2 Weeks in and Still Having a Blast!

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've been able to write an update for you all! These past two weeks have been packed full of me getting myself accostomed to the city, getting technical things taken care of with the Chilean Government (such as registering my Visa and getting a Chilean ID card), going to class every day, and planning trips in the near future.

(El Campus Oriente de La Universidad Católica,

the location for my ILP classes)

I guess I can start where I left off last, with EAP's (the UC Education Abroad Program) Orientation weekend, disguised as a vacation-y weekend away from the city, to Cajón del Maipo, an area southeast of Santiago in the Andean foot hills. That Friday, everyone was signed up in groups of 4 students to take their oral Spanish exam with the professors of our ILP (Intensive Language Program) classes for our final placements in the 3 leves of classes (intermediate, intermediate-advanced, and advanced). The oral exams were to make sure we were placed in the right level in concordance with the written exams that we had sent in about 2 months ago with our applications. We were scheduled to leave for Cajón del Maipo by 2:45 in the afternoon). My test was the last one that was scheduled at 12:45, so I had already brought my packed travelling backpack on the 25 minute walk to Campus. After my oral exam, I went with a couple of friends to a grocery store that was close by to get a couple of last minute things for the trip, including lunch, and we headed back to the Campus to wait for the busses that were to take us to our destination

(Left: my roommates in Cabaña F: Ali, Holly, and Rachel. 

Right: a bunch of kids from the program laying by the outdoor pool)

Speed ahead about an hour on the bus, we arrived at Rancho del Añil, a hotel of sorts, with cabins fit for 5 of us in a room, 2 pools -- one heated indoor one complete with a jacuzzi, and one out door one complete with a big water slide, and a main house that had a restaurant, bar, and pool tables. Thinking back on the weekend, I can barely remember how we passed the time, because almost every last minute of our stay was planned full of information meetings about the academic aspects of the program, as well as information regarding getting registered with the Chilean Government and the US Embassy in Chile, and some future travel plans that the program included. In the few hours of down time that were allowed, we spent mostly around the outdoor pool, and we were able to take a short hike in the hills that surrounded the Rancho. Our program Director, Heidi, told us at the beginning that one of the underlying purposes of the trip was also to get to know everyone in the Program, which I did! Since these are the people that I will be getting to know and travelling with for the next 6 months at least (because most of them will be leaving to go back to California after this semester) it was nice to meet everyone and get to know them a little bit before our ILP classes started.

(Left: a scenic view of the foothills from the hike we took.

Right: a super cool cactus we saw along the way!)

So we got back to Santiago on Sunday evening around 6:30, and I walked home to an empty house. It was nice for a while, because I was able to have some alone time to check my email, unpack, and relax a little bit. 

ILP classes started at 2pm on Monday afternoon, where I found out that I was put in the Advanced class, with a wonderful techer, Margot, who is from a city further south of Santiago, Valdivia. I really like my class. There are 16 students in total with Margot, and we spend the majority of the class reviewing different grammatical constructions, but in the terms of discussing interesting topics that pertain to living in Chile, like politics and daily news, etc. complete with new Chilean vocabulary! It will be especially helpful in preparing all of us to the speed of academic life when our University classes start. The class is pretty intense because we are in the classroom 5 days a week for 4 hours a day, and we have a couple hours of homwork to do on top of that, but so far, I have really been enjoying it.

One thing that I am excited about the class is our final project which involves taking a weekend "fieldtrip," of sorts, to a city outside of Santiago with a group of students to learn about the culture and history of the city to then present it to the rest of the group. The project will be 15% of our grade, which will be fun! I am in a smaller group of students now and we are still thinking about where we want to go so we can get bus tickets and reserve rooms in a hostel, so I will definitely be sending an update after that fun trip!

Apart from school, this week I had to wake up pretty early 3 days this week (considering I didn't have class until 2pm) to register my student Visa with the Chilean International Police, and go downtown to buy a round trip bus ticket to Brazil so I could get a tourist Visa to travel there in the 2 weeks I have off before I start my classes at the University of Chile (la Chile, for short). Things are still pretty relaxed, I've been spending a lot of time with the friends I made on the first few days here in Santiago, going to explore different parts of the city on the Metro, and planning future trips. Living with Alejandra, and having to go to class every day has been improving my Spanish immensely, and I'm looking forward to starting class at la Chile to make a base of solely Spanish-speaking friends. 

Well, I'm off to finish up my homework for class tomorrow, which will start at 9am, but I will let you all know how my "fieldtrip" goes next weekend! You can also look forward to pictures of Alejandra and Carolina, and my teacher, Margot!

Much love,

Amara