Early last week I decided that I was not too sold on taking the New Rurality class due to the three mandatory field trips (terrenos), in which I would have to miss my other classes. I have two friends from the program who will continue to take the class despite this obstacle. The subject interests them a bit more I guess. The course seems like a great group of kids, who are all pretty tight knit and hang-out a lot outside of class, so I do regret having to walk away from that. I instead switched into course on the Contemporary History of Chile, which has a change in professor and theme every two weeks. It takes place Tues/Thurs 2:30-4 p.m., so I have just enough time to go home for lunch. Also, now all of my classes are Tues/Thurs...four day weekends every week. Woohoo!
There was a brief moment were I was worried I couldn't make the change because of a bit of bureaucracy with the University of Chile. The 'shopping' period for classes this semester was only a week long due to the strikes and historically it is impossible to make changes once that period passes. However, myself and a couple other foreign students were asking for a reconsideration of this precedent since the organization this quarter was horrific (courses lacking syllabi, strikes, etc.), and luckily they granted out changes. To be honest, I was a bit worried for a second.
Last Wednesday I headed back to my favorite Jazz Club to checkout the Blues lineup they had scheduled that evening. While the music was not that impressive, I did enjoy my night because I asked the lady who works as the door-woman/ticket collector at the club if she wanted to have dinner with me sometime. She gladly accepted, and I learned to discover that she is a student at the University of Chile as well, but in the architecture faculty located downtown (definitely the prettiest campus of them all).
Last Thursday after a full day's load of class, I had the opportunity of watching the Democratic National Convention, specifically Barak Obama's speech. There was a lot of buzz about it down here in Chile since a majority of the citizens are pulling for Obama. I, however, remain undecided and relatively unimpressed with all that I have heard so far. While Obama is a gifted public speaker and through this skill alone can inspire some Americans, I have my doubts about his ability to fix our nation. While I do have more doubts when it comes to John McCain, especially after his Vice Presidential nomination of Sarah Palin (just awful); at this point I would vote for Ron Paul as a write-in than either primary candidate. Luckily there is plenty of time before November 4th, and the all important debates have yet to take place.
On Friday, I headed up to Valle Nevado to go skiing with some buddies. It is definitely the best mountain out of all the few in the outskirts of Santiago. A couple of buddies and I got a ride from our friend Hernan, who is a talented soccer player and used to dedicate all his time to that sport. He had never been to the snow, and after a recent first visit, he became hooked and now he goes up practically everyday and gets tons of benefits from knowing all the people working at the slopes. I finally got a clear day to ski since the two times before had been complete whiteouts and difficult to ski. The weather was amazing and I had a blast.
This past weekend was relatively relaxing for me. I spent most of my time working on an essay due this week for Chilean Culture and Politics class that is mandatory for the entire program. It's an open theme, and I chose to write on the economic implications of the Hacienda system used in Chile up until the late 1960's and the agrarian revolution. Since many of the lectures of my classes overlap, I was able to quote a couple of my professors and had plenty of in-class notes to draw from. When I was not working on my paper, I've been following the tennis U.S. Open tournament that's been going on the past couple weeks. The worldwide competition seems to be getting so much more talented every year, rather than having a pro circuit that is dominated by just one or two players. I myself am cheering for 19 year-old Argentinian Juan Martin del Portro, who currently holds a 23 consecutive match win streak (he's going for his 24th which I am watching his 24th right now as I write), as well as American Andy Roddick who I hope can get over his mental lapse he has had the past few years.
Juan Martin del Potro above, Andy Roddick below...
On Sunday night, I convinced my host parents to go buy a web cam and sign up for Skype so they can visually communicate with their daughters, both of whom live internationally, for free, rather than pay for steep phone calls every Sunday. I also did a bit of 'Skyping' myself with my football buddies back home to take part in an annual fantasy football draft from abroad as well as have a nice chat with a good friend of mine who I met on an airplane who wants me to help him out with a social networking project to aid and inspire my generation to change the world. The project is for the long term, but I am becoming more and more intrigued by dedicating myself to his work.
Monday was a rough day for a good portion of the population here due to a terrible bus accident in the northern part of Chile which resulted in the death of nine high school students traveling for a school field trip. This situations seem to happen every other month due to the poor quality and difficult roads outside of Santiago, combined with bad driving habits, lack enforcement of traffic laws, and obviously drinking and driving. The driver of the bus in this case was simply driving faster than the speed limit around a curve on a hillside. I spent the evening with the girl from the Jazz club. We had a good dinner downtown and I was able to practice my Spanish over the course of the evening. I hope I can keep the relationship going since Chilean are so much more fun to spend time with compared to my gringo buddies. She invited me to the Jazz club's 75th anniversary event in late October and gave me a few tips on things to do around town and with my grandmother when she comes for the Independence days.
Tuesday was just a full day of class followed by late night tennis viewing. I did discover that a Santa Cruz friend of mine arrived early yesterday morning for her Abroad program here in Chile that will be held in the southern part of the country in a little over a week. She wanted to give herself some free time to explore Santiago and get accustomed to the culture, language, and lifestyle.
So all today I gave her a general tour of Santiago, showing her the obvious sites in and around her the area where her hostel is located. I also helped her buy and setup a cellphone, which can be a daunting task for a newcomer. We had some nice lunch downtown at a quaint tea and lunch cafe called Flores Mosqueto. It's satisfying to know I can be a relatively effective tour guide after a little over two months spent here. My host mother left this morning to the southern part of Chile to spend a couple days with her sick mother. That part of Chile is getting pounded with rain, with many houses having to handle flood damage and such. I have to run off to the Jazz club this evening to hopefully listen in on some better blues than the last week, and also to spend time with some friends from the social group I occasionally attend...as well as to see my Chilean friend :)
Should be able to put in an entry sometime next week. I have a field trip with program to a famous mining town and a tour of the mine all Saturday, the Brazil vs. Chile futbol match on Sunday night, and Chile vs. Colombia next Wednesday. Cheers!
P.S. Juan Martin del Potro just lost to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals...shoot, great match though.
