good first impressions

Sooo today was my first day of classes. I had Modernidad y Problemas Sociales this morning and i left the house in plenty of time for the micro ride to valpo...however, i lucked out by getting who has to be THE slowest micro driver in all of chile, thus causing me to show up late...so i get to the room and open the door to a room full of people and a professor already talking...stupidly, i thought that it was still the class from before and they just hadnt gotten out yet, so i quickly left...but then i had no idea what to do...i looked at the clock and realized that well, that was really my class in there, but i didn't want to go back and interrupt again. Luckily, just then another girl walked by and paused by the door...turns out she was late too so we decided to go in together...man i must've been soo red, i felt like an idiot. however, the COPA staff kept reiterating how professors typically lock doors at the start of class, thus preventing you from even showing up late, so i guess we lucked out and at least got in the door. The class seems really interesting, the prof is laid back but there is going to be a good amount of work, i think. also, about 1/3 of the class is exchange students (she had everyone go around the room and introduce ourselves and where we come from), so i'm sure we'll have alot of comparisons to make with the chilean culture. There are two guys from mexico, one girl from Austria, one guy from Spain, (well he specifically said Vasque country, but still) and i think the rest of us are from around the US and Chile...i think it'll be a cool class...
After class i came home for lunch, had a great stew/soup mixture of sausage, spaghetti, white beans, and pumpkin squash as the broth (i never would've eaten that in the states) and a pudding/icecream-ish thing for dessert...and then on to my second class...! I had the required spanish class of the program, so it was jsut people from my group that i know already...no sweat. until i get lost in the building. yahhhhh i asked someone this morning where the classroom was so i'd be prepared, so i thought i knew how to get there...turns out i was on the clear wrong side of the building... (thanks whoever...hah), so i asked about 5 people where the classroom was, all to no avail, before i ended up going to the exchange student office to find out, at which point i was already a good 10 minutes late...anyway, i walked in late and got the professor's side glance and i was just like, mannnnnnnnnnnnn way to go, caitlin. basically, i hate being late, to classes, to the first day of classes, especially....just not a great day...i think tomorrow i'm giving myself a good 45 minutes to get to valpo and find my classes...
Aside from that, everything's great. after class Katie and I walked around Vina looking for a book store so we could buy some good spanish books, but there are none...ahhh...so we settled for going to a panaderia and indulging in a weird pastry thing to 'celebrate' our first day...woooohhh...we got alot of piropos as usual, by some pretty creepy looking guys, which is like completely normal to me now, but that doesnt mean i really undersatnd why they do it...i mean, ok i have blonde hair and that's obviously rare in chile, but honestly, its just my flippin hair color, and other than that, nothing different...i dont know...i mean, i know we're hot and all, but come on!
My mom and i talk alot everyday...or rather, my mom talks alot and i listen alot, or try to add my two cents when appropriate...i told her i just felt stupid talking at the table when al the kids wehre babbling on and on cuz i feel like i just pause the conversation and stutter so much, but she was really encouraging and said i should just give her a 'look' when i had something to say or wanted to talk and she'd stop the convo to let me talk...hahahah rrrrrright...she said that by the end of september i'd be normal and talking all the time like a regular chilean...two more months?! ahh!
k ciao!
oh, and my dad still doesnt do anything.