Winding down...

Phew, what a nice week off. After having school everyday with field trips and meetings and such, it was so nice to be able to relax. But tomorrow the real deal starts. I have my orientation at Universidad de Chile at 10 a.m. to get a tour of the campus, ground rules, etc and then a private meeting with a faculty member from the university as well as a faculty member of the EAP program to receive advice on potential classes to take. I am a bit disappointed that I cannot take economic-intensive classes because the standards for economics department are much higher here in Chile. The EAP staff highly recommends other classes that will not be as difficult. Despite being a 4th-year Global Economics student, my experience level with economics classes does not even compare to the economics students down here. I can however take economics-themed classes in other departments that are accepted towards my final major requirements I have left such as globalization and Chilean specific economy classes. The only problem is that each department starts and ends at different times. Classes in the economics department start tomorrow and finish up Nov 28th, whereas the majority of the other departments have been delayed due to the strikes over the General Education Law and some don't finish up until as late as Dec 20th. I only need to take 3 classes, and a majority of them meet only 2 times a week (Tues/Thurs), which could potentially mean 4 day weekends every week. However, I will not mandate that my schedule is setup so nicely. After browsing through some of the class catalog, I am looking to take classes in history, social sciences, general education, and potentially literature. I want to take a class on the successful mining industry down here as well as a rare opportunity to take a literature class solely on Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. I can't wait to have a real schedule lined up for the next 5 months and start living the true Chilean college student life.

Last Wednesday I headed back to Valparaiso with a friend of mine who hadn't visited yet, and also checked out the neighboring town of Viña del Mar. The best way to compare the two cities is that Valparaiso is Chile's San Francisco with an artsy-rougher vibe whereas Viña next-door is more like San Diego with cleaner streets and buildings and much more wealth. They even have a lavish Casino!, but I wasn't gusty enough to test my luck playing blackjack in Spanish though I regret not playing at least a couple hands. The trip in total was 3 days, and very fun because this time instead of taking a bus, we rented a car which opened up many new possibilities for exploring. We also got lucky with the weather which makes the whole beach-side experience much better. Below, a Viña sunset...





After returning on Friday absolutely exhausted, I mustered up the energy to go to Santiago's Club de Jazz, the best jazz club in the city(Louis Armstrong once performed there). Friday night they had an interesting jazz-funk trio, but the experience wasn't satisfying enough for me so I came back the following evening, after the Muse show of course.


My long awaited Muse concert at Teatro Caupolican was great. The Brit rock group's first visit was amazing, with the venue entirely packed and fans singing the lyrics in unison despite probably not knowing what any of the words mean. The band members used a bit of Spanish in between songs to address the crowd while waving a Chilean flag about. The crowd loved it, I loved it. Yes that's Galaga in the background below.

Only down side was the venue isn't stellar. The floor seats were 65 dollars and sold out before I even got to Santiago, and the venue's construction made it impossible to sneak about. I paid 30 for upper level, but judging by how packed the entire place was, I was happy with having a good view and 'some' space.

Obviously as a result of the consecutive long days, I have comedown with a bit of the sniffles, but I'm getting better by the minute. I spent the majority of today completing an online traffic school from a silly speeding ticket I received just before leaving. Felt pretty strange taking the course in international waters. But the process was painless considering the circumstances. That's all the news for now from the Southern hemisphere. I have the EAP program ski trip this coming Friday, but not too much else coming up other than initial university stuff. I'll shoot for a next entry Saturday. Cheers and nos vemos.

Video I took during the show below.