Valpo Voyager

Page 104 of 124

Bronquitis! :(

June 3, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / Comments Off

Hey all,

So let me tell you what it’s like to be sick in a foreign country. NOT FUN. Turns out, even Chile can’t make having bronchitis any less sucky, but if I’m gonna blog about my experiences here, I guess I should tell about the good and the bad, plus you can learn from my mistakes!

Last Saturday I started having a sore, scratchy throat, which is a BAD sign with me. This usually means that I’m getting a cold, but it’s frustrating because I don’t really feel sick, so it’s very hard for me to rest! I usually end up still going out and going about my life busy as ever, and then pay for it when 2 or 3 days later I wake up during the night with a stuffed nose, cough and full head……..and was it any different this time? NOPE. Smart one Anna….but who can rest when there’s so much to do and explore here?!?!

Anyhoo, Tuesday night was awful, I could tell I definitely had a cold, and it was supposed to be our first day of work Wednesday morning! You may be thinking, “Lucky you, you get out of work!” but I was really excited to finally get started. Don’t get me wrong, these last two weeks have been awesome, I feel like I’m on vacation and am loving my time here! But I’m also really ready to have some purpose to my days. And the Chilenos are oh so chill about us getting started. That part of the culture here has been difficult to adjust to. I’m a planner and I like to be busy. The Chilean pace of life is much more relaxed (they aren’t lazy, I don’t like that stereotype, it’s just a different pace/mentality to things…honestly probably healthier than the breakneck American pace!) and they are very go-with-the-flow. I learned quickly that if I asked what we were going to be doing in the future I was told “tranquila, calma, espera, no sé!” (chill out, calm down, wait and see, I don’t know!). Valparaíso is beautiful and there are always new places to explore, but the whole group is getting a little weary of walking around day after day, and is feeling ready to have a more independent schedule and accomplish something. So it was very disappointing to me that I had to get sick at this time (though to be honest, being sick anytime during this trip would be disappointing!)

On Wednesday Erica got up early, I told her I felt awful and really hot and according to her, my forehead was feeling pretty feverish. So I spent my first day of work in bed, not teaching and playing with kiddies, que triste L But I was hopeful that with lots of Dayquil and rest, I would be good to go for Thursday! However, Wednesday night it was clear that my body was not listening to my plans, and was still quite sick. So Thursday turned into the second day of rest. And I was feeling better! So I did what Anna Wiersma does best: leap up and start doing things as soon as I have the energy…….I’m really terrible at resting, it’s a problem. So I went grocery shopping. And was absolutely exhausted afterwards. So I rested (good job, me!). But then a friend came by and surprised me, so I convinced myself that walking a block for empanadas wouldn’t kill me. But afterwards, I felt AWFUL. I had been so hungry, which was good because I hadn’t had much of an appetite the past few days, but now I felt like I was gonna throw-up. I went back to my room and was freezing, but 5 minutes later I’d be burning up. At the same time I’d be ravenous, start eating something, and then feel naseous….and all the while my chest was feeling very heavy and it was hard work to take deep breaths…..it was scary! Erica came back up to the room after the meeting I was supposed to be at was finished, took one look at me and told me I looked like a ghost. Cue the tears.

If I was home, I don’t think this would have been so scary. But being in a foreign country you can’t help but wonder: what if I got a parasite or something? What if I’m really sick? What’s happening to me?! And there isn’t anyone familiar there who really knows you, so you feel even more alone in all of this! Therefore, when Juanma and Susana wanted to take me to the ER to see a doctor that night, I was all for it. I just wanted to know what the heck was wrong with me! And navigating a hospital in Spanish, phew, that’s a whole other adventure. Thank goodness Susana and Juanma were with me, trying to comprehend Spanish while you are feverish is no piece of cake. But it was just me and Erica in the examination room, and it took me about 2 minutes to figure out that the doctor was asking me to cough for him, that was a lovely game of charades we played 😉 But he did offer to write me a note to get out of school and/or work at the end, so that made up for it, ha. And I have (drumroll please….) BRONCHITIS! Yay! (sarcasm, lots of it)

