Monday, May 14, 2012

Surviving Midterms

Whattuppp followers! Guess what? I survived midterms! Yay! Did my GPA survive midterms? That remains to be seen. I actually think I did okay, but there was a lot of cramming involved which usually isn't my style and stresses me out. My goal for the upcoming weeks is to spend more time doing readings instead of lying around watching TV. I'm not going to turn down opportunities to go do cool things and meet people but the time that I spend lying on my bed napping or watching Hulu could definitely be more productive. This morning I overslept by accident and then Claudia was talking up a storm at breakfast and I realized there was no way I was going to make it to class. Then I didn't have class until 5 and I ultimately decided not to go. Instead I took a walk, ate a Subway sandwich for lunch, and now I'm doing some readings. I've been kind of moody lately and I don't really know why, so I decided a day to myself out of the house might be nice. And eating Subway was (embarrassingly) comforting. They have cheddar cheese. I love cheddar cheese. But anyway, despite the weird funk I've been in, I've actually had a pretty good week.

At my internship I'm helping my boss research the U.S. pension system because she's working with a bunch of Chilean labor groups to reform the current ineffective one that's in place here. Sometimes my tasks are tedious but this is really interesting and I like my work environment a lot, so it's totally worth it. Tomorrow the office is going out for drinks after work, which should be fun. It's nice to meet people outside of UDP or the AU program and I'm lucky to have such a young workplace.

Last week was Jesse's birthday so a bunch of us went out to "Miercoles Po" a big weekly party where gringos get in free. I bought Jesse a crown (complete with fur!) at the grocery store and made her wear it, which was great. All of us had a blast. The next day she invited me and Erin over for birthday onces which is tea. I've grown to love onces because it's just delicious: toasted bread, avocado, ham, cheese, pastries, cake, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, you name it. I got to meet Jesse's host mom and one of her good friends, which was nice. I'm at Jesse's house a lot and am friendly with her sister but I still hadn't met her mom. She was welcoming and friendly just like all of the Chileans I've met!



Friday night I was exhausted but decided to have celebratory litros (liters of beer) with Kevin, mostly so we could enjoy our new favorite late night snack stand: Pikachu. It has the best choripan (chorizo with bread and whatever toppings you want) in all of Santiago I decided. Those of you who have been following my adventures since Mexico (which I assume is many of you since my avid readership consists of my extended family) know that I have a full-blown obsession with chorizo (example choriqueso). In my mind any food with the pre-fix chori is bound to be heavenly. It's possible Kevin and I only went to Bellavista to justify getting choripan

On Saturday Mark invited us over to cook brunch at his house. Brunch isn't really a thing in Chile. Actually, people don't really know the concept at all. I think this is because breakfast isn't really a thing. People are down to eat toast and avocado but pancakes, waffles, eggs, even cereal and bagels, just don't exist. Mark's host mom was super welcoming and excited about the idea of brunch and we had a blast. While I helped cut up fruit and cook bacon, my main task was "la reina de las mimosas" (queen of the mimosas for you gringos) and I loved every second. 



Also, fall is continuing it's descent on Santiago. Check out the foliage in this picture: 

Yesterday was mother's day here too, (El Día de la Mamá) and I got to celebrate with Claudia and her family. We went to her daughter Andrea's house for onces and it was a great time. I really like all of her kids and grandkids, everyone makes me feel super welcome and included. Even though I had an awesome time, sometimes it makes me miss home when I'm around them. Might be the reason for my funk today. Also, a lot of my friends back at AU are graduating which freaks me out for sure. I can't believe that will be me in a year. WHATTT. But for now, it's time to get back to living la vida gringa. 

Chao pescaoo! (Literally translated that means "Goodbye Fish" but really it's just the Chilean version of "see you in a while, crocodile!")

2 comments:

  1. Love your blog, as always, but how did friends from Santiago like the brunch and the Mimosas? Nice to know about the El Dia de la Mama!

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  2. Mimosas and brunch were a real hit! My friend's host sister is requesting a brunch for her birthday!

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