May 22, 2012

Nuevo Departamento, Nuevo Vida

I haven’t blogged in a long time because (a) laziness and (b) my computer was broken for casi 2 months!  So I was even less motivated!  But now I’ve had my computer back for about a week, and it has been glorious to be reunited!  

Trekking en Parque Nacional del Torres del Paine en marzo


I have really become more acclimated to my life in Santiago.  I have a steady group of friends, and I moved from my host family into an apartment downtown.  It’s awesome because I’m getting to experience both types of living during my time abroad.  Now I live with 3 other foreign girls, but our language at home is still Spanish.  I am a lot happier living here because I feel less isolated, but I also miss getting to experience the traditional Chilean customs that I was introduced to during my time with my host family.  But we still stay in touch, and are planning to meet up when my mom comes to visit in June.

Un póster en campus San Jaquin, Santiago


My classes are overall going well - much less frustrating now than at the beginning.  I actually know what’s going on now, like what the processes and expectations are.  And I’m getting pretty good grades!  I still don’t know exactly how to equate to an A, B, C system, because here everything is on a 1-7 grading scale.  But I know I’m passing, so that’s all that matters!  For one of my classes, Women in Chilean Society, we began our Literature section last week, and I really love the new professor.  Hard to believe we have a month left (plus finals) of classes!  Time flies.  I think it has flown because my life here is much less chaotic than in the US. I’m not hyperly involved in student activities, I’m not working, and as an exchange student, I have the ability to take classes less seriously.  It has taught me the value of CHILLING.  I think my blood pressure is significantly lower.

Parapente en Mendoza, Argentina en abril


I almost don’t want to leave at the end of July.  Class ends in June, and I have a friend from Texas coming to South America to travel with me for a month.  But I have gotten more of a routine here, and it feels like as soon as I have gotten comfortable, I have to uproot and leave.  Story of my life.  I feel a constant need to travel and be unsettled while I’m young and uncommitted, but I find myself wanting more and more to have a home with my own furniture and stay in the same place for more than 6 months.  I guess that’s what graduation and adulthood are for!

Cerro San Cristobal, Santiago en abril


It also hurts my heart a little bit to know I will not get to see my Chilean and international friends everyday, maybe never again.  It’s so strange to just come in and out of each other’s lives briefly.  But it’s awesome to know that if I want to go to Germany, Boliva, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, etc. I’d have friends there waiting for me!  And I also get excited when I think about reuniting with my friends in Texas.  While it will be a different life when I return, because many people my age just graduated, I really do miss funky little Austin and all the good people in my life there.


Manifestación estudiantil sobre la educación en Santiago, mayo


Another good thing is that I feel like I’m actually able to understand Spanish, and find myself taking less time to respond.  The words are coming more naturally to me now.  I don’t want to leave and give that up!  I am seriously considering teaching abroad after graduation, and Chile has a high demand for native English speakers.  Even if I don’t come back to Chile with all its modismos, I would love to come back to South America and explore more all this continent has to offer.  In Texas, I need to take more advantage of Spanish-speaking opportunites, because I know they exist.  But before I avoided them!

La playa, La Serena, mayo


In July, I plan to travel with my friend in the north, because it will be too damn cold in the south!  My tenative plan is Atacama Desert (Chile), Machu Pichu (Peru), La Paz (Boliva), Iguazu Falls (border of Argentina and Brazil), and Buenos Aires (Argentina).  I may throw in Colombia and/or Brazil if I can work it out, because I have random connections from people I met in Texas in those countries.  And it’s always better to know people!

En catamarán, La Serena, mayo


I’m really excited for what the next 2 months bring for me in South America, and am really going to try to “aprovechar”, or take advantage of and appreciate every opportunity.  ¿Cachaí?

March 26, 2012 • 1 note
Estamos en cerro Santa Lucia - donde se fundó Santiago!

Estamos en cerro Santa Lucia - donde se fundó Santiago!

