Since I last posted I have had some of the best times of my whole trip in Chile. Most of them occurred during the week of September 18th, which is the fiestas patrias here in Chile. It is essentially a week long party celebrating independence. However, before I could start this week I had a macroeconomics test on the Saturday morning before, which was not only hard because it was at 10am on a Saturday but also because it was calculus based economics in Spanish and was incredible hard. However, with the test in the passed I embarked on a wild week of BBQs and parties. During this week there is a large carnival setting set up at the local horse racing track and its call the Ramadas. I spent a good amount of time and money there but it was all worth the experience. In addition to this carnival the week is mainly celebrated by asados, or BBQs and I ate an immense amount of meat and empanadas during this week, but again it was all worth it. On the actual day of the 18th I went with my family to the country side near vina for a large family asado. There were about 30 people there and to put how much meat is eaten into perspective, there was so much meat brought to the house there was still some left over after 30 people eating throughout the entire day and into the night. It was a great experience for me as well as a fun one. Local chilean games are played, conversations are had, and lets just say "a few" drinks are had as well. Aside from this asado I think I went to a party or another asado everyday of this week. And a few of them were in true Chilean fashion which means getting back home at between 4-6 in the morning. But it works out because you just sleep all of the next day until there is another asado or party to go to. However, in reality this week was a lot more than just partying it was a great experience of chilean culture and a great week with my family and friends and I meet new people and had experiences I will never forget which makes me glad I stayed a year.
As you can imagine after 8 days of partying going back to school and getting up at 7am wasn't the easiest. However, I made it through this and through another international economics exam. This test was hard but not as bad as my macro one. And apart from this exam the week was a normal week at school. But on thursday it was a good friends birthday, and if you have picked of a theme from this post you'd guess that again there was another party. However, I didn't say out too late. (only 4am this time). On friday I went and supported my host brothers band at their local concert, which was a lot of fun, and even more fun since I was with the band and got to be apart of the after party. And saturday and sunday we calm days and I just stayed in and relaxed. However something exciting for me during these past two weeks and a first for me is that I got to play on a red clay tennis court! I played decent but it is very different than hard courts and feels like you are walking on ice sometimes. But I am extremely happy I got to play and hope I can again soon.
Ive kept this post rather short so feel free to ask any questions you may have about my experiences or the parties. And I have some trips that are in the works so I look forward to updating everyone on those and where I will be going next. Until the Chau.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Take a Moment to Pause
Today is September 11th, 2013. This day marks important anniversaries all over the world. First, as an American today marks 12 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Secondly, as a current resident of Chile today marks 40 years since the military coup that ousted Salvador Allende and brought to power Augusto Pinochet. I would like to take this post to talk about the later, not to diminish the importance of the first, but the second is more relevant to my current situation.
I have now spent close to 7 months here in Chile, and as a result I have been able to gather (although still rather small) a general perspective and idea about the events that occurred today 40 years ago and the years that followed. As a country today Chile is still incredible divided by this period in time in their history and whether it was for the better or for the worse. As many people know or may not know, this dictatorship committed a series of human rights abuses. Although the scale on which these occurred and what was actually done is still debated. It is generally accepted, whether you agree with the coup or are/were against it, human rights were abused, and that many people died and suffered as a result. I have visited the sights where some these abuses were committed since I have been here, as well as the sights where many were buried, and the grave of Salvador Allende. All of which were quite moving and experiences I will never forget. As Americans we often know (and many times don't) about these type of events that have occurred around the world. But until you are able to get a first hand look and get opinions of people who were affected you will never truly begin to understand the situation. However, given as I said that these topics on some level are generally accepted I'm not going to spend too much time on them, however if anyone is interested in more information or what I think about them and more about my experiences please let me know as I am happy to share anything I can about them and my opinions.
