Colo-Colo

So much has been going on in the past two weeks, it's hard to pick just one thing to write about. Classes have started and I'm still trying to figure out my schedule, with two universities, each with multiple campuses, and sub-par organizational systems it's been insane trying to find class rooms and figuring out a schedule within the two week add-drop period. Right now, I'm taking a class called arte, cultura, estetica Mapuche which is basically a art history class focusing on Chile's indigenous people the Mapuche, then there's advanced Spanish grammar, Sociologia de la Cultura which I really like, and then a to be determined art/cinema class.
But among the craziness of academics this week there has been plenty of recreation as well. Going to a discoteca with some friends where we danced the night away to regeton and backstreet boys, going shopping in el centro, bowling with my host brother, and going out to dinner with my family where I ate some of the most delicious pizza of my life (very different from what we think pizza is but so good). But the best activity of my week was the Colo-Colo futbol game.
Futbol/soccer is huge here, and I mean HUGE. There are a few teams in Santiago and there are distinct and strong lines of loyalty to the teams. They're what you would call fanatics. So of course this was one cultural event I could not pass up. Myself and a few friends went with our friend Rachel and her host brother to a Colo-Colo game last night and it was an event. Everyone had a colo-colo shirt on, there were banners and flags all black and white. There were also songs and chats that we attempted to pick up as the game went on. The best of these was one which involves everyone in the stadium doing this unbelievable loud and shrill whistle in time with a drum beat. Where is the drum? La Garra Blanca, the most fanatical of the fanatics (about 1/3 of the fans which sat in a special section), they cheered, sang, or jumped the entire game. There were trumpets, huge base drums, streamers, roadside flares, and fireworks. It was tons of fun, plus we won, 3-0 against a team from Ecuador. Youhave not experienced excitement until you've seen Colo-Colo score a gol.