Fried

Yesterday, as I trotted from La Historia de la Expansión Europea en Latino América to Cerámica, I was quite deceived by a snack along the way...

You see, had eaten lunch at around noon, and entered Historia de la Exponsión Europea en Latino América at 2:30. This class, or "ramo" as they call them here in Chile, was filled with about 30 first year history students. The class felt a bit like the public high school, or the "standard" American high school that I never went to. And I mean that in an uncertain, as opposed to a condescending, manner (I was told by one of my fellow Tufts students that her host family called la Universidad de Chile a "ghetto public school" as an insult. Oh, how I love the bourgeoisie. But that's a different conversation). Anyway, I got a real high school vibe that I never really felt growing up. Students giggled with their groups of friends, the professor had to ask the everyone to stop talking several times, a few students were reprimanded for having cell phones, two girls left the class holding hands and looking very concerned. They never came back. Surprisingly, the classroom dynamics were a lot more interesting than the class itself.

But back to the story. When this class ended, I had to run to ceramics, where I would be for the next two hours. By this time, however, it was about 4pm, and my small lunch was not holding me up too well. So, on the way to "la facultad de artes" I stopped at one of the food/snack vendors on campus. In front of me was a plate of "berliners" - fist-sized balls of bread with a slice down the middle that were filled with "manjar" (manjar is a light brown, creamy paste made of cooked milk and sugar). They were 250 pesos each (1 dollar = about 500 pesos), so I bought one to scarf down as I walked to my next class. As I bit down into my nutritious ball of dough, I realized that not only was this a chunk of bread stuffed with milk and sugar, but it was a fried chunk of bread stuffed with milk and sugar. Fantastic. So much for trying to stay healthy. It was like eating three deep fried doughnuts and seven tablespoons of warm caramel. It was delicious. Still, I thought I might have a heart attack from running to class and eating this thing at the same time. Needless to say, the berliner held me over until dinner and beyond. I think it's still sitting in my stomach, which is why I wrote this post.