The world's still shakin'

...though sometimes so subtly it's hard to tell whether it's real or imagined.  It's incredible to me that more than a week after the quake we're still getting replicas (aftershocks), but there it is.

I've been sick for the past few days so I really have little to report, but I figured I'd check in for regularity's sake.  CIEE activities started up again on Thursday so we at least had a bit of an opportunity to get out of the house; we took a Spanish placement test Thursday and had an orientation at PUC (the private, Catholic university) on Friday.  Later, we went out carreteando (fun!), which was nice after spending the better part of the week trapped in the house.

Our program, for the most part, hasn't been messed with too badly by the quake, with one pretty regrettable exception: due to earthquake damage, classes at La Chile (the public university) have been delayed for a couple of weeks and the semester won't end until July 30th.  Since we originally planned on returning to the states July 14th, attending La Chile is no longer a feasible option for many of us; assuming we have the extra two weeks to spare, we'd have to move, arrange new living arrangements, change our flight schedules, etc. ¡Qué pena!  It's really unfortunate; I really wanted to take classes at both universities (especially La Chile!).  La PUC's administration has taken great pains to portray it as the "prestigious," private university, "with a better infrastructure" and "the best students in the country" or whatever, but La Chile is bigger, public, and has a greater variety of students, from ALL social classes and all parts of Chile.  Opinions about which is better seems to vary from person to person, but I really wanted the opportunity to take classes at both.  Bummed.

Anyways, I'm hoping that this little sickness will disappear by tomorrow morning so I can start going to classes again.  It's registration week, and it's really essential that I attend classes so I can sign up before things fill up.  I went to one in the morning yesterday, but I was so tired and sick that I went home and spent the rest of the day in bed afterward.  I've been drinking lots of water/tea/liquids of all sorts and getting plenty of sleep, so hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow!

Chilenismos* of the Day

(*maybe partially but certainly not entirely)

Flaite: Described to me as the Chilean equivalent of "ghetto."  
No me gustó ese bar... fue super flaite.

 Super flaite.

Fome: Kind of lame (or uninteresting).  ¿Te gusta 'Crepúsculo'? Ay, no, ¡qué fome!

Echar la corta/la grande: #1 and #2, respectively (think bathrooms here).

Piropear: to hit on, to cat-call, to sweet talk, etc.

Anyways, that's all for now.  I hope all of you are taking good care of yourselves up there, and that everything's going well for everyone. ♥!