Santiago

Hello everyone! I apologize for being the slowest blogger ever! I've actually been pretty busy with school, volunteering and homework, believe it or not! I had my first History of Chile exam today, 3 essays in Spanish in 1 hour! UY! I have a 3-5 page paper due next week, a book to finish reading, 2 Management papers and a test for my senior seminar class, all due a week from Friday!

So you'd think I might be taking this upcoming weekend easy, but alas, we have the day off from classes this Monday so I will be venturing off to Mendoza, Argentina! I am SO excited for this-- to get the stamp in my passport, drink some great wine and see the beautiful city. It is about a 7 hour bus ride from Vina, through the Andes-- mmmm I can hardly wait! I checked the weather and the highs are in the 80s, yes!

The photos below are from my visit to Santiago, the weekend before last, September 25-26. We went as a group and went to many different locations. I must say, I'm not a huge fan of having entirely pre-planned trips, because I was not interested in seeing some things, and others I was in which we had to leave right away! But all in all, it was a good taste of the city, and I truly hope to return!

This is from the Villa Grimaldi, a former torture camp during the Pinochet dictatorship. It now exists as a peace garden and a place to remember the victims of this era. Above is the most striking image from the place, a look into the eyes of these Chileans.

To the left is a photo of my History of Chile professor, who came all the way down from Vina to show us around the city and put it all into historical perspective. Behind is the cathedral, which we later got to go into (pictured, right). This was in the Plaza de Armas in Santiago.

This is La Moneda, aka the White House of Chile. Michelle Bachelet (Chile's current president for a couple months more) does not live here, as many have, but this is where she works. We got to see many beautiful courtyards and rooms within La Moneda. We also went to the area where former president Salvador Allende was killed when the coup d'etat occured.

The next day, we went to el Cementerio General, a ginormous cemetary, loaded with history. Above on the left is the grave of Balmaceda, president from 1886-1891, when he committed suicide after losing Chile's Civil War. On the right is where Salvador Allende is buried.

Pretty flowers near Pablo Neruda's home.

This is La Chascona, the home of famed poet Pablo Neruda in Santiago. I was very excited to come here because I wrote a paper on Neruda's poetry in high school and have been a fan ever since. All of his homes are modeled after ships. He had another home in Valparaiso, which I need to get to soon, and the other is la Isla Negra, where he is buried. My group will be visiting this home in November.

View of the Andes foothills on the way home.

Best decision.

I successfully made it back from Santiago! More to come on that excursion, but I wanted to share this link with you all: https://www.csbsju.edu/internationaleducation/home/photocontestpeopleschoice.aspx

I submitted a photograph to this contest a couple weeks ago, and it turns out that I am a finalist! My photograph is number 6- vote for it if you're a part of the CSB-SJU community!

I thought this would be a good way for me to show you all the amazing opportunities my school has for studying abroad! By the end of this year, I will have had friends on all parts of the globe: Australia, Guatemala, South Africa, all over Europe and so many more. Over half of the student body partakes in a semester-long program by the time they graduate (can you tell I'm a tour guide?). Anyway, some of these other photos are truly incredible.

It will be a great senior year when everyone has returned! This semester has been just splendid for many reasons, one being that my campus life is completely different. I have absolutely loved how much more relaxed I am here in Chile- I can honestly say that I have not been stressed since I arrived. The thought of returning to campus churns my stomache a little bit, in that I have a lot on my plate. When I go back, I will be involved in SIFE [Students in Free Enterprise], Extending the Link [student documentary-making group I was a part of last year], the CSB Student Philanthropy Fund and a choir. I will also be working and attempting to find an internship for the summer. Oh and did I mention attending classes and doing my homework? Ah! All that I do here in Chile is attend classes, homework, spend time with my friends and travel. It has been wonderful, to say the least. I really do enjoy my job on campus and the groups I'm involved in, but right now the break is needed and so appreciated.

So to sum up, studying abroad ROCKS!

