Thanksgiving and the End of Responsibilities

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I celebrated Thanksgiving here with a handful of good friends and one friend's mom and brother who were visiting from the US. And even though we're thousands of miles away from the US, we still threw ourselves an awesome Thanksgiving dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, salads, homemade pecan and apple pies, and chicken (A pre-cooked rotisserie chicken was easier to find and prepare than a full turkey). It was delicious, and to be honest, I can't take any credit for the preparation. The best part was probably trying to explain the concept of forcing yourself to eat way more than you want to to the Chileans and German who were eating with us. It's pretty hard to convince someone that even though it hurts to eat more, you have to push on through and continue eating. Good ole US holidays!

As for other things, I finished my last class and turned in my last essay yesterday. So I literally have no more academic responsibilities in Chile and can be free to do what I really want to do, travel extensively. All in all, the semester wasn't too bad. My classes were purposely much easier than those at ND, and I purposely was less dedicated to my schoolwork than I am back home. All in all, I think this was a great choice, seeing as there is so much more for me to learn down here in Chile outside of the classroom than in it. That's not to say that I didn't have some very interesting classes in which I learned a lot, but only that I'm proud to say that I really believe I used my time wisely by not studying all the time.

As for a little glimpse into university life here in Chile, it's quite different than back home. La Católica has no student housing on-campus, and seeing as most students come from Santiago, they live with their families. This is largely for money reasons, as most Chileans could never justify renting a student apartment that doesn't get you much closer to the campus. I think a large part is also for cultural reasons, as Chileans are much more likely to continue living at home with their families after the graduate. This can be for a couple of years or more, often lasting until they move in with a significant other or get married. As much as I love my MN home, it's hard to imagine college without the dorm atmosphere. I've also found the classes here tend to be much less organized. An organized syllabus with set test and assignment dates simply doesn't exist in Chilean classes. Attendance is also often pretty low, at least in the basic intro classes I was taking. Furthermore, my tests and essays have not been graded to the same degree of difficulty as the Chilean students. This is probably a good thing, but gives me a pretty strong feeling of wimping out. But lets be honest, there's no way I understood those Latin American short stories well enough to get a 6.8 (out of a perfect 7.0) when the average Chilean pulled a less than a 6.0.

The end of the semester also means that my service project at the high school Colegio José Antonio Lecaros has finished. This past Monday we got to say our thanks to the students for their patience in working with us and making the job so enjoyable. In return, they gave us a huge round of applause. It was wonderful and really made me feel glad for having chosen this service site. The experience taught me a lot. First of all, it made me thankful for the kind of school I grew up in, as much of Chilean schools are underfunded, not very serious academically, and have much less discipline than what I am used to in the US. But it also showed me first hand the difficulties of teaching, especially younger children. It is no easy job! I found it really easy to be distracted and frustrated when a couple of students were goofing off in the back of the class or a lot of students left their books at home. It made me once again realize how lucky I was with my teachers growing up, how much I owe them for where I'm currently at academically, and how I probably didn't always pay my teachers the respect they due either. All in all, it was a fantastic experience and really put a nice touch on my semester, giving me a deeper perspective of what life is like in Chile.

A couple more things in closing. First of all, the grocery stores here have a really cool program to donate to the major charities in the country. Since about 480 Chilean pesos right now, 1, 2, 3, or even 9 pesos isn't really worth anything. Because of this, anytime your change comes in at less than 10 pesos, the cashier will ask you if you would like to donate this small change to one of the major Chilean charities such as Un Techo para Chile, which is dedicated to building homes for homeless Chileans, or Hogar de Cristo, which is a massive organization founded by the beloved Chilean Jesuit saint Alberto Hurtado and works with the country's poor in a multitude of ways. This is an awesome program put on by each of the major grocery stores, who each have their charity of choice. I'm sure the money adds up quickly, and it eliminates the hassle of carrying small, meaningless, and useless small change. In reality, I don't know why the US couldn't do a similar program with all change less than a dime.

Lastly, some of you may know the Notre Dame commercials that are shown during halftime of the football games. The theme for the few years has been "Notre Dame, fighting for...(some worthwhile cause)." It's a really cool campaign that highlights Notre Dame's commitment to international development. The themes have ranged from Fighting for Peace in Colombia to Fighting for the Advancement of Medicine. So just this past week, our program director here in Chile told us about one of the videos that highlighted Chile. The theme was Fighting for Democracy, and focused on Notre Dame's commitment to helping Chile return to a healthy democracy after the military coup in 1973 that lead to a 18 year dictatorship. And guess who was the main star (And it wasn't even the beloved Notre Dame president of 35 years Fr. Ted Hesburgh)? Esteban Montes, our program director! In typical modest Esteban fashion, he never brought it up until one of the students told him that they'd heard about the clip. It's an awesome clip, well worth the 2 minutes it takes to watch it. Check it out here.

My next post might not be for a while, as I am taking off tomorrow for the South and won't really have consistent internet access for at least a month. Can't wait!

Linares, Money, and Quirks

I think it might be the end of my semester here that's affecting me, because I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting recently. Friends parents are coming, classes, papers, and tests end on Wednesday, and my big end of the semester trip to Patagonia and El Sur, as Chileans affectionately refer to they gorgeous southern part of the country. I can't wait for my parents and brother to get down here in exactly a month! It's been forever since I've seen them, not including a SKYPE webcam of course. I'm also really proud that I have such an adventurous family (kinda explains where I get it from) who is putting their complete faith in my ability to plan this trip for them and isn't afraid to try something out of the ordinary and go on a real adventure, past just the surface view of Chile. It promises to be a great time!

Man do I have so much to share about my life but I'll have mercy on you (and myself) and not type it all now. First off, last weekend I returned to Linares for the first time since being there in July. The first comment I got from my family (after a warm hug) was "Pato, porque tardaste tanto en regresar?" or "Why'd you take so long to come back?" I unfortunately didn't have a good answer and had to settle with the accurate but bad excuse that I've been busy. It was a great few days catching up with them and they were just as glad to see me as I was to see them. Linares is a much different city in the summer, with people wandering around town everywhere and no propane heaters and wood stoves going to keep the houses warm. It was especially great to share with them now that my Spanish has improved so much. Go figure, communication is easier when you speak the language better! On that topic, it's been really tough to gauge how much my Spanish actually has improved. It has probably changed little by little every week, which makes the progress very hard for me to see and appreciate. Sometimes I feel that I haven't learned very much at all, while others days I say things I didn't even know I knew how to say. The truth is that I am immensely more comfortable with speaking grammatically correct and at a faster pace. My accent, although far from perfect (I hate you "rr") has also improved dramatically.

