Buena onda, buena fonda

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly until a load of exams all came at once. One of the things I have struggled with here is managing my time. So much is happening all the time, and I try to say yes to as much as possible. Despite being here for over two months, time management is still not my strong suit, but it is getting to that time of year when I need to focus a bit more…

The university system here is very different to at home. The professors are a lot more relaxed (generally) and there is no such thing as organisation. Deadlines will be changed, readings will be changed. There is not a printer on campus that you can use yourself. Instead you have to send your document to an email, go to an office and they will print it for you… Anyway, so one load of exams has been and gone and I’ve realised I’ve got another load next week. Although the workload is quite heavy, luckily my modules have been super relevant and interesting, and I have found that my understanding has improved considerably, despite the accent and the abbreviations being torturous at times, ¿cachai?

Despite the workload, I have been able to go travelling a little bit and went to the coast for the fiestas patrias in September. To put it briefly, it was four days of going to fondas, drinking terremotos, eating at an asado, and dancing cueca – which I attempted and failed, so instead I stuck to what I was good at – eating. The benefit of living in a massive house is that there are students and professionals, aged between 20-30 and everyone knows a load of people so we get the chance to mingle. Thirteen of us, a mix of Mexicans, Chileans, Brits, French, and Germans, and a token Aussie, rented a house and went to Algarrobo to enjoy the bank holiday weekend. The first day was scorching and I was thinking I had not prepared for this (would need about 10 bottles of SPF50 to protect my ginger head), but luckily it turned into a proper British holiday and the next day it was grey, overcast, and drizzly. Regardless, we made the most of it exploring and experiencing the fondas. I would not recommend a terremoto – vino pipeño blanco, helado de piña y grenadina. It’s disgustingly sweet and you would probably get diabetes and a couple rotten teeth after about two of them.

As a house we have jumped on the bandwagon and have started watching Game of Thrones, and unfortunately one of the girls wants to dress up like them for her birthday. That day has come and I am dreading it. We get stared at enough, let alone looking like absolute weirdos. Wish me luck…

Mucho gusto x