Week 1: Five Months is Not Enough

Semana numero uno of the Santiago experience has been spectacular. I absolutely love it here, from my home stay to my university (which is way nicer than AU) to the city I've been exploring everyday. My day begins with a walk-bus-metro-walk routine commute to Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) for orientation at 9am. After Spanish vocab, movies, and impromptu slang lessons, this ends at 1:30 and from there we go out and explore the city! So far I have visited La Plaza de Armas, La Moneda, Cerro Santa Lucia, Los Dominicos, Parque Bustamente, various famous neighborhoods like Lastarria, Paris y Londres, and Bella Vista. The DC equivalents are the Mall, the White House, the sculpture garden, U street, and Dupont, mas o menos. Honestly, I came into this program not knowing everything Santiago had to offer; at first I was worried I would run out of things to do... now I'm convinced 5+ months isn't enough time to do anything!

Santiago is beautiful, and two things really set it above DC and other American cities for me: the parks and the public transportation.The impressive accessibility to empanadas is a close third. Everywhere you turn there are green spaces with cafes, fountains, trees- the works. I live right by a beautiful park with a rose garden, and within five minutes of two others. And Chileans really take advantage of these areas- it's a really relaxing, tranquil scene to live in. As for public transportation, let's just say that the DC metro WMATA will never compare to TransSantiago. The whole metro network here is fast, reliable, cheap, and-- best of all-- clean. SO CLEAN. I don't think I can ever pay for the privledge of descending into the rat-infested dungeon that is the Washington metro ever again. Even the buses, though a little beat up around here, are much more timely and frequent. Pull yourself into the century, DC, I'm embarrassed to admit you are our capital city.



                       Cerro San Lucia                             Palacio de la Moneda                       Los Dominicos

Of course, despite all of the lovely greenery and speedy trains, Santiago has a dark side too. As of yet, I have not had a lot of experience with the staggering inequality and poverty of the country. But the facts remain: according to World Bank, Chile has one of the highest gini coefficients in the world. In other words, Chile is an incredibly unequal society in terms of income distribution, where the rich are VERY rich and the poor are VERY poor. I have heard a lot about it but have yet to see more than glimpses of the veritable shantytown within and around Santiago. However, our program stuck us on a bus tour that took us to Vitacurra and other posh neighborhoods in the mountains surrounding the city. The comparison was stark, but I need more exposure to the situation and to people on both sides to more fully understand the situation. Studying this and my related interests in domestic economic policy and in the education reform protests here in Chile are my true academic goals this semester. Alt Break and SIS would be so proud.... I'm a little embarrased to be such an SIS kid right now.

Speaking of goals, I've come up with a few for myself during these months abroad. First, I'm committed to learning Spanish. If I come back and I'm not nearly fluent, I'm really going to punch myself. Hard. Second, I want to become as Chilean as a gringa can- I want to live the Chilean lifestyle (minus some bread). Third, I want to learn all the lessons Chile can teach me, academically and personally. My time spent in El Salvador and Honduras taught me so much, and I know that Chile will be even more impactful as long as I am open to everything and committed to using what I learn in life and professionally. Lastly, I want have the time of my LIFE. I want to take advantage of every opportunity- going out, meeting new people, traveling to some of the most amazing places on earth, everything! With my sophomore year essentially wasted (except for AEPhi, the best decision I ever made in college) this is an amazing opportunity for me to grow and become the person I want to be. I am very happy with my life now and here in Chile I am absolutely celebrating that!

Tongoy was the first of such celebrations. This weekend, all the AU kids took the 5 hour bus trip to this beachside town north of Santiago. We came at the invitation of Carolina's, a girl in our program, uncle who owns a small resort there and spent the weekend lounging by the Pacific, climbing the Cerro Virgen for a beautiful sea view, and eating the best empanadas in Chile (so far). I am both proud and ashamed to claim the champion status for empanada eating; I had 8 in a weekend, the most of the 61 consumed in total by our non-judgemental group. It was truly a bonding experience. Here's to many more in beautiful South America!

