Just a small update on how things are going in general here in La Serena. I've now been here for almost 3 months, and time has passed by so fast! There is always things to do and places and people to see!
In Chile, the 21st of May is a national day. They commemorate the battle of the Pacific War in 1879 against Peru on the coast if Iquique (the north of Chile), where they lost "Esmeralda" and Arturo Prat - a very important... person:-) - died. Anyway, we were told that there would be a parade in every town and city, so we went to the harbour in Coquimbo (the neighbour city) and saw military, schools, horsemen and a lot more in the parade. There were a lot of people on the harbour and for once the sun was out - so we had a good day:-)
On a normal week, I have 2 classes every day - one before lunch break, and one after.. The lunch break is 1 1/2 hours, so a lot longer than I'm used to. But then you have time to study a bit, if you have a test or just didn't study for the next class:-) I've done the first round of tests, and am now beginning the second round. To pass a test (and the course) you have to get a 4 on a scale from 1-7. I passed 3 courses out of 4 in the first round of tests, so that's OK.. I only need to pass 3 courses to get enough points for uni back in Denmark.
I only have around 5 weeks left at uni now - and then a final presentation of a bigger project 2 weeks later, so it's gonna be really busy! I'm gonna have to study more from now on, I think - but well, that IS the reason I'm here for, haha..
I and some of the other exchange student girls go to "Baile Entretenido", dance classes, every Tuesday and Thursday, where we dance salsa, merengue and from Tuesday we begin Tango:-)! It's a lot of fun, and we've met some nice people there! It's a great way to get some exercise, haha..
When I'm in La Serena on the weekends, I also go surfing! Saturday at 11am, the university of La Serena do free surfing classes, but basically, you just rent the wet suit from the surfing school where we meet up, borrow the board from uni, and then it's just: get into the water and learn by doing! It's great fun! The water is getting cold, though, so my feet and my head are very cold just when I get in - I had some sort of "brain freeze" last time!:-S Really hurt... - but when you start surfing you get warm.. Surfing can be difficult, though! The last time, I had a rather small board, and it didn't go very well, but this Saturday, I had a bigger one (a sort of beginners board, hehe.. 7ft, 9 inches I think......), and it went really well!! COOL!:-D
The weather here in La Serena is really cold, and only getting colder!:-S It's around 15-20 degrees, I would say, and every morning there's a thick fog covering the whole town and the neighbour town, too! It normally decreases around 8 am, then comes back, and then descreases out to sea before noon.. On a bad day, the sun never really comes out, and the sky is grey.. Well, most days are like that.. When we get lucky, we get a bit of sun, but it's still really cold:-S So hanging your clothes out to dry is always a long process: it never dries during the day, 'cus of the humidity, and during the night, it get's really foggy and misty, so the clothes get even more wet! Then it takes most of the day for the clothes to dry up just a bit, and then the fogs rolls in again....!! Argh! Anyways, I can handle cold and humid weather, but the problem is that in Chile they don't use heating systems of any kind, so the temperature outside is bacisally the temperature inside!:-S At university, at home - anywhere! So it's not unsusual to see people wearing their jackets and coats at home, inside...! I don't understand why they don't install heating systems when it get's that cold here! Some days it just goes through to your bones, and you can never get warm:-S
The streets of La Serena (and many other cities, towns and villages in Chile) are filled with stray dogs. I think it's because people buy the dog when they're cute little puppies, and when they get too big to fit into their small houses/apartments, they leave them in the streets.. I feel so sorry, 'cus there are some really poor things out there:-( But some of them are just a pain in the ass! You see gangs of dogs just ruling the streets, and they get pretty timidating some times! One of the exchange students here got bitten TWICE by stray dogs! The funny thing though, is that the dogs are so used to the streets and the cars that they stop to see if any cars are coming before they cross the street!:-D But yeah, the dogs are everywhere - also at uni, and they even tend to enter our class rooms! It's not unusual to have an extra "guest" at some of our lectures, haha..
The weather here in La Serena is really cold, and only getting colder!:-S It's around 15-20 degrees, I would say, and every morning there's a thick fog covering the whole town and the neighbour town, too! It normally decreases around 8 am, then comes back, and then descreases out to sea before noon.. On a bad day, the sun never really comes out, and the sky is grey.. Well, most days are like that.. When we get lucky, we get a bit of sun, but it's still really cold:-S So hanging your clothes out to dry is always a long process: it never dries during the day, 'cus of the humidity, and during the night, it get's really foggy and misty, so the clothes get even more wet! Then it takes most of the day for the clothes to dry up just a bit, and then the fogs rolls in again....!! Argh! Anyways, I can handle cold and humid weather, but the problem is that in Chile they don't use heating systems of any kind, so the temperature outside is bacisally the temperature inside!:-S At university, at home - anywhere! So it's not unsusual to see people wearing their jackets and coats at home, inside...! I don't understand why they don't install heating systems when it get's that cold here! Some days it just goes through to your bones, and you can never get warm:-S
The streets of La Serena (and many other cities, towns and villages in Chile) are filled with stray dogs. I think it's because people buy the dog when they're cute little puppies, and when they get too big to fit into their small houses/apartments, they leave them in the streets.. I feel so sorry, 'cus there are some really poor things out there:-( But some of them are just a pain in the ass! You see gangs of dogs just ruling the streets, and they get pretty timidating some times! One of the exchange students here got bitten TWICE by stray dogs! The funny thing though, is that the dogs are so used to the streets and the cars that they stop to see if any cars are coming before they cross the street!:-D But yeah, the dogs are everywhere - also at uni, and they even tend to enter our class rooms! It's not unusual to have an extra "guest" at some of our lectures, haha..
Here, the big and important meal of the day is lunch - we have lunch around 1-3 pm. Then around 5-6 pm, people have what is called "once". It means "eleven" in Spanish, and is mainly toasted bread with mashed avocado or pate, and a cup of coffee or tea. We're really hooked on avocado, 'cus it's relatively cheap here, and very tasty! Anyway, we've wondered what "eleven" has to do with bread and avocado and the afternoon... It turns out that there's a funny story behind it. I must admit, I can't remember it completely, but I think it was the Spanish conquerors who had the tradition of having an "aguardiente" in the afternoon - it's some sort of "brandy", i.e. alcohol. And since they were supposedly religious, that was a "no go", so they gave it a nick name: "once", because aguardiente has 11 letters - really clever, haha!
Still talking about food, I'd like to tell you about the Chilean "hot dog": completos! It's like a regular hot dog with bread, a sausage, ketchup etc., but then is has chopped tomatoes and avocado!!:-) And once we went to a place that has the biggest completos - or hot dogs - I've ever seen! At least 50 cm. long!
In Chile, the 21st of May is a national day. They commemorate the battle of the Pacific War in 1879 against Peru on the coast if Iquique (the north of Chile), where they lost "Esmeralda" and Arturo Prat - a very important... person:-) - died. Anyway, we were told that there would be a parade in every town and city, so we went to the harbour in Coquimbo (the neighbour city) and saw military, schools, horsemen and a lot more in the parade. There were a lot of people on the harbour and for once the sun was out - so we had a good day:-)
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