Alexa: Orientation and Classes

Yesterday was my first full day in Chile and also the orientation for my program. Matias and I walked to the metro station together so that I knew how to get there and how to use it. Since he and I go to the same school, we rode all the way together which was much easier than going alone. The metro ride (once you get out from underground) is really beautiful. It passes right alongside the ocean and you can see the coast of Valparaiso in front of you- so pretty! On my way home I took the metro back without Matias and got off 2 stops too early, oops! (Don’t worry, I was with a classmate). Orientation was good and I learned a lot about my school (PUCV) and about living here.

I’ll have class at 8:45am Monday–Thursday and be done at 10:00am on Mondays and Thursdays and 1:15 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I’m not looking forward to waking up early for classes; it’s going to be difficult for me to adjust to the staying up late aspect of Chilean culture.

It was my first day of class today which kind of was a bummer. I’m sick of school and want to just spend my time here traveling and exploring! Oh well. My professors seem like great people. I’m taking a “Survival Spanish” course which is kind of funny considering that Spanish is part of my major and can hold a conversation with a native speaker. But, all 4 of us (in my class) are at completely different levels of ability, and we set goals for ourselves and mine is to become more fluid in speaking Spanish. My profesora for that class, Marcela, is very funny and interested in us—she’s not just there to earn a paycheck. The second class I’m taking, which is what the program is about, is Globalization & Social Justice. My professor, Cristósomo, is “grandfatherly” and very compassionate towards us. He gave us a lot of homework for the next week but hopefully I can handle it. 
After class, my classmates and I decided to explore Valpo a little bit [Side note… Valpo, short for Valparaíso, is the city where my school is located. We all live in Viña del Mar. It’s like a 10 minute metro ride to and from each] and we also began thinking about and planning other trips we’d like to take on weekends or after our class is over. We are deciding between Santiago (which is only 1.5 hours away and my oldest brother Tomás lives there so clearly I’m going to go there regardless), Patagonia, Antarctica (for real—it’s very close to the Southern tip of Chile), Machu Pichu, Easter Island (which is way farther than we thought), and Argentina. It’s a lot of planning but we will figure it out. 
I’m starting to get more and more comfortable here. I still have a really hard time understanding my brothers. They speak so fast and I say “¿Qué?” all the time when I’m talking to them. I probably sound like an idiot! It’s getting better though. I understand more and more each day. I’m starting to get more comfortable with the kissing thing too. My brothers call me “la gringa” which basically just means “American”. In Mexico, gringo/gringa is actually really offensive but in other regions it’s just slang for “American”. My mama calls me “chiquitita” which means something along the lines of “litte girl”- there’s not really a good translation for it. I am still living every day in fear of gaining 100 pounds. I eat so much palta (avocado) here and I usually don’t like sweets but we have this pastel almost every day called “Braza de la reina” which means “The Queen’s Arm” and I seriously could eat an entire loaf with every meal. Also, Tomás and his girlfriend, Vivana, have both given me “Alfajores” which are like mini, chocolate dipped cakes filled with a caramel cream in the middle. I can’t even describe how happy my taste buds are when I eat this. My family still thinks that I don’t eat very much. We have desayuno (breakfast), almuerzo (lunch- the big meal that is usually 3 courses), once (the “snack” before dinner which is already a meal), and cena (dinner). I almost never eat cena because once fills me up and they think I’m crazy for not eating la cena. Maybe one day. 
Other interesting, or maybe not, things I’ve done so far:
-Watched “Back to the Future” in Spanish with my brothers (really weird).
-Met Pedro, mi papa’s friend from colegio (high school) and could not understand a word he said (still working on my Chilean. Oops, I mean Spanish).
-Went to Jumbo (the supermarket) with mi mama and attempted to get a cell phone. We had once at a cafe inside of the supermarket. This “Jumbo” place literally has everything you could ever want or need. There is a McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts inside. The first floor looks exactly like Home Depot. Plus, they have a HUGE selection of fresh foods. Not just fresh fruit and vegetables but everything. Like my favorite part, the 20ish types of bread to choose from. Like I said, I’m going to gain 100 pounds here.

Related Posts

Alexa: Arrival in Chile

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 [...]

Read More

Grace: Orientation and tourism

June 14, 2012 10:30pm (outdated post again) It’s really hard to remember the day of the week while I’m here. I keep thinking it’s at least one day earlier. I definitely consider that a good thing, though. Better to have time fly than to have it drag on from boredom, or unhappiness. It has been way too easy in Amman so far. I was expecting culture shock, a great disparity in understanding between myself and Jordanians. I’m (almost) disappointed that I haven’t been made uncomfortable so far. This trip is [...]

Read More

Holly: 3 long orientation days

Friday:  So after sleeping very comfortably in my little pink room, I managed to wake up in time to eat breakfast with Signora Barbato. I had a small cup of caffè latte along with some biscuits (for the beverage) and a yogurt. Afterwards, I threw on my clothes and was ready to go to school. It was too early in the morning to totally comprehend everything she was telling me but somehow I figured out that she was leading me downstairs to the little garage where her little blue car [...]

Read More

Caitlin: Orientation week continues…

Na nga def! Maa ngi fee rekk. Greetings are extremely important to the Senegalese–you must acknowledge someone’s humanity before expecting them to respect you and respond to your conversation. It’s also important if you want a good price for anything in Dakar. Cab drivers and grocers immediately respect a foreigner much more if he/she whips out a smooth na nga def before asking for a price. Anyways, the last two days have been kind of hectic. On Tuesday we met our host families…and it could have gone better. My host mother (Maman Antonia) [...]

Read More

Heather: classes & preparing for Mombasa

Life here in Nairobi has been pretty laid back for the past couple days. It was rather depressing going back to school on Tuesday because Uganda was so much fun and it was a real vacation. No one wanted to go back. We’ve only been having 2 classes a day recently instead of 3. We were told this was to give us time to write our papers that they’re loading on us. I just got another 5 page paper today, due on Tuesday. Ugh. Classes are going well. They’re pretty [...]

Read More

Leave a Reply