The start of school and a trekking trip in the Andes!

Hola!!

Since Friday, I have officially been in South America for 2 months and Santiago is finally starting to feel like my home. This past week I finally finalized my schedule of classes (I decided to take the poetry class about Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, and the History of Latin American Theater class) which has been a big sigh of relief because I can finally settle into a routine. I really love my schedule because I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving Monday, Wedesday, and Friday free to do my internship, homework, and traveling! 

Last week, with the start of school came start-of-school activities such as a big trip to the beach, Cartagua, with almos the entire Universidad de Chile. It was crazy! At about ten in the morning, my friends and I met at the main campus to catch a bus to take us to the beach. By the time we got there, it was so crowded that it was hard to find a good place to sit and enjoy the beautiful day.

Last weekend (the 21-22nd), I went on a trekking trip with about 20 other students with our EAP program. We left early Saturday morning to get to our campsite in the foothills of the Andes and after lunch we set off on a hard, 3 hour hike up hill to a glacier! The struggle to make it up to the top where the glacier was was totally worth it because when we got up there, we were able to see big chunks of the glacier break off into the surrounding lagoon! It was so awesome! The sound was so loud, and we could here it starting to crack before pieces of it actually broke off. 

The hike back seemed just as hard going down hill as the hike up to the glacier because it started to get dark, making the uneven trail really hard to see. There were a few small rivers we had to cross on the way, and I definitly misstepped a couple of times, soaking my feet in freezing water! Only having my regular tennis shoes was also not the best on this hike. The big, loose rocks and uneven path along the way killed my ankles and feet making it really hard to continue walking to camp. It was really dark by the time we got to camp, and getting really cold! We ate a dinner of raviolis and went to bed almost immediately after that, being so exhausted after a 6 hour hike. I had bought a really cheap sleeping bag (about $10 at the local grocery store) before I went to Brazil, and I learned why it was so cheap! I was so cold that night in the tent, even though I had put on extra layers, that I could barely sleep! Next time I go camping I am definitley going to borrow a better sleeping bag to fight off the cold of the mountains.

The next morning, we got up and ate a very chilean breakfast of yogurt and cookies, and set off again on a down-hill hike to a small town where we stopped for lunch. The down hill hike on the similar uneven, rocky path, did not do anything to help my ankles, and they were hurting so bad by the time we got to the bottom that I opted to stay behind on the last hike to a different lagoon with my friend, Sonya, who had hurt her knee. The afternoon was spent very lazily while we waited for the rest of the group to come back, which was nice after such a hard day! When the group retuned around 5, they recovered a little bit and we bussed back to Santiago by 7:30pm.

Over all, I'm really glad I went on the trip. The sights were so beautiful and I feel so lucky to have witnessed such a cool phenomenon as the glacier breaking! I'm a little bummed that I had to sit the last hike out, but now I know that I need to be a little bit more equipped in the foot wear department for my next hike. 

Trekking Trip to El Morado

In other news, last Wednesday one more girl moved into our apartment! Her name is Cyndi, and she is from Orange County, CA, but goes to Pace University in New York. Here in Santiago, she goes to the same Universidad del Pacifico as my 2 Spanish roommates, and she is really nice. I was a little worried that having another Californian in the house because I thought it would make me not speak as much Spanish, but becasue Cyndi is Mexican and Dominican, she is already used to speaking Spanish all the time at home, so Spanish is still the only language that is spoken in our place! 

Things are continuing to settle in, and within the next few weeks, I have a couple of trips to look forward to: one with my roommates to the mountains agian, and then one for easter break!

Catch up with you all later!

Amara

Settling into Santiago

So it's been 2 weeks since I've been back from Brazil, and life in Santiago is finally settling down. My first week back, I told you all that I moved out of my home stay into an apartment in a very busy part of the city, Providencia, with a young chilean couple, Vania (22) and Matias (25), and since then, 4 new roommates have moved in! 2 French students, Nicolas and Damien (both 22), and 2 Spanish students, Patricia (24) and Mónica (20). We are 7 people in total, and it couldn't be more fun! Since I've moved in (I was the first foreign student to claim a room), we've been sharing dinners and taking turns cooking for eachother, and it really feels like we're a family already. 