I have also long since realized that I am going to blow through all my savings here (well, actually I'd already done that in 2 years at ND), but do not worry about this one bit. I travel as economically as possible and enjoy every minute of my time and haven't ever regretted a trip. The US dollar situation hasn't been helping though. Since getting here, the US dollar has fallen from being worth 538 Chilean pesos to it's current value of 480. This means that I'm basically getting $23 less every time I go to the ATM. Ouch!

I also got an awesome invitation this weekend from my Chilean friend David to go 9 hours South of Santiago to go fly-fishing in the mountains near Temuco. Sounds absolutely amazing right? Most unfortunately I had a test, mandatory program meeting, and online registration for ND classes that made it impossible to go. Any one of these problems alone could have been solved, but together it was just too much. I'll probably look back on this in a couple months and regret not doing more to work around these conflicts.

I've also been doing some thinking about the quirks of life in Santiago. First off, my basically $4 Chilean cellphone refuses to simply tell me I have a missed call and from whom but instead insists on sending me a text message with the number that called me, no name included. Really? You want me to look through every contact in my phone, scanning all the numbers to see who called? Also, La Católica has an absolutely mind-boggling printing system. Instead of having a simple computer lab and print release station like ND, La Católica insists on having someone work full time staffing the printer. Their sole job is to take my paper, put it in the printer, and then tell me to go to the release station, all of course done at a snail's pace. Does the administration really think that Chilean university students at the most prestigious school in the country are not capable of putting their own paper in the printer? Slightly more important than these two bothers is the commute time in Santiago. Every morning and every evening I have to take a combination metro and bus about an hour each way to get to school and back home. I try to read, do homework, read LonelyPlanet while planning a trip... but in a packed metro this isn't always possible. I guess this is the real world though and ND just spoils me.

Lastly, in order to end on a better note, the Santiago metro, which is the cleanest and best metro I've ever ridden by the way, just got even better. Come the summer heat, the fans on the platforms have little nozzles that spray water into the fan, cooling waiting passengers with just the right amount of water to be refreshing, but never enough to actually make you wet. It's awesome!

What a Weekend!

What a weekend this has been. I stayed in Santiago, but didn't really feel like I spent anytime at home, seeing as I went on day trips into the outskirts of Santiago Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday (after a Thursday night when we ended up in the same night club as the brother of the incumbent Chilean president!) we started off with an ND program tour to the primary wine growing region around Santiago. Chilean wines primarily come from 7 valleys stretching from several hundred miles north of Santiago to several hundred miles south. We visited 2 wineries, the ever-present Concha y Toro, which is the largest Chilean vineyard and a huge export name, as well as a boutique vineyard William Fevre, which is nearly 100% dedicated to export. Interestingly, this means we sampled from a bottle that was written partly in Portuguese and already had the label certifying which Brazilian company had imported it. I guess we beat them to it! The two setups were decidedly different, ranging from mass industrial production to smaller, more quality conscious production.

We took bikes around this beautiful wine region of Pirque, which despite being less than an hour outside of the hustle of Santiago, has a completely different feel to it. In my further pursuit of wine knowledge, I tasted a couple reds as well as one of the very few whites I have ever liked, a Concha y Toro Sauvignon Blanc Trio wine (made with grapes from three different valleys, hence the "trio" name). It resembled more of a desert than an actual wine, with an incredibly sweet green apple taste. Almost like a jolly rancher! The tour of Concha y Toro also brought us through the famed Casillero del Diablo (Devil's Locker) section, for which a popular line of wine is named. The legend of the name goes that over a hundred years ago one of the principal winemakers had noticed that some of his best bottles of wine were going missing from the cellar. In response, he invented a rumor that this specific section of the cellar was inhabited by the devil. As a result, the robberies stopped! Now there is even a devil silhouette painted on the wall to encourage the rumor (see the above picture). I have since tried the Casillero del Diablo Camenere and can speak for it's quality. Check out my other blog if you're interested in a more in-depth opinion (http://chilewinend.blogspot.com/). On an interesting side note, as this excursion was paid for through my Notre Dame tuition, this marked the first time that my tuition money was used for alcohol. Not that we've been looking for ways to use our dining hall flex points for this use or anything...

Saturday played host to my favorite program excursion so far, a horseback riding tour through the Andes. Part of what made this day trip so much fun was that we weren't riding through any public park, but instead private property. As a result, we saw no more than 5 other people all day, leaving us endless vistas to take in, in solitude. All in all, we rode about 6 or 7 hours, stopping halfway to barbecue some fantastic shish-kebabs next to a waterfall. It was a beautiful day, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. We also got the opportunity to see a handful of Andean Condors, absolutely gigantic birds that circle overhead looking for animal carcases to scavenge. I tried to attract one by playing dead on the top of a large hill, but with no success. Menos mal, as they say here in Chile, or a semi-sarcastic "thank goodness". On top of everything else, I had a great time talking to Esteban, our Chilean Politics, Economics, and Culture professor, about all his experience climbing the mountains in the Andes. I really wish I would have gotten more of this in, especially earlier in the semester when I had more time. I feel like I could spend another 6 months here purely climbing mountains, there are just that many peaks and the thrill is that big! I returned back to Santiago to spend the night with my Linares brother Carlos and his girlfriend Kelsey in their Santiago apartment.

The weather didn't cooperate as much today. When I set of early this morning (after a late night of course!), it was clear that it was gonna rain. Perfect for white-water rafting, right? A huge group of 19 of us ventured up in the Cajón del Maipo, a beautiful narrow river valley to the southeast of Santiago to brave the elements on this freezing cold day that was raining and never rose above 50*. Yet the rafting was incredible. They gave us all neoprene wetsuits, neoprene boots, and a thin jacket. It sure didn't keep us toasty, but it kept us warm enough to forget about the cold during the rafting. The rain probably helped the rapids as well, as they very strong, mainly class 3 with a couple class 4 sections. Man was it fun!

All in all, it's been a fantastic weekend, spent mainly in the outdoors. I've gotten to Sunday night here with a total of 13 hours of sleep the past 3 nights, but all was worth it. I am however going to bed now.

Spiderman

Atacama Salt Flat, Chile

Atacama Salt Flat, Chile

Machu Picchu, Peru (Let's hope you guessed that one)

BBQ in Mendoza, Argentina

Cerro Pochoco outside Santiago, Chile

Yes, Spiderman. Bare with me for a second. A good friend Amanda Helgerson gave me a Spiderman action figure/pool toy before I headed down to Chile with explicit instructions to take pictures of him everywhere I go. Despite my initial hesitation, I'm sure glad she gave it to me and that I've stuck with it. He goes everywhere with me and most places I actually remember about him, take him out of the bottom of my backpack, and snap a couple cool pictures. The other kids in my program have been following the progress too and have helped out with some awesome picture ideas. All the pictures are available on facebook, in a dedicated album for those of you with access. Otherwise, I've included the highlights here above.

