Back to Kindergarten

Today was, shall we say, a bit of a difficult day.  At least parts of it.   But let me first tell you about yesterday:

Yesterday was orientation day at the University!  The University has multiple buildings (campuses?) throughout Chile, but we are at the location in Valparaíso called “Casa Central”.  It is one big building with extremely Classical architecture; very beautiful and very old.  It is an open building, with courtyards inside and the classrooms around the outside, so the size is deceiving from the street (at least to me!). 

And yesterday, I felt like I was in kindergarten, not that it was all bad.  As part of our homestay, we get three meals a day, but since we have classes during lunch time, everyone gets a sack lunch from our mamá.  Lunch in Chile is the biggest meal of the day (by far!), so it has been an interesting adjustment for my body to change meal times and sizes, because I am accustomed to smaller meals throughout the day with snacks of fruit between my meals.  So far, the meals I have had (both at home, and packed for lunch) have been delicious, but very different from “typical” American meals.

Also for our first day at the University, our mamás took us to school!  There are a few different options for public transportation throughout ValparaÍso and Viña, some crazier than others, so our families have been showing us how to use them.  For me, I walk 5 minutes to the Metro, and go two stops to get off at the University.  Today, for the first day of actual classes, I was able to get to school without my mamá, and I didn’t get lost!  That is a great accomplishment for the day!

I will be taking two classes at the University for the next month: one about Latin American literature and movies from the perspective of indigenous populations, and the other about the sociopolitical history of Latin America.  I think these will be interesting classes, although I know I will have lots of reading to do for each class.  My professors seem to be really nice, although I am noticing even more differences in Chilean Spanish.  For example, my history professor likes to drop almost all his consonants from words.  Today, “libertades” (= freedoms or liberties) became “lihetae”.  Try listening to that for an hour and a half.  Bueno suerte.

After our classes today, we took a tour of parts of Viña del Mar, the city I am living in. In the last two days, I have seen: a public garden, the Plaza de Viña, the mall, the beach, a supermarket, artesian shops, multiple Metro stations, earthquake evacuation routes (just in case of a tsunami warning), and about a thousand stray dogs.  Okay, maybe not a thousand, but there are lots of strays here.  I. Am. Exhausted.

Oh, and have I mentioned how cold it is here?  Today, I felt like a marshmallow with the number of layers I was wearing.  The only warm places I have found so far are the crowded Metros, and my bed when I get under the down comforter… I think I have found my preferred warm spot in Viña!