My grapefruit cities

So the ridiculousness that is the Chilean university system continues. For some reason, I seem to be having difficulties finding classes with actual Chileans in them. Hay que buscarlos. But I'm not despairing; rather, I've resolved to go to ever more classes at multiple universities. At the very least, I'm getting pretty good at navigating my way around these two cities both by foot (singular) and by bus. Plus, Seba's girlfriend, Carola, lent me her school ID for a couple weeks while she has her dad's car, so now the micro (the city bus) costs me a third of what it used to. She's always promised to lend me her bike for the next few months, and has thus become my favorite person in the entire country of Chile. So the homework thing has started--I actually just turned in my first essay this afternoon. Goodbye summer. And, after much stress and limbo-like states of uncertainty, I decided not to take the Chilean and Hispanic Literature class I was really excited about. All of a sudden I'd found myself sitting in front of a stack of 350 pages of photocopies that needed to be read--and understood--by the test on Wednesday. And the thought of reading a couple of novels every couple of weeks in addition to my five other classes finally got the better of me. Plus, this way I don't have that much homework this weekend. It's ridiculous, though, how difficult it is for me to opt not to kill myself with my academic load--it's like I feed on masochistic stress levels.

Other than all the academic uncertainty that abounds, things have been pretty good, though not great. My efforts at distancing myself from Americans has pretty much landed me in a state of anti-socialism outside of my family and classes (where, as I've said, it's exceedingly difficult not to be with gringos). And living with my family has it's hard parts too, though I maintain that for the most part I'm very happy with my home situation. And I may even be making strides in getting my food portions scaled back a bit (not to mention the fact that random fruit and the specific yogurt I like seems to be appearing as if by magic in the kitchen). Tomorrow morning I'm heading for Santiago to visit my friend Emma, and possibly to spend some time with my host family's family. I think it'll be a really good change for a few days to be in a different apartment with a good friend and an exciting city to explore. And if nothing else, I'm getting a free ride to Santiago with a different friend who's also going there with her host family.

As a side note, today I had to go back to the Chilean ID (carne) place because they failed to write down my host family's names the first time I went. After a bit of confusion regarding lines, long numbers that I apparently have too many of (who knew?), and money that was being randomly handed to me and then asked for by somebody else, my picture was snapped for a second time, and every single finger was encased in black ink, then bathed in a strange white cream with only a small paper towel with which to clean them. Productive, as far as Chile goes. Oh, and both the setting sun over the horizon at the end of the sea, and the rising moon are the size of flat grapefruits, and look like they've been glued to a thin piece of colored paper against which they rise slowly above the hills. It's pretty sweet.