Semana Santa is here! Easter! It isn't that exciting really, except I think I get to dye eggs, which I haven't done since kindergarten. woohoo. And I'm going to mass with my mom and little sisters at St.George Colegio where my mom works and my sisters go to school, which should be nice. I really want to visit and see what it looks like. **St.George is the colegio the movie Machuca is based on, fyi. The only other time I've been to mass was when I was abroad in Guadalajara, México last Winter Term. Go figure. I like listening in Spanish.

I need to get more motivating to follow my schedule, especially now that I've picked all my classes. I'm just about positive that my final class is the slightly ridiculous but still enjoyable, 'Imagen de Chile en Pablo Neruda y Gabriela Mistral.' Last tuesday I used Pastels to express myself dissecting Neruda's poetry. That's right- pastels. I had colorful fingers. Today I wrote my own poetry. yeah. I used the obnoxious guys from the Telepizza last night who tried to talk to us as inspiration.

That's another thing. No more Wednesday night carreteando. I have the 10am class, and it just will not work. Carretear is the verb that means to go out, or to party, on any level, here in Chile. Here people don't really go out to clubs until at least, at least 1am and they get back around 5 or 6am. It is a lot later. The sleep- not so much. I'm still working on how the carreteando and the sleep are going to work out together. we'll see!

chau chau!

School's In

So school is slowly but surely beginning, and the process isn't exactly a cakewalk. I've narrowed down three classes that I'm definitely taking: the CIEE class "Pobreza y desarollo en Chile y América Latina," Derecho y Género, and Conflicto Armado y la Política del Trabajo Humanitario. Translation: 1. Poverty and Development in Chile and Latin America, 2. Gender and Law, and 3. Armed Conflict and the Poltics and Humanitarian work/aid. But I need at least one more class- and you have to just go to a whole bunch of classes at the different campuses across the city until you find one you like/that fits with your schedule. La Chile and La Católica are definitely very different schools, partly because La Chile is public, therefore has less money, and is a lot more laid back, has a more pluralist feel, also less organized. La Católica's San Joaquín campus (the only one I've seen), is beautiful. I've been feeling fairly lazy about trying out these classes which isn't a good thing, but its so hard to feel motivated. I'm pretty sure that once classes start and I actually have a schedule with classes I'm registered in, I'll feel more motivated.

Also, I want to volunteer for an organization/community called El Monte. They came to our class yesterday to speak, along with other organizations (6 hours of service is required as part of the class). I'd like to work in a hospital in El Monte; the area is very poor and is about an hour and a half outside Santiago city.

P.s.- I'm going to Viña again- this time with my friend Ilana and her host mom. Gratis/free! We're driving up on Saturday morning and staying with her family. yay!