I thought that my super-sentimental post would be my last from Chile, but I figured I should update and say
A) I decided not to spend the weekend in Santiago because it was too much of a hassle to coordinate and mostly because I really, really love Valdivia and I wanted to spend my last days in Chile in this city that has been so good to me for four months. So I have 1.5 more days in Valdivia before I get on a 12-hour bus to the airport to take a 9-hour plane ride. And then I'll be home!!!
B) My birthday was yesterday! It was really lovely- my family had a celebration for me complete with red wine and cake, I had coffee with some friends (actually, I had mint hot chocolate, YUM), and at night we went out and I danced to all my favorite reggaeton songs. It was a great Chilean birthday.
The other day I mentioned to my host family that it's a little anti-climactic to have my 21st birthday in Chile since it's already legal for me to drink here, therefore it's not as important of a celebration. To which my host mom replied, "But it is an important age! It's the age you can legally get married in Chile without your parent's consent!" HA! Don't worry, not planning on getting married before Sunday. BUT I COULD, which I guess is pretty cool.
So with those brief updates about my life, I'm back to packing :( It will be a Chilean milagro if I manage to fit everything without having to buy another duffel bag.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
despedidas
So here I am, at the end of my study abroad experience, and I have some very cliche mixed emotions about it. They are cliche for a reason!! It's hard to leave a country that has been so great to me. I love living in a new culture, learning new things every day, exploring, speaking more and more Spanish, etc. At the same time, I miss almost everything about my life back in the States and am beyond excited to return to that. Sometimes all I want to do is sleep until Sunday when I get on a plane back to the US. (Of course, that might also just be because I'm really tired. Going to goodbye parties every night last week wears a girl out.)
So how do I balance the excitement of adventure and knowledge of exploring the world with the familiarity and undying love I have for my life stateside? I guess the answer is to travel often. But one thing I loved about studying abroad and (mostly) staying in one place for four months was the slow process of becoming fully integrated into Valdivian life and Chilean culture. Of course, I'm not fully integrated after four months, but I was starting to feel like Valdivia was my home. I am a pro at public transit, the Chilean slang is rolling off of my tongue with ease, my favorite karaoke bar knows my name... I would love to live in another country long enough to fully become a part of another culture. Which I guess is why anthropology fascinates me. But will I ever be willing to part with my awesome life in the US for long enough to create a whole new life for myself somewhere else?
LUCKILY I am still young (living my last days as a 20-year old, as a matter of fact!) and I am sure that in my life I'll have plenty of time to travel & live abroad and also live in my home country. One of the things I got from this experience that I didn't expect is that now I have so much appreciation for US culture. There are still a lot of things I dislike about it, but being away has reminded me of all the things I love about it. (Of course, that might be Chilean culture rubbing off on me... they are very patriotic here.) One thing I love about the US is that since it's so large, with so many states and regions, there's a lot of diversity- of people, of ideas, of FOOD (Indian food get back into my life!!), of clothing styles. Not to say that Chilean culture is completely monotonous, but the US definitely has it beat on diversity.
Basically, as much as I have fallen in love with Chilean culture, I have also re-fallen in love with US culture. We'll see if that infatuation lasts once I'm back or if it's an "absence makes the heart grow fonder" type of situation.
But ramblings about cultural differences aside, the hardest part about preparing to leave has been saying goodbye. Last week was an emotional rollercoaster- I oscillated between pure joy that I got to experience Chile with so many amazing people and pure heartbreak that most of these people will cease to be in my day-to-day life. I'm still kind of oscillating, but now that I've said most of my goodbyes (triiiiste) I'm feeling more leveled. And excited because my birthday is in two days!!
And my adventuring isn't even over yet! The two days before my departure will be spend in the capital city, Santiago, in a hostel that has a pool. My only impressions of Santiago so far have been of the airport and the bus terminal, so I'm excited to see what else the city has to offer me. Fact about Chile: HALF of the population of the entire country lives in Santiago- somewhere around 8 million people! So if you don't hear from me before I'm back in the states, it's because I'm becoming a city person for the weekend and also probably slightly an emotional wreck. But of course, no one wants good experiences to end, and I love that I've been here and I love what I'm going back to. So chao for now, see you in the States!