If anyone has ideas for some creative pictures, I'd love to hear them

San Pedro de Atacama: a desert marvel

I've had a pretty busy week here in Santiago with an exam, paper, and of course trip planning (more on that later), so I'm sorry I'm just getting around to my updates. I spent the past weekend in San Pedro de Atacama, a tourist oasis in Northern Chile, with 3 other friends. Northern Chile is dominated by the Atacama Desert, the driest place in the world. Many places have not recorded any rain in recorded history! The relatively watery town of San Pedro (A booming metropolis of less than 2000 residents in the town proper. At any given time, there are thousands more tourists.) receives one sprinkling of rain a year. It is a beautiful desert town, carefully maintained so as not to become a sterilized tourist destination. The roads are all dirt (and rough!), the buildings are nearly all adobe, and I can't remember a single building that was over 1 story. Yet the truly awe-inspiring part of this area is found outside of the town. In a jam-packed weekend, we rented bikes, visiting Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley) and Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), both incredible natural rock/sand/salt formations that are hard to comprehend. I've tried to capture the beauty in the photos above. We also rented sandboards one day (basically a snowboard) and rode down the massive sand dunes. It turned out to be easier than I expected (and easier than snowboarding), yet this doesn't mean I didn't have my fair share of wipe-outs. The most arduous part of the experience was however climbing back up the sand dunes. Climbing was made all the more difficult by the obnoxious tendency of sand to erode away every time you apply pressure! It was like putting in 3 times the effort for the distance you actually climbed.

We also took tours to Laguna Chaxa (Chaxa Lake), where we admired the Atacama Salt Flat (the 3rd largest in the world) and saw flamingos naturally inhabiting a salt lake, Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques (Miscanti and Miñiques Lakes), a pair of intoxicatingly deep blue lakes at over 13,000 ft, Laguna Cejar (you get the translation by now right?), where we bathed in an incredible salt lake. The lake couldn't have been more than 200 ft across but is rumored to be up to a kilometer deep. This was likely my highlight of the trip, as the high salt content made the sensation of floating high in the water seem otherworldly. The last organized tour we took left at 4:00 am, catching a van to the El Tatio geyser field 14,000 ft high in the mountains. Despite the cold (nearly 10* F), the excursion was incredible. We had a truly unique breakfast including hot chocolate and hardboiled eggs prepared in a bubbling thermal pool and after went for a dip in the volcanic hot springs nearby. Getting out was near torturous, as the outside air temperature was probably barely above freezing.

The weekend was quite a bit different from my time in Santiago. Here in the capital, finding an English speaker (at least a decent one) is very hard. A very small percentage of Chileans speak English. In the tourist mecca that is San Pedro however, every tour guide spoke English. We did however always chose to conduct the tours in Spanish of course. It was also incredible to see how much the whole area is dependent upon tourism. At least 90% of the buildings you see in the town are hostels, restaurants, or tour agencies. On our tours we made small detours into towns with populations between 4 and 500, most of which greatly relied on tourism as a way of life. Thankfully, I found this didn't really sterilize the experience as much as I had expected. The town management has really done a great job of preserving the desert outpost feel.

San Pedro also allowed me an opportunity to fine tune my cooking skills. Despite the fact that about 15 of my friends from Notre Dame and Marquette were in San Pedro this weekend, I split off with 3 friends to make the planning and mobility easier. Despite curring myself ourselves off from many of our friends, I definitely found I prefer the smaller group experience. It simplifies all logistics and makes it a lot easier to meet other people. I did much of the cooking for the weekend. I kept it simple with pasta, rice, canned veggies, canned tuna, and instant oatmeal (and of course my trusty jar of peanut butter which I have found is invaluable as an easy breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack option on weekend trips), but the food turned out great, probably in large part because of the appetites we worked up during the days. Three things I learned from the cooking: 1)Rice cooks very slow, all the slower when you're starving, 2)1 kg of rice is an absurd amount of food for 4 people, especially when 2 of them are girls, and 3)Cooking isn't that bad, and can actually be kind of enjoyable (No this doesn't mean I'll cook every night back home mom!).

A couple last thoughts. My homework load here in Chile is so little that I find I spend more time every night planning trips, writing this blog, or even sorting through pictures than I actually do studying. This doesn't even consider my 1 hour commute to and from school every day or the time I spend with family/friends. It really is a nice work/leisure balance that I'll miss when I get back to ND. Also, much to my real mom and dad's dismay, in returning to Santiago from San Pedro, I actually had the sensation I was returning home! Kinda crazy seeing as I've only spent 4 months here, but a nice reflection. I guess Minnesota now has to compete with Notre Dame and Santiago for my home (just joking mom, please allow me to come back home...). Lastly, with summer arriving here, I've seen my brothers wearing the Minnesota Twins jersey/t-shirts I brought them as gifts. It's great to see, and they love them, even though they have no idea who Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau are (baseball isn't even a consideration here, completely supplanted by soccer, and to lesser extents tennis and basketball).

On to the last 3 weeks of classes before summer vacation! Can't wait to travel around the South and to show my family around Chile.

Chile: Land of the Asado

So on Sunday I rounded out my 4th straight day of asados, or barbecues. What a great stretch that was! Chileans love to grill, the meat ranging from choripan (chorizo + pan, or spicy sausage + bread) to pork to steak, and basically any other type of meat you could grill. Thursday night I had an asado with David, a Chilean friend of mine I met through a university program designed to help each of us practice our Spanish/English, David's brother, a friend of his, and my boy Shu. We grilled out on the 14th floor of his apartment complex. The views were incredible, and even better once the sun went down and the Santiago lights sprung to life. I can't get over how massive the city is. The lights stretch until the mountains in all directions. It's a city of close to 6.5 million people, but there are so few skyscrapers, that everybody is spread out horizontally instead of vertically as I am used to in major cities. Aside from certain small parts of more "downtown" areas, Santiago is dominated by one and two story houses and buildings. We ended up eating the meat in the dark, as we couldn't find the light switch on the roof, but had an absolutely great time. In the process, I discovered a great beer (imagine that, at a barbecue!). Austral, which is brewed in Punta Arenas, the southernmost major city in Chile (and for that matter continental South America) and is exceptional. I'd tried the standard Lager before, but on Thursday tried the Calafate Ale, made in part from a special berry (calafate) only found in Patagonia. I'm not usually a flavored beer fan, but the calafate was mild enough to add just the right hint of flavor.