What I would like to talk about is mainly how in general with any event or period of time, we need to look at both sides of the debate and issue. You can apply this the both the coup and dictatorship here and Chile and the the events surrounding September 11th in the US. I am NOT by any means justifying the loss of life or anything of sort regarding both events. I am completely opposed to any sort of extremism or the disregard for human life and human rights no matter the location. But as far as context and culture goes I think that we as Americans specifically but also as humans often fail to try and look at the whole picture. We let our opinions get into the way of having constructive debates and as a result we often never understand difficult situations. In addition to this even though these can be sensitive topics I think it is important to talk about them and out of respect for everyone involved on both sides and to not just turn our heads and pretend like they didn't happen.
To give everyone a little more context to what I am talking about specifically here in Chile regarding the coup and dictatorship, I would like to talk a little about the perspective I have gained since being here. First, before coming here to Chile I had heard about this time period in history, however I didn't know much beyond the general facts. But I have had the advantage to view things as an outsider and hear testimony from both sides of this debate, and since I am not Chilean I have been able to keep what I think is a fairly neutral stand point. First, as you can imagine I have heard from people who's families were affected by the human rights abuses and from people who think the dictator was horrible. But second a perspective I never would have gotten without coming is that of how life was before the coup. The economy was failing and there were abuses of power and actions against the constitution before the coup, and many people have talked about how life wasn't much better before the dictatorship. In regards to the bigger picture and what I stated earlier, my perspective of every event in the world has changed to incorporate the views of both sides. I have written a lot in this post and a lot of it is fairly general so again if anyone wants more details let me know.
But I would like to ask anyone who has made it this far through my post to; stop, pause and reflect on your view points, the view points of others, and to reflect on all of the problems in the world and whether or not you are actively trying to understand these situations.
I have now spent close to 7 months here in Chile, and as a result I have been able to gather (although still rather small) a general perspective and idea about the events that occurred today 40 years ago and the years that followed. As a country today Chile is still incredible divided by this period in time in their history and whether it was for the better or for the worse. As many people know or may not know, this dictatorship committed a series of human rights abuses. Although the scale on which these occurred and what was actually done is still debated. It is generally accepted, whether you agree with the coup or are/were against it, human rights were abused, and that many people died and suffered as a result. I have visited the sights where some these abuses were committed since I have been here, as well as the sights where many were buried, and the grave of Salvador Allende. All of which were quite moving and experiences I will never forget. As Americans we often know (and many times don't) about these type of events that have occurred around the world. But until you are able to get a first hand look and get opinions of people who were affected you will never truly begin to understand the situation. However, given as I said that these topics on some level are generally accepted I'm not going to spend too much time on them, however if anyone is interested in more information or what I think about them and more about my experiences please let me know as I am happy to share anything I can about them and my opinions.
What I would like to talk about is mainly how in general with any event or period of time, we need to look at both sides of the debate and issue. You can apply this the both the coup and dictatorship here and Chile and the the events surrounding September 11th in the US. I am NOT by any means justifying the loss of life or anything of sort regarding both events. I am completely opposed to any sort of extremism or the disregard for human life and human rights no matter the location. But as far as context and culture goes I think that we as Americans specifically but also as humans often fail to try and look at the whole picture. We let our opinions get into the way of having constructive debates and as a result we often never understand difficult situations. In addition to this even though these can be sensitive topics I think it is important to talk about them and out of respect for everyone involved on both sides and to not just turn our heads and pretend like they didn't happen.
To give everyone a little more context to what I am talking about specifically here in Chile regarding the coup and dictatorship, I would like to talk a little about the perspective I have gained since being here. First, before coming here to Chile I had heard about this time period in history, however I didn't know much beyond the general facts. But I have had the advantage to view things as an outsider and hear testimony from both sides of this debate, and since I am not Chilean I have been able to keep what I think is a fairly neutral stand point. First, as you can imagine I have heard from people who's families were affected by the human rights abuses and from people who think the dictator was horrible. But second a perspective I never would have gotten without coming is that of how life was before the coup. The economy was failing and there were abuses of power and actions against the constitution before the coup, and many people have talked about how life wasn't much better before the dictatorship. In regards to the bigger picture and what I stated earlier, my perspective of every event in the world has changed to incorporate the views of both sides. I have written a lot in this post and a lot of it is fairly general so again if anyone wants more details let me know.