March 26, 2012 • 1 note

Hope Is Stronger Than Fear

March 23, 2012
La playa en Viña del Mar

La playa en Viña del Mar

March 23, 2012

Tiempos duros

This week has been hard for me.  The exciting new shine of being in Chile has worn off, and I’m realizing that this is the life I will be leading for the next 4 months.  I have ups and downs every day - there are times when I’m loving it and can really appreciate being immersed in another culture.  But there are also times when I feel like my Spanish is horrible and I feel sad for giving up my very comfortable life in the United States.  I miss my family and friends, and it’s even worse because a lot of my closest friends are graduating this semester, so they will not be in Austin when I return.  So I gave up my last opportunity to be with them in the capacity of UT and all living in the same city, to be in Chile.  Sometimes I don’t feel like it was the right decision.  Here, it is very hard to meet up with friends.  It is such a huge city, and takes a long time to get anywhere.  Plus, I live in an entirely different section than most people, so I feel very isolated.  In my host house, I live with the mother and one daughter (out of 4 children), but the past two weeks, the daughters have been on vacation in Colombia, so it has been very quiet here.  More lonely.  There are no coffee shops/internet cafes in this part of town - it is very residential.  So I feel like my only options are to go to school or stay in the house.  I know there are more things to do in other parts of town,  so I need to make more of an effort to explore.  It’s just that at the end of each day, I feel so tired!  I often retreat to my room and watch a TV show in English, because that is what is familiar.  

The education system in Chile is very frustrating.  It makes me feel grateful for how organized that system is in comparision in the US.  There are protests every week in various parts of the city, because students want free university education here.  In my opinion, that is implausible.  Right now, there have not been any school closures, but I know it is possible in the future.  It is a very sensitive topic with people.  Honestly, I hate how they do things here, within the classroom.  No one buys books - everyone buys photocopies.  But usually the photocopies you need are not at the location they tell you to go to.  The assignments and readings are very ambiguous, so often I go to class unprepared.  There is an online system similar to BlackBoard, but again, it is kind of disorganized.  And I feel like I can’t ask questions, because I am intimidated to talk to the professors and unable to accurate ask my questions in Spanish.

Next week, I am going on a hiking/camping trip to Torres del Paine, which is in Chilean Patagonia.  It’s from Thursday to Tuesday, so I will miss school.  Whatever, because it’s not like I really understand what is going on anyways!  I felt like Torres was an opportunity that I couldn’t miss.  I’m really looking forward to marveling at the natural splendor that is Torres del Paine.  

I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.  

March 22, 2012
La casa de Pablo Neruda

La casa de Pablo Neruda

March 11, 2012
Out for a drink at an Irish pub, of all places!

Out for a drink at an Irish pub, of all places!

March 11, 2012

First Week - Check!

Hello there!
This week was definitely busy!  Classes started on Monday, and all of the exchange students clearly were disoriented.  But every day it has gotten better, and I’ve learned more and more about how they do things here.  It takes me about 20 minutes to get from my house to campus, and I walk to the bus and then change buses/take a metro.  I live much closer to our campus than most students, so that’s awesome, but means that I am far away from a lot of my new friends.  I seem to live in a middle-income area, while a lot of the home-stays set up by the university seem to be closer to the mountains (therefore wealthier families).  
Figuring out classes has been hard.  All registration for exchange students is in person only, and the class schedule is really hard to understand.  For example, it doesn’t say MWF from 1-2PM.  It says Lunes Miercoles Viernes at Modulo 1.  So then you have to look up another table with all the modulos and what time of day they represent.  Plus, the classrooms in the first week seem to be very inconcrete, and the location of a class will move with no notice.  So a lot of time this week exchange students were just wandering around trying to find the new location of a class!  It’s kind  of frustrating, but I’ve accepted that I’m not going to know what’s going on until I do it wrong and then learn, so I’m trying to just go with the flow!  
I’m taking 5 classes - 2 seminars for exchange students only and then 3 classes with Chileans.  All are taught in Spanish, and will count for my Spanish degree at UT.  I’m not officially in them, because exchange students is tomorrow at 10am.  So hopefully that will work out.  Check out this website about orientation for exchange students - I’m in the picture but am kinda blurry!
I’ve adapted to the time change, and usually go to bed around midnight and get up around 8.  My earliest class is at 10am.  I thought we had to change our clocks here today, but apparently this year (because it’s a leap year I’m guessing) we don’t change them until April 28!  So now I’m all confused about the time.  I think it’s 4:30 here.  I think.
My eating schedule has gotten a little more regular - I make breakfast (usually eggs or cereal) before I leave for class, and pack a bunch of snacks like nuts.  Sometimes I pack a lunch too, but I need to buy more substancial lunch fixings.  I can’t find peanut butter anywhere!!  Never thought I would be saying that, did you?  After Texas 4000 I do now eat peanut butter.  I’m not sure what it’s called here, so I haven’t been able to ask for it!  On campus, there are no classes from 1-2ish, and everyone has lunch.  So all the restaurants on campus are exploding with people.  Then my host family will have “once” or kind of a snack around like 8pm.  But that’s not every day, only when more of the kids come over.  So I just kind of eat whatever.  One day I made a pizza, and today I made some mac and cheese.  I’ll probably go to the grocery story like once a week to stock up.  I’m allowed to eat whatever is in the fridge too, and the maid that comes 2x a week (Maria) usually cooks food that lasts for a few days.
I’ve adjusted to getting around - I do miss the freedom of having a car though!!  I basically walk, bus, and metro everywhere.  It costs about $3 per swipe of my card to ride the metro, and is cheaper on the bus.  It’s hot as hell everywhere you go - I have one class that has air conditioning!  But it rained a little bit last night, so this morning was actually a little chilly!  Winter is on its way! 
I’ve met a lot of other exchange students in my classes, because we’re obvious to spot and therefore tend to clump together.  But this week once my classes are finalized, I’m going to make more of an effort to talk to the Chileans in my classes.  I also met some Chileans at a party but on by this welcome comittee on Friday - there were a lot of natives there.  I plan to go to more of their events, like a trip to Valparaíso (a beach town) this coming weekend.  I booked a trip through another activity group to Torres del Paine, which is very far in the south.  Like Antartica and glaciers!  So we’ll be camping for 3 days and staying in a hostel for 2.  It’s such a long way to go that a longer trip is necessary to make it worth it!