The next couple of days of asados were at a friends' apartment or organized by CAUC, the university group that welcomes exchange students and plans events for them, and. Both a lot of fun, even though the security guards at the friends' apartment decided that we weren't allowed to grill on the rooftop deck. Instead we cooked on the stovetop in the apartment and carried the food upstairs, kinda unfortunate. Sunday was a special day here at my house. My dad Leo and brother Luca both had birthdays. After going swimming in the morning with my brother and his friends, I spent the afternoon and evening relaxing with my family and EATING! Leo really outdid himself on the grill this weekend (yes, he chose to cook his own birthday meal). After having my share of shish-kebabs, I dug into the biggest, juiciest steak I've eaten here in Chile. Delicious! There ended up being so much extra food as well that I had to politely keep declining more. Thankfully, I've gotten to eat the leftovers the past couple of days.

We also ate our fair share of deserts, including cake, ice cream, and homemade chocolate chip cookies made by yours truly. After emailing my real mom for the recipe and chasing around for brown sugar and baking soda (the two hardest things to come by) I got to work with the help of my brother and cousin and we whipped up some pretty impressive cookies. A couple of notes. Cookie dough gets WAY bigger when cooked, good to know for next time. Also, baking soda is bicarbonato de soda in Spanish speaking countries if any of you ever have the need to know. I had some trouble tracking this down, figuring out what was baking soda and what was baking powder here, and finally understanding that i had the right stuff even though my family never uses bicarbonato de soda for cooking but instead for cleaning. In the end, the cookies turned out great and my family loved them.

I'm particularly proud of the gifts I gave my family. Luca got the biggest bar of Toblerone chocolate I could find, 400 g, and loved it! My dad got a pack of homemade Dos Equis beer. Good story behind that one. Leo looks inexplicably similar to "The Most Interesting Man in the World" from the Dos Equis commercials. If you guys don't know them, definitely YouTube it. His picture is also in the picture below (the TV personality that is). So I figured it'd be a great idea to get him some Dos Equis. Only problem is, it can't be found here in Chile. So as a solution, I bought a pack of Austral Lager, the closest tasting beer I know of here, printed off my own Dos Equis labels, and wrapped it up. It turned out great and both of them loved their presents.

Last bit for tonight. I ran a 10 km race today at La Católica. It was a race put on by the PE department, and unlike most races in the US, wasn't done for a charitable cause, but instead to encourage exercise. It went great and I beat my goal.

Some More General Reflections

I've got some time here and quickly wanted to fill you in on some more general things going on here in Chile. I'm still making every possible effort to speak Spanish and only Spanish. It's gotten hard, especially when the majority of the kids in my program (and therefore many of my classes) are speaking a lot of English, but it's become quite normal to think and speak in Spanish! I have a lot of Spanish-English conversations, but this hasn't really been a hassle. The way I see it my Spanish speaking could use more work than my understanding, which is usually the way it goes with languages, so I'm getting tons of practice with the part I need most. Although it's been a gradual change throughout the semester, and therefore harder to notice, looking back I do realize that my ability to speak coherently, quickly, and with a semi-decent accent (frikkin "rr" sound!) has improved immensely. As I assume is normal, some days are harder than others, and some times I feel as if I've plateaued in my ability to learn more, yet other days I pull out phrases, words, grammatical nuances, and a general fluidity I didn't know I had. Needless to say, it's been fun and rewarding. The one thing that has been giving me the most trouble is humor. Whereas in English I feel as if I can throw in a quick expression, a bit or sarcasm, or some other quick jive to pull out a bit of humor (you are all free to disagree!), this is harder in Spanish. As a result, I feel as though while speaking in Spanish, I am a more serious and introverted person. An interesting observation I've come across that shows the real valuable parts of spending serious time in a foreign country. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a little more wittiness soon.

Next I'd like to shed a little more light on my favorite class here, Chilean Politics, Economy, and Culture, taught by an ND guy on staff here, Esteban Montes. First of all, Esteban is one of the most interesting professors I've ever had. Dynamic speaker, great ability to explain things in a manner we can understand, and of course first hand information on our subject matter. He is Chilean after all. The class has really taught me to appreciate the opportunity to study in Chile. I have to admit, I didn't know much about Chile before coming down here, but the country is just dynamic. It's so different from so many other countries I've learned about or visited. Some interesting facts I've learned: It absolutely controls the global copper market (with something like 1/3 of the global production); it has gone from being one of the poorest South American country 100 years ago to the richest per capita today; 4 families own 50% of the value of the Chilean Stock Exchange; the local indigenous population (Mapuche) were the most effective in all the Americas in fighting off the Europeans (this unfortunately means that poor relations between the Chilean government and the Mapuches still exists); despite being so successful at fostering economic growth and eliminating poverty, Chile is one of the most economically unequal countries in the whole world today... and on and on the list goes. I love the experience of being here more and more each day. Both in and out of class I'm learning things about Chile, the US, and myself that I just don't think I'd be learning back at ND due to the different culture and social setting.

Back to my adventures. Last Sunday I went to a Chilean soccer game between Colo Colo and La Universidad Católica. Despite being named after the university where I study, La Cato (as they call the team) doesn't currently have any connection. The name comes from the foundation of the team, when the university was involved. Colo Colo is the most popular team in Chile, often considered "the people's team" and also the most flaite, or ghetto. La Cato on the other side is regarded as the most cuico, or snobbish and elitist (probably from its roots alongside the university). This made for an intoxicating environment. We went with a group of about 18 (nightmare of a ticket organization), all of us sitting amongst the Colo Colo fans, and some of them rooting stronger than others (yours truly included). Needless to say, we didn't let anyone know we actually atended La Cato! The game was at least twice as crazy as the game in Argentina I told you about. It was completely sold out, and even though we arrived about 30 minutes early, we had trouble finding seats and all had to split up. From the report I heard, there were 700 carabineros, or Chilean policemen that often more resemble military, all dressed head to toe in riot gear. We bought tickets in the 2nd craziest section (craziest was all sold out), which in addition to being separated from the calmer sections (keep in mind no section was actually calm) with barbed wire, was also separated from the truly crazies, La Garra Blanca (the white claw) by more barbed wire. The game was intense, the fans were disrespectful, the refs and players from La Cato were verbally harassed beyond belief... AND IT WAS AWESOME. As my program has over twice as many girls as it does boys, I was privileged to sit with 4 gringas from ND amongst hoards of drunken Latin Americans. Boy did the guys love flirting with the girls! My nickname immediately became cuñado, or brother-in-law, because the Chileans all wanted to marry the gringas. After a great game, Colo Colo came out on top 3-2 and we celebrated the whole metro ride home. Great way to spend a Sunday.

