Clases y departamento

Chicos- so much to write about! First of all, I’ve obviously finished my first week of classes, which means that I’ve had two sessions of each of my four classes. The classes all seem to follow a similar format- read an absurd amount of texts before each class, and a student will present on the reading and the class will discuss. We’ve mostly picked our texts that we’re going to present about, but so far there haven’t been any student presentations. The readings are a mix of English and Spanish- probably about 30% English, which is nice for me. I’m getting better at reading the Spanish academic texts, but I definitely notice my ability to scan and get a main idea faster in English. My professors are mostly very nice. My Theory of International Relations prof is young, and recently graduated from the same program at the University, although I know that she studied in Norway, and got a Masters in gender and development studies- interesting! Most classes have a required final (or midterm) paper that seems to be between 10-20 pages and an exam, written.

My classmates are all really friendly too, and there are other international students, although almost all of them are from the Andean region- Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia- the University offers a 50% discount for Andean students. I especially seem to have a lot of Colombian classmates- I need to brush up on my Colombian history and geography, because they often bring up Colombian themes that I’m ignorant about. The Ecuadorian students from Quito seem to mostly live with their families, even if they live far away (30-40 minutes). Most people don’t seem to know too many others, and are friendly and interested in me (and why I speak Spanish so “funny”).

Second piece of big news- I got an apartment! I’m all moved in, which is nice because I’ve been living out of a suitcase since leaving for Chile on 6 September. The apartment is ENORMOUS, especially for just me. But I looked at several different apartments, and I liked this one because it would make it easy for me to invite all of my future friends over to study, eat, read, and just hang out. It’s about 2 blocks away from the hostel where I was staying before so it’s still in the La Floresta sector, and it’s on the main road that my University is on, so it’s a straight walk there- between 5-7 minutes depending on the traffic and how easy it is to cross the streets.

The apartment has great natural lighting- during the day I never need any lights on- and it has a nice spacious kitchen. Also- it has a washer AND a dryer- an unheard of luxury here. Saturday I spent the day buying necessities like soap and hand towels and a dish drying rack, and although I have a long list of things that I still need and although my domestic urges are pushing me to look for interesting decorations, my plans are to push forward with my reading to be prepared for class on Monday.

Loads of love being sent to all at home.

(Still without internet in my apartment- should be installed on Tuesday- this posted from a friend's house with wifi. Then I'll be better at emailing!)