El primer dia de clases

I've officially started my classes- all three of em! But don't be fooled, I'm still taking 16 hours here. So far, todo esta bien. My first class is Latin American Literature and let me tell you: I can understand about half of what mi profesora says. I'm think in a month or so I will be much better off. However, I do continue to surprise myself when I open my mouth and have an actual conversation. Mi profesora told me that my spanish is very "fluid," which I will definitely take as a compliment! :) Other than Latin American Lit, I am taking Advanced Spanish (a 3 part class worth 9 credits) and a class about Latin America and its Cultures. Que bakan (how cool)!

Also, another thing I've found interesting about my school experience: the existence of fotocopiadoras on every block. I've already gone and requested three of my books, completely copied and bound for un precio muy barato! Copyright laws can't touch Chile! I don't even know why they had me buy any books in the US. I got two full books for a little over $6 today. If only I could finish my degree here, I would never have to spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks ever again!!

So anyways, classes are good and I'm making friends with people in my program. Everyone is really cool- but I'm not trying to make American friends! Lets be honest: I'm gonna drop them like a hot cakes once I meet some chileans. I don't need those gringitos cramping my style! :P Hah, just kidding!!

I not only experienced my first Chilean baby shower this weekend (a very interesting, crazy and awkward experience) but also my first ASADO! Oh man, it was fun. There was beer!!!!!! And pisco!!!!! And some really delicious grilled chicken. And tons of other treats that I don't want to list here because I might make you jealous. AND, I met a really cool couple- a chilean guy and an american girl who live in Santiago and want to hang out!

Maybe you will also be interested to know some mannerisms and pecularities of everyday chilean life, yes? I thought so.
1. Chileans greet (by this i mean: women kiss women, women kiss men, and most men shake hands) each other with a kiss on the right cheek whenever you meet someone new, especially when entering a party or when they enter your house, vice versa. This is a very daunting experience when you walk into a room full of people and have to kiss them all. And then you repeat it again when everyone leaves.
2. When referring to one another, Chileans use el to refer to a guy and la to refer to a girl. For instance, if I am referring to my host mom in conversation I would say la Paloma and my host dad is el Jaime. This is a very strange and very informal (some would argue improper) way of speaking that only exists in Chile.
3. As a form of endearment (esp in my host family) everyone has a shortened name. My sister Lorena is la Lore, my sister Paloma is la Poli, and my sister Valentina is la Vale. And me, well I'm la Ale (al-eh)! Its actually kind of confusing because la Vale and I have similar nicknames so we both tend to answer when our host mom is calling one of us, lol.
4. Chileans like salt, a lot. They practically dump it on all of their food.
5. All of the spanish here is very distinctive but the most interesting part of it all is using the tu (informal "you") form. That is because somewhere along the way the chileans changed the tu form to end in -ai instead of -as. So instead of saying como estas, you say como estai. Cachai? Not to mention, the wonderful words "ya" and "po" which, when said quickly (as they always are), equals yapo, sipo or even nopo (the po is just a way of adding emphasis to a sentence that is unique to Chile).

There are many others that I will share with you later but at least you know a little bit more about what I'm dealing with here. Its fantabulous and I love it! There is so much to learn!