I can't believe its been 2 months already.

Hello Everyone!! I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while. At first I hadn't updated it cause, I didn't do much and thought it would make a boring blog post, and then I didn't update, because I got really busy and didn't have time. haha. Last Wednesday and Thursday there was a 2 day national strike. I heard that they played it on the news in the US and wanted to clairify somethings first hand since I know some of you have been worried. It is true that is was a big strike and a lot of people participated. Some police and civilians were hurt in the action. The people in Chile mean buisness when they say that they want the constitution to be changed for more affordable education without business profits. They have been on strike many times in the past but usually the promises from the government are not followed through with and things end up the same as they were in the past, so now they are not settling with the proposals that they are getting and want action. I have learned that the situation is different then the U.S. because protesting and striking for your rights when you are unhappy with the government is more a part of the culture. If the people are unhappy the cause disruptions to be heard and make change. The socialist movement of elected president Salvador Allende and then military dictatorship of Agosto Pinochet are political events of the very recent history that the country is still dealing with and healing from. The protests have been somewhat violent and dangerous in certain areas, but with that said it is very easy to avoid the protests. We always know when there is going to be a big protests because the word is out and we know what areas to avoid at those times. I have been completely safe. My family also supports what they are fighting for but avoids all major protests and doesn't agree with the destruction of kids who just want to cause destruction. We have agreed that that doesn't solve any problems and makes things worse because then the city has to pay for the repairs. I have been emailed that our classes are going to resume this week so that is good, but also I am aware there is a chance for them to be cancelled as in the past, because in reality  noone knows what the following days will bring. The protests are always full of surprises.

With that said, I have had a fun past few days. On Thursday I went up to Valle Nevado, which is apparently the best ski resort in South America. I went snowboarding with the international club on my campus. The day was beautiful and I had a great time. On Friday, we had a field trip to Villa Grimaldi, which was a torture center in the 70s during the military dictatorship of Pinochet. It was very interesting, and really sad. Also, the man who gave us the tour was someone who suffered in that camp and then was forced to leave the country for 15 years. He moved to New York and then San Francisco and when Pinochet died he moved back to Santiago. His story was really sad and he was very emotional showing us that place. There they did horrendous, tortourous things to the people similar to how i would imagine a Nazi concentration camp. He said there are other ones also, and he had been to 3 at the time. He was a university student about the same age as me. After, he took us to the Cemetario General where President Allende was buried in addition to other important people, as well as regular citizens. The whole trip was very informative and helped me understand the recent history a little bit better. I had been confused because I heard about people who supported Allende and others who opposed him and didn't know if he or his policies were good or bad, the same with Pinochet. And it was then I realized that I am always thinking of history and people of the times in black and white. They were good or bad. But that is not the case and there is more to this story, and after Friday that all became more clear. I enjoy learning these types of things and being able to see them first hand, and the people who were effected is just incredible and more valuable then any cancelled class at my university.

On Saturday, some of my best friends and I got up early and left for Valparaiso! This city is about an hour and a half away and right on the ocean. It is known for its uniqueness with its large hills, vibrant colors, small streets, stairs, murals, the harbor, and much more. It was amazing. We were only there for one night but it was one of my best trips. The group I went with was so great and we had a really relaxing time. It was a beautiful place. At night we went dancing to one of the famous discoteques, it was really fun! They played all spanish music and it was pretty much all Chileans which was really cool.   The only bad thing is that when I came home I realized that my wallet was either lost or stolen. So I have been dealing with that process which is no fun at all :/ I realize that these things happen even if you are extra careful.

Finally here are a few pictures of the past couple weeks....

driving to Valle nevado, if you look close you can see the windy road!

Me and my friend Cammy, who so kindly waited for me all day as I snow plowed down the mountain :)

lorena vs. the andes

view from the chair lift, there are no trees!!!!

Harbor in Valparaiso!!

MIA!!! my bestest friend in Chile/ big sister/ neighbor/ coolest girl ever 

Valpo

It was such a beautiful day

There is artwork all over the city. Here is a little taste.

I love these girls, best traveling buddies!