Machu Picchu and Peru

Machu Picchu... so where do I start. Well 7 of my friends and I spent the past week in Cusco, Peru, one of the greatest historical cities of the Americas. The main highlight of the trip was certainly the day we spent at Machu Picchu. The secluded and sufficiently hard to get to ancient Inca city took us a taxi ride, train ride, and bus ride to get to, but man was it worth it. I decided to pass on the extremely popular Inca Trail 4 day hike. Although I'm sure it would have been a great time, it was pricey and due to porters, sleeping in pre-arranged camping villages and eating food prepared by the guides, it wasn't really the hiking experience I would have been looking for. I'd much prefer a more individual hike, without the masses of people, and one that relies on my own ability to carry my pack, pitch my tent, and cook my food.

Instead, we took the other very popular Machu Picchu strategy, staying a night at Aguas Calientes (AKA Machu Picchu Pueblo, the town at the base of the mountain containing the ruins) and waking up obscenely early in order to be one of the first 400 people into the park, allowing us to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain seen in the background of my ubiquitous post-card shot above. The summit promised truly unique views looking down upon Machu Picchu from about 1000 feet above. Our day started at 4:00, when we awoke in our hostel, with plans to hike up to the monument in the dark, assuring us one of the first spots in line when they opened the doors at 6:00. One problem... it was pouring rain! As a steep climb through mud and slippery stone stairs didn't seem to make a ton of sense, we instead went and stood in line for the first bus, departing at 5:30. After getting our spot in the surprisingly long line for such an early hour, we secured our spot to climb Wayna Picchu, as well as the opportunity to explore Machu Picchu before the masses of tourists arrived on their day trip from Cusco..

Through the pouring rain, we trekked our way up the steep steps of Wayna Picchu, stopping frequently to catch our breath in the thin air and snap some impressive pictures (A great excuse to catch our breath!). Machu Picchu itself is not only amazing, but the surrounding mountains are also awe inspiring, their steep, vegetation covered cliffs simply gorgeous. Although at first the rain seemed to be a damper on our special day, the combination of the clouds, fog, and rain added a mystical sense to the already magical place. Weird as it is, I think I actually had a better time at Machu Picchu because it was raining! After descending from Wayna Picchu, realizing we still had a full day ahead of us (it was only about 9:00!), we started exploring the wonder that is Machu Picchu, being simply amazed with ever corner we turned. Without a doubt, THE coolest place I've ever visited in my life, combining natural beauty with amazing architectural accomplishments. It just doesn't seem sensible, let alone possible to build a city in such a remote area. I wish the pictures could do the place justice, but they can't. I found it fascinating to sit up on a high hill and just imagine what the city must have been like with real life, not hundreds of tourists running around.

After Machu Picchu, I realized that the rest of the Sacred Valley of the Inca's, home to many other spectacular Inca sites was going to have a real hard time living up to the thrills of the main attraction. Despite thinking that we maybe should have visited these ruins first, saving the best for last, the ruins of Ollantaytambo, Moray, and Pisac did not disappoint. We spent a night in Ollantaytambo, waking up early to visit the ruins in town and rent a taxi for basically the whole day (for only $10!) to visit the surprisingly distant ruins of Moray and Pisac. I found the concentric circles of terraces used as an agricultural laboratory at Moray to be especially interesting and loved our 4 km hike down Inca trails and stairs from the hilltop citadel at Pisac.

After getting back to Cusco, we spent our time visiting some ruins in town (most notably ancient Inca walls that are still in flawless condition) and and a couple of museums. But the highlight of Cusco was the food. Peruvian food is delicious, cheap, delicious, and cheap. Oh, and delicious. I ate every strange thing I could get my hands on. Topping the list was anticucho de corazon (shish-kebabed cow heart), but close seconds were ceviche (raw trout marinated in lemon), cuy (guinea pig), and alpaca (relative of the llama). For those of you who are curious, the heart tastes very much like regular steak, but with a much more intense flavor and extremely tender, ceviche tastes like lemony sushi, guinea pig tastes like chicken, and alpaca tastes like a mixture between pork and lamb. Man, food may very well be my favorite part of travelling!

A cool unexpected addition to my stay in Cusco was catching the end of a rally car stage on Wednesday night. As this didn't really interest the rest of my group as much as me, I joined the crowds and listened as the cars flew by, engines sounding like airplane jets. The sounds were intoxicating, well at least to a car buff like me they were.

An unfortunate aspect of my trip in Peru was that I missed the rescue of the 33 miners trapped in Northern Chile. Truly an amazing story that has captured everyone here in Chile and many outside. There is some serious Chilean pride in the air for the successful rescue. I'll plan to fill you in on more Chilean news in my next post.

On some other notes, I shaved my beard off. It was great while it lasted but wore off it's appeal to me and became more of an annoyance. It never really looked great, and I had a lot of bare spots, but it showed potential.

I also went to a Dave Matthews Band concert last night in Santiago. Not exactly immersing myself in the South American culture, but hey, it was a great time. Dave has really compiled an amazing group of musicians in his band, joining together for a truly unique sound. Highly recommended for anyone who has the opportunity to catch a concert.

Lastly, I took a trip back to my favorite South American city Valparaíso this past Friday and Saturday (Cusco being my second favorite). This time I went with my ND program. We had a fantastic tour, our guide sharing many of the eccentricities of the city with us. The fantastic colors, old port influence, and openness to showing the tourist everything about the city from the beauty to the ugly parts has really attracted me. I keep describing it as a beautiful city to my host sister and she keeps refuting me that it is not beautiful. It may be unique, fascinating, or interesting, but she holds beautiful is not the right word (probably with some truth).

That's all I've got tonight. I hope everyone back home is doing well. I miss you, but not enough that I want to come home yet! :)

Tour de Mendoza

I just got back from a great weekend in Mendoza, Argentina on Sunday. Along with Chris and Shu, two guys from ND, I traversed the Andes Mountains by bus and spent a long weekend exploring the Argentinian city. It was great to get out of Chile (although I love Chile) and see a different part of South America. The bus trip over took about 6 hours of driving and an hour and a half of waiting at customs at the border, but WOW was it a great bus trip! The scenery was so incredible that this might actually have been my favorite part of the trip. There are not very many mountain passes between the two countries and most are closed during the winter because they are often impassable with the snow. On the other hand, in the heart of summer vacation time, getting through customs can take a whopping 7 hours! I´ve included pictures from the trip above, but the pictures just don´t do the mountains justice. The Andes dwarf you and the road is built on a steep hill with a precipitous drop-off. Driving a car here takes a strong stomach, let alone a 40+ pasenger bus.

