Antofagasta: where they like their spanish like they like their quads...FAST

So for those of you who don't know, when I was a Junior in high school I had a friend, Kevin, who was an exchange student from Chile..... flash forward 3 years and now I'm the exchange student in Chile! So this past week I went to visit Kevin in Antofagasta which is in northern Chile, about a 2 hour  plane from Santiago. Antofagasta is a really interesting place because the desert there comes right up to the beach and theres just enough room between the 2 landscapes to fit the main road and some houses, its a long and thin city much like the country.

 Kevin left out some details about the view from his house! I mean wow!!

my "the desert's so windy!!" face

I guess I am starting to realize how spoiled I was in Santa Barbara getting to live right on the coast because all of the 3 trips I've taken from Santiago have been to the coast, a little bit of salty air withdrawal I suppose. Anyways the past 5 days have consisted of walking around in the not too cold weather (much preferred over the weather in Santiago) and going out on the quads into the desert which is a lot of fun because I had never even been to the desert in the US! It was pretty extraordinary how the hills just went on and on way beyond where I could see. Kevin and his brothers took me on the quad and I was pretty surprised I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be (even when Kevin started doing wheelies with me in the back).

I also had the pleasure of meeting Kevin's family which was very fun. I take back everything that I've said about people being difficult to understand in Santiago because listening to Kevin talk with his brothers in Spanish stopped me in my tracks for the past 5 days. I swear they talk faster than anyone I have ever heard even in English! The only things I could catch in their conversations was how they ended every sentence with -po' weeoooon. cachai?- Spanish Slang Submersion 101. My best translation of this would be -duuuuude ya know?- Anyways this made for a pretty silent Faithy when no one was actively conversing with me because there's no way I could try to keep up with them, but I had a lot of fun nonetheless. Also, of all the places we went there was usually at least one person who would be patient enough to try to talk with me in Spanish or Kevin's brothers who could speak English would sometimes switch to talk with me because to be honest I don't think a lot of them know how to talk slower haha.

Although it was exhausting listening to conversations that I didn't have much clue were about, it was pretty awesome to get out of Santiago and get to see another city not just from a touristy perspective but more of a local every day life (for the boys this means staying up until at least 4 AM and sleeping until at least 1 PM... I could barely keep up with this too). Today I had a flight at 11 AM so you can imagine it was a struggle getting up but Kevin and I stopped by La Portada which is a protected natural monument. It was pretty cool to see and good to have one last stop before I was on my way.

All in all, vacation was great even if it was only 5 days long.... Now to start school and everything else! Chao!

July 21: 4 weeks down

I guess the title is a bit misleading, four weeks down makes it seem like I’m counting down the days to leave, when in reality I can’t believe I only have 5 more months left. 4 weeks down seems to me like bragging rights for accomplishing living in a foreign country for this long. Honestly I don’t mean to toot my own horn but in 4 short weeks I’ve learned tremendous amounts about the Chilean people and their culture (although I’m just scratching the surface), I’ve only gotten lost on public transportation a handful of times (I mean would you expect less of me?), and have improved my Spanish skills tremendously. I can now with about 80% confidence hold a conversation with someone and I would say when I came here I was about 25% confident in my abilities. I’m ECSTATIC at the thought of how much more things are going to progress in my remaining 5 months here.

So this week has been hectic as ever! Everything has felt like sort of a transition point for the past 4 weeks, but things are finally starting to fall into place to be permanent for the rest of my time here. On Saturday I finished ILP, which was my Spanish class with the program and although it was bittersweet finishing, (no more “gringolandia” 4 hours a day/ 5 days a week and saying goodbye to an awesome teacher) I was pretty happy to be finished and to finally feel like they’re sending us off into the real world.