So how do I balance the excitement of adventure and knowledge of exploring the world with the familiarity and undying love I have for my life stateside? I guess the answer is to travel often. But one thing I loved about studying abroad and (mostly) staying in one place for four months was the slow process of becoming fully integrated into Valdivian life and Chilean culture. Of course, I'm not fully integrated after four months, but I was starting to feel like Valdivia was my home. I am a pro at public transit, the Chilean slang is rolling off of my tongue with ease, my favorite karaoke bar knows my name... I would love to live in another country long enough to fully become a part of another culture. Which I guess is why anthropology fascinates me. But will I ever be willing to part with my awesome life in the US for long enough to create a whole new life for myself somewhere else?
LUCKILY I am still young (living my last days as a 20-year old, as a matter of fact!) and I am sure that in my life I'll have plenty of time to travel & live abroad and also live in my home country. One of the things I got from this experience that I didn't expect is that now I have so much appreciation for US culture. There are still a lot of things I dislike about it, but being away has reminded me of all the things I love about it. (Of course, that might be Chilean culture rubbing off on me... they are very patriotic here.) One thing I love about the US is that since it's so large, with so many states and regions, there's a lot of diversity- of people, of ideas, of FOOD (Indian food get back into my life!!), of clothing styles. Not to say that Chilean culture is completely monotonous, but the US definitely has it beat on diversity.
Basically, as much as I have fallen in love with Chilean culture, I have also re-fallen in love with US culture. We'll see if that infatuation lasts once I'm back or if it's an "absence makes the heart grow fonder" type of situation.
But ramblings about cultural differences aside, the hardest part about preparing to leave has been saying goodbye. Last week was an emotional rollercoaster- I oscillated between pure joy that I got to experience Chile with so many amazing people and pure heartbreak that most of these people will cease to be in my day-to-day life. I'm still kind of oscillating, but now that I've said most of my goodbyes (triiiiste) I'm feeling more leveled. And excited because my birthday is in two days!!
And my adventuring isn't even over yet! The two days before my departure will be spend in the capital city, Santiago, in a hostel that has a pool. My only impressions of Santiago so far have been of the airport and the bus terminal, so I'm excited to see what else the city has to offer me. Fact about Chile: HALF of the population of the entire country lives in Santiago- somewhere around 8 million people! So if you don't hear from me before I'm back in the states, it's because I'm becoming a city person for the weekend and also probably slightly an emotional wreck. But of course, no one wants good experiences to end, and I love that I've been here and I love what I'm going back to. So chao for now, see you in the States!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
vida cotidiana
I realized the other day that I really only blog about the times that I travel and have awesome adventures, and to whoever is reading this it probably seems like I go traveling every weekend. Really, it's more like every other weekend. (The life of an exchange student is so hard.) But I figured I should write a bit about what a typical day in Valdivia is like.
So, I wake up. Sometimes I take a shower, which requires me to go downstairs and turn on the gas water heater. If it is a Wednesday morning (the day that I have class at 8 AM), I press my snooze button anywhere between one and five times as I curse the gods for inventing 8 AM classes. Eventually I make it down to the kitchen for breakfast! Desayuno in my casa usually consists of toast with butter or manjar (dulce de leche) and fruit/yogurt, with the option of oatmeal.
After breakfast, I walk 3 blocks to catch a micro. The micros are wonderfully quirky parts of South American culture that I actually totally love. I think I've written about them before, but here's a visual:
Photo by Erin, my face on the left!
So, I wake up. Sometimes I take a shower, which requires me to go downstairs and turn on the gas water heater. If it is a Wednesday morning (the day that I have class at 8 AM), I press my snooze button anywhere between one and five times as I curse the gods for inventing 8 AM classes. Eventually I make it down to the kitchen for breakfast! Desayuno in my casa usually consists of toast with butter or manjar (dulce de leche) and fruit/yogurt, with the option of oatmeal.
After breakfast, I walk 3 blocks to catch a micro. The micros are wonderfully quirky parts of South American culture that I actually totally love. I think I've written about them before, but here's a visual:
Photo by Erin, my face on the left!It takes around 20 minutes to get to school. My campus is on an "island" between two of Valdivia's rivers, so on a sunny day, I get to see this on my way to/from school:
I'm not going to write about my classes because they are a lot like US classes, only all in Spanish. The biggest difference is that there is a 3-hour break between my morning and afternoon classes so that all the students can go home for lunch. Almuerzo is the biggest and most important meal of the day- I've only stayed on campus for lunch 3 times in the past 3 months because lunch is such a crucial part of the Chilean family life and also is delicious. My lunch is usually a meat/starch combo (chicken and potatoes, lentil soup and steak, etc.) with a "salad." You'd think that there would be little variation between salads of the world, but it is not the case. The first day that I was ever in Valdivia, I ate a salad that was just shredded carrots coated in lemon juice. Sometimes my salads have any combination of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, and once even OCTOPUS. (Not kidding.) Salad dressing is a mix of lemon juice, sunflower oil, and salt. (Important: Chileans Love Salt.) Recently, my salads have been tomatoes coated in oil, lemon juice, and oregano, which is surprisingly delicious.