But I would like to ask anyone who has made it this far through my post to; stop, pause and reflect on your view points, the view points of others, and to reflect on all of the problems in the world and whether or not you are actively trying to understand these situations.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
A Month In
Well I am officially a month into my second semester here in Chile, and I am happy to say things are still going well. My classes specifically the ones that are about the economy and with Chileans have become quite hard however. I have had two quizzes in my macro economics class and I feel that I did alright on them, however the last class I had was a bit discouraging because I didn't understand the last half of class or one of the in class assignments that we did. The whole class seemed to struggle with it but I made sure to write "intercambio" at the top of my paper, which means exchange student. However, I'm not sure that this was so much of a langue issues as just a content issue. Meaning I wouldn't understand this in english either. Im fine with concepts but its more so the advanced math that we are doing. However, I have plans to study with some people in the class as well as to get additional help from the university so there is no need to worry. In my other economics class I had a group presentation today. In my group were three other Americans and two Chileans, and I was the only american who spoke during the presentation. My spanish was a little shaky at parts because I was a little nervous, but I think I was able to get the American trying to present economics in spanish card so I think my grade will still turn out well. But after I did feel fairly proud that I was able to at least say something and that I at least tried to speak. My other two classes that I am taking Im not worried about so over all you could say school is going well.
Outside of school I have been enjoying the typical Chilean night life which usually includes going out and staying out late. Two weekends ago I ran into a friend and was invited to his house / party. He lives with 12 other people, so it was great to get to know a bunch of new people, however most of them are french so I wasn't able to understand much of what they said. But it was a rather interesting experience because among the people I met that night the only language that we shared was spanish. So I ended up speaking spanish with an Austrian in Chile. Which I found to be kind of cool. The party was in Valpo so I ended up leaving "early" at about 3:30 because I wanted to make sure I could get home and didn't get on the wrong bus after having to many piscolas (drinks). But over all it was a great party and I'm glad that I was able to go.
This past weekend I went to Santiago and partied with my host family which was great. We left on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Santiago later that day. We had lunch in my host brothers apartment and then I went out with my host mom and her boy friend to walk around Santiago and try and find his niece. We ended up going to this great street fair that had a ton of booths with cool things to buy. The area actually reminded me a lot of Denver so needless to say I enjoyed this experience a ton. Later that night we went to a play as a family, and it was sort of a Glam style play with cross dressers but there were also some great acrobatic acts. The MC however spoke so fast I couldn't even attempt to understand and even my host brother said it was fast. So if a Chilean tells you that someone was speaking fast spanish its fast! But it was a lot of fun none the less. Following the play we went out to a happening part of Santiago for drinks. And had lots of fun drinking and talking. The highlight might have been that to get to the bathroom you had to follow a picture of an iguana on the ground because it was fairly far away. So there were many jokes about "sigue la iguana" We continued drinking until around 2 after which we found another bar and had another drink but also ate some great food. I felt a little bad though because my family paid for everything and throughout the course of the night I think they spent a lot as this wasn't a cheap area. We made it home tho at about 3:30 but the jokes didn't stop because my host moms boyfriend snored about as loud as an earthquake so there were many jokes still to be made. The next day I was showed a few of the malls in santiago and even ate at the Hard rock cafe. And to anyone who would assume that Chile is still third world or cheap. You are dead wrong. I couldn't even afford anything in these malls. AKA the Louis Vuitton or Burberry. But it was still a sight to see. We made it back to Vina that night and this capped off a great weekend.
Im excited to see where these next weeks / weekends take me and Ill be sure to post about them as well. But for now Chau!
