One Week Down

When today ends I will have been in Santiago for a week! Since the last we met I have:

Learned more Chilean (it's not quite spanish)

Learned more of the culture

Felt my spanish improve

Had homework, and I thought classes didn't start for two weeks

Gotten to know more of my classmates

Gone to the Chilean museum of modern art

Had Ice cream with our program

Played on a playground

Gone from needing 10 layers to sweating when wearing jeans and a t-shirt (chilean weather!)

Become a master at the Chilean Metro/bus system (or at least can get to and from school)

I had an interview with the program director to check how things are going and she asked why I wasn't doing an internship. I said I didn't think my Spanish was good enough. She assured me that it was and that the places on the list were accustomed to working with international students. So now I think I might pick up an internship for the 2 days a week we don't have classes. All of the other students but one are doing internships, so it's not like I could do much on my days off from class. We'll see.

Tonight I am headed to Bellavista for today's orientation. It's a lot like Dupont Circle in DC. We're going to go sample some of the cafes and listen to some performers in the park, or at least that's my understanding.

Here is the view of the Andes in my neighborhood. This is what I see when I am walking home from the bus:

Here is a street performer we saw on the way to the art museum (he juggled the soccer balls at least 30 feet in the air):

Here are some colors on buildings next to the art museum that I thought Big Kate would like:

The museum:

My favorite piece:

Political Commentary on the Pinochet regime:

The ice cream place (note the 800 choices for flavors):

I'm off to study some before Bellavista.

Bueno Bye.