My First Week of Classes

Sorry for my lack of updating this week, everyone! It has been crazy busy starting classes and going on tours in the afternoon. I have lots of new pictures to show and lots to tell about my classes though!

On Wednesday, we started classes. Rachael, Taryne and I took the metro to Valparaíso where our university is. My first class of the day starts at 10:05 am and lasts until 11:35 am. It's called "Latin American Film and Literature" with my professor, Marisol Galilea. It seems like it'll be an interesting class, although there's quite a bit of reading. We're going to be focusing on the idea of "the other"and how they've been portrayed in literature and film, which I think is really interesting. We're starting by reading selections from Rigoberta Menchú's book, "Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia."

In my next class, "Chilean Conversation and Culture," my professor, Virna Díaz, is super bakán (cool). We just talked about where we're from, what we like to do and why we decided to come to Chile on Wednesday. After class, we went to the ISA office, which is across the street from our university, to eat lunch that our families packed. We also rode the metro to the Viña del Mar station to try to get our student metro cards for way cheaper. It's kind of complicated though, and we have to wait to get them for a little bit. We returned to Valparaíso to walk around the university some, and then we took a tour of Viña with ISA.

First, we went to "el Parque Quinta Vergara." It's a beautiful park that was founded by the Vergara family. There's a huge house that they used to live in, as well as an amphitheater for huge music concerts. It was really cool and gorgeous.

Parque Quinta Vergara-walkway

The same day we also went to an artisan market in Viña where they had lots of cool scarves, sweaters, mugs and other touristy things. We took a tour bus to Reñaca, also, and watched the sunset on the beach. It was a little chilly, but very nice.

Yesterday, we took the metro again to class. We discussed geography and climate in my conversation class. Rachael, Liz and I hung out at the ISA office for lunch and to do homework. Thank goodness I finished it cause it was quite a lot! Then we got to go on a tour with our university in small groups. Karen, our Chilean student who took us around, brought us up "Cerro Alegre." It took us up one of the large hills in Valparaíso with beautiful views. We walked along many streets to see shops, churches, boutiques and coffee shops. Then we took "Cerro Concepción" down to ride the trolleybus back to the ISA office.

Rachael and I went out to a really cool, cheap bar last night with Christine, my American roommate, her friend, Melissa, and Melissa's Chilean host brother. We watched some of the Chilean soccer game against Paraguay, tried the drink called "terremotos," and learned how to take the micros and colectivos. I liked watching soccer and the "terremotos" were pretty good, but very sweet. Overall, it was a really fun night, and I liked getting to know Christine and Melissa more.

Finally, our last day of class for the week! We talked about all the cultural differences between the United States and Chile in my conversation class. It was an in-depth conversation that really made me consider why we have different customs. It was very interesting. It's been raining like crazy today, so Taryne and I went with Rachael to buy an umbrella. Then we took the metro to the Miramar station. We walked quite a bit to find a good, open place to eat. I had a pizza with beef, eggs, tomatoes and bacon on top. It was delicious! Rachael and I hung out for a bit at my house, trying to plan weekend trips, but it proved to be much more difficult than we expected. We're not sure what we'll be doing yet tonight because of the rain and because we're so tired. However, I'm excited to relax for now and rest. Sorry for the long update! Miss you all.