Dessert is generally fruit or yogurt. On a good day I get flan or ice cream, and on a REALLY good day my host mom caters to my sweet tooth and brings me a surprise. Last week I had this suuuper dense piece of orange cake.
After lunch, I go back to campus on the micro, go to class, and then come home. My evenings are pretty chill on the weeknights. I do homework, read, chat with my family, eavesdrop on the women who come to my mom's pilates classes, etc. Somewhere in there I have once, which is what they call dinner. Once is very similar to breakfast and is usually toast with butter, cheese, turkey and often avocado. Sometimes some Oreo-like cookies show up, and there is always the option for another yogurt. Oh, and tea is present at all of the meals and at any point in between. Hella tea.
If it is a weeknight in Valdivia, there is a good chance that I will go to my favorite karaoke bar, Madero, and sing an ABBA song. Empanadas are often involved. Sometimes afterward I go to a disco and dance to reggaeton. (Reggaeton is totally growing on me, by the way. I am downloading it frantically!)
This week has actually been a little different because it's finals week, so I've been studying and writing papers during every second of my free time. So far this week I've had 3 tests, 3 essays, and a debate. Bah! Now I only have one more essay to write, and after Monday my Chilean classes are over!
Also, December has arrived! My favorite of all the months! Tomorrow night is my birthday celebration at Madero and it will involve SO MUCH ABBA! (My actual birthday is not for two weeks, but this is the last weekend that a lot of my gringo friends will be in Valdivia, so we are celebrating it early. I love my life.) Anyway, I'm going to celebrate finishing my penultimate essay by watching an episode of The OC. Chao a todos!
I'm not going to write about my classes because they are a lot like US classes, only all in Spanish. The biggest difference is that there is a 3-hour break between my morning and afternoon classes so that all the students can go home for lunch. Almuerzo is the biggest and most important meal of the day- I've only stayed on campus for lunch 3 times in the past 3 months because lunch is such a crucial part of the Chilean family life and also is delicious. My lunch is usually a meat/starch combo (chicken and potatoes, lentil soup and steak, etc.) with a "salad." You'd think that there would be little variation between salads of the world, but it is not the case. The first day that I was ever in Valdivia, I ate a salad that was just shredded carrots coated in lemon juice. Sometimes my salads have any combination of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, and once even OCTOPUS. (Not kidding.) Salad dressing is a mix of lemon juice, sunflower oil, and salt. (Important: Chileans Love Salt.) Recently, my salads have been tomatoes coated in oil, lemon juice, and oregano, which is surprisingly delicious.
Dessert is generally fruit or yogurt. On a good day I get flan or ice cream, and on a REALLY good day my host mom caters to my sweet tooth and brings me a surprise. Last week I had this suuuper dense piece of orange cake.
After lunch, I go back to campus on the micro, go to class, and then come home. My evenings are pretty chill on the weeknights. I do homework, read, chat with my family, eavesdrop on the women who come to my mom's pilates classes, etc. Somewhere in there I have once, which is what they call dinner. Once is very similar to breakfast and is usually toast with butter, cheese, turkey and often avocado. Sometimes some Oreo-like cookies show up, and there is always the option for another yogurt. Oh, and tea is present at all of the meals and at any point in between. Hella tea.
If it is a weeknight in Valdivia, there is a good chance that I will go to my favorite karaoke bar, Madero, and sing an ABBA song. Empanadas are often involved. Sometimes afterward I go to a disco and dance to reggaeton. (Reggaeton is totally growing on me, by the way. I am downloading it frantically!)
This week has actually been a little different because it's finals week, so I've been studying and writing papers during every second of my free time. So far this week I've had 3 tests, 3 essays, and a debate. Bah! Now I only have one more essay to write, and after Monday my Chilean classes are over!
Also, December has arrived! My favorite of all the months! Tomorrow night is my birthday celebration at Madero and it will involve SO MUCH ABBA! (My actual birthday is not for two weeks, but this is the last weekend that a lot of my gringo friends will be in Valdivia, so we are celebrating it early. I love my life.) Anyway, I'm going to celebrate finishing my penultimate essay by watching an episode of The OC. Chao a todos!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)