile. I will have both classes again tomorrow, only cinema will be at 8:00 instead of 9:30 :( They were good classes and the History prof seems like he was really excited and into what he was teaching so that was good. After class we tried to sign up for sports but that turned out to be an adventure, we were told may things by a variety of people. Some said the registration was closed, others said you didn't need to sign up and others said to just show up and sign up... I am thinking about joining jogging and rowing. The group that went in search of rowing today had quite an adventure and it sounds like there might be room on Wednesdays... Eventually we'll figure it out. Today I learned about the buses. I took a bus to and from school. It is pretty easy but you have to know which number bus to take. Luckily my mom made me a list of which buses to take to get to school. Tomorrow I will figure out how to get to the beach for jogging, unfortunalety it is farther than school. All the sports activities are in different places. Jogging is on the beach, rowing is at the lagoon, other activities are in Valparaiso, etc. Soon we will get our student passes which will but the bus rate to 1/2-1/3 of the normal price so that will be good.

The food here so far has been good. Nothing too surprising or strange. Dinner has been the same thing everynight, only they don't call it dinner (or cena) but onces, which is more like tea time or a light meal. It is always bread (baguettes and other good bread) with avocado, cheese, sliced turkey, crackers, tea or coffee. Sometimes we have jam or dulce del membrillo (?quince jelly). Breakfast is basically the same thing, although I have had cornflakes twice. I hope dinner changes a little bit as time goes on but I have a feeling it won't. Lunch on the first day was beef with spaghetti, bread (always, always bread. A meal is not complete without bread), some cooked spinach dish, tomatoes and ice cream. Twice I have had chicken with rice, salad, tomato and bread. Yesterday we had beef stew.

Yesterday I went to church at 10:30 with my mom, she was nice enough go with me even though they normally only go to church for important holy days and funerals. After church I went with my dad and the daughter's dog to el Sporting (big sports complex) to run. After that a met up with a bunch of other students and we walked to the beach where there were some craft stands set up. We also had lunch on the beach at a little restaurant/stand. I had a completo (hot dog in a huge bun smoothered in tomato, avocado and mayo, I think they can also come with ketchup and mustard but this one did not.) It was good but maybe a bit too much tomato. I think there was a whole avocado on top to the completo! Others had hamburgers and churrascos, which we think were roast beef sandwhiches. Next to our table was a little power wheels race track that was extremely entertaining. Little kids on powerwheels are cheap entertainment :) After walking around on the beach for awhile we went to the mall to buy phones and printer paper. Here printing is free but you have to bring your own paper. Then it was time to head home. My walk, with two other guys, was a little over an hour. Needless to say, we got our exercise in yesterday.

Today was cloudy again and tomorrow is suppose to be cloudy too. Yesterday it was sunny and warm, but today felt more like October.

Here is a picture of my bed, nightstand and dresser/desk (on the left).

My closet and tv, complete with a VCR player and tape player :)

The wonderful view out my bedroom window. The orange building is part of the building I live in.

Hill in the background of previous photo. All the hills are like this, it is pretty amazing

Avenida Limanche (around 6:00), It is dark by about 7:00 here but will stay light longer as time goes on.

Some awesone sand sculptures on the beach

Here are two pictures that I took today while at school.

I have arrived

Yesterday we got to Chile around 11:30 but did not get to Vina until 3:00 or so due to a few complications with airport security, it's kinda a long story but in short, don't bring an apple through customs in Chile, especially without declaring it. We road the bus for 1.5 hours from Santiago to Vina and met our families. Basically we got off the bus and went our separate directions. It was pouring the whole day yesterday so it wasn't really a good time to stand around and chat. Today started out cloudy but now it is sunny and warmer (in the sun).
My apartment is pretty basic but nice. There is a living room, dining room, bathroom, office, 3 bedrooms and the smallest kitchen I have ever seen. My room has a bed, closet, dresser/desk, small table, and a tv (with vcr).
This morning we got a tour of the campus. There are a couple buildings, a courtyard, a library, etc. It seems nice and look right at the ocean. School starts on Monday!

On August 14th I will be leaving for Vina del Mar, Chile. I will be studying there for the fall semester and returning just before Christmas. While in Chile I will be living with a family (mom, dad, 2 daughters (one who is 35 and lives at home and one who is married and lives nearby). I will try to send emails and upload photos as often as possible. Also, if anyone has skype and wants to talk or IM (through skype) my skype name is emily.buggy