The fiestas and lessons will continue this weekend in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, and in the future (dates TBA)  in Patagonia, Easter Island and the Atacama desert in Chile, in Mendoza and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru. Maybe even a Colombia or a Uruguay trip too, if I don't run out of scholarship money! I am so excited for this semester... of course I miss Liz and Neeti, my wonderful roommates, and of course AEPhi, my other AU friends, and my family (I didn't forget you, Mom!) but I'm not going to lie- living in South America is exactly what I want right now. There is nothing else I'd rather do than live here, learn here, and write really long blog posts about it. Ciao!

Check back next time for details on Chile being the number 1 and number 2 consumer of mayonnaise and bread, respectively, my fascinating experience with machismo culture (aka Chileans reacting to white girls), and the fame of my last name here in Chile.

¡Bienvenidos a Santiago, Chile!

I am FINALLY in Chile! After two months of hanging around in DC and Syracuse while everyone else had class, most people may be surpirsed to learn that I really went abroad! Tricked you all.
My journey began by flying in historic four foot wide Wright brothers creation whose propellers had to be started by hand to Toronto to catch the 10+ hour flight to Santiago. How I booked a seat on a plane clearly used for smuggling across the Canadian border, I will never know. At least it was a memorable beginning.

After dealing with customs (as usual, I was singled out for extra special questioning, just for fun) I arrived outside and realized I didn't know who I was looking for. Luckily, two signs welcoming "American University" led me to meet Paola, the program coordinator from Universidad Diego Portales, my new school for the semester. My host mom, Maria Teresa, and host dad, Juan Pablo, found me from there. Just in case standing next to an American University sign didn't scream GRINGA, I was the only redhead in the whole airport and they had an easy time finding me.

They are fantastic- my AEPhi sisters Eleni and Blaire have stayed with the Donoso family last Spring and Fall and absolutely loved their experience so I knew that this family was awesome. But seriously, they are so great! Maria Teresa is unbelievably welcoming, Juan Pablo has been helping me with my Spanish, and their 26 year old daughter Stefi is so fun and cool. Their house already feels like home, and so does my room. I have a relaxing view of the front lawn and gate- South and Central American houses have an affinity for stone walls and fences wich creates a courtyard feel. Windows don't have screens, only iron grilles that allow the breeze to cool everything down. It's lovely.

view from my bedroom window

So far I haven't done much in the city, mostly relaxed, met more of the Donoso clan, and tried to translate "Carnation instant breakfast shakes" into spanish. Incidentally, it's much harder than it seems- Maria Teresa is under the impression I want one of those massive protein whey canisters. She wonders why I am trying to bulk up... am currently finding pictures online of Carnation to difuse this miscommunication. However, we went grocery shopping today to Jumbo (whose mascot is definitely Dumbo the elephant from Disney) and I was surpirsed to find that there weren't many familiar brands of, well, anything. But it's all good- I'm willing to try everything and the fresh fruit here makes up for anything I can't find!

I guess I didn't mention it, but my family and I speak entirely in Spanish- its definitely challenging but that makes it even more gratifying when everyone understands what I'm saying. I've discovered that I'm really great at speaking Spanish for the first five minutes, just long enough to trick the person I'm speaking with into thinking I know a lot, after which the conversation consequentially hits a wall and the illusion I've created disapates. Sigh. Goal number one: make the grand illusion last 6 minutes.

Monday begins orientation and next week we are going to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso (aka THE BEACH) so I am pretty excited. After all, I just love being the palest and showing it off! Haha I'm also glad I don't have to go to class yet, I'm on vacation until March 12! That's right, you AU kids will be on spring break and I'll be embarking on my hour-long commute to the first day of class. I'm straight chilein right now.

King on my bed, view from outside

Shoutout to Esther for coming up with this perfect blog title, and to Blaire, Kelly, and Eleni for their advice, help, and answering my many questions about plug adapters. Turns out Chile uses European plugs- I hate you, AAA Travel and Insurance. But I love you already, Santiago.