It feels good to know what’s going on. And to have 3 strong medications working for me, I do feel a lot better today. I’m just SO tired. All the time. And that’s difficult for me. My time here is already going so quickly and it kills me to have to spend a precious weekend in Chile sitting in my room, resting! But I’ve been given very strict bedrest orders, Juanma says he’ll have the security guard tattle on me if I try to escape the Y (I think they’re getting that I suck at resting, ha ;D). And it’s hard to be away from my family while I’m sick. I don’t even like being sick while I’m away at college, you just want your mom to make you soup and baby you a little, right?! But I’ve been very blessed by the care that I’ve received here. Erica is wonderful. It’s crazy to think that I barely spoke to her in Valpo, and that last night she was making me tea, sitting with me while I cried, insisted on going with me to the hospital and is always checking in to see how I’m doing. Juanma has a family, but never complained about coming at 9:30 to take me the the ER and kept me laughing during our long wait. Susana let me cry and then turned around and kept me laughing the whole night, with lots of hugs thrown in for good measure, and again never complained that her night was spent in the ER. Jorge came by to bring me movies to keep me entertained during my bedrest sentence and the staff at the Y keeps checking in on me and asking if they can make me anything. I feel so blessed by all of these things, and am trying to focus on them when I get really angry and crabby at my situation!

So my advice would be this, if you ever go abroad

If you feel run-down or like you might be getting sick, REST! Try to prevent it! Everyone has told me it’s pretty common to get sick the second week or so, your body is adjusting to a lot of new things, plus the switch to winter weather has been a bit rough! It was really nice weather at first, but Tues-Thurs was really cold all of a sudden, and you don’t get a break from it, because none of the buildings we’re working in, or the Y, have heat! So my body has to work hard to keep me warm all day.
That brings me to my second piece of advice: bring LAYERS! Being warm is better than looking good! I’m just wearing my black fleece and a new scarf with it each day so I don’t look so drab, ha J
Make an account of your symptoms in the days leading up to your doctor visit before you go. Erica did that for me, and it was really helpful, because we could look up the words we didn’t know before we had to try and explain things to the doctor! Kudos Erica J

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get better soon, I want to be able to work on Monday!! I’ll be teaching my first english class (fingers crossed!) Besos!

Patagonia sin Represas! Educacion Publica! Protestas!

Wena choros! (Chilean way to say “What’s up my friend?”…loosely translated, ha ;D)

Alright, now that you have an idea of where I’m living, I’m going to get into what’s actually going on during my days here! I start my work schedule tomorrow (supposed to be today, but I am sick with one nasty cold, ugh!), so then my days will have more of a regular rhythm. Luckily, I’ve experienced enough in these last 2 weeks to keep me blogging for a LONG time! Sorry that I won’t be necessarily reporting on things as they happen, but there’s just a lot to tell! And one of the really interesting experiences I’ve had is being right in the middle of some BIG protests! The first one took place on only my 4th day in Valparaíso. We left so quickly for Chile because our study abroad director told us that May 21 was a holiday in Chile, Navy Day, it celebrates a victory the Chilean navy had over Peru and there is a huge parade of the armed forces in the streets of Valparaíso to celebrate. Plus, the President of Chile was coming to Valparaíso for the holiday and to speak to Congress, so we thought it would be really cool to be there for this! Therefore, I was really surprised when the Chileans at the Y just shrugged their shoulders at my mentioning of this holiday and the parade and President’s visit and said they weren’t too interested. Turns out, LOTS of people in Chile are really angry at the President right now, for many reasons, but tensions have heightened regarding a situation in Patagonia. Patagonia is an area in southern Chile where the nature has really been preserved and the beauty of this area is a source of pride for many Chileans. The President recently approved a plan to construct a huge dam in Patagonia so that Chile can produce more of its own energy and not depend on other countries as much, and do so in a clean way. However, this dam is going to ruin a huge amount of land and communities, making many Chileans VERY upset.

The Army organized in its new route, perfect for viewing from the Y!

My group was warned not to leave the Y before 1 or 2 in the afternoon due to the protests, and I didn’t think too much of it because I couldn’t hear anything going on in the morning. When I heard the sounds of the parade I went out with Erica and our German friend Max to watch and it was really cool to see! I’ve never experienced anything like it in the U.S., because it was just a parade of the armed forces; the parades in my town will have little sections of war veterans, but it’s mostly floats, and bands and community groups, so this parade was much more serious and a bit eery! Maybe it’s just me, and other people don’t get as freaked out to see thousands of people marching with guns and such, but I’ve watched too many movies of Latin America during the Cold War to not feel a little chill when I see this. But you could also definitely feel a sense of national pride. Things got interesting when all of a sudden a section of soldiers started running in sync and policemen starting running down the street on their horses. People in the street started moving away, running, some were yelling and I was SO confused as to what was happening! Turns out a protest had sprung up farther down the parade route, and the police were coming to inform the soldiers to change the route. So they turned down this side street and took the parade onto one of the major streets in Valparaíso, right in front of the Y! And it was chaos for a while as things were changing, cars and taxis and buses honking, people running, one guy even came up to me wearing a gas mask and babbling that the armed forces were going to turn on us and the world was going to end (maybe my Spanish is bad, but I swear, that’s what he was saying!) Things calmed down once the new route was established, but we decided to watch the rest of the parade from the safety of the Y’s balcony!

