Putting the "Study" in "Study Abroad"

My avid readers, you may have spent the last three weeks wondering if I were ever going to start class or if I was even planning to study anything this semester. Well, as you can see from my very creative post title, I am in fact attending classes. My schedule is pretty relaxed until April when I start my internship, but so far my classes seem pretty interesting, especially my Latin American Politics class, mostly because my professor is so interesting. He lectured about economics for an hour and a half in Spanish and I wasn't even bored.

I'm getting adjusted to my Chilean lifestyle more each day, especially my siesta time. Last night I may have caved and gotten an Italian sub from Subway but I swear, I'm loving most Chilean food. Another adjustment for me has been "Chilean time". If you know me at all, you know that I am compulsively embarrassingly early for everything. Like, at least 15 minutes. In Chile, everyone is late. For everything. Even class. Rush hour on the metro may be crowded and you are always packed like a sardine into the cars but people walk SO SLOW. EVERYWHERE. I'm not a particularly fast walker but I feel overly aggressive half the time because everyone just meanders along. I think I'm making progress at becoming less compulsive about time because yesterday my metro train was super slow and I was 10 minutes late to class and I wasn't stressed. Then I got there and only 2 other people were there. Oh okay Chilean time. On the other hand, this means that class sometimes goes 10 minutes over time because professors don't really have a concept of time.

Wednesday night I went with most of my group and a few Chilean friends to this event called "Miercoles Po" which is basically just a big weekly party with free entrance for gringas. This week was St. Patrick's Day themed which was pretty fun, but it was also interesting to note the difference between a more Chilean going-out experience and the gringa central that is Miercoles Po. Chileans are a little more chill even though they stay out all night. It's a "más lento" approach to everything here, even the carretear (going out).

 Gringos go out!

I'm off to another St. Patrick's day celebration tonight and then Claudia's family is having an asada (BBQ) tomorrow. One of her grandsons just spent the last year studying in Australia and New Zealand and he gets back tomorrow. Her youngest grandson is 5 months old so the two have never met, it should be pretty exciting! I'm really excited to meet the rest of her family since they're so important to her. I'm sure it will be a little overwhelming, but Claudia can't wait to show off her new hija gringa (gringa daughter) so I'm sure it will be fun. Also, asadas usually have an abundance of food, so I am pumped.

Ciao!