Lessons learned

This weekend I learned that toilet paper can NOT be flushed down the toilets here. I knew about that when I was in Guatemala, but I was unaware that it was the same deal here. In fact it is assumed that even the stupid gringos will know that toilet paper is unflushable, so there are no signs to be found. So I am in the bathroom at my friend Marina's house and I hear Marina yell 'Don't flush the toilet paper!' from the living room. I automatically respond 'OK'. Meanwhile I have already dropped the toilet paper into the bowl and am watching it slowly sink to the bottom. Hmm, well it's probably not a big deal right? Wrong. Pipes got clogged, host mom got mad, but in the end it worked out ok. One would assume that now I would automatically not flush toilet paper, however one would also have to assume that I have the mental capacity to remember that...
Just signed up for classes today. Apparently there are not called 'clases' in espanol, but rather 'ramos' o 'cursos'. It was probably top ten most stressful things that I've done since I got here. The list of classes is about 15 pages long on Excel and there are no descriptions of the classes, only names. To make things better there are periods instead of times. For example period 1-2 is 8:15 to 9:45 am, there are 13 periods. And to add some more fun there are codes for all 15 buildings where you can take classes that have actually nothing to do with the name of the building. Cool. After a lot of stressing and swearing we all successfully registered this morning and I'm pretty pumped about my schedule. I have Fridays off and my first class on Monday is at 3:40. I'm taking Psicologia Adolescente, Literatura Espanola 4, Educacion Multicultural, Modernidad y Problemas Sociales, Juegos Mapuches (traditional Chilean games, yes I get to run around and throw sticks for credit) and Cuentos Hispanoamericanos. Classes start on Wednesday.

This weekend was super fun, though totally exhausting. I am now actually glad that I have a younger host sibling because she does not want to go out and party at ungodly hours of the night. We stay in and play Uno. However, staying up late and partying hard seems to be unavoidable here. Regardless of how much I drink it is guaranteed I will be up to at least 4 am. Thursday, Friday, Saturday I was up til 5-5:30am. I almost fell asleep during lunch yesterday, struggle bus. However, I went to bed early last night so today was much easier and I was looking forward to sleeping again tonight until my 'monitor' (orientation leader) told me this morning that we are all going out partying (carreteando) tonight. Yes, it is in fact Monday.
On Saturday I went to los cerros (Allegre y Concepcion) with Marina, Max and Carrie. It was a beautiful day and the sun made the colors of the hills that much brighter. The graffiti everywhere is so great and adds so much life to the city. We also went out to lunch and had 'el menu del dia' which is soup, salad, entre and dessert for 3,000 pesos (about 6 dollars). It was delicious and we had a great time laughing away in the restaurant.

Pictures from top to bottom: Traditional folkloric dancers during the first day at the University, Sunset in Cerro Concepcion, and grafitti on Cerro Allegre