Chilean Education Strike Updates

Week 2 of school down. Slowly figuring out how things work, but one major problem… the strikes/ marches for free education are growing and my school is starting to join in. On Tuesday, there was a “Paro Nacional” which means the whole country was on strike in support of the students. Both of my Tuesday classes were cancelled. I had class Wednesday, and then Thursday one was cancelled. Every week the students and faculty are going to vote if they want to be on strike or not. This is called “paro indefinido” meaning that each week can be different after the vote that week. Every “facultad” or major votes for itself, so for example the school of political science can be on strike, while chemistry is still in school. This is all at Campus San Joaquin which is where all of my classes are. There are 3 main campuses. Campus Oriente which is by my house, and where our ILP program was, is completely “En Toma” right now. Which means its taken over by the students. They put the desks in the gate blocking all the entrances except for one where there are always students so that no one can enter. It is completely closed down and has been for the past week. They are going to vote again next week to see about the next week. The problem with that is, our EAP office where the advisors for our program work is at Campus Oriente and they haven’t been able to get to their office. So in addition to all this confusion, we haven’t been able to contact our EAP advisors. SO basically this means at this point, I have no idea what is going to happen, if classes are going to continue or if San Joaquin is going to end up En Toma as well and if it does, for how long? It is all very exciting to be here at this historical moment but at the same time very frustrating because I came here to study and get credit. So that’s basically the recent news on school other then that things have been great.  I went hiking with a couple friends last week which was really fun and this thursday I'm going snowboarding at Valle Nevada with the foreign exchange group on campus!! And its supposed to rain all week which means FRESH POWDER!! Also, last weekend, I went with my host family to their grandparents house for their weekly family lunch and it was really nice. We just spent the day eating, relaxing, and playing cards and dominos. Very much like my family gatherings at home which was nice. 

Cultura Chilena #3: No one buys textbooks for their classes. Here there are no copyright laws, so on each syllabus there are lists of books and what chapters we will have to read for the semester. There is a photo copy place for each “facultad.” For each of my classes I just go to the photocopy place and tell them what class I’m in and which reading I need and they print it for you. Each reading, depending on how long it is, is about 50 cents. I got all the readings for one class and it cost about $6. Pretty cool. (when I said its been difficult figuring out the systems at school, this is one example in particular… but I got it now!)

Cultura Chilena #4: about $470 Chilean Pesos = $1 US Dollar (This Fact= Lots of Fun Math)

Hike up to Cerro San Cristobal (a huge hill in the middle of town)

View from the top of the Cerro, oh hey Santiago! The clearness of this day is very rare. We went the day after it had been raining on and off for a few days. That low brown looking cloud is smog.

This is at the top of Cerro San Cristobal, when your in town you know where you are by which way the statute is facing.

Hike in La Reina at the bottom of the Andes. This day was not as clear as the day before, and yes I'm wearing the same thing....

The Front of Campus Oriente.

If you look close you can see the chairs in the gate blocking the entrance.

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. 

Mendoza

Well, since I was able to change Universities I had a week off between ILP and the start of my classes at my new school, La Catolica. So last week I decided to visit Mendoza, Argentina with a few friends. Mendoza is located in the western central part of the Argentina just right over the mountains. It was only a 7 hour bus ride and also a very pretty one with all the snow in the mountains. Mendoza was a really cool small town. The people were very nice and I loved the way it was set up with the main plaza in the center with a promenade and all the houses and apartments around the center. Every night there were tons of people strolling and hanging out. There was also an arts and crafts fair where I was able to talk to some locals and buy some fun souveniers. In Mendoza we stayed in a hostel for 4 nights. There were a lot of people staying there and it was fun talking to everyone and going to the social events. The bedroom I stayed in had 8 twin beds in the walls, like cubbies, with a little "privacy" curtain. Although you don't get much sleep through all the hustle, it was still a really fun experience. The first day we walked around the town, had dinner and then ate some really good ice cream! Argentina is known for its beef, and I don't think I've eaten that much consecutively, ever. The next day we went on a horse back riding excursion for the whole day. In Mendoza there were all sorts of out door excursions to choose from which was really cool. I'm so glad we went horse back riding though because it was soooo fun! We got to ride in the middle of nowhere for the whole day and got to hear about the political and economic history of Argentina, which is really fascinating. The history is very rich and recent and it was so fascinating to hear about it from someone young who lived through it. It was an amazing day and I never wanted it to end. The next day we went for a long walk to this huge park and hiked up a small hill where we were able to see the town and the stadium where some of the Copa America games were played. After we went wine tasting, because Mendoza is known for all of its wineries. We went to two places and then a place where you try different olive oils. Now I'm back in Santiago and classes start on Monday so I'm working on trying to figure out my schedule. It was difficult enough to figure out all of the UCI systems and now trying to learn a new one in Spanish is even worse! It will be nice in a couple weeks once all of that gets settled. Other than that things are still going great and I'm having an awesome time.