The rest of my weekend was spent preparing for the craziness that will come with real school.  I spent hours looking for classes to choose from, which I’ll be signing up for tomorrow. Also had to spend a little bit of time looking at different internships to do here, as we’re required by our program to do one. I think I’ll be working for a foundation that works with kids of ages 0-18 who don’t have families and live in a home. I’m not exactly sure of the details of the job yet and I’ll have an interview for it next week so here’s to hoping that works out! Aaaaand to put the cherry on top I found a house with students from all over that I’m going to move to for the rest of my time here. So many things accomplished in such a short time!

Today I spent the day at orientation for the University of Chile where we got to meet all of the other exchange students. It was pretty amazing meeting all these kids from all over the world, Germany, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Columbia, and different parts of the US. I’m so impressed by all of the students who have their native language, can speak English and on top of that are also learning Spanish just like me! We took a tour of one of the campuses, Juan Gomez Millas, which was a whole different experience. This campus is one that is very well known for their “paros” (student strikes) and has all sorts of art on every wall of every building. Many of the murals are political, some are inspired by works of famous poets, and many are just beautiful to look at. I think it’s pretty amazing to walk all over the campus and see the student voice displayed all over. There is such a strong sentiment of having your opinion heard at La Chile that it’s nothing short of inspiring.

So on top of all the excitement for the new semester (which starts on Monday) starting tomorrow I’m on vacation!! * insert happy dance here* I’m headed up north to Antofagasta to visit my old friend Kevin who was a student from Chile at my high school for a year and I’m very excited to catch up and see a different part of Chile. So 5ish days of vacation and then back to the real world for me!

So I’d like to just add to this post to mention the topic of a few conversations I had today, I was sitting next to my friend Angelica on the bus today on our way from orientation to the other campus and when I asked her how she was her response was simply “wow, just so many emotions.” When we talked a little bit more about it she expressed not only her nervousness for classes and excitement for all that is in store but also her gratitude for being able to be where she is today. It really made me take a step back and evaluate how where I am today came to be.  Again, later when I talked to my friend, Chloe, about the long and difficult process that was getting to study abroad, it threw in some perspective about all that has happened in the past few months. Just in December this whole trip was just a hope and dream, a future that I didn’t know would even be possible. Talking to my friends made me really process how much I was able to do to get here and how valuable the entire moral, financial and emotional support I have received is. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have some of the most generous, loving people in my life, from the rain jacket I wear almost every day that my grandparents bought for me just last year, to my mom calming my nerves every time I filled out yet another application incorrectly, to my grandma who has helped pay for my schooling and everyone who has even given the slightest bit of motivation along the way. I have so much to be grateful for today and every day and I know that I will not take any bit of this experience for granted.

Well that’s a little slice of my perspective from the southern hemisphere, miss all of you and I look forward to talking to friends and family each and every day.

Ciao! –Faith. ( even if my host-mom still insists on calling me Joyce)

**Sidenote: my internet has been really bad at home so even though I wrote this yesterday I wasn’t able to post it until today, therefore everything referred to as “tomorrow” is actually today (: and I'm happy to report that today went without a hitch!! **

Ok ONE MORE THING. I just think this world is such a funny place, because before sharing this on Facebook I went home for a little bit. After having the best day ever hence the "everything went without a hitch" part, I was able to get all the classes I want, get my chilean ID card, and pay for my new apartment that I will be living in and then..... I DROPPED MY CHILEAN PHONE IN THE TOILET. Of course I just laughed at how comical my life is (a perfect day doesn't exist), but I'm sure I'll figure out what to do and I know it could be much worse. Hope y'all are as entertained by my misfortune as I am. Peace.

white houses, wine tasting, and what the heck are they saying? July 14

It's only been a week but it was a week jam-packed with all sorts of adventures!

So first there was La Moneda, basically the white house of Chile. We went with our program last tuesday, which was pretty cool! It's a pretty majestic building with the biggest flag I've ever seen in the front. They've got these carabineros that stand out front kind of like those English guys with the fuzzy hats, but way less comical looking and more serious. like don't-look-at-me-for-too-long-or-you'll-turn-to-stone serious. Anyways we walked around and got to see this room with like a billion year old rug that we weren't allowed to step on (reminded me of Princess Diaries when she gets yelled at in 12 languages to get off the lawn), then we got to see where the President (currently Michelle Bachelet) gives press conferences? and super official business I guess.

