So, classes began yesterday here at VENUSA (my school, for those of you who don't know) and they've been going well so far. The schedule is a little weird porque we never have classes on Fridays, which is really nice, but I have night classes every day. Today and Thursday I have my earliest class, Folklore in Latin America, which begins at 8... but here's the kicker: it's taught by a man named Vincent MORLEY. That's right, folks - a Morley in Venezuela. I can't get away from them. This particular Morley hails from England originally but has lived in Latin America for over 40 years. Crazy, no? Actually, he does seem somewhat batty but a very interesting person.

Yesterday I had Venezuelan Literature and Children's Literature. Both seem like good classes but I think I will like Children's Lit. a lot because who wouldn't like reading kid's books and watching movies like Shrek and the Neverending Story and performing a puppet show for 3rd graders? We also have to write and illustrate a children's story, sort of as a final project. And as a nice bonus, the profesora for Children's Lit. told me I speak Spanish very well! I'm also taking History of Venezuela which is tonight and then tomorrow I have Latin American Film Criticism, which is only once a week.

Oh, to answer the burning question: all of Venezuela is only an hour ahead of Central Standard time - basically like the Eastern time zone of the U.S. However, it will be two hours after Daylight's Savings. So yeah, it's really not noteworthy.

Over the weekend I went with a bunch of people to a little mountain village called Jaji. It's about an hour's bus ride away and a very pretty drive. Mostly we just looked around at all the folk art type stuff and some people went horseback riding but I just sat in the plaza with Anna and chatted. I still can't get over how cheap some things are here. The bus ride to Jaji for instance - how much do you think an hour bus ride to some place in the States would be? Here it's around 75 cents. Taking the bus every day to and from school only costs about 30 cents. Seeing a movie on a regular day it's only a $1 and on Thursdays (Ladies' Night, woo hoo!) it's about 50 cents. Then again, there are some things that are definitely more pricey here than they would be at home, like books. Books are quite a rare commodity here which is hard for a bookworm like me.

Hey all you Duluthians headed back to school, good luck moving in and starting class next week! Hope it's fun!