just another 80º friday

I can't really get over the weather here. It is beautiful every day, end of story.

My host sister assures me that this will change, she was really excited about a down jacket that her aunt gave her; even though I can't quite imagine wearing that now I'm sure I will need something similar eventually. yay, can't wait (just kidding)

So yea, I don't know how it worked out this way, but it seems that I don't have class on fridays. oh yea! So instead I met with my professor about how my credits here are going to count at St. Mikes and I tried to go to Registro Civil to get my real Chilean ID however, it appears they need a copy of my visa and of course I didn't bring my passport this one time. It seems I will be running there after class on Monday instead. sigh.

Ah well, my sister has informed me that we are going hiking tomorrow which might be the best thing I have heard all day. The mountains here are spectacular, I can't really do them justice with words but suffice it to say that I am surprised by their height every single time I see them...which is every day because you can't look at buildings without there being mountains behind them.

Other than that I am getting into the rhythm of classes at the Universidad Católica. I am taking 5 classes as of now and I have all of next week to finalize those classes and even try some new classes if I want. Apparently Chileans study towards a certain career such as 'oh, i study dentistry or oh, I study architecture' so when I tell them that I study ecology and spanish they are confused as to what career path I am following. I am confused on that point as well.

So whoever reads this blog, I hope you are enjoying my adventures through the city of Santiago and surrounding awesome countries. Please if you ever have a chance to go, GO because it is an amazing city with a lot to offer. Can't wait to go skiing in the Andes come winter! ahhhhh

Off to class

Literally, I am navigating public transit in about 10 minutes to traverse the city and eventually end up at Campus San Joaquin of the Universidad Católica here in Santiago, Chile. It has 4 campuses spread out throughout the city, ahhhh. A little bigger than St. Mikes.

I spent the weekend visiting host relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles and getting to know my host brother (14 years old) who recently returned from summer camp, haha they have that here too! All in all a good weekend I would say, the only unfortunate thing was that it had to end and I am now faced with a rather intimidating class registration process.

How it works: All chilean students have their classes, they know where their going and what to expect. I am like a freshman only worse. I have no idea where my classes are (I was told to 'ask') I don't actually know what classes I will be taking yet, I only have a list of potential classes of which I am supposed to visit and decide within the next 2 weeks. Also, once we decide on the classes we want we are supposed to register for them at their sort of central office (don't know where those are either) however, if later we decide that we don't want to take that class and instead we want to take this class, we must un-register for that class and sign up for the new one! woohoo.

So it will be a busy two weeks.

However it is still in the 80's every day here so I can't complain about the relentless sunshine and the GIANT cordillera that you can see from Everywhere in Santiago. The mountains are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!

that's all for now, mostly because I'm going to miss micro (or bus as we north americans call it) D18 which will deliver me safely to metro station Bustamante. haha

ciao!