4th of July+ Thanksgiving= Fiestas Patrias

Day Four

On Sunday, the final day of the weekend, a group of about ten hiked at La Campana, a national park about 45 minutes from Vina. We hiked all day, attempting to burn the calories away from this weekend! It is a fact that Chileans gain 3-4 kgs each Fiestas Patrias from all of the food and beverages. What a great view! To reward ourselves for hiking all day, we decided to all get a completo, which many of us had been avoiding since our arrival in Chile. A completo is a hot dog with lots and lots of guacamole, tomatoes, sauerkraut and mayo. So much for burning the calories? Oh well, it was a great ending to a great, Chilean weekend!
Day Three
On the third day of Fiestas Patrias, my true love gave to me....a trip to Olmue! Lori, a girl on my trip, invited me to an asado at her family's second home in Olmue, a small town with a fantastic view of the mountains. I celebrated with my Chilean family on the 18th and my sisters had plans with their dad, so I took Lori up on her offer! Her family has a rich Italian heritage, and they told me I looked Italian- a compliment! The weather was beautiful this weekend and it was great to spend the day outside. Lori and I returned to Vina together and that night we went out for empanadas and drinks to celebrate the 21st birthday of another girl on our trip! [Yes, we still celebrate here!] But we called it an early night because of our hike the next morning.


Day Two
This is a photo of me and my Chilean sisters, Martina and Daniela, at an asado on the 18th. Erika, my sisters and I went to the house of Erika's good friend in a neighboring town called Quilpue. This was a good day with great weather! We ate such yummy food-- lots of salads and really good meat. After the meal, us young people went to watch a movie called "Que Paso Ayer" [What Happened Yesterday]...which turned out to be "The Hangover". They change the titles of movies here quite often, so it was kind of funny to realize that I had actually already seen the movie! It was interesting to read the subtitles for a movie as raunchy as this one, they were quite poor. My sisters definitely did not understand many of the jokes that I did. For once, they were the ones in the [language] dark! Besides the movie (we were there much longer than I wanted to be), I was able to converse with the other adults at the asado.

That evening, my friends and I went to Las Ramadas in Vina. This is basically a big fair with rides, artisans, food, music, etc. The popular drink for Fiestas Patrias is chica, which tastes like juice, but has more alcohol in it than you'd think! It is delicious, I must say! Other popular foods are anticucho, empanada, and choripan. Anticucho is a Quechua word for kabob, an empanada is an empanada and choripan is a good sausage on a bun, usually served with pebre. Pebre is probably my favorite food here, it is the salsa of Chile! It makes everything tastes good and is about the most spicy thing I've tasted (everything else is relatively bland). Basically, you all can see how Fiestas Patrias is like Thanksgiving- you eat a huge meal in the afternoon and then more in the evening! Oy!




Day One This is a photo of little kids dancing La Cueca, the national dance of Chile. We went to a celebration for Fiestas Patrias at the elementary school where a friend of mine volunteers. Most of the schools have a celebration like this, where each class prepares a dance or a song to perform. There is typical wear, shown above, for the official dance of Chile. They were SO cute! Here I tried Mota de Huesillos, a drink of peach juice with corn in the bottom! Sounds weird, but it was actually really good!


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More from Emily
I apologize for my lack of blogging! The weekend was very long and I just couldn't get around to it. A couple of other notes:

I am proud to say that I survived my first Spanish movie without any subtitles! Tonight some friends and I went to a movie called Dawson: Isla 10. This is a book made into a movie. It is about a concentration/work camp during the Pinochet dictatorship. The camp seemed more humane than I had envisioned, but still very intense.

Also, last weekend two other friends and I booked flights to the south of Chile, to Patagonia! We are going during my last weekend here, when it is the most warm. We are going to Torres del Paine [everyone google image search it, now!] and I am SO excited! What a crazy month it will be-- Patagonia, finals, my dad's arrival in Chile, Maccu Picchu and then Christmas and New Years! That makes me stressed, excited and sad- let's not think about it right now.

This weekend, we have another group excursion to Santiago- finally! We are going to many historical sites, including La Moneda and one of Pablo Neruda's homes. We are going very early Friday morning and returning Saturday evening, so they will be two very full days. I am SO excited to go there, because this will likely be one of the only times I will spend concrete time in Santiago. More to come about this excursion!