To give you a perspective on the rest of the trip, it suffices to say that we slept all of about 7 hours all weekend. Kinda makes you wonder why we even paid for the hostel... We were busy. After arriving real early Friday morning, we found a breakfast cafe, dropped our stuff off at the hostel and set off to nearby Maipu, known for it´s numerous vineyards. Here we rented bikes for the day and set off for one of the best days of my trip so far. After riding down 7 km, with a bats-out-of-hell pace, we stopped at our first vineyard, Carinae, a little boutique winery owned by a French couple. We toured the traditional artesenal factory and reserves and followed this with a delicious tasting. After discovering that the olive oil factory across the street was closed, we set off for another vineyard, Vistandes, a larger, more modern production. And so continued our day, visiting wineries, a beer garden, and a liquor/chocolate/jam factory. In the end, I can honestly say I learned a lot about wine tasting. My expertise went from being able to distinguish a white wine from a red wine before the trip, to being able to distinguish a young wine from one that has been aged in oak. Not bad for a days work!

After the exhausting day, we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet. For $12 USD I ate my heart's content (and more) of Argentinian beef, pork, and chicken. Argentina is known for it's high quality cheap meat, and it certainly didn't disappoint. As for the Argentinian beer, let's just say I was less than impressed. For a country with so many German immigrants, they should really have better beer. We did manage to find some descent ones, but it took a lot of searching and the mainstream brands taste like water (cough, cough... Quilmes). Wine's a better accompaniment to steak anyways.

Our second day was spent wandering around Mendoza, appreciating the relaxed feel of the city. Coming from Santiago, it really feels tiny. The highlight of the day was however a soccer game. Shu and Chris were in a small soccer shop looking at some jerseys when the store keeper told us about a big soccer game that was in town. We didn't have anything better to do, so we made our way over to the stadium, bought some tickets with the crazy fanatics (we supported Godoy Cruz, the Mendoza team, over Independiente), and entered into one of the craziest atmospheres I have ever experienced. I thought ND fans could get wild, but I'm sorry, we don't even compare. I'll try to give you the best impression of the populares section, as they call the seats for the hardcore fans behind each net, as I can. First of all, the entire section was encircled with barbed wire, in order to keep these fans away from the families that were sitting in other sections and probably more importantly, the fanatics of the other team. Inside the barbed wire it was lawless. There were people next to us smoking marijuana, 10 year old kids swearing their mouths off, and fans throwing objects at the cops (they were behind a fence and wearing complete riot gear so no harm was done). Although there were probably over 100 police officers at the game, exactly zero were inside these populares sections. They were however strategically positioned outside of the section in order to prevent the spread of the lawlessness. The game was a blast, as Godoy Cruz breezed to a 4-1 victory. Not too bad for a team we decided to root for only on the way into the stadium, without any prior knowledge.

As for the Argentinians, I loved them. They are characteristically very outgoing and talk with a really cool accent. It was a little tough getting used to it after becoming accustomed to Chilean Spanish but everything worked out. As is the case in Chile, we also found in Argentina that random people on the street started impromptu conversations with us, loving to share whatever tid-bit of their culture they could. In both countries, they are very happy and proud that we have chosen to study abroad in their country.

As for the Chilean side of my weekend, my program attended a beautiful folkloric dance show by BAFONA (Baile Folcrórico Nacional) on Thursday before we headed out to Mendoza. BAFONA is one of the best known Chilean folkloric dance groups and they didn't disappoint, performing dances from Northern Chile, Central Chile, Southern Chile, and Easter Island (owned by Chile). I've gotten a ton of chances to see Chilean dancing while here, but this was clearly the most professionally performed with the best dancers (although I have to say that the show by my two brothers at their school was also pretty awesome!). We were also surprised to hear that the Chinese ambassador to Chile was in attendance and was brought up on stage with many other people from the audience at the end of the show to dance the cueca, Chile's national dance. That guy can move!

Sorry about the length, I just didn't want to leave anything out. I wish I could say future posts will be shorter, but I am heading off to Peru on Thursday to visit Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the surrounding Sacred Valley. Therefore, my next post will probably be a long one as well.

Pomaire, home of the clay potters

So last Saturday my ND program took a trip to Pomaire, a small town about an hour outside of Santiago known for all the people who work with clay. First thing in the morning, we visited a house and met the family who lived there. They would serve as our tour guides and hosts for the day. We had an excellent breakfast at their house, complete with bread, jam, cheese, and an assortment of pastries. The house in and of itself was incredible. It was set back towards a hill, down a long dirt driveway, and had been made by the family themselves. After breakfast we set out for our tour.

Our first stop was the workshop for a couple of potters. But unlike most other shops, these guys worked the whole process. The greda, or clay, is brought in by the truckload, looking like nothing more than really rough, dry, and brown dirt. The clay used to all come from Pomaire, but after years of harvesting it, it now comes from the surrounding 50-100 kms. The next step in the process is to soak the dirt for a couple of days and send it through a ramshackle grinder, breaking up all the rocks and large pieces. The now moist clay is then formed into quesos, or cheeses, because they look like giant wheels of cheese, about 30 kg each (trust me, they were every bit that heavy!). After being cleaned for small twigs by hand, they were ready to be worked. I was the first to step up to the plate from our group and try my hands at the clay wheel, trying to make a simple bowl. It could have gone better, to say the least! It's real hard to find the right balance between molding the clay too hard and not hard enough. Eventually, with considerable help, I managed to create a semi-acceptable bowl. I wish I could have had more time with the wheel, but my friends were waiting. It was also quite humorous to see the shelf-fulls of much more intricate bowls made by the potter in a single day, while seeing how much effort and time mine took.

Our next stop took us to another artisan, one who specialized in making piggy-banks. Our whole group spread out along the table and followed his lead, forming our clay into chanchitos, or little pigs. I was real proud of how mine turned out until it started to dry and I realized that I hadn't scored the clay for the snout well enough. You can see the crack starting to form in the above picture. My piggy is now in two parts, the main body and the snout. Oooops! I guess it's a learning experience. And nothing a little super glue can't fix.

We returned for lunch, were we were served the largest empanadas I've ever seen. I happily ate mine then helped out a friend, with half of hers. We were then served salad, vegetables, and cazuela, a delicious soup I've eaten quite regularly here with beef or chicken, rice, corn, squash, potato, and always a healthy portion of aji, or chili pepper (personal preference). On a side note, I'm kinda disappointed they don't call chili chili in Chile (follow?). On a second side note, Chileans have a sweet word, cachai, they use all the time to ask "Do you understand?" or "Do you follow?," perfectly applicable in the earlier sentence. Back on topic, this was a HUGE lunch, and I almost didn't want to get up from the table. In the end I did, as we made it into town to buy some pretty awesome and cheap clay cups and mugs, seen above. Some might say the large one had the intention of being used as a beer stein...