Our apartment couldn't be in a better location, either. We are right in between 2 metro stops and a fairly big bus terminal where busses from all over Santiago stop, so transportation is super easy. The public transportation system in Santiago, Transantiago, is actually fairly new. In 2006, Michele Bachelet, Chile's current president, governmentalized the previously privately-owned bus system to make a new one that united the Metro and bus systems and, according to Santiaguinos, has been nothing but problems. Some things about the new system have been good, like the implementation of the Bip! card (named so because of the noise it makes), which is a card that you put money on flash in front of a little box on the busses or the metro to get on. This was good because before, there were a lot of robberies on busses, because the bus drivers carried all the cash that people paid with. However, the bad part about Transantiago is that literally over night, Santiago went from having 9 thousand busses on the streets to 2 thousand, which sent people down to the previously unoccupied metros, and making everything, both busses and metros more croweded. Also, with the new system came different bus routes, eliminating a lot that would take people directly to their destinations, meaning that now people have to get up much earlier so they can get to work on time, making a lot of transfers. Above all, Transantiago is much more expensive than the old system, making the Santiaguinos even more mad. For me, I do notice that a lot of times busses will pass me by while I'm waiting because their too crowded, and other times, I have to wait for a few metros to pass for the same reason, so I can actually get on, but for the most part, it takes me where I need to go, and in a couple of weeks I'm going to get a "pase escolar" which is a student Bip! card, which will save me a lot of money on transportation, which I use almost every day.

Speaking of getting a student pass for Transantiago, I started school this week! But let me tell you, it was super stressful to try and figure out my schedule. We all had an academic advising schedule last week, so we could look at the schedule of classes (which was by no means finalized) so we could make a list of some classes that interested us, so we could check them out. At the Universiy of Chile, students have 2 weeks to "shop" for classes before they finalize their schedules, so I went to about 6 classes this week, even though I will only be choosing 2. In total this semester, I will have 3 classes (one is a mandatory class from my EAP program called Culture and Politics in Chile and an internship with English Opens Doors. Right now I'm still trying to decide which classes I will take but I've narrowed my choices down to 3 (an Art History class about Latinamerica's colonial period, a History of Latinamerican Theater class, and a Pablo Neruda/Gabriela Mistral Literature class), so after a call to my academic advisor in Santa Barbara next week, I will have a real schedule!

In other news, I went on an adventure yesterday when I didn't have class, to find the University's pool because I was thinking about also signing up for a swimming class. And good news! I found it and swam for the first time in about 3 months! The pool, luckily, is located right across the street from a metro stop, so it will be really easy for me to get there. Also, they have free swim periods, that students don't have to pay for, every day. In other good news, during these free swim periods, they have people standing on the deck that give work outs to people that want them, so basically, I will be able to get a free work out, with out the committment of having to attend a class! I won't get units for it of course, but I think it will be a great way to meet new people, and have fun!

Today, once all my roommates get up, we're going to take a trip together to La Vega, which is a big market that has fresh fruits and veggies, to shop for the week, and later this afternoon, we're going to have an asado (BBQ) on Cerro San Cristóbal with a bunch of other friends, so it should be a very nice day.

Attatched are some views of the city that I've been taking, and I hope you enjoy them!

Settling into Santiago

O meu Brasil!

Hey everyone! I still haven't gotten my pictures back from my disposable cameras, but I thought I would write this post because I know you all are anxious to hear about my trip to Brazil (I'll send out an email for you all to check out the rest of the pictures on my Picasa page when I get them all up). 

