Still alive!

Hello again! I’m still alive! It may be hard to believe after three weeks. Sorry about that.

I am about to start a week of writing every night. Hopefully it will give you an idea of how my life is turning out here!

First, an update on what I’ve been up to for all this time. Three weeks ago I went skiing with the Tufts group in the Andes, at “El Colorado.”

It was really amazing! The mountains are incredibly beautiful. I kept forgetting where I was while I was skiing, and then suddenly looking up and realizing how high up I was, and how unreal the view was! It was so picturesque it looked fake. I tried out a really difficult slope at the end, which was exhilarating but unfortunately I had to slide to a stop and am only now recovering from the bruises on my leg!

That week I also had my first real week of classes. It was a very hectic week, since I was trying out more than twice the number of classes that I would actually take eventually. I went to an Experimental Video class, a Photography class, a Film Studies class, a Chilean History of Independence class, a Latin Am

erican Art and Politics class, my Spanish class, and a class titled “Public Politics of Decentralization and the Environment.” It was a very overwhelming week, since I not only had to go to all of these classes, but I had to find them all in various faculties throughout the city! I think I averaged at least one wrong micro bus taken and one completely lost moment each day. Luckily, I was able to narrow down my classes pretty quickly. The Video class ended up working out really well- the professor was very nice and there were only four of us in the class! It was supposed to meet for eight hours each week but it met twice for an hour each, which was much less intimidating. The Art and Politics class and the Film Studies class ended up being “gringo classes,” so I decided not to take them. History was fun, (the professor is crazy) but I found it very hard to understand him! Photography also seemed like fun, but I decided to choose Video since it seemed like I would learn more new material. And the Environment class… oh, the Environment class. It seemed so promising. Well, it still does… more on that in a bit.

And so I decided the next week that I would take the Video and Environment classes in addition to my Spanish class. My fourth credit will be an internship. During the week I started to organize the internship, but it ended up being challenging. I hoped to work with ECO, a very cool NGO that works to improve living conditions, education, and safety in various poblaciones (poor areas) of Santiago. Unfortunately, after meeting with the woman who runs the program in La Victoria where I hoped to work, I still haven’t been able to go there yet. I think I will be going this weekend though! The first step is to get to know the young people in the community so that it’s safe for me to go there, and later start to help them with projects they are working on with ECO. That said, I am starting to think that it is difficult to organize the trips there for each week, so I might end up going as a volunteer instead of as an intern (as an intern I have to clock 10

hours a week and write reports, etc.) Due to all of that, I tried out another internship last week. More on that later, too.

The following weekend I went to Algarrobo, a beachside town near Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, with my host sister and her friends. Her boyfriend Daniel has a house there right on the beach, and they had a party at the house for one of their friends who was leaving for Quito the next week. One of my friends decided to meet us there, but ended up getting stuck 45 minutes away in Valparaiso, so we went on a voyage to find her at one in the morning. It was quite the adventure but we made it! The next day we all went to breakfast at an empanada place and found an arcade on the same street. Very fun trip! It was great to get to know more of Javi’s friends (whole motley crew featured in the above photo!)

Last week I joined a soccer team! Crazy, I know. No, I don’t play soccer. But hey, now I will! I signed up with a few friends, thinking that we were signing up for a class, but it turned out that it was the government faculty’s team, and after practice they told us we could join! How ridiculous. I absolutely loved it. We are only going to make it to one of three practices a week, and the games, but apparently that’s just fine. On Tuesdays, the day I will be going, the guys’ and girls’ teams do lots of physical conditioning exercises together (aka a LOT of running) and lots of little games and things that actually end up being a really good workout. At the end we separate and actually play soccer. After the first practice I came back extremely sore but SO HAPPY! I am really excited to go back tomorrow. Everyone was so nice, and I have already started running into my teammates when I go to my Environment class at the government faculty!

What else happened last week… I would actually say that it was my first realll week of classes, because everyone had settled in and we actually started having assignments and discussions in class. I finally started to actually know what direction my classes were in, and only got lost once! A miracle! I also met with my tandem partner Gerson for the first time. We were paired up by the University to help each other with English and Spanish. He was really nice and we’re meeting again tomorrow- I’m hoping this will help me with the Chilean slang! I do feel like my comprehension of Chilean Spanish has improved quite a lot since I arrived, though some people are still difficult to understand.

This weekend I helped Karla move out to her new apartment. She is one of Javi’s friends from Northern Chile who was staying with us for a while until she found an apartment so she could study in Santiago. Javi, Karla and I spent much of Friday attempting to navegate the crowded buses with tupperwares, suitcases, blankets and boxes in hand. It was quite a funny experience. That night, I went out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant, and then to Bellavista to check out the nightlife there! Loveee the Reggaeton they play here at the discos!

Saturday, I tried out a new internship- this one at Nuestra Casa, a permanent or temporary home for men who are getting over drug or alcohol dependency or need a place to stay for some reason. Megan, Becca and I spent the afternoon cleaning up the house with some of the guys, and got to know the two women who work there. It was really nice and looks promising. That night I spent the night at Megan’s house to plan our trip to Peru. I had a fun time getting to know her family and her five year old sister Josefa!

Now that you're all caught up, I'll start on today in the next post.