Tarea, tarea, tarea

Tarea = homework

Unfortunately, life hasn't been too exciting here for the past couple of days. However, I think we've all appreciated the time to relax, get to know our families better, explore the cities and relax.

On Sunday, I slept in! It was the first chance we've had to sleep in, which was super nice. Over the weekend, from my film and literature class, we had about 65 pages of reading. It was pretty intense. So, on Sunday I read about 40 pages (all in Spanish) cause I'd read the rest on Friday and Saturday. I also got to watch some TV and read, for leisure, which made me happy. We had a huge family lunch with our Chilean grandfather, grandmother from the other side of the family, host brother and his friend, Christine, host dad, host mom and María. I tried mini-shrimp in an avocado with salad. They were pretty good and super fresh! However, something about the seafood here doesn't sit too well with my stomach. Everything in moderation! I hung out with María a bit and organized all my things a bit better at night.

On Monday, classes again! In my film and literature class, we were assigned a short reading with comprehension questions and a paper. We were all surprised that our paper had to be 4-6 pages, 1.5 spaced cause we only had four days to do it. The expectations are so different here than in the United States! For my Spanish classes this past year, I had about a month to write a paper that long! It's crazy, but I worked on that basically all afternoon Monday and Tuesday. I'm done early, so that's great!

On Tuesday, Rachael, Tori and I went to get our student metro cards officially! I think it's so funny here because when people realize we're from the United States, they want to try speaking English with us, so they're speaking English to us and we're speaking Spanish back to them. But, like I said, I worked on my paper for basically the rest of the afternoon. I reorganized a bit and edited it myself.

Today has been really good! I should mention that the sun has been shining brightly since Monday morning! The ocean after the rain was absolutely incredible. I didn't really get any great pictures because I only saw it when I didn't want to take my camera out, like on the metro, but the waves were huge and it was beautiful. Anyway, in my conversation and culture class today we went to "la feria." This is an outdoor market of a size I have never seen. The fruits, vegetables and flowers are so big, cheap and fresh! The prices in the supermarket here, Jumbo, are two times what they were in the market! We got to go around and see fruits/vegetables we hadn't seen before and talk to people. It was great. Then, Rachael and I went to Jumbo to buy some things we've been craving (for me-chocolate and juice). I also found a loofah here! I know that's silly, but I could not find one ANYWHERE, and I got so excited. Hahaha.

Rachael and I worked on our essays at her host family's house after that, and we edited each other's. We had some delicious pasta and vegetables with JUICE. My family only really drinks water and tea, so I was excited. Then we read the first 20-30 pages of a novel called "El cartero de Pablo Neruda" or "The Mailman of Pablo Neruda." It's a fictional work that's about 130 pages in all. We have to read it all for Tuesday. Crazy, crazy professors! It's a lot of work, but it does help our Spanish. I Skyped my mom and brother a bit. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!!! Then, I had dinner with my host family and am now updating this! Rachael and I may go out to a café, but it's hard on school nights cause we're all so exhausted! We'll see.

I hope that everyone is doing well, and I can't wait to here from you all! Have a great last day of May :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures, as well.