First of all, the day I left on my trip was quite a stressful start to my adventure! On Monday, the 16th of Febuary, I was booked to be on a plane at 2pm to go from Santiago to Salvador de Bahía (with a short lay over in São Paulo), after only finalizing my travel plans very early Sunday morning (thanks to my mom and a very good travel agent in Berkeley). On Sunday I was super busy getting everything ready and doing last minute shopping before my big day, and I barely got any sleep. On Monday before I was able to leave, I woke up SUPER early because I had to pick up my Chilean ID card from their DMV type office (to make it easy to get back into the country), and I still had to pick up my Brazilian tourist visa from the Brazilian Consulate in Santiago (so I could actually go on the trip!). Both offices are located downtown, which is about a 20 minute metro ride from my homestay, so I had to leave at about 7:30 in the morning to get everything done on time. I ordered a shuttle service to pick me up from the Consulate down town take me to the airport, and let me tell you I walked out of the Cosulate with my visa in hand just 5 minutes before I was supposed to get picked up. 

Luckily, with having a very planned out and smooth morning, I made it to my flight with a little time to relax and write a couple of postcards to send. I landed in Salvador at about 10:30pm and took a taxi to a previoulsy arranged Pousada (a guest house) in the area called Porto da Barra, which was right on the beach!

After an amazing night's sleep in a comfortable bed in an air-conditioned (!!) room I woke up to a rainy morning! I  met up with my friend Yejide (a friend from Berkeley who is studying in Salvador) around lunch time, and she took me to meet some of her friends at a restaurant near the light house, about a 15 minute walk away from my Pousada. We ended up staying there for about 3 hours to wait for the rain to let up a little bit so we could walk around and Yej could show me around to her favorite places. Despite the wet weather, it was still really hot and humid outside, making it hard to stay out too long with out air conditioning. When the skies finally dried we were able to walk down to the water and put our feet in the ocean, which was still warm even though the sun was blocked all day by the clouds! 

My days in Salvador were very relaxing, I was able to be super lazy and I also got to see a lot of the city. One afternoon, Yej took me on the bus up to Pelourinho, which is the colonial part of Salvador, and it was magnificent. There were churches on every corner, and the old buildings were painted with such beautiful colors. There were dancers in costumes in the streets, preparing for Carnaval, a bunch of groups doing Capoeira, and musicians sprinkled throughout the city playing their berimbaus.. It was incredible to see. Yej was able to tell me a little bit of the ugly history of Salvador, and how it was one of the last places in the world to abolish slavery. There is still some evidence of the slave population such as public whipping posts still standing, but we didn't go to see them. 

The preparations for Carnaval were very interesting to see: huge stages being built all over the city, roads beginning to get blocked off... It made me a little sad to think that I wasn't going to experience Carnaval in Salvador. Well, on the last night of my stay, I was able to go to a pre-Carnaval celebration in the streets with Yej and her friends, which was super fun! There was live music and a ton of people in the streets, but what I experienced in Salvador did not prepare me in the least for what I saw in Rio!

On Thursday morning, I left for the airport again to fly down to Rio de Janeiro. I know a couple of other people studying there, and I was really lucky to have another contact, my friend Shawna's godmother, Cláudia, who hooked me up with her ex-husband (Lauro) and her son (César), so I was able to stay for free with them for the couple of days I was in Rio! I finally arrived around 3pm after a 3 hour plane ride and a 40 minute taxi ride to Lauro's house. César was home at the time, and after I put my put my backpack down and changed my clothes, he took me to the beach, which was about 4 blocks away from the house. After living in Santiago for the past month, where the sun doesn't set before 9pm, I was very surprised to find it getting dark around 6! On the way home, I called my friend, Madi, who had been trying to get me a ticket to go to a Manu Chao concert with her and her friends. Luckily, one of her friends was able to get a hold of one, so that night I went to go meet her for dinner and then the concert! It was a very fun evening. 

The next few days in Rio were very relaxing, I got to explore a little with Madi, and go to the beach a lot. On both Friday and Saturday nights, I went out with both Madi, and César to experience the wonders of the "blocos" of Carnaval. A "bloco" is what they call the individual parties where people can go and enjoy. If I had to compare Carnaval to anything, I would say that Carnaval in Rio is just a dirtier version of Halloween in Isla Vista: everyone is drunk, in costumes, carrying on in the streets (which are lit with huge flood lights); although much dirtier. We all got to enjoy the lovely aromas of pee mixed with beer that were flowing in all the gutters everywhere we went. I can now see why most of the residents of Rio leave the city during Carnaval! It got so dirty! I really enjoyed the live music that played both nights, but for me, the best Carnaval day, BY FAR, was Sunday afternoon. 

