Day 1 and 2

Dinner last night was a blast! We went to a little place just down the street from our building. It was like a Chilean Red Robin, so we did not actually get any authentic Chilean food. I was super hungry but could not decide what I wanted, so I ended up getting a pasta dish. It actually wasn’t that great. It was spaghetti-like pasta with chicken and a cream sauce; it also came with a piece of garlic bread that WAS good. While we were there is was happy hour so almost every one at the table got margaritas at the price of 2 for 1. It was really fun to be with the whole group, getting to know each other. The only problem is that it is pretty hard to talk with every one when we are all sitting at a huge table. After dinner a cake was brought out for Taylor because it was his 20^th birthday. We all sang happy birthday in Spanish and then the waitress shoved the cake (lightly) into Taylor’s face. It was awesome! From there we all went back to our building and most of us got together in one of the boys’ apartments and drank some wine and chatted. Emily and I were pretty tired though, so we didn’t stay too long. It was nice to climb in to bed and get a good night’s sleep.

This morning Kelly came in and woke Emily and me up so that we could all get ready for the day. We headed over to the lobby where breakfast was being served and found a buffet of food. On my plate I put some scrambled eggs, a slice of havarti cheese, a slice of ham, a mandarin orange, apple slices, a piece of toast and then I also had a bowl of cereal with yogurt. It was quite the display. After breakfast we got on the bus to head to our first day of class. The bus dropped us off and we made our way to a building that was a part of the University of Santiago’s Public Health department. There we met up with Dr. Gonzalo Vallvida who took us to the main building of the public health department which is attached to the hospital, and he took us to a classroom where we would be having our classes for the next couple of days. Our first presentation was made by Dr. Jorge Jimenez on “Health Policy and Health System in Chile.” It was very interesting and a great introduction in to the Chilean health system. Following the first presentation we were pointed in the direction of a close by cafeteria that is associated with the University. When we first arrived the place was practically empty, but it quickly filled up. There were a few choices, and I chose the ravioli with tomato sauce, a salad and roll. For drinks there were only soft drinks and an orange drink that looks like TANG, so I was unable to have anything to drink because all I really wanted was some water. After eating we took a walk to a local park that was absolutely huge. It looked like a large ruin because there were several layers of the park that you reached by stone staircases. The group climbed all the way to the top, which was a round tower-like platform and we could see the whole city and the Andes Mountains. There were two very nice security guys who agreed to take a photo of the group, which we were all grateful for. From there we headed back to the hospital to attend our second presentation of the day. Dr. Maria Romero gave us a presentation on “The Health Situation in Chile,” which was just as interesting as the previous presentation. After we had finished class Juan (the bus driver) picked us up where he dropped us off and drove us back to the hotel. Cameron, Brandon, Kelly, Emily and I went straight to the grocery store from there to pick up some necessities. The grocery store was located on the bottom of a near by mall. Emily and I were extremely excited to get some big jugs of water so that we could re-hydrate ourselves. As we were heading back to our apartments we ran in to the rest of the group who were heading out to dinner. They waited for us and we adventured to a restaurant a few blocks away that reminded me of a little cabana restaurant. Emily and I were so hungry we were getting cranky so it was nice to know that we were going to get some food. The restaurant was apparently known to have authentic Chilean food, but I ended up getting a pizza that was quite delicious. It was served on a large cutting board and has a bit of a flat bread crust. No one else seemed to find anything authentically Chilean either, except we did get a round of pisco sours. I do have to say that the waitress was great; she definitely got all in to our group and was excited about helping us, which was really nice. The most exciting part of the evening was how the power went out in the restaurant, twice. Luckily it was not for too long and we had candles lit at our table so we weren’t in complete darkness. After dinner we went back to the hotel and since then Kelly, Emily and I have just been hanging out in our apartment, catching up on emails and watching The Office.

Great quotes of the day (hopefully the short context blurb will suffice):

“Know what, I think we’re kind of lost.”

-Jaime during our first outing in the city, trying to find the University. Jaime leaves us standing in the shade to go figure out where we are… good work Jaime.

“Act like air in space; find all the crevices.”

-Jaime trying to get us to spread out in a tiny room that we had just entered.

“In Spanish you get last names all the way to Adam and Eve.”

-Jaime telling us his full last name

“The morning after pill… or evening after.”

-Jaime during discussion about contraception for women.

“Good, cuz I need to soak my white self.”

-Brandon in regards to Jaime reserving hot tub time at the hotel.