On another note, I recently went golfing with my tandem partner David (he helps me with Spanish, I help him with English). We played the Mapocho course, out by the airport. Real fun time. At over 6900 yards (for some reason they measure golf courses in yards here while everything else is metric) it was far and away the longest course I've ever played. I also had the unique experience of being dive-bombed by birds on the first two holes. I hooked a drive into the long grass and must have disturbed their nest. As I went to find my ball, birds flew directly at me, squawking away like crazy. Through the use of my golf bag and clubs as shelter and protection, I avoided any injury, but I'm convinced they would have actually hit me if not for my efforts to repel them. David told me that I was being ridiculous, and that that's happened to him tons of time with no injury, but it still scared the crap out of me. I calmed down for the rest of the round and ended up playing pretty well. I was real happy to get out golfing because it's not a very popular/accessible activity for most Chileans. It's considered a very cuico, or snooty high society, pass time. $20 for 18 holes might not sound like a lot to us (in fact it's quite cheap considering the quality of the course), but to many Chileans this is out or reach. I'm hoping to get out again with David and his girlfriend's dad. Chao

Bicentenario!

So guess, what? Since my last post, Chile turned 200 years old! Not everyday that your study abroad experience lines up with such an important celebration. Although many friends took off from Santiago to visit Linares, the beach, or other friends and relatives around Chile, I stayed put here in Santiago. Saturday the 18th was the actual bicentennial, while the 19th was the day to celebrate the armed forces.

I spent the whole weekend more, more than anything else, eating. Saturday and Sunday were days for huge asados (BBQs). Leo, my host dad, whipped up some INCREDIBLE food. Saturday we had shish kebabs, and Sunday was steaks, pork, sausages, and prieta (a dark sausage made with blood), always accompanied by vino tinto (red wine) and empanadas. Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it all. Furthermore, for these asados, many of my extended family and close family friends came over. We had a great time celebrating in the amazing backyard patio area. As you can see from the above picture, the patio and grill outside are absolutely perfect for entertaining.

As for other festivities, we saw an air show, went to a fonda (a typical independence day state fair like event. Several huge parks around Santiago were all set up with food and drink vendors, music, and trinkets for sale. It reminded me a lot of the MN state fair minus all the animals and with more focus on drinking and food - if it's possible to have more focus on food than the MN state fair), and went to go see a fantastic light show at La Moneda (the presidential offices)... 3 times! We wouldn't have had to go to the light show 3 times, but each time we got there a little earlier and got better spots in the huge crowd. The light show was absolutely incredible, I can't believe they could make the building appear to shake, warp, grow shapes, and change colors so convincingly. My favorite parts of the show included when La Moneda moved like an ocean wave, beat like a giant speaker, grew Moai (the typical human-like statues found on Easter Island), and was enveloped in neon colors. Fireworks also accompanied the show.

Monday, a national holiday as well, I went biking with my uncle and sister. We climbed Cerro San Cristobal, a mini-mountain in the heart of Santiago, along with herds of other people enjoying the holiday. The ride up took some effort, but was well worth it for the view, let alone the ride down. The 5 km ride back down the hill was spent dodging walkers, slower bikers, and cars. It was absolutely exhilarating weaving between the cars at top speed!

I've come to love Santiago and Chile in general for all it has to offer. Geographically speaking, it truly is the most remarkable country I've ever experienced. In just over an hour you can be soaking up rays on the beach, and more interestingly for me, in half that time you can be climbing the mountains. I did one of these climbs this morning. Two ND friends of mine, Katy and Rosie, climbed Cerro Pochoco. Although containing a relatively well marked trail, we enjoyed "trail-blazzing" more, or creating our own approach to the top and back down again. There is something romantic about climbing giant hills and mountains that just really grabs me. It's just incredibly inspiring to look up a hill, tell yourself you are going to climb it, and then do it. The simplicity of the task and the challenge of completing it thrill me. I have loved taking in nature this way, with a good understanding of our minuscule size. All this natural excitement and activity I have done really makes me happy that I came to Chile. Sure, I could be touring historically important buildings and visiting ancient palaces in Europe, but Chile has provided me with amazing opportunities for more environmental experiences, something I am very happy to be doing.

A couple of quick add-ons. On Friday I made pizza for my family, complete with homemade dough. My technique could still stand to be perfected, but it was a lot of fun and delicious. My family loved it too. Turns out I didn't make enough! I have found that food has really been a great way for me to bond with my family, especially my mom and dad. Whether we're talking about the differences in food from different countries or I'm helping them cook/grill, it has been a great way for us to really connect. Plus, any of you know I love to talk, think, and dream about food!

I also continue to be amazed with the power of the ND network. Just last week I had lunch with a friend of one of my cousins. They studied at the Notre Dame's Seminary together. Chris is a great guy, has lived in Chile for just under 20 years, and is currently developing university level English programs. It seems that there is nowhere in the world that I go where I won't find an ND alum willing to grab a bite to eat and share their experiences with me. Simply amazing.

On a more somber note, my grandma here - who I see probably 4 times a week, as she lives so close and often comes over for meals - was recently hospitalized after a heart attack. It happened a week back, and was misdiagnosed as a stomach condition. After being bed-ridden for a couple of days last week, she was up on her feet and her usual animated self again, yet she now has to stay in the hospital for the next 2 weeks to undergo more tests. It's going to be tough for someone as active as her to stay in a bed for so long, and I plan to go visit her in the coming days. Any prayers are appreciated.

Lastly, my sisters have continued to question my eating habits. They can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that I will eat lentil soup with a ham sandwich and apple on the side, or some other equally strange gringo mixture of flavors, sweet and salty, and texture. They continually tell me I'm going to upset my stomach (I still haven't). And above all, they can't understand why I like to drink a glass of milk with every meal. I guess that's the Midwest roots in me. Cami and my uncle Ricardo even came up with an expression for the apparently crazy things I do: "Gringo tenia que ser," or "That had to be a gringo."

Current Events in Chile

I thought I'd take the time to share a little with you about Chilean current events. Currently the big news story (aside from the bicentennial celebration of Chilean independence on September 18!!!) in Chile is that 30 some incarcerated Mapuches (the most prevalent indigenous group in Chile) are on a hunger strike, trying to change the way in which the anti-terrorist laws are applied to them. These prisoners, who have committed various acts of arson, and destruction of public property, are seeking to be tried in a civilian court instead of a military court. This would likely cut their prison sentence by 2/3. The hunger strike has lasted over two months, and many people are worried that the death of one of them would shed a very bad light on the bicentennial celebrations, let alone be an internationally recognized failure of the current administration. There's been a lot of discussion about whether the crimes which were committed should be considered terrorism or whether the government is unjustly applying this law to the socially-disadvantaged and discriminated Mapuches. There is also concern over whether the government's bending to these demands would set a precedent for future groups. I haven't yet been able to get a sense for what the majority public opinion here is, but it's certainly complex.

