Hello World. It's been THREE weeks!

Hace tanto tiempo que he escrito!! In English, that translates to: wow it has been a long ass time since I have written a blog entry. haha I have really been having fun these past three weeks but also have been doing a lot of work too. Hmmm sounds like the summary of my life. I never know where to start when I am attempting to express all that I have experience in the span of weeks. Let's see...Argentina was amazing. I would write about it here but I wrote about 10 pages in my journal on the bus ride home detailing the entire trip. My penpal and I got along swimmingly. Megan and I had such a blast with Dani and all her friends. We went to Oktoberfest and drank beer all day and met people from all over the world. There was a huge downpour and we were stuck under random tables for about 30 minutes meeting drunk people and then dancing in the rain with them. And basically it was just a magical weekend. I can't wait to get back to Argentina because it is completely different than Chile. The accent is awesome and they don't talk 1000000 words per minute like the Chileans. I came back to Chile with my mind set on getting to Buenos Aires during my month of travel time in December and since I returned I have been reading a travel book on Buenos so that I can be super prepared when I get there!

When I got back from the trip with Megan, it was really hard to concentrate on school. During my time abroad, I realize the intensely difficult balance that we all have to try to attain between working hard in school and our social lives. I don't want to be stuck in my books all the time because there are so many cool things to do here like traveling, talking to locals, and doing the cultural things. BUT I know that at the same time I have 10 page essays due in all of my classes by the end of November...in Spanish...which is gonna require basically a shit load of work. But whatever...with great opportunities comes great responsibility. My medical anthropology class has been going well because we use class time now to discuss/plan our final research projects. Michelle is my teacher and I recently found out that she got her masters from OXFORD! So she speaks English perfectly and when I don't understand, she speaks English with me. I am so grateful for this because the classes that I chose at the Uni are very challenging and I am the first extrajera to take them in history. Leave it to me to blaze my own trail, eh? But it is great to have her speak in my own language sometimes when I am confused.

I turned in my project proposal a couple weeks back and this week she handed it back to me with algunos consejos. Probably the coolest thing was that when she gave it back to me, she put her hand on my arm and said: Bien Rose! It was so heartfelt and really meant the world to me because I never know how good my work is that I turn in here because it is in Spanish! But she really likes my idea for my research question and she gave me the chance to correct the things I needed to in the proposal to turn in later. Of course, I took the time to correct it but I would say that this "redue" process probably took me about 10 hours. No joke. I read and read and read all the articles for the class and wrote and wrote and wrote the things that I wanted to express through my project. Gosh, I hope all of this hard work pays off.

My bioarchaeology class is crazy. Yeah...that is a good way to express it. That class is such a challenge!!! For so many different reasons. I am the first extranjera to take the class and I really don't get any handicap for being an extranjera either. I am expected to do all the readings and take the quizzes in the same amount of time as the other students regardless of my differences. I dunno...I'm all for challenges but honestly these people have taken the first part of this class during Semester 1 and since this is Semester 2, I am already at an disadvantage. Then add on the fact that I have never taken a Bioarchaeology class AND I am not fluent in Spanish AND we use these crazy big words like osteomielitis and hiperstosis porotico and riquetismo...oooh I know the last one...it means RICKETS in Spanish which is associated with iron-deficiency which is a type of anemia that is common in children in which the bones become spongy and weak. This can lead to a bending (or doblamiento) of the bones which we can see projected in the skeletal remains of the child. Ok great Rose...now say what you just said in Spanish. haha Oh gosh its great that I have such a great sense of humor.

This bioarchaeology class has probably been one of the things that has been the most interesting thing about my time here in Chile. From the beginning I have had Addy who is like my best Chilean friend now. She is SO caring and open and understanding. Even when I can't understand her sometimes, she keeps trying and gosh it's hard to express how grateful I am for her kindness. They say that one person can completely change an experience and she has totally proven that. I would have crashed and burned in this class without her as my selfless lab partner who listens patiently to me as I try to express the stuff I know about the skeletons we are analyzing...be it that they have an infeccious disease, a metabolic disease, an arthropathy, or osteoporosis. And because of her kindness, I am slowly starting to see the others in the class opening up to me. Honestly, let it be said that Chilean university students do not talk to the extranjera. Sorry to be blunt but this is blantantly true. I am still trying to figure out the reasons but basically they are either uninterested, super intimidated, or too impatient to see if I may or may not understand them. But like I said, over time and due to my very open personality and possibly my ability to laugh at my mistakes, I am seeing more and more of them open up to me. And that is a good feeling. Now if I just didn't have to write a 10 page research paper on the history of osteoarthritis in past civilizations in the Tarapaca region in the Greater North of Chile, including my analysis of 4 skeletons from these regions. Chucha.

On Thursday, we had our last EAP Culture Class. It is actually quite nice having my Tuesday and Thursday free and not having to get back at 10 pm to my house! But it was a good class overall and I am looking forward to our final essay only because it is a 5 page assignment but it is actually FUN! We get to write about the classes of our choice in the form of a journal entry, adding in our own thoughts about the class amongst cited sources of course. But it is quite obvious that I have no problem expressing myself through journaling so bring it on you final assignment you. My sights are totally set on November right now which actually keeps me working hard on all my school work without complaint. I am going to be traveling 3 out of the 4 weekend in November but that is the same month when all my final essays are due. But dude WHATEVER, I will get the shit done one way or another but I am ALWAYS a good student and I deserve to be rebelious which I am in South America and go travel on the weekends without feeling guilty like I should be working. And that is what I have to say about that.