The problem with tours in Spanish is I can understand for a little bit but as soon as I zone out for a moment, I'm completely lost and they're talking about some painting with an important battle on it that I swear to myself I don't need to write down because I'll definitely remember it (I don't). But regardless it was pretty cool. She told us how when Obama went for breakfast at La Moneda he brought too many people so they couldn't have it in the normal room and had to move it outside into this big square. Also we saw these ancient cannons that were named furious and lightning. We also saw the outside of where Salvador Allende died, which is noted by many Chileans as a very tragic event. Overall it was an awesome trip and the parts I understood were pretty interesting!

Don't step on the rug.

This means business.

Salvador Allende

Thursday, we took an hour drive to the beautiful vineyard of Concha y Toro, it's the second biggest winery in terms of planted vines in the world!( after Napa of course) We were lucky enough that it was a beautiful day outside and it was the coolest thing ever. We got to try a few different types of wines and learn all about the legend behind their wine "Casillero del Diablo". It was pretty beautiful and definitely a new experience for me! There's not much to say about it, but I have lots of pictures to show!

Amigos del programa( todos les gusta el vino también)

This bottle of wine costs $700. Yikes!

So this weekend we had to travel to somewhere outside of Santiago for our final project for ILP. After changing our minds 3 times of where to go, 5 of us ventured off to the coastal town of Isla Negra, where Pablo Neruda (super famous Chilean Poet) had a house. Little did we know that we had made the perfect choice, as Saturday just happened to be his birthday, and although he might not be around anymore to celebrate it, all the locals of Isla Negra sure do enjoy celebrating his birth! Everyone who lived there seemed to take a lot of pride in having Neruda's house in Isla Negra, he was very infuential and his works are very important to a lot of people today. So our plan to take a tour was turned into a very grand affair, first we got in for free, then there was all sorts of festivities with music and local artisans with every sort of craft and lots of fresh empanadas. Also it turns out that Isla Negra is a very much so communist town, they had all sorts of flags and chants and it was a very interesting experience. Now I'll admit I am not as educated as I could be when it comes to what communism means (or any politics for that matter),but we don't hear many good things about in the US, it was quite fascinating to see this whole community with their pride and love for communism, which I'm pretty sure you'd never see at any public festival for any particular political party in the US.

Later that night we returned to Neruda's house for a poetry reading thing, which ended up being way more fun than it sounded. haha. There were these 5 musicians who at first each sang a small song and then it turned into basically a rap battle of poetry. Everything was off the top of their heads and they had only a moment between one person finishing and another person responding to their song. It was all very impressive even though I probably couldn't tell you any of what was said. Something very important I've learned from not understanding much of what is said during stories is that social cues are lifesavers. Everyone laughs and you just laugh right along with them (although  I suppose someday this could bite me in the butt if I was ever the subject of said joke). Anyways I had a great time listening even if I didn't understand much. 

 

Ok just one more tidbit to share! Yesterday after getting back to my home and settling back in from the whirlwind of a day I had on Saturday, my host mom Eni had some family over, it was her son, his wife and their two daughters Dora and Antonia. The girls were adorable (ages 8 and 10) and I have to say I enjoyed talking to them much more than I do with adults in Spanish. It's really hard when you sit with a group of adults because unless they're actively including me in the conversation I feel like I'm 6 years old sitting at the grown-ups table while they talk about the latest political issue. Even though now they're probably only talking about what they bought at the store yesterday it's still pretty hard to keep up and I often don't feel like I have much to contribute to the conversation. So when I sat and talked to the girls I had a lot of fun showing them picture of my dog and even got to share our love for One Direction. They asked me a lot of questions which was fun because they were pretty easy to answer and they showed me an Disney Channel show from Argentina. Made me miss babysitting a little and I'm secretly hoping they come back soon. Anyways I guess my first Chilean girl friends are 8 and 10 years old but that's ok with me. Baby steps right? haha Anyways, one more week of ILP , 2 more weeks until school starts and about 21 more weeks of adventure! 

