Saying hi from Santiago

So to answer the question that the blog's URL asks, I am currently in Santiago de Chile. So why am I blogging? Because I'm waiting for Liana and Jenny to finish showering so we can go out and there's free internet in our super cute hostel. First impressions of Santiago: it's pretty tranquilo, has charm, and is pretty much nothing like Buenos Aires--more like some of the cities in Ecuador and Peru. Flying over the Andes was awesome. Meanwhile, the Chilean accent is nearly impossible to understand, so so much for my confidence in my Spanish.

Two weeks from now I'll be flying home!

DONE!?!?!?

I am done with school for the semester. Technically I have been done since last Thursday at 12:30pm but I didn't know it because I was waiting to get my grades back. In two of my classes, I needed to get a certain grade to avoid taking a final, so I found myself briefly in this awkward/stressed position of not knowing if I was finished with everything or completely screwed (if I'd had to take the psicología social final, it could've ruined my already-planned Chile trip).

But DONE! It seems so strange but it's true. Which means I have little to do this week beyond soaking up the city and getting ready to go away. Then Chile on Saturday!

It is getting really hot and humid here. I whine about it but I can't believe it'll all soon be replaced with Northeast winter. I hear the snow has begun...

To clarify:

I do not, in fact, have a mullet. I have very short hair and the back was, briefly, awkwardly longer than made sense. Said situation has since been rectified by the hand of Hannah. Trevor's mullet has also been fixed; I don't think I did too bad a job, either.

Also, I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving. I celebrated in the most festive and American way I could. Pictures soon.

WARNING: MULLET ATTACKS

I feel it is my duty to inform the world of a startling phenomenon that is taking place in Argentina as well as, I fear, in many other countries outside of North America. The situation is this: the mullet*, which in the United States is generally considered either extremely outdated or extremely ironic (do you know a hipster who can pull it off? Maybe. It's still not a good idea, though), is here not only acceptable but COMMON. Normal! There are mullets in suits walking around Microcentro. Mullets in aprons frying milanesas. Mullet couples sipping Fernet colas in bars. Mullets on the subte, mullets on the dancefloor, mullets on TV. Business in the front, party in the back, and ridiculousness all over.

You can talk all you want about cultural difference, culture sensitivity, blah blah blah, but there are some issues on which I simply do not wish to be open-minded. And the mullet is one of them.

But what's really problematic is the fact that the mullet is spreading. You can tell me that Halloween in Argentina is cultural imperialism but what's REALLY cultural imperialism is the Argentine-style mullet striking down upon me and my American friends without consent. The first victim was Hannah, who somehow acquired half a head's worth of bangs and valiantly fought this mullety outcome with a 'fro, a.k.a. a rock-star-awesome perm. Then it was my turn, and my requests for "no more layers, as long as you can leave it, all the same length" left me with what I regret to admit was an extremely short MULLET (Hannah trimmed the back for me, rendering it slightly more acceptable). And now Trevor too has been subjected to this; he didn't heed my warnings and now he will have to live with a somewhat dire party in the back situation until I find time to attack him with a scissor.

I should probably get back to the scary psych paper that's due tomorrow, but this alarming situation just could not wait.


*If by some chance you are not aware of the mullet phenomenon, I recommend Google image search or Argentine telenovelas.

What's left

• two weeks of school (two papers and a final)
• one week of waiting
• ten days of traveling (Chile then Mendoza)
• about four days back in Bs As
• plane flight home the night of December 22 to get me home early the morning of the 23rd

So the family visits, which involved a lot of fun, shopping, delicious food, and great wine, have come to an end. And now I find myself facing a few weeks of academic misery before my semester essentially ends. Already? Yeah. Went fast, no? Wish I could just jump over the finals stuff and right into the travel part, but I'll try to make the best of my last few weeks in Buenos Aires.

What else is new...

• My dad and Melanie got fake bills from a taxista.
  
• I got my hair butchered by a scissor-happy Argentine.
  
• Spring in Buenos Aires is beautiful and full of purple trees.
• Apparently my Spanish really has improved a lot here.
• Probably a lot of other stuff.

But I gotta go deal with my psicología social paper.