campus oriente

the university i will be attending in Santiago is called la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). but no one actually says that. we call it "la católica" or "la cato". i think it's cool because it's also called UC, but for chile, not california.


la cato is the 2nd best university in all of south america. score.


for the first 3 weeks of my time in Santiago, everyone is a part of an intensive language program (ILP) to help us brush up on spanish grammar and chilean culture. ILP is held at one of PUC's 4 campuses, called Campus Oriente. apparently it's the most beautiful, and i'm definitely stoked i get to spend any time here at all. when the semester starts, my classes will be held at a different campus in another part of the city.

we were all split into groups that are led by a Chilean peer advisor, or "monitor"

my monitor is named Ivàn (he's in the white shirt below)

part of my group

los monitores are here to teach us everything that is "forbidden" by an actual professor/program director to tell us "underaged"(according to EEUU - estados unidos - standards) students

Ivàn is legit. he wrote me a list of cool chilean music i should listen to and gave me the website to chile's top 40 song chart.

although i'm going to a "catholic" school, there are no nuns. that's okay though because i got my fair share in at the san francisco airport on my way to chile

for never having seen a real nun before, i got lucky and got to see six all at once.