Well, I was definitely not excited yesterday afternoon. Once I got to the Atlanta airport things started getting a little better. I ended up meeting one of the people from my program, Jackson, at our gate and it was nice to see a “familiar” face (we’ve been facebook friends for a week or two). After we boarded I heard two guys in front of me talking and we realized that we were all studying at the same university, so my class of 4 students doesn’t mean I won’t meet other students. After a few minutes we realized that everybody around us was either studying at PUCV or Spanish-speaking so it was actually a really fun flight. On the flight I was really glad that I had an aisle seat too so that I could sleep on the plane until the Chilean high schooler returning from a year of being an exchange student asked to switch spots with me so that he could talk to the other guys. I agreed to it, thinking I’d get my seat back—wrong. I had to face my worst fear of sleeping with a stranger on each side of me but it was fine. I actually slept through pretty much the entire night except for waking up a few times from babies crying. This morning I woke up at about 6:30 and was feeling unexcited again and just wishing I was on the plane back home. Then around 7:00 the sun broke through and I saw one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen in my life. The Andes Mountains were peeking through the clouds and the sun was rising—I wasn’t even at a window seat, I was smack dab in the middle of the airplane, and I got goosebumps. The guy sitting next to me started singing the intro song to The Lion King actually.
After landing at 7:30 in the morning then going through reciprocity fee stations, customs, the baggage claim and SAG, we finally got to go meet our advisers who were going to be meeting us. Jackson and I had met up again after the flight since we are in the same program. As we walked through the doors, we were talking about how excited we were until we realized that nobody was there to pick us up… Seriously. We found another girl in our group, Kaleb, and she said she had been there waiting since 6:30 and hadn’t seen anybody. A taxi driver was helping us and let us use his phone to call somebody so we wouldn’t have to pay huge amounts of money to make a phone call. We ended up meeting up with a whole big group of students who were also going to PUCV and we finally figured it out. Since it was pouring rain this morning, our actual pick-up was late because of the rain. Carmen and Jorge, students at PUCV, led us to our tour bus. As soon as I walked outside I was literally awestruck by the sight of the Andes Mountains surrounding me. It was breathtaking. I instantly became a tourist and whipped out my camera as you can see…
This picture does not do these mountains justice…
As we were driving around, it was difficult for me to understand how far away from home I actually was. So much of Chile reminds me of just driving around Wisconsin or Minnesota, until I look up and see the Andes. I still am having trouble comprehending how far away I am, but maybe that is a good thing. As we drove, I was shocked by the amount of garbage lying on the sides of the roads, also the amount of stray dogs running around. It was very sad. I also learned something important today. If you want water, ask/look for it “sin gas” otherwise it will be super carbonated. FYI in case you are ever in Chile.
Meeting my family was so exciting! Mi mama (Alicia, pronounced Ah-lis-ee-ah) and mi hermano mayor (oldest brother) Tomas picked me up from PUCV. One thing I need to get use to quickly right off the bat here is greeting people with a hug and a kiss on the cheek instead of a handshake. As we drove home, they gave me a mini-tour of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, which I don’t remember at all. The 2 cities are pretty much united, even more than St Paul and Minneapolis, and you can see them each from coast to coast. Both are beautiful cities full of color and with a beautiful view of the ocean. It will definitely take me some time to get used to finding my way though. As soon as we arrived home, I met mi papa, Gabriel, and two of my other brothers Ignacio and Lucas. Ignacio is called “Nacho” because Ignacio is difficult to pronounce. And Lucas is called Luca because Chileans cut off a lot of letters and combine words. We got home at about 1:30 so mama began making almuerzo (lunch) right away. Almuerzo is the biggest meal of the day and I learned that the hard way, or my stomach did anyways while my taste buds savored it all. While she was preparing almuerzo my fourth brother, Matias, came home. I was wrong about Matias’ age though. My brothers are Tomas (25), Matias (22), Ignacio (18), and Lucas (11). Tomas works in Santiago, which is two hours away so he is only home on the weekends and I have his room as my own and he shares a room with Matias when he comes home for the weekends.
I love my house. It’s really cute and old so it has a lot of character. And mi familia is very nice. Today we had almuerzo then mi mama told me that I should relax or take a nap since I was probably tired. So I unpacked my things instead and then watched fútbol with mis hermanos. Then I went to a few stores with mi mama and papa and when we came back I watched a movie with my brothers while mama prepared once (pronounced, ohn-say). Once is their dinner which is just a very light dinner. Mama couldn’t stay for dinner because she had to go to work at the hospital; at least I think that’s what she said? After once, mi papa showed me some books that his grandfather made from his Chilean Navy tour around the world in 1900—it was really awesome! Then I got ready and went to bed before 9:00 which is really early for Chileans, but I had a day full of flying and layovers.
3 things I’ve learned today:
1) Chilean Spanish is the most difficult dialect to understand and now that I’m immersed in it, I will agree whole-heartedly with that. Tomas and Matias can speak English but they don’t do it and I don’t want them to. Chileans tend to speak very fast and cut off the ends of words or combine two or three words into one. For example, we call Lucas, Luca or today mi papa said “comodo” which means comfortable, but he pronounced it was “como”.
2) I’m seriously going to gain 100 pounds during these 8 weeks. Chilean food is SO GOOD. For almuerzo we had empanadas de pino, tea, chicken breast, potatoes, red cabbage, wine, and apple dessert. For once we had warm bread with palta (avocado), goat cheese, ham, tea, leche con milo (like chocolate milk), and another dessert that I can’t remember the name of but that Ignacio said “The gringos love”. The avocado at nearly every meal factor alone will lead to me gaining 40 pounds.
3) IT IS SO COLD HERE!! Thank goodness mi mama has a heated blanket on my bed.
My room:
