SOOOOOoooo today was the most depressing day ever. I started off w/ not letting myself go to sleep early (like always lol). But the depressing part... we spent all day after our lecture in the morning at Parque de la Paz (Park of Peace) and then after that at the Cementario General (General Cemetery of Santiago). Parque de la Paz is a memorial now but used to be a place where they took people and tortured them. A professor led us through it and was actually one of the people who had been tortured there. Apparently from 1974-1978, during the dictator Pinochet's regime, there was an obsession with stopping resistance against Pinochet. So they captured people to find out information about resistance forces. Usually these people were college students... HMMMM just like us. And this was just 30 years ago... when my parents were in high school. We were at Parque de la Paz for like 2.5 hours and our guide described all the torture methods in detail... I couldn't listen to all of it. It was too horrible. And he got choked up at one point... obviously was something very emotional for him. Then we took a half hour bus ride to the cemetery. He also led us through that and we got to see the graves of a bunch of famous people.. was also very interesting. AND there are apparently 5 MILLION people buried in that graveyard. They put family's graves by eachother and when there's not enough room, they take out the oldest one and but the remnants inside the coffin into a shoebox size coffin and buried again. Also some of the plots the people have to pay a certain amount a month and if they can't, the coffin is removed from the plot. Flowers everywhere.. it was nice.
So after all this heavy stuff... Monica and I decided we had to have a girls night with Andrea and Allie and watch a fun movie. We went to Blockbuster and I now have a Chilean account WOOTTT! haha. I rented Bride Wars, or Guerra de Novias lol. But we ended watching Mamamia! It was much needed. : )
Gotta figure out classes... it's kind of a pain. Not just one, but two universities. One of which doesn't really have a campus... there are buildings in diff parts of Santiago. I'll get it though. Buenos noches! Besitos (little kisses!)!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Words I have learned from Harry Potter
Good movie! Watched the most recent one in the theater... with Spanish subtitles. And I kind of took notes on some of the words... lol. So check em out... learn some Harry Potter espanol : D.
varita= wand
Tenebroso= Dark Lord
mitad= alley
mortifago= Death Eater
era grosero= was rude
veritaserum= Vera Serum
demonio= bloody hell
escoba= broomstick
maldicion= curse
meros mortales= mere mortals
puntadas= stitches
vagando= lurking
ocultarlo= hide it
agujeta= shoelace
tarata= daft bimbo
atolorando= boggled
hechizar= to hex
me espantan= they freak me out
Por las barbas de Merlin!= Merlin's beard!
Hasta la vista, Aragog= Farewell, Aragog LOL
el Elegido= the Chosen One
varita= wand
Tenebroso= Dark Lord
mitad= alley
mortifago= Death Eater
era grosero= was rude
veritaserum= Vera Serum
demonio= bloody hell
escoba= broomstick
maldicion= curse
meros mortales= mere mortals
puntadas= stitches
vagando= lurking
ocultarlo= hide it
agujeta= shoelace
tarata= daft bimbo
atolorando= boggled
hechizar= to hex
me espantan= they freak me out
Por las barbas de Merlin!= Merlin's beard!
Hasta la vista, Aragog= Farewell, Aragog LOL
el Elegido= the Chosen One
Sunday, July 26, 2009
first blog... 2 weeks in
Hola everyone!
I finally made this thing... I've been lazy. Let's see.. I'll try to bring you up to speed. I'm in Santiago, Chile for the semester. I've been here since July 15th and am travelling through CIEE which has been really great so far. The people in charge seem very understanding and are trying their best to prepare us for our school year coming up. The first few days we stayed in an orientation hotel.. Rent-a-Home in la Providencia, a section of the city of Santiago. It was a lot warmer than I expected it to be actually... it's winter here and it was in the 50s when I arrived. It's about that during the days but gets cold at night. I've seen my breath at night for sure. The centre of the city of Santiago is a total mix btwn Rome and Chicago. It's god the streets of Rome... brick, oldschool stuff. And then Chicago city life... lots of stores and vendors and historic buildings. Reallllllly cool.
I live in la Providencia and it's not to far from the metro, which is nice. My homestay family is AWESOME... they are a cute older couple in about their 60s. They talk a lot and made me feel welcome from the get go. I call them Tia Sara and Tio Alberto (Aunt and Uncle). They said it was weird for me to call them Mom and Dad b/c my parents live in the US. I agree. I like it this way. When talking to friends in the program it's out homestay parents tho.. less confusing.
The people in the program have been really cool.. Monica, Allie, Andrea, and Becky all live pretty close to me. Kris is in la Providencia too but I think on the other side.
We've been taking a CIEE class the last week or so which has been basically a bunch of lectures from different professors. We divide off into three smaller classes for discussion most days too, which is cool. We have a project due Thursday which I'm not too stressed about but I want to present well. Our group of 6 is doing it over the Indigenous population in Chile and Chilean Spanish. We're going to do a skit we think and show off our knowledge of Chilean slang haha.
For going out, I've gone to a soccer game (U Chile vs. Palestino) which ended 0-0 haha. And a couple discotecas and a few bars. Last night we went to a restaurant/bar called Teclados that was fun.. met some Chileans that were friends of Kris' hostbrother Miguel. They were a lot of fun and they brought us to one of their houses to do a little Karaoke. Friends on facebook with a couple, yay!