Right now I am watching the first Presidential debate for Chile. I don't understand everything, as my political vocabulary and knowledge of the current laws and government is limited, but it is interesting to hear the sides. My mom and sisters are watching, so I will have to see what their opinions are after this!

Hmm, what else? I'd love to hear from whomever is reading this! Let me know if you don't have my email address, and I'll get back to you.

Pomaire and vino, amongst other things.

My first Chilean wine, Cabernet Sauvignon. I thought it was very good, but I'm far from a sommelier.

Traditional pottery in Pomaire.

This is called carne a la parilla for 6 people. We had about 5 or 6 pots of meat at our table- so much meat! It had really good flavor actually, I enjoyed this meal very much!

Aperitivos (appetizers)- Fresh veggies and pebre.


This was in the grocery store! Chile has an obsession with mayo, and it is so gross! I can't believe this was in a set.

The Wolff Castle in Vina- very pretty!

The micro-loan bank I am working at! Fondo Esperanza. My first real day starts this Thursday.

Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le- Viva Chile!

A bit lost getting back from Valparaiso, we found a park with this amazing view!






On our History of Chile's class tour of Valparaiso.




The view from my university! This was taken from a classroom.

To begin, we did not end up going to Pomaire last weekend, due to the high possibility of rain. Rain is like snow here-- school is cancelled, people don't go to work, etc. Instead we are going this Saturday, so again, I will let you know how that goes!

Today I have been in Chile for one month! What a month it has been! I feel as though things are going to start picking up- I have a group excursion this weekend, next weekend is Fiestas Patrias (I've been invited to numerous asados, we don't have school that Friday so it's a 4 day weekend for me!) and the following weekend is a group excursion to Santiago, including a night in a hotel.

Also today is September 11- a very significant day in the US and Chile. This was the day in 1973 that the military coup of Augusto Pinochet took place, bombing La Moneda (Chile's White House) and killing socialist president Salvador Allende. The military dictatorship took over and the human rights violations that took place in Pinochet's first years were gross and unforgiveable. They claimed to be fighting Communism but thousands were killed and tortured in concentration camps by the Chilean army. Pinochet was the ruler until 1989, when the first democratic elections were held in a long while. I recommend watching the movie Missing, a movie with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spaceck from the 80s. My Senior Seminar class has focused on this subject thus far, as the title of the course is 'Justice and Impunity in Latin America' and the same with my History of Chile class. It is crazy to think that such a stable country such as Chile at one point was in such a state. When my class goes to Santiago, we will get to see some of the historic sites.

This week has been a good one! Last Saturday, we all got dressed up in some crazy clothes for the 21st birthday celebration of one of my friends on the trip! Also that night was the Chilean national soccer team's game against Venezuela. We tied 2-2. Since I don't get to watch the Johnnies, Buffaloes or Broncos this season, I will settle for the 'real' football, futbol. I've never been a huge fan of watching soccer, but it is definitely exciting to watch with other Chileans. They get so into it! The title of this blog entry is the cheer you do when Chile scores a goal. We are going to a national team's game (here they call the nat'l team La Roja [the red] because of the color of their jerseys) in October!!! I am so incredibly excited for this game- tickets are hard to come by, especially when they are playing for the World Cup, not just an exhibition game. La Roja also played Wednesday night vs Brazil, who is #1 in the 'division'. We lost 4-2, which is a particularly high number of goals scoared in a game.

This week I also started my service learning! I have officially taught two classes of English for beginners and they went really well! I was nervous for the first day and spent a lot of time looking up how to teach ESL, planning my lesson, etc. I am hoping to be compensated for the time spent lesson planning, because it will be at least 1 or 2 per week! My class had 8 women, with ages ranging from 20-upper 50s. What I am finding difficult is balancing the learning levels of my class. Some have studied English a few years, others not at all. They are all enthusiastic however and make class fun! I do that Monday and Thursday afternoons from 4-6pm in Valparaiso.

Today was the first day at Fondo Esperanza, a microloan bank. I actually didn't do anything today, but we had a meet and greet with the staff! They welcomed us with a big cup of coffee, which tasted delicious. The staff members are so nice and I am really looking forward to this opportunity! From what I can tell, I will be working with the 'administrativas' or the administrators at the office in Valparaiso. I don't know really know what this means, but I will get to see the inner-workings of this bank! I will be there for 4 hours on Thursdays also in Valpo-- so it will be a looong day in Valpo! Oh well, beats sitting in class!

