Wofford College - Study Abroad

Independence Day "Week"

Hola a todos!  Wow, it has been an incredibly long time since my last (and only) post.  For everyone who was worried, I'm still alive and kickin' here in Vina del Mar, Chile, haha.  I've been here for almost two and a half months and experienced so many great things I don't even know where to start.  I remember during one of our first orientation activities that a coordinator gave us the wise and insightful advice to not  only experience and live here as foreigners or visitors, but to consider ourselves citizens of Vina del Mar.  Now that I  am completely settled in and comfortable, I am starting to feel less like an intercambio, and more like a citizen of this great place.

The academic culture here in my university, La Catolica, and Chile in general, is so different from anything that I have ever experienced in the United States.    One of the biggest differences here is the concept of punctuality.  It is not uncommon for students to stroll into class ten to thirty minutes late on a regular basis.  On top of that if a student feels inclined to leave class early they just get up a walk out.  This took a while for me to get used to and at times is a distraction to me in the classroom.  Also, there is no cap or limit on the amount of students in some classes.  In one of my favorite classes here, Greek Mythology, there are literally fifteen to twenty students who have to sit on the floor because the class is so full.  Most professors have no attendance policy, so at times in the same class there are a decent amount of empty seats.  The professors don't use text books in class because they are so expensive, so usually it is up to the students to obtain and make photocopies of the readings for the class.  The few tests and papers that I've had have gone well, but there are still certain classes that I still have no idea how I'm going to be evaluated in.  All in all, I am enjoying being challenged in class and improving my Spanish listening and communication skills in La Catolica.

The independence day of Chile is September 18th and they definitely take their celebrating seriously.  For that entire week classes were canceled so a few friends and I decided to rent a car and take a road trip to the northern part of Chile to a place called San Pedro de Atacama (San Pedro de Atacama).  We left the Thursday before the independence day "week."  The trip was incredible.  In car it took about 17 hours to get there so my companions and I got to know each other a lot better.  Atacama is the second driest place in the world so of course there were countless miles of desert.  What was so interesting though was seeing the contrast between the beach and the desert.  The beach and desert are literally joined with no barrier in between which doesn't happen in many places in the world.  While we were in Atacama one of my favorite activities that we did was sandboarding.  I'm not ashamed to admit I was a bit of a natural, haha.  We also visited some famous geysers that were in the area.  This part of the trip was fun, but since the altitude was so high I got a very serious case of altitude sickness that was not pleasant at all.  There were also natural hot springs there and we got the chance to take a swim in one of them. We had to leave at four in the AM to visit them when they are at their strongest point but even with the early departure and intense altitude sickness this was definitely a worthwhile part of the trip.  Another cool place that we went to was a place called Lake Chaxa.  This lake is in the middle of giant salt flat which is pretty cool.  What's even cooler is that this lake is inhabited by flamingos.  It was so random to drive through the desert then get to a salt flat with a lake full of flamingos.  This part of the trip was really neat. During the trip we stayed in hostels for a few nights and did some camping for the rest of the nights.  Overall, the trip was great and has been one of the best experiences that I've had here in Chile.

We got back from our trip on the 17th, the day before the major festivities started.  The majority of the people here go to big festivals called "ramadas" during the independence day celebrations.  However, some Chilean friends and I decided to go to a small, rural town called Olmue and stay there for a few days to celebrate.  This was a great time and I was glad to be able to spend some time away from my American friends.  Some of my Chilean friends even tried to teach us the national dance, La Queca, that is performed during the independence day weekend.  However, that didn't go over too well, it's a really tough dance ha.  This weekend was fun but when I returned home I was glad to be able to rest from the last exhausting week and a half.

All in all, I have definitely enjoyed the last two and a half months that I have spent living here in Chile.  The experiences that I've had have been amazing and I am definitely looking forward to the next two months...hopefully I'll post more often ha.  Chau!

Justin

Chillin in Chile

Hey everyone!  I'm a bit new to this whole blogging thing so I don't know how this'll go ha. Well, finally I am here in beautiful, Vina del Mar, Chile. It's kinda difficult to believe.  For those who aren't familiar with my new city, Vina del Mar is a medium sized city located on the coast of Chile.  A stone's throw away from Vina del Mar is Valparaiso, which is an older, historical port city.  One could accuratetly compare Valparaiso to Charleston (both very historical and signficant port cities) and Vina del Mar to Hilton Head (both very touristy, trendy, rather affluent areas).  My host family is great. I have a mom and a dad and two host bros, Sebastian (el Choko) y Gonzalo. All of them are awesome.  When my family picked me up from the CIEE site we stopped by the beach and I was able to snap this beautiful sunset.  I was appreciative of the visit because it made the transition much easier and it was a great way to get to know my host family members better. 

My first week here in Chile has been intense. We flew into Santiago and did some touring and orientation stuff for the first two days. Santiago was actually the first mega city that I've visited that I have genuinely enjoyed. The smog can be a bit of a turn off, but nothing beats the view of the Andes Mountains on a nice clear day.  Also, it was easy to get around, which is saying a lot for me and my bad sense of direction.  We learned many useful and informative things there and got to do some sight seeing. I especially enjoyed the tour of Pablo Neruda's home in Santiago, called La Chascona, which is the nickname of Neruda's third wife.

It has been cool meeting and getting to know the kids in my program. There are only a few people from the southeast so my accent has been a point of interest. (Where are yall putting yalls's luggage? ha) When I came here I imagined that I would be repeating myself in Spanish but not in English too ha. Speaking of the Spanish, it has been a bit difficult to pick up on because of the pace of the Chilean dialect. Also, like any place in the world Chileans have a good deal of slang (called modismos) that they use. A few notable ones are bacan, which means cool or awesome, carretear which means to party or hang out, and weon which is nickname used between friends, but that is taken as offensive if used out of context. After about a week I can already notice the improvement of my speaking and listening skills which is encouraging.

I am still trying to get a hold on the transportation system and lay of the land here in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. I am not used to having to rely on public transportation to go almost anywhere. Their system and infrastructure are great and efficient but can be a bit complicated if you are not familiar w/ it. The main means of transportation are metro, taxis, buses, micros (which are smaller buses), and collectivos (which are essentially taxis w/ set routes that transport more then one person at a time). Transportation is cheap but can definitley add up quickly as I've already found out. Also, I have discovered that I should leave a lot earlier then the time that it takes to get from one place to another because there can be hold ups and issues that you haven't planned for. Since, Vina and Valparaiso are college towns the night life has been awesome.  There is no shortage of discotechs, shopping, movies, concerts, bars and other activities that one would find in the US.  Last week I went to a discoteca last week named Scratch. It was a great time. There were a lot of differences from a club in the United States but it was awesome nonetheless. Another great place has been Cafe Journal. It is located in kind of a central spot that has been convenient for all of the kids in my program to meet up so some great times have already been had there. Last Saturday my host brother threw me a party or carrete. It was a great time. It was a great way to meet a lot of his friends that are Chileans.

The food here is incredible. I am definitely going to be a bit heavier when I return to the states ha.  I am especially enjoying the seafood heavy menu items that I have been served. I am trying to figure out places to run and do physical stuff but my neighborhood is a bit hilly and I am not familiar enough w/ it to run. I am sure that I will figure that out soon. Well, I guess that's it for now. Finally glad that I got this up and running ha.  Chauu!!