We got to see a historical museum, their "whitehouse" type building... and my fav-- the Andes mtns in the distance. Also saw an Indigenous museum-type thing which I want to go back to. Not gonna lie.. they have really cool earrings there : ).
I think it's only natural to get some waves of homesickness... I have but not too bad. They're keeping us busy. I was so glad I went out Saturday night cuz for the first time I had just chilled all day and then I had a moment where I was like "Whoa, ok. Now what do I do?" I had texted ppl earlier w/out response but then right before I was gonna send one to someone else, Monica called. That was great. It was a bit o' drama night for some reason, haha. But it ended up being a lot of fun.
My Spanish was really awkward at first.. could hardly speak the first night I came home lol. That was my body's way of saying "Whoa k, you're in a diff country." But the next day Sara and Alverto said my Spanish already sounded a lot better lol. Maybe it was a lie but I think they were right. Adam's mom is right tho... when you have a glass of wine or something, it's strange but your Spanish gets better. Or just seems better lol.
The wine here is good. Although.. the first time I tried it I thought it tasted to woody. There's a drink called the Pisco sour too which is a verrrry popular Chilean alcoholic drink. It's a bit much the first time you try it, but pretty good. There's something called the Terremoto (means "earthquake") that I need to try. It's supposed to be really good... I think it's some sort of ice cream with Pisco sour and something else.
The food here is absolutely amazing... LOVE the idea of bread all the time. And fruit. BUENO. muy bueno. And just cool dishes in general. I'm sure I'll be talking more about that later.
For now, I need to go to bed. I've been really bad about staying up late. It's past 2 and I have to get up at 8 or so, haha. But I got LOTS of sleep this weekend... so don't worry : ). Buenos noches!
I finally made this thing... I've been lazy. Let's see.. I'll try to bring you up to speed. I'm in Santiago, Chile for the semester. I've been here since July 15th and am travelling through CIEE which has been really great so far. The people in charge seem very understanding and are trying their best to prepare us for our school year coming up. The first few days we stayed in an orientation hotel.. Rent-a-Home in la Providencia, a section of the city of Santiago. It was a lot warmer than I expected it to be actually... it's winter here and it was in the 50s when I arrived. It's about that during the days but gets cold at night. I've seen my breath at night for sure. The centre of the city of Santiago is a total mix btwn Rome and Chicago. It's god the streets of Rome... brick, oldschool stuff. And then Chicago city life... lots of stores and vendors and historic buildings. Reallllllly cool.
I live in la Providencia and it's not to far from the metro, which is nice. My homestay family is AWESOME... they are a cute older couple in about their 60s. They talk a lot and made me feel welcome from the get go. I call them Tia Sara and Tio Alberto (Aunt and Uncle). They said it was weird for me to call them Mom and Dad b/c my parents live in the US. I agree. I like it this way. When talking to friends in the program it's out homestay parents tho.. less confusing.
The people in the program have been really cool.. Monica, Allie, Andrea, and Becky all live pretty close to me. Kris is in la Providencia too but I think on the other side.
We've been taking a CIEE class the last week or so which has been basically a bunch of lectures from different professors. We divide off into three smaller classes for discussion most days too, which is cool. We have a project due Thursday which I'm not too stressed about but I want to present well. Our group of 6 is doing it over the Indigenous population in Chile and Chilean Spanish. We're going to do a skit we think and show off our knowledge of Chilean slang haha.
For going out, I've gone to a soccer game (U Chile vs. Palestino) which ended 0-0 haha. And a couple discotecas and a few bars. Last night we went to a restaurant/bar called Teclados that was fun.. met some Chileans that were friends of Kris' hostbrother Miguel. They were a lot of fun and they brought us to one of their houses to do a little Karaoke. Friends on facebook with a couple, yay!
We got to see a historical museum, their "whitehouse" type building... and my fav-- the Andes mtns in the distance. Also saw an Indigenous museum-type thing which I want to go back to. Not gonna lie.. they have really cool earrings there : ).
I think it's only natural to get some waves of homesickness... I have but not too bad. They're keeping us busy. I was so glad I went out Saturday night cuz for the first time I had just chilled all day and then I had a moment where I was like "Whoa, ok. Now what do I do?" I had texted ppl earlier w/out response but then right before I was gonna send one to someone else, Monica called. That was great. It was a bit o' drama night for some reason, haha. But it ended up being a lot of fun.
My Spanish was really awkward at first.. could hardly speak the first night I came home lol. That was my body's way of saying "Whoa k, you're in a diff country." But the next day Sara and Alverto said my Spanish already sounded a lot better lol. Maybe it was a lie but I think they were right. Adam's mom is right tho... when you have a glass of wine or something, it's strange but your Spanish gets better. Or just seems better lol.
The wine here is good. Although.. the first time I tried it I thought it tasted to woody. There's a drink called the Pisco sour too which is a verrrry popular Chilean alcoholic drink. It's a bit much the first time you try it, but pretty good. There's something called the Terremoto (means "earthquake") that I need to try. It's supposed to be really good... I think it's some sort of ice cream with Pisco sour and something else.
The food here is absolutely amazing... LOVE the idea of bread all the time. And fruit. BUENO. muy bueno. And just cool dishes in general. I'm sure I'll be talking more about that later.
For now, I need to go to bed. I've been really bad about staying up late. It's past 2 and I have to get up at 8 or so, haha. But I got LOTS of sleep this weekend... so don't worry : ). Buenos noches!
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