Let the Semester Begin

Real school has officially begun! It's only Wednesday, but it seems like so much has happened already. I have worked out a schedule so that I only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Yup, that means a 4-day weekend every weekend! I am really pumped to be able to travel on weekends if I want to, that is, if my bank account can afford it. ATM fees are ridiculous and I hate them. 

Getting back to school, I'm actually really excited to have busy days again! The campus that I'm at (San Joaquin) is really cool. All the Chilean students talk about how "massive" San Joaquin is, but I would say it's relatively small compared to SB, or any other UC for that matter.Classes are going to be awesome. It's not that my classes seem easy, but the language barrier that I was worried about definitely is not a huge problem. The upper division Spanish classes that I took at Santa Barbara really helped me out. My biggest adjustment will probably be having to take notes on graph paper. For whatever reason notebooks here are just printed with graph paper, but if your lucky enough to find one with lined paper you'll have to pay more for it.  There are so many awesome classes that I want to take here, it was really hard to choose! Good thing I will have another semester here to take all the ones I couldn't fit in now. I did manage to pick four classes though that are sure to keep me busy: 

1. Political processes in Latin America

2. Chilean poetry!!

3. Latin America and the U.S. in the 20th century

4. Culture and Society in Latin America

(As a Global Studies major we have to pick a region of the world to specialize in, obviously mine is Latin America) I'm hoping to get an internship here as well with a local human rights group.Sadly, I am not playing any volleyball here (for the first time since I was a freshman in high school!) I love the sport and I am going to miss it, but this gives me more free time to try something new like Flamenco dancing! I signed up for a beginners class through the school and I could not be more stoked!