On to more personal events, I recently got REAL lost on the Santiago bus system, known as micros. I was coming back from a birthday party with my friend Shu and we jumped on a bus going the opposite direction. Let me clarify that we did know we were going the opposite direction, but it was a cold night, we hadn't seen another bus in quite a while, and we figured we'd just ride the bus to the end of the line and turn around. Not a bad idea right? The end of the line can't be that long. WRONG! The bus took us to one of the poorest sections of Santiago, a good hour away from where we started (and an hour and a half from where we wanted to be). After getting off at the terminal station, the bus drivers on duty there quickly asked us what in the world we were doing there. Didn't we know this part of town was dangerous, especially at 4:00 AM? We explained our situation and hung out with the drivers until the next bus headed back. The ride back was also exciting, as the bus driver called us up to the front at one point to ask if he could drive with the inside lights off because this was such a dangerous area. Kinda gives you the chills if a public bus driver doesn't even feel safe driving through. Well we eventually made it home, 3 hours after leaving the birthday party. And the craziest part of the whole trip was that it all took place on September 11th, which in Chile is also an important date. It is the anniversary of the coup-d'etat in 1973 when the Pinochet and the military overthrew Salvador Allende's marxist government. Every year there are protest marches and riots (the most dangerous being in these poorer neighborhoods). Even moreso, this year was supposed to be worse because it is the first year of a right-of-center government since the military dictatorship. Probably the kind of stuff Notre Dame warned us not to do. The things I do for life experiences!

Lastly, I found a sweet Chilean reggae group called Gondwana. They're older and don't produce music together anymore but are absolutely awesome. Probably second best reggae music I've ever heard behind the one and only Bob Marley.

That's all, on the the 4 day weekend! Friday and Monday are national holidays.

Some Reflections

Well, while looking over blog, I realized that I had told you a lot about the adventures and trips I'd taken here in Chile, but hadn't really provided any big picture reflections on what life is like here. Maybe I got a little bit of inspiration from visiting Pablo Neruda's house here in Santiago (the second of his three houses I will be visiting), but here goes nothing.

First of all, back home I had heard people speak of the influence that the US exerts on Latin America, but hadn't really fully appreciated it until Chile. It is absolutely incredible what English and US culture mean here. Most movies are Hollywood produced, tons of clothes are from US brands (North Face is a huge, although still very expensive name here), and McDonalds and especially Burger King are everywhere. US music has also has a huge following here, but Latin American music is still very popular. I think this is something that those of us from the US really have to acknowledge and respect. We have to be aware of how our actions and culture affects the rest of the world. And appreciate the fact that we have it pretty easy with English as our first language. There is also a huge campaign in Chile called "Ingles abre puertas," or "English opens doors," meant to promote learning English in schools. I have heard many people tell me that without some English knowledge, their future career plans are substantially limited.

On this note, I have chosen to do my service work at a poorer Santiago high school, assisting in an English class. The teacher, a great lady named Claudia, is the only English teacher at the school and didn't actually start learning English until college! Despite her enthusiasm, it's tough to teach English with only this small foundation. Shu and I go every Monday morning to help out in the classes. We've been helping the classes with pronunciation and grammar more than anything and it has been extremely rewarding and enjoyable. The experience has also taught me a lot about the Chilean school system. The school is partly subsidized by the government, placing it between a full-on private school and a completely public school. As in the US, the Chilean school system has many problems. Fully public schools are notoriously bad and private schools are out of reach for most families. Therefore these partly subsidized schools provide education to middle and lower-middle class students. It's been an eye-opening experience to get out of the wealthier neighborhoods and downtown areas of Santiago. I also view this as a necessary experience because I don't want to leave Chile with a biased view of what life is like for Chileans.

I also felt my first small amount of homesickness this past weekend. Well actually, it was NDsickness. Before our victory over Purdue, I had a bunch of my friends over for a BBQ-Tailgater. It was a great time and a great chance for my sisters to meet the ND group. It was almost like the real thing, with everyone sporting "The Shirt" and grilling out. We headed of to a gringo bar around here to watch the game, where believe it or not, we ran into other ND fans. Some had just graduated and found jobs in Chile, some were natively from Chile, and some were just passing through. It was a fantastic game atmosphere, almost as good as the real thing. The happiest/saddest part was the pregame coverage when they showed pictures and videos of campus, including the typical pump-up videos. I've told myself that I'm going to enjoy Chile to the fullest without holding on to ND too much, but is it so wrong to miss it just a little?

On other notes, I've had some challenges trying to balance my schedule between everything I want to do. Although I have minimal homework compared to being at ND, an hour of commuting to school and an hour back seriously cuts into my day. It's been tough trying to balance my schedule between hanging out with my family, meeting new people, travelling, and hanging out with my ND friends. I have found positives and negatives about being in a program so formalized like mine. The ND program is great in that we have 2 full-time ND staff to help us with any problems, we have many already scheduled day-trips around Santiago, and I already have a network of friends. Yet at the same time, I really feel that my class schedule (with 3 gringo-only classes, 2 of which are all ND) and the general atmosphere of our program make it hard to break free. It's certainly different from any other study-abroad students here.

My classes, although easy, have been quite interesting. My favorite is Chilean Politics, Culture, and Economy. Although I complained about the all ND classes earlier, this one is great! The professor is a extremely bright, exciting, and funny guy. Esteban studied law in Chile but then got his Ph.D at Notre Dame in Political Science. I've realized that Chile is one of the most interesting countries to study politically. So far we have really only looked at the last 50 years, but in Chile this means a lot. They have gone from a democratic government, to a democratically-elected socialist government, to a military dictatorship, and back to a democracy, all in the past 50 years. Esteban has great first hand impressions on all of these changes in addition to a fantastic background of Poli-Sci knowledge.

Also, I've gotten real good at living on low amounts of sleep. Late night carretes (parties) followed by early morning trips or even classes is a regular occurrence. In the end, I really don't want to waste my time in Chile sleeping, so I've gotten used to running on fumes. And I'm proud to say I still stay away from caffeine and naps!

Lastly, I've found Chileans in general to be HUGELY welcoming and helpful. They have a reputation for being some of the most serious and least outgoing of South Americans, working hard and minding their own business. Yet this does not detract in the least from their willingness to help a lost gringo. Everyone from bus drivers to carabineros (police officers) to random people in stores and the street are always friendly and helpful. It's trully made these 2 months (already????) a great experience.

Back to my trips and adventures, I went to la Reserva Nacional Rio Clarillo this Sunday to do a little bit of hiking with Beau, a friend from Northwestern. Our of pure luck, we decided to visit the national park on Dia de la Patrimonia, and got free entrance! We spent the day (after yet another early morning) hiking on organized paths and trail-blazing new paths. It was a great but exhausting day hiking through the beautiful mountains and valleys. See the pictures above