Outside of school I have been enjoying the typical Chilean night life which usually includes going out and staying out late. Two weekends ago I ran into a friend and was invited to his house / party. He lives with 12 other people, so it was great to get to know a bunch of new people, however most of them are french so I wasn't able to understand much of what they said. But it was a rather interesting experience because among the people I met that night the only language that we shared was spanish. So I ended up speaking spanish with an Austrian in Chile. Which I found to be kind of cool. The party was in Valpo so I ended up leaving "early" at about 3:30 because I wanted to make sure I could get home and didn't get on the wrong bus after having to many piscolas (drinks). But over all it was a great party and I'm glad that I was able to go.
This past weekend I went to Santiago and partied with my host family which was great. We left on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Santiago later that day. We had lunch in my host brothers apartment and then I went out with my host mom and her boy friend to walk around Santiago and try and find his niece. We ended up going to this great street fair that had a ton of booths with cool things to buy. The area actually reminded me a lot of Denver so needless to say I enjoyed this experience a ton. Later that night we went to a play as a family, and it was sort of a Glam style play with cross dressers but there were also some great acrobatic acts. The MC however spoke so fast I couldn't even attempt to understand and even my host brother said it was fast. So if a Chilean tells you that someone was speaking fast spanish its fast! But it was a lot of fun none the less. Following the play we went out to a happening part of Santiago for drinks. And had lots of fun drinking and talking. The highlight might have been that to get to the bathroom you had to follow a picture of an iguana on the ground because it was fairly far away. So there were many jokes about "sigue la iguana" We continued drinking until around 2 after which we found another bar and had another drink but also ate some great food. I felt a little bad though because my family paid for everything and throughout the course of the night I think they spent a lot as this wasn't a cheap area. We made it home tho at about 3:30 but the jokes didn't stop because my host moms boyfriend snored about as loud as an earthquake so there were many jokes still to be made. The next day I was showed a few of the malls in santiago and even ate at the Hard rock cafe. And to anyone who would assume that Chile is still third world or cheap. You are dead wrong. I couldn't even afford anything in these malls. AKA the Louis Vuitton or Burberry. But it was still a sight to see. We made it back to Vina that night and this capped off a great weekend.
Im excited to see where these next weeks / weekends take me and Ill be sure to post about them as well. But for now Chau!
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Settling In, and Staying Out
This week has been interesting to say the least, and full of new experiences. As far as the school week; it was fairly normal and relaxed. I've begun to settle into my new classes and schedule, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to getting up before the sun and leaving to catch a bus at 7:50 for my first class. The two economics classes with Chileans are going well and I'm happy to say I haven't gotten lost again (yet). And I have even had my first test in Spanish! And it went well! I was a little nervous when it was getting passed out, but the content it covered wasn't very difficult. The only down side of it was that it was on a friday afternoon at 3:00 and it was a beautiful day so that was slightly distracting given the view from my school.
I have started to meet some new people this week, and some Chileans! There was a holiday Thursday and I was lucky enough to be invited out on Wednesday night with one of the Chileans I meet. It was calm night drinking at one of their houses, but then we decided to go out to a club in Valpo. Keep in mind when I say decided to go out it was around 1:00 in the morning already. The parties start here when ours would end in the U.S. We stayed at the club until around 3:00 and then went to another but this one only for a few minutes. And I have to say Valpo is quite an interesting place at night and along the road where all the clubs are. It would not be for everyone to say the least. But when we left is where my night actually got fairly interesting. We got on a micro to head home as normal, and also as normal it was driving crazy but this time there it drove just a little to crazy and ended up getting into a fender bender of sorts with another micro. I didn't know it at first because there was just a swerve and then an abrupt stop, but then everyone on the bus got kicked off and there was lots of confusion. So i decided I would just walk home with my fiends and all was well.
The next night was my friends birthday so of course we went out again. And it was a normal night until a man came up and asked us to join him and his friends for drinks. We said no but he continued to stare at me. After a few more drinks we decided to have some "fun" and try and get free drinks from him. And this is when I found out why he was staring at me... He was gay and to say the least quite attracted to me. To make a long story short after a fair amount of leg touching and attempts to kiss me as well as get my friends to leave me there with him we left. And I think i'm still trying to get my mind around what happened. From now on I will be the only one buying my drinks.
