Had the first day of classes today! We started with Spanish and culture, and moved on to Business practices in Chile and the Chilean demography and consumer characteristics.

The one interesting thing I have noticed is that Chile is an almost developed economy with changing cultures that is fast becoming like that of the United State's. It is however, a very homogenous culture. People have the same sort of tastes and expectations. Marriage is becoming less and less important or necessary, with people often living together without getting married, while divorce rates have shot up after a recent law change that makes it legal.

There are so many interesting things that we learned in class today. Chile is so close to being fully developed, yet the nation has a wide disparity in income distribution. This is to the extent that the poorest 20% often do not even finish high school. But at the same time, Chile has a stable economy, stable social life and a steady rate of growth averaging about 6%.

That's only some of the information we learned about today. I will be writing a paper soon, so will keep you all updated with detailed information if you so desire :)

Adding some interesting pictures from the fruit industry and some other random shots.

The last three are pictures of the UDD campus... isn't it pretty?? They can see the mountains from anywhere they turn!