Arte por todos lados

Hola todos,

They said that time would speed up quickly, and oh my it has. During the weekend and school week that have passed since I last wrote, a week of real life has passed. But, it wouldn't be Valpo if that week wasn't sprinkled with moments that stop me in my tracks, overcome by total disbelief that I am actually in this scene, this moment, this life.

Last Friday night, a friend and I went wandering around two of the better known, artsy hills of Valpo. There, the street art that coats most of this city transformed from firmas (the phrase here for tagging") and graffiti to beautiful murals. Some are sad, some are beautiful, and some are completely beyond my understanding. Here's some photos to illustrate the difference:

Graffiti we found one morning on the outside of my house

These are actual hanging plants, but I wanted to include them too

I love how they work the features of the landscape into the art

What you can't tell from this picture is how cracked and not at all smooth this surface is

Piano stairs! I found them!

Hormigas that lead you to a candy shop on the top of the hill

The next day, I did something incredibly out of character: I went to a samba class. I was so apprehensive and hesitant about the whole thing, but ended up loving every second of it. The teacher and Chilean students in the class were so friendly and helpful. The joy they brought to every movement and their total absortion in the beat was completely infectious. The whole class, which took place in a park on a hill right on the ocean, was an incredible display of Chilean culture. I would never have guessed that you could get over 50 college-aged kids together on a Saturday evening to dance and play music. But that's what this was. 

Also, the sunset during the walk home was completely surreal. Here's some photos that don't even do it justice:

Samba group

From Sunday on, I was faced with a rather unfortunate part of my particular reality: getting sick. The list of things it can be attributed to is quite long: the initial dramatic temperature change from Maryland summer to Chilean winter, the temperature change that happens every day here between morning and afternoon and again between afternoon and evening, and the lovely severe allergies I inherited from my dad. Being constantly cold and in the midst of allergy attack-like sneezing and coughing has been rough. After a lot of persuading (thanks, Josh!), I braved half miming, half describing my symptoms to the pharmacist in order to buy medicine. With the help of my Chilean cough-syrup and ibuprofen, a literal pitcher lemon-honey-herb tea Rosa has been making me drink, and a lot of rest, I am beginning to feel better. I will never cease being grateful for central heating and tissues that I'm not allergic to when I return to the US.

In the mean time, I have been sorting out my Chilean classes. Because of the strike, classes have been unique in an unexpected way. I can tell it is a struggle for all involved to have a class composed entirely of non-native speaking foreigners who may not have any background knowledge in the subject. Professors are confused by lack of interest (ie: a mix of lack of comprehension of what in the world they're saying and of the subject matter) and students are generally baffled and thrown off by the unexpected dynamic. 

I, however, consider myself very luck in the courses I'm taking. They are:

Language, Cognition, and Society

Adolescent Psychology

Social Education (my favorite)

Contemporary Chilean History and Cultural Geography

and Mountain Sports (which includes 3 weekend-long trekking expeditions!)

Cool, right? 

I will leave you with some of the stunning views from my window:

After the only rain I've seen here - look at the ocean!!!

With love from a far.

(The title here: art everywhere!)