The bus ride

Lots of parks and plazas!

Driving into Mendoza

Cabalgatas (Horseback Riding)

My Address!

So I finally figured out my address for mail.... 

Lauren Grazier

UC Study Center (EAP)

Avda. Jaime Guzmán 3300

Providencia, Santiago, Chile 

South America

ILP is over and now we have a week off of school, so I am heading to Mendoza, Argentina this Sunday which is about 7 hours by bus through the Andes. It is supposed to be gorgeous. More exciting stories to come soon, stay tuned!! :)

Hola Todos!

So tomorrow is the last day of the ILP program and I have a presentation and test tomorrow, I've been out all day and here I am writing a blog. So this week has been a little stressful because I've been dealing with the end of ILP and the beginning of school. So as I think I mentioned before about 1/4 of our group is attending Universidad de Chile, or more commonly known as La Chile, and the rest are going to attend La Catolica. We "La Chile" people have been having problems because everything is very "wishy-washy" right now because of all the protests. Apparently there have been many protests here in the past but none like this one right now. Its actually pretty cool to be here right now at this very historical time for the entire education system here in Chile. I don't exactly know all of whats going on but I'm going to do my best to explain and regurgitate what i've been told. From what I understand many of the financial problems are a little similar to what is going on with the California public universities but to a larger degree and with a combination of other governmental issues. For the past 2 1/2 months this strike has been going on and it continues to escalade. Every thursday that I've been here there have been huge marches that I can't even imagine (cause we've been told to stay away), with a estimated 100,000 people. There are signs and graffiti all throughout Santiago (buses, walls, windows) about the education problem especially in front of the schools. Not only are the students at La Chile on strike but the faculty also. Classes are supposed to start monday but from what we have heard there is no way that is going to happen. Also, there is no one who is able to give us and answer to when they will start because everyone says something different and no one knows, not even the people in charge of the university. So if hypothetically classes don't start until october and we miss two months of school then that is tacked onto the end and would make the semester potentially go to february. This is a major problem for those of us only staying for the semester and who have to return home to our home universities. So we met today and were given the option to switch schools to La Catolica (which i believe is private). La Catolica is a lot more regimented and on schedule and not on strike to the exent of la chile. As well as the faculty are not on strike. As cool as it would be to go to La Chile, I've decided to switch because there is just no way I can stay here past when i was planning to go home. Basically in Chile there is a large gap between the rich and poor. There is not really a middle class. This country has gone through huge economic and political changes throughout the past 40 years and because it has been so rapid there are a lot of problems. Right now there is a movement by the wealthy (including government) to privitize education to profit earning companies and the people are very against this. The only power the people have is their voices and the rest belongs to the rich. The people also believe that everyone has the right to higher education but don't believe it is possible with the "high" tuition (high for them, but low compared to UC). Also, here there is not really FAFSA or the types of scholarships that give people the chance to attend college who don't have the means. People want a change in the system of education to give more people the opportunity and want it fast. I think that technology and social networking also play a big part in all of this. Also the strike has definitely extended to more areas then just education. Someone was telling me also how before with the military coup in the 70s, protesting was banned and repressed and so now there all of the repressed anger and frustration with the government, economy is coming out the the whole city is uniting and demanding a change. I also heard that now that the city is out of the Copa America the strikes are most likely going to escalade because of the focus shifting to the strikes. People are also mad with the government because they want to build dams in patagonia, a project called HidroAysen. I think this strike is against the small population of rich people and big companies and the desire to spread the wealth more to the people. So in all its really cool to learn about everything going on and to be living through it. Luckily I am able to change schools though and still have the opportunity to go to class and everything. I hope to take some sort of history class so I can learn more about everything going on here and be able to understand it all better.

