The End Is Near

I finally have some free time to update. Since about the time I woke up on Saturday morning until the time when I went to bed last night, I had been working on homework for both of my classes. I'm so close to being done with all of my work, it's pretty exciting.

Saturday, I literally did not leave my room for longer than it took me to eat my meals and talk with my family for a bit. I worked on my essay and ended up writing the introduction, the first paragraph describing the living conditions for hacienda workers in the central region and southern region of Chile in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and then one of the paragraphs describing how the south wasn't as stable as the central region and that is why the workers had worse conditions. I was really hoping to get the essay completed, but I turned on a live Daft Punk recording and decided that once the concert was over, I would be done for the night.

Sunday, I woke up and immediately picked up where I left off. I finished writing another paragraph describing how the central region's products were more successful than the south, and how this also affected workers conditions. Finally, I finished off with a very rushed and crappy conclusion to finish the paper. I really should go back and make some corrections to it, but at this point all I care about is that I got my 3-4 pages done (about three sentences onto the 4th page), and that it's done. I realized the book I had to read had too much specific information about the sizes of various haciendas and how many cows or people they had, rather than useful information such as the harsh conditions the inquilinos were forced to work under or how the females were basically at the hands of the land owner whenever he pleased, which in turn created numerous "fatherless" children. But seriously, Claudio actually giving me something that wasn't a waste of my time? I crack myself up...

I also had to answer some questions for Carlos' class about the movie we watched two weeks ago, Machuca. I really do recommend it for anyone who would like to learn more about the social issues in the early 1970's in Chile, I think it's a fairly accurate story (with dramatized actors of course).

Other than working on homework, I found time to upload pictures from Cajón del Maipo and got to chat with my pelola for a bit. I'm super stoked to see her, less than a week!!!

Today, I got up early so I could meet up with mis amigos in Claudio's class to study for the oral quiz I'll be having. It didnt really help much since the stuff we went over I already felt I knew well enough (reason number 1 why I don't like studying in groups) or I got completely confused with because I had completely contrasting notes on some topics (reason number 2 why I don't like studying in groups). I initially signed up to have my quiz on Wednesday rather than Thursday so I could get it over with, but unfortunately the girl writing down the names got confused and put me down for the next day so now I have to wait until Thursday. I know I should be happy since I get more time to study, but I was wanting to go to a club that our graffiti friend Charquipunk DJ's at on Wednesday, and it would've been really nice to be able to sleep in on Thursday. Oh well, maybe I'll still go anyways and just be tired. I think it'd be sweet to hear him drop them beats. Another bummer, I was under the impression that the quiz would consist of us answering five or six different questions about any topic we've covered in the course. But instead, 50% of our grade is now riding on one question that will be asked to us. I like 5-6 way more since if I don't know one, I am not totally screwed. But 50% of our grade on one question? ¡Dios mio, qué ridículo!

On a happier note, today's class was actually a lot of fun. We met up with another group of gringos (they were not nearly as cool as our group, sadly), and then we all headed to the national Congress building of Chile which is located literally three blocks from the University. We got a tour of the main rooms in the building, and learned about how some of the various things work. It's really interesting because their Congress building holds the meeting room for the 38 senators, the meeting room for the 140 representatives, and the room where everyone comes together for what would be like our State of the Union address, all in one huge building (well more like one main building with two buildings attached to it on either side).

After class, I ate my crappy lunch consisting of sandwiches and juice. I don't even attempt to eat the bread anymore, it's too hard to. It's basically like eating an entire loaf of french bread with a slab of meat and butter inside, nothing more. Sometimes I have cheese instead of meat, those days are my favorite...not. I keep telling myself I've only got four more days of these lunches though until I can have real food. I would speak up and ask for something different but I feel I've made it long enough that it would just be embarrassing for them to find out I've only been eating it not to be rude. Plus, I don't think I'd be able to understand my housekeeper if I tried telling her, ha.

Carlos' class was a little boring, and I didn't get much from it. After, we had to go watch a documentary with him because we didn't have class a while back one day when he was sick. It actually ended up being a pretty intense video about photographers during Pinochet's dictatorship and how they got away with photographing the images of the times. It was very interesting and I really wish I could learn more about these times. It's crazy how Americans just go on with their lives completely oblivious to the horrors that were occuring as recent as the 1980's all thanks to the help of a U.S. backed coup to overthrow a socialist president in 1973. It's just interesting, that's all I'll say about that.

After class, I met with Grant to discuss our powerpoint presentation we have for Carlos' class. I'm doing the biography and summary of El Chiflón del Diablo, and I should probably get started on that real soon. I think we may be presenting on Wednesday, which gives us tomorrow to finish it up, bah! The end of homework is near though, I'm ready for summer finally. Ha, a month after I get back though I'll just be starting up fall semester again. Boy, I realllllllly can't wait until next summer, ha.

I'll let you know how things go the next couple of days. Keep me in your prayers regarding the test, presentation, and the dreaded essay I have to turn in tomorrow. I miss you all and I shall be home shortly!

Con mucho amor, chao.