And to finish up what must seem like an obscene amount of going out. We went out yesterday because it was the officially birthday party of my friend if you will. And all that needs to be said is again Chileans stay out forever. But all is well and there is nothing interesting really to say.
If anything else wild happens Ill be sure to post again. Chau!
I have started to meet some new people this week, and some Chileans! There was a holiday Thursday and I was lucky enough to be invited out on Wednesday night with one of the Chileans I meet. It was calm night drinking at one of their houses, but then we decided to go out to a club in Valpo. Keep in mind when I say decided to go out it was around 1:00 in the morning already. The parties start here when ours would end in the U.S. We stayed at the club until around 3:00 and then went to another but this one only for a few minutes. And I have to say Valpo is quite an interesting place at night and along the road where all the clubs are. It would not be for everyone to say the least. But when we left is where my night actually got fairly interesting. We got on a micro to head home as normal, and also as normal it was driving crazy but this time there it drove just a little to crazy and ended up getting into a fender bender of sorts with another micro. I didn't know it at first because there was just a swerve and then an abrupt stop, but then everyone on the bus got kicked off and there was lots of confusion. So i decided I would just walk home with my fiends and all was well.
The next night was my friends birthday so of course we went out again. And it was a normal night until a man came up and asked us to join him and his friends for drinks. We said no but he continued to stare at me. After a few more drinks we decided to have some "fun" and try and get free drinks from him. And this is when I found out why he was staring at me... He was gay and to say the least quite attracted to me. To make a long story short after a fair amount of leg touching and attempts to kiss me as well as get my friends to leave me there with him we left. And I think i'm still trying to get my mind around what happened. From now on I will be the only one buying my drinks.
And to finish up what must seem like an obscene amount of going out. We went out yesterday because it was the officially birthday party of my friend if you will. And all that needs to be said is again Chileans stay out forever. But all is well and there is nothing interesting really to say.
If anything else wild happens Ill be sure to post again. Chau!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
First Week Down
Well I have made it through my first week back here in Chile, also completing my first week by at school. I am happy to say that everything has been going well. For those of you who followed me last semester you know that my classes weren't terrible difficult and that I spent a lot of time traveling. This semester however I will be spending more time studying and having a more regular college experience here. I have two economics classes this semester; all in Chilean spanish (with the emphasis on Chilean). Luckily after spending a semester here already I understand most of it, but it is still going to take some work to stay on top of everything and to not miss important information. My other two classes shouldn't be too hard as well so I am sure I can do it. I am the only American / foreign student in one of my classes so we will see how that one goes, as I'm sure you can imagine it is a little intimidating. In my other economics class we also have a huge group project to do so that is going to be really interesting, however there are more Americans in that class so at least there is that. I am very excited to be taking actual classes with Chileans, and especially about the economy. It gives me a perspective that you wouldn't get any where else, and it is interesting to here what they have to say about the United States and how we affect them (nothing bad though).
Even though I have been here for a semester I still had a rather embarrassing mis hap at school friday. Each day you have to check these tv screens to see which room your class is in, since it changes from day to day which is a little odd. But anyway I found my class and then went to what I thought was the right room. After siting for a while and watching all the students come in I then looked up and realized that it wasn't my teacher. And therefore it was the wrong room and class. Luckily I noticed right as class was starting and left before making a scene. I then re checked the board only to find out I did not know where my class was. I then spend the next 15 min. wandering around campus and probably looking like an idiot. I eventually found my class which was basically hidden under the library. I walked in about 20 min late and it just happened to be the class where I am the only American. Luckily they were just doing an activity and I didn't disrupt the teacher or the class. However, needless to say it was an embarrassing moment for someone who has been here 6 months. I look to not repeat this mistake as I now (hopefully) know where every class room on campus is.