I thought that was as crazy as things got, so I was very surprised when I was watching the news later that night. I was at a dinner party at the house of one of the women who works with the youth programs at the Y and everyone was very interested in watching the news that night, and it only took me a couple seconds to see why. Valparaíso was headlining national news! And my little chaotic experience was nothing! Turns out that in the morning there were HUGE protests as the President was traveling in to his house in Vina del Mar (the city next to Valparaíso) and the Congress building in Valparaíso. People were lighting garbage cans on fire, throwing rocks at the President’s car and his guard, there was even a man who ran through the streets nude holding a sign that said “PATAGONIA SIN REPRESAS” (Patagonia without Dams!)- the slogan of the protests! Things got really violent, the police were spraying tear gas at the protestors and arrested hundreds and policemen and protestors alike were being beaten with clubs. It was really shocking for me to watch, I’m used to peaceful protests and not to violence from the police against protestors. But when I saw how violent the protestors were being, it was hard for me to fault the police for reacting, I don’t think it should have been to the violent degree that it was, but it was definitely a difficult situation. I was remarking on the violence, and one person at the party told me that this is still way better than things a few decades ago under Pinochet, because at least the police don’t fire directly into the protestors. Yikes! The right to organize and protest is definitely being utilized in Chile, and that’s cool to see after the dictatorship, but the violence was hard for me to swallow. It was an awesome experience for me to talk Chilean politics though (which I’m sure doesn’t surprise you if you know me, ha :D). There was a great mix of opinions at the party, to me it seemed that most weren’t too happy with the President, but some recognized that this was a difficult decision and the best option, even though they weren’t excited about it, while others were adamantly opposed. It made for some really interesting, heated conversation! And they loved explaining things to the gringa, for which I am highly grateful 🙂

And then, while I was writing this (really, how cool is that?!) another protest started up outside the kitchen window were I was eating breakfast (or drinking breakfast as they say here, the most important part of breakfast is your tea/coffee :D). This protest was about the education system and was all students. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about it, my friend Juan was taking part in it and had invited me to join, but it’s very dangerous for me to get involved in anything like that, I could get booted out of the country fast! Most everything is privatized in Chile, including education. There are public schools, but according to my Chilean friends, they are of very poor quality and going to one almost ensures that your future will not be bright, as it’s very difficult to get a good education and the test scores you need to enter a good university. This traps a lot of people in poor areas, as they can’t afford a private education and can’t get a good enough education to move out of their poverty. Most everyone I’ve met has gone to a private school because of thi

s, but the problem is that these are not cheap, and the government has recently raised costs for students. So there have been waves of student protests for the past 2 weeks, calling for a reduction in private school costs and for improvements in the quality and accessibility of the public education system. But there hasn’t been anything as big as today: it was a HUGE parade of students from all the local private universities marching for public education, which I found really touching and inspiring. They were all grouped by their major in college with signs to marks each group, such as “GEOGRAFIA, PRESENTA!” (Geography, present!), like attendance was being taken in school. Each group had a different chant, and they took over the huge main street right in front of the Y, didn’t matter that tons of cars and buses were honking like crazy! This protest is still going on outside my window, so we’ll see how it turns out! So far it’s just a peaceful march, and the police are just watching, so keep your fingers crossed that it stays this way! As for me, looks like I’ll be staying inside the Y for awhile, even though I’m a bit tempted to run out and march! (Don’t worry familia, that’s a broma (joke :D))

I just had to end with another shot of the beauty of Valparaiso. I took this on our walk to tour the cerro where Pablo Neruda lived!

Lately, Chile is heaven for a political nerd like me! Besitos!

Welcome to the OTHER Valparaiso!

May 30, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Here you see the beautiful mix of Valpairso: sea, big city and the house-covered hills!

Alright, here is the mini tour of Valparaiso!

Wish you could actually be touring with me! (Riding one of the acensors)

First of all the main city is like any other big, busy city, with an emphasis on CHAOS! The layout of the streets isn’t as ordered as New York or Chicago, which is quite problematic for a directionally-challenged person like me trying to find her way around. But it has everything: huge apartment complexes, a big supermarket only 2 minutes from the Y, museums, government buildings, parks, restaurants, bars and clubs, and there are cars and taxis and huge buses just whizzing by every second of the day and night! But there are definitely things that make it distinct from any other big American city.