On Sunday, Madi and I attempted to go see the Christ that looks over all of Rio, but the lines were so long when we got there, they told us we would be waiting for 3 hours just to take the train up to the top. We decided to give up on that idea, since it was really hot outside, and we didn't want to get sunburned in the lack of shade, so we went out to lunch at a near by restaurant instead. That afternoon, we made it back to her friend, Antonio's, house to drop our stuff off and then go to a bloco on the beach. It was so amazing! We were able to parade, and attempt to dance (which was difficult due to the immense amounts of people) right next to the band of drummers that were playing for the dancers! There was only a small rope separating us from the drummers and it was so fun to walk/dance down the beach with them. The musicians were amazing, and I was impressed to see a bunch of kid drummers as part of the band! They were so good. This was the one day that I had the most fun, and I forgot my camera (which was actually for the better probably, as we all got super sweaty in the crowds!).

O meu Brasil!

The next day, Monday, Cláudia came to pick up César and I to take us to her husband, Ronald's, family's house in Saquarema, a beach town about 2 hours north from Rio. I spent 5 days there with them, and after being completely content with my Carnaval experience on Sunday, it was a really nice place to relax and recover from the Carnaval events. I spent my days by the pool, going to the beach, and eating amazing food (Ronaldo's aunt sells food and pasteries for a living), and I was actually a little bit sad to leave my nice vacation and go back to real life in Santiago.  One afternoon, Cláudia took me to Buzious, another beach town about an hour away, which was beautiful as well. I was so lucky to have been in contact with her, because if not, I would have been so lost in what to do, and I proably would have had to pay a fortune to stay in Rio for Carnaval. 

On Saturday, we drove back to Rio, and Cláudia took Madi and I up to the Christ, where the lines were not as long. I was happy that I got to do at least one touristy thing while being there, and we had a lot of fun. Around 4pm, we took another drive back to São Paulo, where Cláudia and Ronaldo live (aobut 5 hours from Rio). I didn't see much of São Paulo, because it was late when we arrived, but to me it seemed like a huge industrial city, with endless sky scrapers. Personally, Cláudia hates living there, and is trying to move back to Rio by the end of the year. On Sunday, they took me to the airport, and I was back at Alejandra's house by 9:30pm.

Over all, my trip to Brazil was incredible and I would love to go back when there aren't as many festivities going on so I can really go around and see how the city functions on a normal basis. I was able to use some of the Portuguese that I learned in my class last quarter, but the language barrier was definitely an obstacle. I was able to get by by speaking very slow Spanish, and hanging around my friends that are learning Portuguese. It's such a beautiful language, I would love to learn more.

The past week in Santiago has been a little bit hectic. I've been apartment hunting, and on Thursday I finally moved into a huge apartment in a really cool part of the city, Providencia, with a young chilean couple. It is a new apartment for everyone, so we're still trying to find more roommates. We have room for about 4 or 5 more people, and for the past couple of days a bunch of international students have been coming by to look at it, so hopefully we'll get some responses back within the next couple of days!

Classes will start on Monday, and that will be an adventure all in itself. I will be attending La Universidad de Chile, and altough classes are due to start next week, a finalized schedule of classes still has not been sent out!! It really makes me appreciate the UC system, where we get our schedule of classes finalized about a month before the next quarter is supposed to start, but it's all part of the adventure, I guess! Hopefully I will be able to get into a Contemporary Literature class, and an Art History class by the end of the week, and I will let you all know how the "shopping" period we have for classes goes!

I will also be participating in an internship called English Opens Doors, where I will be helping  English teachers in a Chilean public school with their classes. It will be very interesting to experience the education system in another country, and I'm looking forward to getting some teaching experience!

I've attached the album I made for Brazil from the pictures from my digital camera, but I'm still waiting on the pictures from my disposable cameras that I took around. When those come in, I'll be sure to attach them and I'll send out an email so you all can check them out! 

Beijos,

Amara