At the party they fed me and fed me and gave me so much Chilean wine. At one point, one of my adopted Aunties came out with a tray of steaming mugs, I took one and to my surprise it was lovely mulled wine- sweet and orangey. I said we drink this at Navidad (Christmas) in the UK and between us we worked out it must be a cold weather drink, as it is winter here in the southern hemisphere. It's funny how many common food and drinks you can find across the world. Por ejemplo (for example), here in Chile, and in a lot of Spanish speaking countries, empanandas are the go-to lunch/snack. They are pastry parcels filled with cheese, or meat and potato, or whatever... my point is that they are pretty identical to the Cornish or Devonshire Pasty (which isnt far off the Indian Samosa). People are people wherever, and putting things in pastry not only is delicious but also keeps the content fresh, so it makes sense that places across the world would come up with similar snacks. The same for hot wine in winter- it makes sense!
SO, anyway. Yesterday (Monday 20th July), was our First Day.
The morning consisted of orientation, a quick tour of the glorious university campus and a short conversation in Spanish to identify which classes we should attend. In the afternoon we attended our first conversation and culture class, which was exciting and odd- the tutor told us to learn like babies, through necessity- not through study. I like his approach, but I may study a little--- the verbs in Spanish take some getting used to and aren't the kind of thing you inherently know.
As you can see, the uni is pretty spectacular- I cant wait to study there daily. In fact, it's 08:03 and I need to get going. I'll catch you up on the first full day of classes later. Chau!
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