Week 17

Finals week! Most of my free time this week was spent studying and preparing for my final exams, so I can't say that I did anything amazingly exciting, but it was still an enjoyable week in Santiago, surrounded by wonderful friends.

On Thursday after class, a bunch of friends and I went to a newly opened mall. The claim to fame? It is the tallest mall in South America! The building was extremely overdone, but really cool in its modernity: highlights included store assistance with iPads, electronic directories that looked and functioned like an oversized iPod touch, and fountains that fell in colors as well as designs, ranging from simple circles to dolphins to words. It was really expensive so I ended up only making one purchase: a McFlurry at the food court. Typically I am not an advocate for buying American products in other countries, but this was unique, because the ice cream was mixed with the standard M&Ms, as well as manjar! (A Chilean food.) It was quite delicious.

The weekend brought a bit of a heat wave, so on Saturday when I went out to check out some stores I dressed more appropriately for summer than winter, but being from the East coast I didn't feel cold. However, a concerned abuelita stopped me on the street to lecture me about wrapping up in the winter! (She had on about 3 sweaters herself, in 70degree weather.)

Sunday I officially finished any official activities for classes with my chorus concert! It was a lot of fun to get to sing in the temple on campus and hear the acoustical difference, as well as listen to the other sections. We finished it off with the entire 7 sections of chorus singing "Cuando Calienta el Sol" in unison, a feat that sounded awesome.

While I'm happy to be done with the burden of classes, it's really sad for me to think that I won't see the majority of the friends I made in class again, since I typically only saw them during class. However, with any luck we'll be able to meet up once vacation starts!

Week 16

This week was calm and relaxed in Santiago, as I had my first final exams! They included an oral and written test for my Spanish class with IES, which went well (I hope!) Other than that not too much exciting stuff happened. 

On Thursday my History of Music class had guest musicians who put on a brief concert of Renaissance music on Renaissance instruments, which was pretty cool. If you're interested, check out the Viola de Gamba and the Lute, as those were the two instruments that I witnessed. Also exciting in Music History  was a Renaissance dance lesson on Tuesday by our TA. He is taking a class that teaches this style of dance, and shared his knowledge with us. I can now successfully Pavane into a room in a very stately manner, which was fun to learn. (Figures that all the interesting events for that class are only at the end of the semester...)

On Saturday I helped out some fellow students at La Catolica. They are studying design, and a project included creating a product that could be exported. For this they made a series of non-alcoholic cocktails and looked for US students to taste test and give feedback. There were supposed to be 6-7 American students participating the day I went, but for whatever reason I was the only one! While it was a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by so many strangers, I got a lot of Spanish practice in! 

Saturday was also the celebration of my host sister's birthday, so I got my share of some DELICIOUS cake and as always, good company. She didn't have a party, just a small gathering of friends and family, which was nice. 

Sunday it was pouring so I stayed inside and studied for my finals this upcoming week, but I also got a bit of interesting information about Father's Day culture here in Chile. My host brother got up despite all the rain and cold and met his father and uncle, to go to the graveyard where his paternal grandfather was buried. It was three generations of the family all together, which seems to me a really nice gesture for the day. 

That's what I got for the week. Hopefully the coming one isn't too stressful with finals, but we'll see!

Week 15

Well this week was a rather uneventful one in Santiago, Chile, but still a lot of fun as always. I've found that I've really started to settle into daily life here, which is both exciting (because it's now like another home away from home) but also sad, because I'll be leaving soon.

Highlights of the week included meeting with my tandem partners and making new friends with the summer medical Spanish program participants. I also climbed San Cristobal again and went to a sports bar to wach Chile beat Venezuela in fútbol!

On Sunday a few friends and I went on a hike in the outskirts of the city, in the East. On the way we passed the national stadium for the Universidad Catolica soccer team. I'm going to pause my story here to give a quick side note about soccer and social classes in Chile:




There are three prominent club teams in Chile (everyone supports La Roja, the national team), and I have been to a game at two and saw the third today. The thing about these teams is that the fan base is fairly split between the social classes, both physically and economically. La Catolica has most of its supporters in the upper class, and their stadium is in Las Condes, the Eastern and rich part of Santiago. There is an abundance of paved parking, and the stadium fairly overlooks the city. Universidad de Chile is supported by the middle classes: their stadium is close to my house in Providencia which is inhabited mainly by middle class citizens. While there is private parking available, most people will hop on a micro to get to the game. Finally, Colo Colo is known to some as the "flaite team", and thus supported by the lower classes. Their stadium was far from any metro, and the micro ride from central Santiago would be a good 45-60minutes. I don't remember there being much parking, and that which existed was dirt. Although there is (obviously) some inconsistencies in which fans support which teams, it strikes me as interesting that there is such a huge contrast within a sport that all Chileans share.




Anyway, we went past the stadium to one o the close cerros, and decided to hike up. The weirdest part about this trip was the change in temperature: between the metro and where we got off the micro (about a 20 minute trip) the air got clearer, visibility increased significantly, and the temperature increased about 5 degrees F. It wasn't that we had gone up that much in altitude, so I don't know how to explain these drastic (yet sudden) changes, but they were more than tangible. As we hiked farther and farther up, the view became stranger and stranger: we could see a good portion of Santiago, except that it was all drowned in a concoction of fog and smog. It literally looked like the ocean with mountains poking out, except that if you look close enough you can see buildings. (See pictures). While I shouldn't be too surprised, as Santiago is the 3rd most polluted city in the world, it was still a stark contrast!

Week 14

This week I FINALLY climbed the famed cerro (hill) San Cristobal! This hill is in a very central part of the city and tall enough to look over many of the surrounding buildings, providing a gorgeous view of the city and the mountains to those who climb it. I was lucky enough to reach the giant statue of the Virgin Mary at sunset, and thus see the entire city bathed in colors and reflecting off the mountains: something I'll never forget.

On Thursday my History of Music class had the unique assignment of performing Gregorian Chant pieces we had been learning for the entire class, inside the temple on campus. Not only was this a fun experience because I got to work with more people, but because the acoustics of the temple are similar to those of a real Gothic Cathedral, and the sounds produced were incredible. While it would take a day and a half to post it on my blog, I have video of this performance for anyone who wants to see it when I next see you!










Saturday was the qualifying soccer game for some world competition between Chile and Bolivia. I went to watch it with the Chilean youth group I've been visiting occasionally, and I have to say that while every goal is not as epic from the television as it is in the stands, watching with natives was a whole lot of fun!

That evening I went on a "haunted tour" of the cementerio general de Chile, which I had visited (and written about) previously. I was expecting to be walking among tombstones and have actors pop out at me, but it was really just a summation of historical information about the cemetery, focusing specifically on the occult and fantastic. However, the tour did include some very irregular events, including a show of white magic in an exorcism and a visit to a local funeral home, where everyone had the opportunity to look at a dead body and to lie in a coffin. While I did the first I abstained on the latter.

Other exciting news includes the arrival of the IES summer health program, a group of 25 students from the US taking a 6-week course. One of these members is living with my family, and she is awesome, so that's a plus. I can't think of anything else too outstanding, but it's been fun as always!