Chau

I'm pretty bad with goodbyes. I always feel slightly awkward and end up giving off the impression that I have a terribly cold, unemotional rock for a heart, when I actually don't. (Really, I don't.) Maybe that's why I like Chilean Spanish's use of "chau," which has a friendlier and more temporary feel than "adios." Then again, I don't really like the English "see you later," so maybe my preferences are just completely arbitrary.

In any case, today was our last full day in Santiago, so after filing into a classroom and receiving our grades, we exchanged awkward goodbyes with Professor Maza and departed from the observatory for the last time. I haven't even left Santiago yet, and I'm already starting to miss the city. It has all the liveliness of New York and the relaxedness of Los Angeles, with a culture that is unparalleled by any US city. I'm going to miss the people I've met during the past six weeks, whether at the observatory, at church, or just randomly on the streets (and mountains). In my mind, Chile will forevermore be associated with awesome people, awesome skies, and awesome national pride.

This concludes my official blogging for the summer. From next week onwards, I'll be back at Yale, working with Professor Meg Urry and one of her post-docs on the spectrometry of binary quasars. If you're a potential astro major at Yale, feel free to contact me at james [dot] kim [at] yale [dot] edu with any questions about the program. If you're just one of the random people who follow this blog (i.e. the coolest people ever), you can probably stop checking for updates, except for maybe a final photo post. Bye everyone! Bye Chile!