Santiago, Chile 2013

So I now reside for the time being in Santiago, Chile. It is by far the largest city I´ve ever lived in, although not the largest I have visited. Here there are 6.68 million people here. Chile as a whole has 16.57 million…most residing here (http://escapeamericanow.blogspot.com/20 12/09/latest-census-and-other-updated.html). Unlike many other South American cities Santiago is very modern, not to say that it looks, feels, or is as safe as a modern city…it still has Latin roots.

I live on a large avenue called Portugal in a departamento (flat) shared with two others. The house only speaks Spanish, one Chilean (owner), and a British girl who is half Chilean. My university is about a 7 minute walk from my house and maybe 30 minutes from the city center and other commonly visited areas.

My university is very nice and quite large. There are 30,000 total students including graduate students. The University of Chile is the oldest university (1842) here and one of the oldest in Latin America, it is also one of the top schools in Latina America! I attend the FEN – Faculty (school) of Economics and Business (negocios) – which is just one of the many faculties at ¨the U¨ This school you might recognize for the riots in Chile back in 2011, students protesting the cost of education…it is quite high! Anywho that is my school and yes they still have protests…but they advise you a day before (before protests students from each school vote on whether their university will join the protest).

So far grad classes have not started, but undergraduate has, I decided to take a photography class, and I´m currently in a class on the history and industry of wine….thought not sure I can stay in it because I still need to take 2-3 grad level classes on top of the Spanish class I willingly included in my class load! Wow, lots, no. Problem is I really like all the courses they are offering here, but I can´t take them all…boooo! If only more time. Also all classes are in Spanish, of course.

I have been trying to keep up on exercise here and often go for a 30 to 40 minute run. Although I am often quite tired, I may have to start taking the thing they call ¨siesta¨ soon in order to keep awake. I think it must be the sun because I am getting enough sleep!

Pretty lazy lately, the first week I wandered the streets to explore, I am still exploring but much slower because I have 5 months! This week I have just gone to class and did a few things before or after. Hoping to get a bike soon. Planning my Easter trip because really that is the only time off we have…no week off at all. I did buy my flight to Boston today to graduate in MAY…that is for a week, just after my midterms here! Woo!