Weekend Trip to La Serena/ Valle de Elquis

Alrighty, so a ton has happened since I last posted as usual!!! First off I just have to say it is so surreal that I am here and doing this cause I knew that this was something I always really wanted to do but I was never sure that everything would work out and I would be able to. Every single day is just the best day ever and I am sooo happy to be here. Living here and just being in Chile is so awesome and I never want it to end. I was reflecting the other day, thinking about how I always used to hear that I should enjoy high school cause its the best time of my life, then when i started college, to enjoy college cause its the best time of my life, but i was never completely convinced... but I know for sure, that right now, IS the Best time of my life and I will always look back on this experience with nostalgia. I know it is not everyday you get this kind of opportunity and I am just so thankful and happy to be here and doing this!!! So on Thursday, our entire group went to this vineyard called "Concho y Toro" and went wine tasting. It was pretty interesting and fun. I never really liked wine before, but I think that now I can tell a good one from a bad one. We tried some good stuff. On Friday we watched a movie in class called Machuca which is a movie based on some of the recent history in Chile which was really good and moving. Pretty sad though, but really good. For this weekend everyone formed groups and got to plan a trip to somewhere to do some assignment for our classes. In my group there were 5 of us and we traveled the farthest, up to La Serena, which is about 7 hours by bus. I'm so glad we figured out the buses cause they are so easy and pretty reasonable, also you can pretty much get anywhere. When we got to La Serena late Friday night it was raining and we stayed in a hostel. It was horrible and we got ripped off!! They took us to like this warehouse type thing that was really dirty and had like wires hanging and beds that were kinda iffy. It was kinda cool that we were the only ones there, but it wasn't all that great. Lets just say I learned my lesson about hostels and won't make the same mistake again of agreeing to stay somewhere without seeing it first and planning ahead. Also I think I know now what a hostel should cost. So the next day we woke up early and walked around the city, to the crafts fair and just explored a little. Then some other girls in my group planned for us to stay at someone else in the program host mom's house. So we paid before (not my idea) and found out we had to take a bus to get to it. We told the bus helper (kinda like flight attendant but in a bus) where our stop was before we left so he could help us with where to go. SO were on the bus for like 1 1/2 hours inland and he says "ok chiquios" (which is like "guys") here's your stop, so we get off and its the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE on a highway in the mountains!!! I had no idea where we were or who's bright idea this was but i was like oh my goodness, where in the world are we. Luckily we found a taxi driver and told him where we were trying to go and he took us to the house in this small little pueblito where we were clearly out of place. We end up at this really old small wooden door that ends up taking about 30 min to figure out how to open. We get it open and the place is disgusting!!! It was all dusty, there was stuff everywhere, no hot water, the "kitchen" looks like a play stove full of dishes. There were only 3 beds. One was just a matress, the other was one blanket that had dirt on it and no sheets, and the 3rd looked like someone had just got out of it. It wasn't made. There was used cups next to the bed and you can just imagine the rest. Soooo we all decided that there was no way we could stay there, leave our stuff and start walking to see if we could find somewhere else. Luckily we stumble on these "cabanas" and end up staying there for cheaper then we paid for the other place. Clean sheets, hot water, tv, a table, free soap! The guy was really nice and we were the only ones there. (big shock, i know) So that all ended up working out which was great. It was just definitely an adventure I will never forget. It was actually a really pretty scenery and we watched futbol that night and it was really fun. During all this we had seen that taxi driver again and one of the girls decided to ask him if we all paid him would he drive us to some around the valley and to a pisco distellery and all that. So the next day we did that and it was really cool. The man turned out to be really nice and was able to give us our own little tour. If you don't know pisco is a type of alchohol that is reallly popular in Chile, made from grapes. The tour was in Spanish and he was talking reallly fast so I didn't catch everything but it was pretty cool. So after that we went back to a town a little bigger called Vicunia and walked around the town and then watched to Chile partido, which the unfortunaltely lost :( After that we left for home at 9:45pm. I got home at 7 am this morning, showered, ate and went straight to class (i am the only one from our group who made it to class). It was quite an adventure and if it was up to me I definitely would have planned the trip differently, but the cool thing about going along with other people's plans is that you get to do things that you would have never been able to otherwise. So i would say the trip was a success and very fun! so until next time!! chao and enjoy the pictures!

wine tasting at concha y toro!

the hostel, it was actually a really warm bed

crafts feria in la serena! got a few gifts here ;)

i wonder why this town isn't on the map?

trying to open the door of the place we didn't stay at.

our taxi driver/ chofer for sunday

the drive, very majestic