15 March 2010, Monday
Today was my first day of classes, or I guess I should say class. After about a 15 minute walk, I arrived at the UVM campus on Diego Portales. I had to ask around to find out where my classroom was, since it was wedged into a small room in the corner, and didn't really have any number so to speak of. Trenton and Anna were already there, but Sarina hadn't shown up yet. We talked a little bit about how everything was going, how the power outage last night was, etc. Pretty soon, our teacher showed up and we started class. It seems like we're mostly going to be going over grammar, writing skills, etc. Not much to say about class so far, erm, oh yeah, Sarina did show up, just a little bit late is all.
After class, the other students and I walked together towards the bus stop, I parted ways with them there and started walking towards Av. Valparaiso. I had brought the non-functioning game boy adapter with me and was planning to go find the store and return it. Finding the store could have been a problem, since Chris was pretty much leading the way whenever we went the first time, so I wasn't sure I would find it again. Turns out subconscious memory is pretty good, because I found the store with no problems at all. I couldn't return the adapter for cash, as I had hoped, so I ended up trading it for a camera case that I don't need and some more batteries. I then went in search of the area where I was told I should look to find such an adapter. I called my host mom and asked her to look for the address, which I had left at home, and she found it and told it to me. As I was writing it down, I looked up and saw that I was already standing there. I went into what was kind of like an indoor strip mall, and the first four stores were all gaming stores. It only took two tries to find the adapter, success! Now I was broke, so I went towards a bank that I had seen earlier to get some money out of the ATM. While I was standing there waiting in line behind someone, I looked out the glass doors of the bank to see, to my surprise, Alberto standing outside of the story waiting to see if I would notice him (I presume). At this point I started to wonder if he was in more than just the investigations department of the police, maybe he's a retired spy just waiting to be reactivated?
At any rate, I went out and said hi and joined him for whatever he was doing, which was getting a few groceries, bread, etc. We chatted as we walked around the street, him explaining how the Av. Valparaiso is where everything is in Vina, except for the mall. As we walked, we ran into 3 friends of his, all ex-police as well. One of them was 88 years old, but he seemed as spry and lucid as a 60 year old. I can only hope that I'll hold up so well as I age. We took the bus home, and soon after arriving Cecilia made us lunch. I didn't have any other class for the rest of the day, so I went upstairs and plugged in my DS charger, then finished reading a book I had started on the plane and have been working through since then. Julianne instant messaged me on Skype and asked if I wanted to go with her and Mai (another girl who's going to UVM, she's in the same group as Julianne) to “explore.” I said sure, and met them at around 4 or so, I don't really remember what time. Julianne walked down the hill and met Mai at the school bus stop, which is right next to the popular bar here, Cafe Journal. We walked to Av. Valparaiso and pretty much started taking the exact same walk as I had done this morning, but with stopping to take pictures outside of bakeries and such. The longest stop of the trip was in a Chilean clothing store (actually Chilean clothing, not U.S. made). The prices were ridiculously cheap for girl's blouses, so Mai and Julianne sifted through them while I offered helpful(?) advice. Julianne ended up buying one blouse, in the midst of flirting with yet another sexy Chilean man. I feel bad for guys here who are trying to pick up women, because the competition is fierce. We walked home, Mai separating from Julianne and I a little bit before Cafe Journal because she lives in the other direction. Once I got home, there were only a couple hours until dinner, so I took this precious time to start feverishly playing game boy. Not much else happened today, that I can remember... I'm typing this entry on Thursday, so hopefully my memory isn't inaccurate. Oh, and the weather was fantastic again today.
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