Perros y Modismos

Hola!
Hope everyone is doing well! Good luck to the swimmers at Grinell this weekend! The last two days have not been that interesting, but because I really don´t want to study right now, this is a good alternative. Yesterday was overall a pretty good day. I met with a chilean student through a program here called inter cambio. Its where international students are paired with chileanos. Anyways, we walked around Valparaiso and took another ascensor (an old wooden elevator-like thing) up one of the hills to look out. It was gorgeous and we were able to see for miles. We decided to walk down the hill to get back into the city. Because Valpo is made up of such large hills, the houses are not very wide, but are extremly tall. The streets are very narrow and everywhere you look are colorful houses. Anyways, from there we went to a cafe to meet up with some of their friends. We stayed there for about 2 hours talking with them. We shared modismos (slang) from both of the languages...they got a kick out of us saying spanish slang and we got a kick when they tried to say english slay words. I really have enjoyed spending time with chleans here and am hoping i can do the same during the semester. Today I spent time with another student who wanted to practice her english after I practiced my spanish. I had to speak REAAAALLLLLYYY SLLLLOOOOWWWWLLLLYYYY for her, and it gave me a perspective on how it must be for them when they are trying to talk to us. We talked alot about the US and the different perspectives on the culture and mentality of Americans. It was interesting to get another person´s perspective.
Today in culture class we talked about different things we have observed around the city or with in our homes. On major thing I have noticed is the LARGE amount of dogs roaming the streets . They are EVERYWHERE! My prof said that it´s because families abondon the dogs after they get too big. We also discussed the large amount of PDA between couples everywhere we walk and learned that most people in chile live at home until they are married, and even then, they still may live at home. They therefore are unable to have any privacy at home so they move to the streets.... I dunno, I found it quite interesting. What else? No one here wears bright colors...they are all blacks, browns, whites, and navy blues...and NO ONE wears t shirts ever.
I think thats about it for now, i guess I better go and study...blah. Miss you all! love Cristina