This weekend has been relaxed if you will. I went to a party at a friends from last semester on thursday night and then didn't go out friday. And yesterday I went with my host brother to one of his friend's birthday parties which was actually a lot of fun. You haven't partied until you have partied with Chileans. Its not that they go wild its just there is always conversation and music and sometimes dancing. With everyone from my are to the grandparents and the parties go all night. But it was a tame night for Chilean standards as we left at 2am.
I think the hardest part of being back is that the location is familiar but know one else is (not including my family or a few people that are staying a year). I have to make basically all new friends without the orientations or beginning activities I had last semester so that has been rather challenging. I am again trying to make Chilean friends but as with last semester it isn't as easy as you would think. However I now have the communication skills to make them and not just ask them what they like to do on the weekends and their name. So it is a work in progress and I have only been here a week so I'm not too concerned.
I will post again soon with an update. Enjoy the warm summer weather while you can. Its been cold here lately. NOS VEMOS.
Even though I have been here for a semester I still had a rather embarrassing mis hap at school friday. Each day you have to check these tv screens to see which room your class is in, since it changes from day to day which is a little odd. But anyway I found my class and then went to what I thought was the right room. After siting for a while and watching all the students come in I then looked up and realized that it wasn't my teacher. And therefore it was the wrong room and class. Luckily I noticed right as class was starting and left before making a scene. I then re checked the board only to find out I did not know where my class was. I then spend the next 15 min. wandering around campus and probably looking like an idiot. I eventually found my class which was basically hidden under the library. I walked in about 20 min late and it just happened to be the class where I am the only American. Luckily they were just doing an activity and I didn't disrupt the teacher or the class. However, needless to say it was an embarrassing moment for someone who has been here 6 months. I look to not repeat this mistake as I now (hopefully) know where every class room on campus is.
This weekend has been relaxed if you will. I went to a party at a friends from last semester on thursday night and then didn't go out friday. And yesterday I went with my host brother to one of his friend's birthday parties which was actually a lot of fun. You haven't partied until you have partied with Chileans. Its not that they go wild its just there is always conversation and music and sometimes dancing. With everyone from my are to the grandparents and the parties go all night. But it was a tame night for Chilean standards as we left at 2am.
I think the hardest part of being back is that the location is familiar but know one else is (not including my family or a few people that are staying a year). I have to make basically all new friends without the orientations or beginning activities I had last semester so that has been rather challenging. I am again trying to make Chilean friends but as with last semester it isn't as easy as you would think. However I now have the communication skills to make them and not just ask them what they like to do on the weekends and their name. So it is a work in progress and I have only been here a week so I'm not too concerned.
I will post again soon with an update. Enjoy the warm summer weather while you can. Its been cold here lately. NOS VEMOS.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Chile Round Two
Well, I'm back in Chile and getting ready for round two of study abroad. I made it all the way back to Vina on my own and have even had a few spanish conversations along the way. This is a great sign because I was a little worried I would forget some Spanish and my navigation skills. But I didn't! It was great to see my host dog and brother and it is also a great sign that they were excited to see me as well and not dreading me coming back. However, my day today as a whole has been go go go. I arrived back in Chile/Vina and had to make my way to the ISA office to fix my visa only to be told I need to bring a credit card and my passport. So I had to go back home then go again to the ISA office after which I went to a Chilean government office. And I am happy to say that at least that went smoothly. However, the process still isn't over regarding my visa (not sure with this bureaucracy if it ever will be). But I am also proud to say I "snuck" past the customs officers today, meaning I used an expired student visa and said I "lost" a specific document to enter in order to avoid paying 160$ more dollars. So given that today has been a success. I start school on monday and it would be a lie to say I'm not nervous. All of my classes will be in spanish and more difficult classes so we will see how this semesters blogs compare to the last. My goal for this semester is to post more pictures and blog more (better). I miss everyone back home already, but I'm excited to see where this semester takes me. I hope you all enjoy the ride as much as me. Nos vemos!
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