Almost the end of orientation

So I haven't posted for a few days since nothing much has been happening. Yesterday was one of the more interesting orientation days we had. In the morning we went to register our visas and apply for our Chilean ID cards. We get to pick those up in a week or so and then we'll be almost like real Chileans...at least on paper. After the immigration proceedings, we went to the studio of Mario Toral, who's a pretty famous artist in Chile. He painted a public mural at the Universidad de Chile metro stop. He was a good friend of Neruda and was a very interesting man. He's one of those people I'd love to talk to about pretty much whenever. He has an interesting perspective on everything. We also got to see a few of the things he's working on now, which are very interesting. He lives in a huge house right near the neighborhood I'm going to be in with my host family. And he has three huge dogs who are adorable. So I secretly wish I'll somehow run into him walking those dogs, but unfortunately it's immensely unlikely.

After Mario Toral, we went back to the Tufts office/classroom and heard from the editor of a magazine called The Clinic. It's name comes from the clinic that Pinochet was detained in after he was extradited to London. The magazine is a combination humor and serious news source (think The Onion meets The New Yorker). And apparently it's really the only publication that younger people in this country read. The editor had lots of interesting things to say about how the democracy they have in Chile isn't totally functional because it doesn't actually support the majority of the people. He also discussed how, in a very conserative Catholic country, it's hard for the younger generation to find their voices. The Clinic is a place for them to express themselves in an environment where they've otherwise lost hope (basically no young people vote because they have no faith in the fractured political system).

Internet here is getting spotty becaues the wireless has gone out, and a TON more people just got to our hostel. So I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post in my last 2 days here. I'm headed to my host family on Saturday. I'm both excited and nervous. Hopefully my spanish is as good as I think? This could get interesting.