Schooools out for the SUMMER!

Yep. School is OUT! It's so bizarre, but since this is their second semester, their entire school year is over and it's time for the really long summer vacation...but my school year in only half over...and this is technically my winter/Christmas vacation! Yet they await Christmas in bathing suits and tank tops...Last Tuesday my last final paper was turned in, and I got the news that I was exempt from my last final. Though this whole semester hasn't been terribly demanding on the whole, but the last few weeks made up for it. But after many papers, projects, exams and early finals, I finished! And I was SO happy not to have to take the metro to campus anymore...so happy actually I still haven't gone and paid the library fine I forgot.... :)

Highlights from the university/the last few weeks:

We had another agape dinner in my Pensadores class, and this time my friend Mark sang with me too. I also got to read a paper outloud, which was fun. It was one I'd written in English, so sentence for sentence as I read, my professor translated it into Spanish. That class was priceless. Not only were the sessions themselves engaging and meaningful, but the essays were a great outlet all semester for reflecting on my experience. I wrote alot about Chileans :) to reflect on being here, but also actually alot on the US and my own experience of many things: education, freedom, faith, politics, abortion, etc. The culmination of the class was a unlimited final essay written in class on well being and the abscence or opposite of it (bienestar and malestar, we don't have a word for malestar in English!), using three of our favorite authors from the class in whatever way we chose. I don't think I've ever actually enjoyed a final exam before, haha.

Poetry and History ended up fine too, though in the end I found my other two classes more engaging. My last theology session was I think tied with the first class for my favorite. We had focused alot during the class on the dynamic between and definition of the subject/object in theology (We are the subject, looking at an object. What does the perspective of the subject bring? Beware of your prejudices and pre-knowledge. They aren't bad but are neccesary to be aware of. And what of our Object? Are we talking about the same thing, or different things? We have to agree on what we are talking about if we are to talk. And when we have "faith" in God, is He an object or subject? Deists say he is an intelectual object, Judeochristian tradition says we treat Him not as an object, but as a subject, a Person....etc, etc. It was fascinating I thought). Our professor focused on dialogue, and rounded out the lessons from the semester. The main purpose of the class was to understand the fundamentals of Religion, of Faith, of Revelation, and of Absolutes, so that we could dialogue with others about theirs (because everyone believes something, everyone bases their decisions/actions on some absolute). He said that real dialogue should not have the purpose of convincing the other person, but of understanding them and understanding oneself, and that truly it is all only possible if you have regard for the other person...since no one really listens to or talks to someone who they feel looks down on them. It was especially interesting that this was the focus of his class, here, in Chile, where I find an absence of religious dialogue...mostly because the country is predominantly of one religious tradition (though I have twice met Buddhist monks handing out literaute in the subway!), and it seems that although there are a few protestants here, called "Evangelicos," there is never much talking between the two. But this type of dialogue has always been important to me, and I know I have my upbringing and city/country to thank for that. It always fascinating to see how our cultures/countries/religions shape us...I think I've had the most fun learning how I'm not Chilean! And of course, finding the things we share in common.


That was quite a digression, sorry. Only to say that I really loved that theology class, and am hooked. I can't wait to study theology in English...

My last day on campus as I was doing a few errands, I took a few photos of some places on campus that had become special to me. This is a little area right behind the building where I had Pensadores. I came here often to sit and study (or nap) between classes, and was especially touched to see that just when I came to photograph it, someone had placed a rose in Mary's hand.