Santiago de Chile

Wow it's already MARCH! Hard to believe, but I've been with my host family for almost three weeks now and everything is going wonderfully! I'm already in my second week of school and I've got the micro and metro systems (almost) down. Well, I think I have more of the metro system, but the micro (bus) system, I only know how to get to/from the metro station from my house... Oh well!

Since I don't have class on Fridays, for the past few Fridays my friends and I have met up in a new place in Santiago and have a little adventure. A few Fridays ago we met up and had a picnic in Cerro Santa Lucia. It was so beautiful! I wish to go there again soon, especially in the nice weather. Sure, the stairs were steep and somewhat slippery, but it's worth the dirty feet, the sweat, and the pain for that beautiful picture of all of Santiago and the mountains hugging the city so tightly. This Friday, people from my group and I are going on an 'urban city' tour, then I think my friends and I might do something afterward since it's only an hour long.


Me and beautiful Santiago behind me at the very top of Cerro Santa Lucia.



Thanks to my friend and her reading a food blog (http://natashayoung.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/ice-cream-heaven-in-santiago-chile-we-know-where-it%C2%A0is-revolver/), I learned about this fantastic ice cream place in Providencia called Sebastian. Oh my dear baby Jesus it was better than the blog described! I probably annoyed the poor man behind the counter with all of the ice creams I asked him if I could try, but it was totallllllly worth it! Among the flavors I tried were tropical blueberry, manjar lucuma (lucuma is a fruit here too and when cut in half it kind of looks like a mango), cappuccino, coco, and something else but I cannot remember. More reasons to just go back, right? My friend also tried an ice cream flavor called 'tuna' which was sweet tasted like a combination between an apple and a peach, yet little better. No, 'tuna' here isn't like tuna in the States (that would be called atun). 'Tuna' here is a fruit and tastes great! Don't let the name throw you off. Me? I chose manjar lucuma (of course) and cappuccino. Super creamy and sweet, the flavors together had me and my friends begging for more! Well, at least we know how to get there now and know that there are tons of cute shops near it!

Other than that, I've just been taking it day-by-day. My classes start in the late afternoons, which is weird for me because I like having my classes in the morning to get them out of the way and I learn better that way, but since the traffic in the morning is more than crazy, I suppose it's better to go later in the afternoon. I've been going to the gym after my classes end at 5 or 6pm which makes my trek home at 7:30 or so very interesting (muchos tacos!(no, not the food 'taco'- in Chile, it means 'a lot of traffic!'); squeezing in like sardines on the metro (after you've sweat a ton from working out- sorry santiaguinas!) so everyone is touching and absolutely crushing everyone else. I wish you could see it or experience it!

Ah I almost forgot! Because school just started, the freshmen of the universities here get a, uh, 'welcoming,' as a Chilena told me. One day during class, there was SO much noise and cheering and screaming going on in the quad (all the doors of the building I was in and the buildings next to mine have doors that face the quad). "The older students in the university throw eggs, feathers, flour, paint, and more at the freshmen. It's a welcoming." I stopped her right there and said "No, no, that's a hazing!" So for the past week I've been walking the streets and walking around my university's campus seeing these poor freshmen with their clothes cut up, paint and flour all over their hair and face and I even saw some yesterday who were comPLETEly covered in feathers so they looked like chickens. The older students even lead them around with ropes tied around them and throw them out on the streets making them beg for money looking like complete fools. How sad. They even take their shoes so theyre walking around in socks or barefeet.... ew. The boys even have makeup on their faces- bright blue 80's-style eyeshadow and bright red lipstick with their t-shirts sliced so their stomachs are baring.

Well, time for me to go eat breakfast (it's 9:10 here!) and start my day. Stay safe and I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break for whoever is on it!

Besos!