Another First Day of School.

August 5, 2011

The first week of school has passed. I’ve been sick for the past few days, which has made things difficult but I’m feeling better each day. I went to a lot of different classes to try and figure out my schedule and I think I now finally got it. I’m only taking 3 classes and working on getting an internship, which also counts for units. I originally wanted to get an internship helping in a school either tutoring or teaching English, but since all the schools are on strike (including elementary and high schools) it doesn’t look like that is going to be an option. But I emailed a place that works with children in bad situations with their families and what not so hopefully they get back to me soon. I am excited because I was able to work my schedule to only have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which is going to be really nice for traveling and internship stuff. My school is really nice and has been extremely welcoming to foreign students. There have been so many times that I have felt like a lost puppy wandering around a big campus but some how I’ve figured things out. I’m going to take an education class, which should be really interesting with everything that’s going on right now. That class is good because there aren’t a lot of foreign students, there is just one other from Spain, which forces me to speak Spanish. Also some Chilean girls already came up to us to be in their group for our group assignment, which was really nice and comforting. My other classes are a sociology class and a psychology class both with a lot of foreign students with topics about Latin American Society and Culture. Hopefully they will be a challenge but not to difficult. I’m not really too sure how the tests and quizzes are going to go, but I guess we’ll just see what happens. There is a group on campus specifically to help foreign students. They set up a table on campus to help us if we have any questions. They also have a BBQ planned tonight and have a program called “Tandem” where we can get paired up with a Chilean student to just talk and work on our Spanish while helping them work on English. Everything is still going good at home, the first month has gone by really fast. I paid my first months worth of rent since the very first month was paid for by our study abroad program. It’s crazy that I am paying the same I paid in Irvine, but have my own bedroom and bathroom and get all my meals and laundry done. Plus the whole experience of being a part of a family, which is great. I guess that’s it for now, no big trips planned at the moment but I’m sure there are many to come J

~ Lauren

Cultura Chilena 101

#1: There is no toilet paper in public restroom stalls. If you plan on using toilet paper you have to make sure to grab some on your way in, that is if they provide any at all. This fact has got me into some trouble….

#2: When greeting someone, whether its meeting for the first time, seeing an old friend, or saying good night to your family always give 1 kiss on the cheek.