Aneya: School kids in Santiago

So schools in Santiago are officially in session (they have been for some time, although everything was postponed a bit after the earthquake) and the school kids are out in full force! Everyone here wears uniforms, which I find so cute. I always wanted to wear a uniform, there's something so posh, so academic, so British about it. I went to a number of different private and public schools and none of them had uniforms. My brother got to wear one for a while, but it's different for guys. Girls fret for hours about what the wear, guys grab whatever's closest on the floor. I don't think it mattered to him one way or another. It would to me though!

The uniforms here come in a few different colors (mostly dark blues, green, grey and black) but they all have the same basics. Girls wear plaid skirts, white shirts (usually with the school logo on it) and these ridiculously huge wool socks, which they roll all the way up to their knees. Need I remind you it's the end of the summer here and still scorching hot in the city, I can't imagine walking around for hours in those! Guys wear slacks, and sometimes even ties, with big thick sweaters and clunky dress shoes.

I see a lot of kids around lunchtime in the park, and I don't know if they're ditching or if they're allowed to leave school for lunch. My little brothers in France used to come home every day for lunch (which was quite a hassle for my mom, driving them a total of 5 times to and from school every day) but they loved it. They even had time to play a quick game of Wii tennis before heading back to the classroom. Oh, what a life.

Anyway, the teenagers here and just like those in any country, really. The girls lay on the grass, laughing and gossiping, the boys playfully push each other around in the metro. Oh- that's another thing. There doesn't seem to be any school buses here. You constantly see kids in the metro, on the bus, walking. They seem like very independent teenagers. They obviously navigate the city just fine by themselves, and they seem to have a lot more freedom than kids in the U.S. do.

I feel like teens here are even more sexually active than those in the States (I know, I know, you don't have to remind me about MTV's "Sixteen and Pregnant") or maybe it's just that they start younger here. The other day I saw a couple going at it against the wall of the metro. When they finally pulled away from each other, I swear to god they both looked about 12. Ahh well. Young love, what are you gonna do? C'est la vie.