And one last side note [I think this wins for longest blog entry], today Starbucks opened in Vina! I know I am a terrible American and should stay away from all the things from the USA (I've yet to go to McDonald's, which many from my group have gone to) but I had to check it out! And let me just say, it puts the little Starbucks across from my high school to shame! This one has two floors and tons of indoor and outdoor seating! You can see the beach from it- not too shabby! It was a madhouse today, I waited approximately 2o minutes in line. And it was expensive- 2.300 Chilean pesos, which translates to about $4.25 for my tall caramel macciatto that I always order in the US! It usually is about $1 less in the US... Oh well! I won't be going there too much, but I'm glad to have a spot to study where someone doesn't serve you.

Phew! Well I'm off to complete a bit of homework before a 'movie night' with some friends. We don't want to be pooped for the trip to Pomaire, so it is a low-key night tonight! Until next time, chao!

It's September?

Some views of Chile:

A Chilean produce market- there are many on the street corners.
Cafe cortado. Espresso and steamed milk, to be enjoyed in the afternoons.


My first empanada! With shrimp and cheese. They served us little glasses of pisco sour, bread and pebre (like Mexican salsa, but usually spicier) and ceviche before our entrees were served!
Que delicioso!

The Chilean independence day, the 18th of September (called Fiestas Patrias) is coming up! This is the country's flag hanging over Calle Valparaiso in Vina.

My dog, Toffee, thought my suitcase would be a good place to nap!

Happy September to you all! I can hardly believe it is already a new month here! Abby and my mom are leaving to bring her to college in Minnesota today, and it is so weird to not be a part of that. They will be so close to everything that is familiar to me, and I'm a world away in Chile. But I guess this is Abby's unique experience and I wish her the best of luck this semester!

I hope you all enjoyed the above photos! I'm trying to post what I can each time, so that you can get a mental vision of my life here. I'm in my third week of classes, and unfortunately I actually have homework now. As my mom would say, I am on a 'study' abroad trip. As I write this, I am taking a break from writing a short essay about cultural differences between Chile and the US. This has been a very fun paper to write, because quite a bit of my time here has been spent pondering these differences. I chose to write about the lives of high school and college students. I have my two sisters here, who are close to my age and whose lives I've been priveleged enough to observe. The essay is in Spanish, I can email it to any of you, if you ask me! You can copy/paste it into any Spanish-English online translator and get a decent English version.

Tuesday I had my introduction/orientation to part 1 of my service learning. I will be teaching basic English to Chilean women twice a week for 2 hours each time, and I will be teaching completely alone! Originally we were split into groups of four, but the interest level has risen so we are each going to have our own classes. I am pretty nervous for this! What makes me qualified to teach? I need to be creative and think about how I would like to go about my lessons. I just hope my 'students' are patient and understanding.

Today, I had a meeting with Eleonora, my trip director, another student and a person from Fondo Esperanza. FE is a micro loan bank in Chile, and a very successful one at that. We visited about what they might want from some volunteers, and to be completely honest, I still don't exactly know how we will be helping! I still often miss small details in conversation, especially when the other person speaks quickly. Listening is getting much easier, but when I concentrate so hard, responding can be difficult! What I do know is that I will be volunteering Thursday mornings for four or five hours (I don't have class that day) in either Vina or Valparaiso. We have another 'meet and greet' with other staff members this Friday, so 8 days from now.

This weekend, we have a group trip to Pomaire, a town near Santiago known for it's pottery. That is really all that I know about it, so I will go and report back!

Another side note, we finally have working internet and cable TV! Watching television here can be very entertaining. I like reading the Spanish subtitles on American shows- it is interesting to see how they translate the words and phrases. For instance, in the show Friends, Chandler says the word 'Duh' and they translate it as 'Es obvio' (it's obvious). Es obvio does not have the same humor as 'duh', but there is no direct translation! Also, shows/movies that have the voices dubbed over are pretty funny, because the voices are definitely not the same!

Well, I ought to go finish up that paper. So long for now!