Time + Chile = nonexistant

Time. In Chile. Is so different than time in the United States. Everything goes late. Everything starts late. Everyone is late. Sometimes teachers show up 20 minutes late to class, sometimes they dont show up at all. Dinner is often served at 10:00pm and lunch at 2:00pm. Kids go dancing until 7:00am. Then sleep till 5:00pm. And all this is not jsut expected, but normal.

Certain things I have encountered here have been quite inefficient adding to the lack of time here. It seems like time has no meaning anymore. I say ill be somewhere in an hour but if it takes me 2 hours I dont worry. Life is relaxed here, and I never feel the need to check the time. Its quite an odd feeling and I also can't believe I have been here for 4 weeks. On one hand it feels like its been no time at all, and on the other I feel like I have been here forever.

Good news: I FINALLY have all my classes. Im taking 3 classes with chileans (and extranjeros- foreign people) and 2 classes for only extranjeros. Im getting credit for 5 classes and most importantly: im graduating ON TIME!! Im taking Procesos de Integracion en America Latina (Processes of integration in Latin AMerica) which is supposed to be really hard, but I love the teacher: shes fun and smart and the class is very interesting. Im also taking Chilean Folklore, the teacher is a little boring but the material seems interesting and the class looks easy. My extranjero classes are Spanish grammar and chilean culture (which hasnt started yet : ). They both seem like busy work classes. I am also taking Digital photography!! In Spanish!! It seems like it may be my favorite class. All my classes except photo are in Campus San Joaquin, but photo is in Campus Oriente (which is so beautiful, it used to be a nunnery adn it looks like a really old castle).

Speaking of inneficiencies the last time I went to Campus Oriente, Jenn and I got on a bus and told the bus driver we were going to campus oriente of la catolica (my university) and he said oh of course!! Ill take you right there! But then we passed the street the school was on and I said wait isnt it here? And Mr. Friendly busdriver said no no im going around so that I can drop you off closer. Well then he dropped us off about half an hour away from the school, makeing me 20 minutes late to my class. We had to somehow find our way back too...its a little funny...but also made me really annoyed : ). The bus drivers here dont ever like to admit that they are wrong...so they pretend they know what they are doing...something to keep in mind next time im lost haha.

I am really happy to finally know what classes im taking since it is the third week of classes. We celebrated by goign to the beach again yesterday (at Viña del Mar). It turned out to be really cloudy, but of course I love it when its cloudy so it was perfect for me. We walked around and looked at all the artisans wares. Here is a picture of me in front of all the pretty scarves. There is definately always something fun to do here!