oops

I forgot! One of the mooooosssst annoying things ever: PDA. PDA (Public Displays of Affection) is perfectly acceptable here. You have to be careful of sitting behind couples on a bus if you don't want a show. Bus stops and stores are fine for plenty of kissing. Beaches, parks, any random bench is fair game for making out. It drives me crazy.

Also, the US-ism really bothers me. The Chilean culture is soooo infiltrated by US culture, in TV shows (MTV, TV movies, sitcoms, you name it), movies, brands and products, language (email, for example, means email), etc. etc. etc. I go from being annoyed at not being able to see the real Chilean culture, to frustrated that they can't come up with their own stuff (lol), to sad that we're corrupting them, etc.

But anyway. I don't spend most of my time thinking of what I am annoyed about, honest I don't. This has just been a bit of a frustrating week, although better since the weather has been great (probably in the 80s) the past couple days. In any case, the next few weeks should fly by and then I'll be wishing I had a few more months here.

Why will they fly by? First, because I have a few trips. First, we don't have school on Thursday- all Saints' day- yay for Catholic school!- so I leave on Thursday to go to Mendoza, Argentina for a few days. Its about 32 dollars for a bus taking you through the Andes mountains, and then I'll be staying at a hostel for about 7 dollars/night. Awesome! I'm going with my friend Maria, and we haven't made definite plans yet, but we're thinking about a horse-back-riding tour in the foothills of the Andes for a few hours on Saturday. Then the next weekend is Pucon! Its an ISA trip, meaning the transportation, hotel, and breakfasts are free. What does that leave? CLIMBING A VOLCANO! Yes, thats right, if the weather is agreeable, I'll be paying about 70 dollars to climb a volcano on Saturday the 10th. That is pretty awesome. Secondly, there are only 4 more weeks of classes left! So in the next four weeks, I have at least 4 tests, 2 final projects, one take-home essay test, and the second half of don Quijote to read. Should be fun...

So, in summary, I should get back to reading El Burlador de Sevilla... (and watching football scores on ESPN.com's game cast)

Love, Katie