New Crap

Well I suppose its way past time I post something up here again, maybe I can scare the cockroaches away and get this blog back to life. I expected to take a little time off; I felt like LWT was getting old, and anyways I was running out of things to say. I never intended to take this long, but I would try to write something interesting and come up empty time and time again. But, happily, that's officially over. I wrote quite a bit on disparate topics, so I'll post it in pieces rather than one long bomb. So here goes part 1.

Life, and UAI's New Castle in the Sky

Well, well.

It’s another beautiful Sunday here in Vina, clear skies, mid-70s and a light breeze coming off the bay. Before the break, word got out around the house that I kept a blog (at one point, that is), so Blake and Cata (fluent in English after spending two high school years in kiwiland) read my Wednesday Afternoon Rant. The response, basically, is that I need to chillll out. Right on, people. So, in my view, I wimped out and life has become a little better. I lifted my expectations considerably. If waste way too much time, only end up getting to know a couple of Chileans, and get out with a functional level of Chilean Spanish, so be it. I made a couple of really good American friends, spent time on the Pacific, grilled steaks on rooftops, practiced karate, travelled to a number of chill destinations, wandered through otherworldly landscapes, and had plenty of experiences I could never have had at home. Really, what’s to complain about? I apologize for being obnoxious.

Also, as if in response to my complaints about UAI, the management decided over the weekend that they’d had enough of being stuck in residential Vina and moved campuses. It basically means I have to get up an hour earlier than normal, but at least the university is growing up (a little bit). The new gig is an absolute castle in the sky. It’s located on the very top of the tallest hill in Vina, which is quite a ways up, overlooking the whole city and bay area. The complex is shockingly futuristic in appearance, playing right into UAI’s image self-consciousness. There are four main buildings, made of minimalist white concrete, glass, and black steel. Each is connected by a small web of skyways and overhangs, surrounded by forest and a single gravel road entrance. Almost all of the parking is underground, built into the hillside. The inside of the building complex is even stranger. There’s absolutely no regularity in the floor plans; every little cluster of rooms is different than the ones above it and next to it. There’s also the numbering system; I was on the third floor, went up two sets of stairs, and was still on the third floor. What? To top it off, there’s exactly one normal staircase in the entire place. The rest? A series of eerily Hogwarts-like, criss-crossing, sloped walkways that go off in all directions and all angles. In all, it’s far and away the most bizarre campus I’ve ever seen. Later this week I’ll bring my camera so you can see for yourself.

At least it feels marginally more like an actual campus, being connected and separated from the rest of town. They extended library closing time from 8 until 10 pm (ooh! look at all the students pulling 1/4-nighters!) . We also get buses that run every 45 minutes or so. Depending on the time of day there are three different routes, which all end up within five blocks of each other. I think they were pretty proud of all the developments, which is why they rushed us into the new campus in the middle of the semester (some buildings aren’t even done yet). I’m proud of them too. I think UAI just passed third grade as a university. The curriculum going forward includes getting a computer lab, getting classroom labs, building a gymnasium, creating a mascot, writing a fight song and starting a sports team or two, organizing the online systems mess, offering extracurriculars like music, paving that gravel road, and most importantly creating a student housing community. I know, I’m picky. Progress is progress; I’ll take what I can get.

... more crap to come, after the break