Classes

What an adventure this has been getting to know the Latin American university system. Two weeks into the semester, I still have no idea what classes I’m gonna take and the whole campus organization is a mess. Although it's a bit frustrating at times, I've learned to relax and just take it easy... Getting used to something new is what study abroad is all about.

First a few details about the academic side of my program: in our program we directly enroll in the local university (in this case, Universidad Austral de Chile) so we don't have any special classes or professors, and we don't get too much extra help as international students. We take classes (or at least try to) side-by-side with Chilean students in order to help with the immersion and cultural experience.

In Chile, students don't really have any flexibility in the classes they take- once they choose their major, their class schedule for the next four years is set. That creates problems for us gringos who arrive on campus wanting to pick classes "a la carte". Want to take a history class, a forestry class, and a film class? You'll likely have to see a dozen people in a dozen buildings spread out across the campus just to figure out the schedule for each class. And you're not out of the woods once you find the class. The big issue is that everyone seems a bit reluctant to get started after winter break... Most Chilean students seem to be skipping the first few weeks of classes, and professors don't always show up either. It's difficult to get a sense of how the class is going to be if you're the only person who shows up! Another slight problem I've had to deal with is that a few of the classes I wanted to take simply don't exist at all. Oh well. So I'll update the academic side once again once things settle down. Those of you at Midd- pass on my warm regards to the registrar's office and bannerweb. I miss them terribly.


Anyway I'm gonna sign off now. Right before writing this I got back from watching an incredible football game at a bar popular with the university kids. Chile just DESTROYED Colombia in a World Cup Qualifying match and all of Valdivia is going nuts. Now it's almost midnight and it's time for the celebrations/carrateando to begin...

Climatology

Calm after the storm


I've probably mentioned the rain a few times in this blog but rain is such an essential part of the experience here I thought I'd dedicate a whole entry to it. Plus, I think I'm gonna take a climatology course this semester so I should probably start getting used to talking about weather...

In short, August was a climatological nightmare. It rained 29 out of 31 days, and the last 10 days of the month it just dumped on us non-stop. September, on the other hand, has been incredible. We’ve had a few soggy days but the sun has made quite a few extended stays as well. Everyone's spirits are up.

So what's this rain really like? Let’s look at a few U.S. city average yearly rainfall statistics, just for reference. (Thanks wikipedia)

Burlington, Vt: 34.6 inches
Seattle, Washington 37.1 inches
Washington DC: 39.1 inches

Ok, so what about Valdivia????

106.4 inches. 9 feet of rain each year. On average, the amount of rain that falls in Valdivia during June and July is more than what falls in Seattle in one entire year.

I really shouldn’t be trashing Valdivia for its excess of liquid precipitation, though. All the locals I’ve talked to have told me this was the most insane August they’ve ever experienced (my Chilean family has lived here almost 40 years and can’t remember a rainier August). And three times Seattle’s annual rainfall isn’t really THAT much. At least we’re not talking Indian monsoon rain or Amazon jungle quantities of rain here. I was reading the other day that some town in India gets 470 inches (39 feet) of rain per year while parts of Colombia get 450+ inches of rain as well. And at least all these rainy days make it a lot easier to enjoy and take advantage of the sunny ones...

Anyway, here's my message to all of you people enjoying life in the U.S. or in other significantly drier locales: appreciate your beautiful weather, because somewhere in the world, someone is getting absolutely soaked right now.