-Faith

P.S. my host mom still refers to me as Joyce. not worth correcting her, I'll live.

Oh and heres a wonderful selfie for your viewing pleasure (my friend Charlotte in the background).

July 8, 2014

hello everyone!
It's been about a week since my last post. A lot has happened but also not that much! We have started our language class which is 5 days a week for 4 hours a day so that has kept me pretty busy. It seems like a lot of time (60 hours in 3 weeks!) but it passes by quickly because I really enjoy it! All of the people in my program are so nice and easy to get along with and the class is centered more on discussion and learning chilean culture which is much better than the same old grammar exercises and flashcard learning. Last week I got the pleasure of registering my visa and applying for a chilean ID card ( got to wake up at 6 in the morning to do so!) which was pretty much as fun as any DMV trip but also worse because everything is in spanish. I hope that my spanish is improving but it's hard when all my time is spent with my US friends and after about 3 minutes in Spanish we give up and revert back to english. Hopefully we can all improve together by cutting out more of our native tongue haha.

One of the days last week I went with my friend Rachel to explore our little neighborhood of Ñuñoa and there is so much to see outside my 8 minute walk to campus! We went to plaza Ñuñoa where there is basically the city hall for our neighborhood and we saw some awesome bench art:

So I'm sure you're all wondering what I did to celebrate the 4th of July... and if I'm being completely honest, nothing really! The intention was to go to this Cantina California because it's supposed to be the spot for americans and our celebrations of the 4th but our group split up and 6 of us ended up hanging out with our "cultural mentor" from the program and his chilean friends, which was a blast! We found ourselves at a salsoteca where I got to trip all over myself having absolutely no rhythm to try to dance. But I still had a blast! Saturday when I got up my host mom thought I was up "early for a Saturday" even though it was nearly 11, I guess I have some shoes to fill when it comes to coming home late and sleeping all day.

I think one of my new favorite activities is finding new coffee places and trying all sorts of coffee (plus there tends to be wifi at all these cafes). One was a bookstore that I definitely want to go back to  check out some chilean books. Another was a type of cafe commonly known as "café con piernas" because the waitresses are known to dress in short skirts and be very pretty, this one was called Café Caribe and it was quite possibly the best cappuccino I've ever had. The most recent cafe was where my group was planning our presentation for class, and wowzas their caramel lattes are sweet!!

 

There are so many things to look forward to! This weekend I'll be heading to Isla Negra which is on the coast for the final project that we have for our spanish class and I also have my flight booked to go visit my friend Kevin (who was a student at my high school from Chile) in Antofagasta! 

Although I have come down with a little bit of a cold, I'm taking it easy while trying to not miss out on too many adventures.

On the note of my name.... my host mom calls me Faith like 90% of the time( 50% of which follow her catching herself calling me Joyce) and I haven't seem to be able to find a solution to the whole debacle. Aaaaand last week when I was introduced to one of my cultural monitor's friends, he asked me my name and when I told him, his was response was "¿En serio?" which translates as you'd think to: Seriously? ...... awesome, now people just think I'm joking. oh well, I'll keep you updated on people's comical responses to my name.

Here you can see one of my bomb lunches my host mom has made and the makings we have for salad pretty much every day.. Lunch is the main meal so we eat wonderfully. (And always with a ton of avocado)

It's hard to believe I have been here for 2 weeks! I'm finally getting a hold of directions in my neighborhood, which micro(bus) to take, and where to get to the nearest metro. Also, we have had a little bit of warmer weather the last couple days! Which is nice only having to wear one layer of clothing (: I'm so excited for the next 5 and a half months and all the adventures it has in store!

ciao!