Talk to you soon,

Erin

March 4, 2012

Updates

Buenas tardes!  

So a lot has happened in the past couple of days.  Bueno, a lot happens CADA día, but an extra amount has happened haha.  On Friday I navigated my way alone on the metro from our house to the main PUC campus for orientation.  I found my way quite smoothly after Olga’s (host mom) intructions the day before.  There are 4 campuses of this university, and luckily I live closest to the one that most of my classes will be at.   

At orientation, it was only exchange students, so I was able to speak some English.  In some cases though, the only language in common was Spanish!  There are students from other states in the US, from across Europe, from Australia…you name it.  There are two other UT students here - I met one (Michelle).  She came to Chile at the beginning of February to take an intensive Spanish class for foreigners, and she introduced me to all of her friends.  They seemed really nice!  

All of the presentations and information was in Spanish, so I didn’t fully understand all of it.  Registration starts tomorrow and lasts for two weeks.  It’s sort of like an add/drop period at UT, where you can rearrange your classes as needed.  But the weird thing is, we have to register in person at an office.  So tomorrow I’m going to go stand in line and hope to get the classes I want.  At least that’s the plan!

Yesterday, my host family invited me to go with them to a wine festival in Santa Cruz, which is about 2.5 hours south of Santiago.  There was 6 of us who went in 2 cars, Olga (mom), Carolina (oldest sister), Tomas (Carolina’s husband), Tamara (middle daughter), Claudio (Tamara’s boyfriend), and me.  We ate large amounts of meat at the festival (similar to hot dogs and kabobs) and then sampled a bunch of different types of wine.  It was hot as hell!  After the wine, we went on an unofficial tour of the surrounding vinyards by car, because Claudio is from there and knew the area.  Then we went to his brother’s house and took naps before having “once”, which is sort of like a snack, around 8pm.  Then, I thought we were going home, but psyche!  We went back to the festival, to a concert.  The opening act was a comic, and I hardly understood any of that.  The music was a pretty popular Chilean band, and I enjoyed them!  The whole vibe was very similar to ACL in Austin.  

After the concert, we drove back to Santiago.  We got back to the house around 3AM.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to go to the festival, but I’m glad I did!  It was quite the cultural experience, and I feel like I learned a lot of new words.  
Today, I’m at the house, trying to figure out registration and working on my online class.  I’ll be available for Skype or Gchat (video) for the rest of the day!  Keep in mind the time difference - 3 hours later than Texas and 4 than Albuquerque.  Talk to you soon!
— 
Erin 

February 24, 2012
Pisco sour - one thing I can’t wait to try while in Chile!

Pisco sour - one thing I can’t wait to try while in Chile!