And the Smog Settles In

Saturday turned out to be the perfect day for skiing. It was sunny, clear, and warm enough that I never really felt cold. There is only one road between Santiago and the ski resorts, and on the weekends during the winter it becomes a caravan of cars going out in the morning and coming back in the evening. We woke up early to make sure we were on the slopes when they opened at 9 and didn't leave until they closed at 5. I spent the day with one of my brothers, Nícolas, and found that my Spanish was a lot better when I woke up the next morning.

On Sunday I went to el Museo de Las Bellas Artes with some friends. It's the main art museum in Santiago, but is actually pretty small. It only took a few hours to see everything. Of a group of about 12 of us that went, I was the only American. The others were German, Brazilian, or Australian. I've found over the past couple days that I've met far more people from other countries than gringos (as we're affectionately known here).

The beautiful weather didn't last long. By Sunday night a thick smog had settled in the city and has yet to go away. The mountains are nearly completely obscured and the sky is a depressing gray. It's made the city look even dirtier that it already is, and is very similar to what I saw in Beijing.

Classes started this week, and I've been spending the past few days trying to figure out how things work here. Spots are left open for foreign students, but are given away on a first-come, first-served basis. That means you can sit in on a class only to find out that it's already full when you try to sign up for it. On one hand this gives you the opportunity to actually go to a class before you actually decide whether or not to take it, but puts extra stress to make the decision quickly so you get all the classes you want. One major difference I've noticed here is that the students work in only one faculty--if you are a Political Science major, you take most of your classes in political science. Most of the other foreign students seem to think the same way too, it's really only other Americans that I see in classes like Geography of Chile or Chilean Poetry.

My Spanish has improved dramatically since I first got here because its what I use for almost everything. Even though almost everyone speaks English at some level, Spanish is what I use with most of the other foreign students. It's really depressing to be talking to a German student in Spanish and find out that they are fluent in English as well, especially compared to American students who are easy to find because of their bad Spanish and obvious accents when speaking it. In fact, almost all of the English-speaking students speak worse Spanish than the others, I assume because they were never under any pressure to learn it at a young age.

One great thing about school here is that they never have to buy books. Out of complete disrespect for copyright laws (and probably intentional disrespect towards the United States) everything is photocopied. One just goes to the photocopier on campus and orders a course packet of the readings. That means no price-gouging bookstores or buying of books you'll never read. At worst you spent 20 bucks on a stack of paper you can at least recycle.

Primer Día

My mother would not be proud. I left an airport in a foreign country with two strangers based solely on the fact that they knew my first name. But after a two-hour drive, two-hour flight, a nine-hour flight, and then a couple more hours waiting in lines for immigration and customs you can't really blame me. It all turned out alright in the end anyway.

I haven't actually been in center city yet, but what I've seen is beautiful. The whole drive from the airport and from the front yard of our house I could see the snow-capped Andes just a few miles away, where we're going skiing this weekend.

I was spared my fear of not understanding a word they said since they spoke English, but was quickly introduced to Chilean by my new brother, Nícolas (pronounced Nícola). He's very patient with me and willing to repeat himself or say something another way so that I can understand, and keeps his English to a minimum even though he speaks it very well. He was also more than happy to give me a lesson on Chilean slang over some Taco Bell at the mall (not my choice).

The house where I am living is actually pretty far out of town, so far that it's not on the maps in my travel guides. It's small too. My room is about 7x10, just big enough to fit a twin bed, some shelves, and a desk. The other rooms, including the master bedroom are only slightly smaller. The kitchen table is a sort of counter in the middle of the kitchen, and the room melds into the living room. Total, this whole area, including a little walkway leading from two of the bedrooms to the kitchen is smaller than the kitchen in my house.

Oh, and there's no heat too. It's about 30 here right now, and my mother said she forgot to buy paraffin for the heater, but apparently that's the way it is.

Also staying here is their exchange student from last semester, Rich, who is from Michigan. He has been traveling for the past month and just stopped back for a few days to go home. He went to the same school I will be going to, so he's given me some tips about classes and the city and general and is going to give me the tour tomorrow.

The Beginning

For the next five months I will be living in Santiago, Chile and studying at la Pontificia Unversidad Catolica. Hopefully it will be a time full of new experiences, good stories, and maybe I'll get a few nice pictures out of it. I plan on keeping this blog not just to keep friends and family updated on my adventures, but also for myself to follow my own progress as I spend nearly half a year immersing myself in a new culture and language more than 5,000 miles from home. So please excuse any philosophical musings, and I'll do my best to keep them to a minimum.

And please, questions, comments, and suggestions (read:criticisms) are encouraged.