One of those things is that there are lots of little outdoor and indoor local marketplaces with vendors that sell their goods in little stalls. One of these is right next to the supermarket that I previously mentioned, and I love exploring it. Lots of stalls sell the scarves that are so popular in the U.S. and I flipped out when I did my money conversion math and realized they were selling them for only $3 each. WHAT?! They’d be $10-$20 in the U.S. I’m seriously gonna need another suitcase, this is highly problematic. They also sell jewelry,delicious pastries and candies, books, clothes, fresh juice and smoothies and tons of little touristy things. My favorite snack to buy so far is fresh fruit covered in chocolate and put on a stick, or a sopapilla, a fried little patty of sweet dough that you can put sugar or ketchup and mustard on…I prefer sugar 🙂 Besides the Americanized supermarket, there is also a HUGE outdoor market that sells all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, freshly baked bread and other yummy things. I’ve only been able to explore it once, as it’s farther away from the Y in a kinda shady part of the city, but I want to go back, I’m craving fresh fruit and veggies! There are also venders with blankets spread out on the sidewalk in front of almost every store. It’s like the vendors in the parks in New York, but to a way higher degree, they are everywhere! Susana told me that it’s legal, but lots of the store owners hate it because the vendors sell things so cheap. I haven’t bought from any of them yet, I don’t really trust the food, but they do have some cheap touristy things! Also, the stores aren’t like the big, glossy stores on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, more like a compilation of little stores that focus in on one type of object, mixed in with little cafes, restaurants and bars.

The outdoor marketplace right by the Y, my brochera spot!

Plaza de Victoria, que hermosa no?

I love the amount of parks and plazas as well. There is a plaza right by the Y that has lots of benches and open space, but it’s all stone, so my favorite is the Plaza de Victoria a little ways from the Y. It has a gorgeous fountain, playground for kids (and for me and Erica, we like the swings ;D), benches and lots of pretty green grass, which is lovely to see in the middle of a city! My favorite part is that there is a whole section of foosball tables outdoors and little arcade games – I think parks in America should try this out!

Yeah, I live here 🙂 Simply gorgeous

Valparaíso is also an important port town. Its right on the ocean and TPS is a huge shipping company here. There is another big plaza right by one of the main docks, and it’s really cool to see the humongous ships coming in and all the tiny boats in the docks. Plus, there are tons of beautiful roads and walking paths that go right next to the sea, and humongous rocks to climb and sit on and watch the sea – it’s seriously heaven for a beach-lover like me! 🙂

And finally, the most distinct part of Valparaíso, THE HILLS! They are called “cerros” and there are 45 different ones in Valparaísom all with different names, it’s crazy! The hills are like the suburbs of the city and they are absolutely JAM-PACKED with houses! The roads are very narrow and steep, it freaks me out to see cars driving on them. But a lot of people here don’t have cars both because they are expensive and because buses are quite cheap and easy to take most anywhere. Climbing up the stairs in the cerros is not a fun time, good work-out, but I certainly prefer the “acensors”. They’re elevators built into the hills to take you up on down! Not every hill has one, I think there are only a few, but we’ve seen 3 so far. The coolest one had a big tunnel that you had to walk through to get to the acensor – it felt like a horror movie! And the view from the acensor is just breath-taking, I really wish I could capture it better with my camera. There is tons of grafitti on the walls and streets in the cerros. A lot of it is legal and done by actual artists, but some is by gangs and angsty teenagers as well :/

Oh hey dogs, you're everywhere...not a fan

One example of the 45 huge hills covered with brightly-covered casas!

My least favorite part of the city and cerros is that there are wild dogs roaming the streets EVERYWHERE! It really freaked me out at first, but if you avoid touching them, they don’t bother you at all. I just hate going around corners and almost stepping on a dog that’s fast asleep! The Chileans are so used to them that they think it’s funny how nervous I get around them, but I’m not sure I’ll ever really get used to it!

Un acensor!

But my favorite thing about the cerros would have to be the bright colors of the houses. Every possible color, in its most brilliant form possible, covers the cerros, it’s so cool! And they love to change the color of their houses as well! I was talking with Susana about this and she found it extremely odd that most houses are brick or white/beige/tan or some other pale color in the U.S. and that we don’t change the color of our houses very often. “Muy aburrido! Tu casa necesita personalidad!” (How boring, your house needs personality!) was her comment about that. And I agree! So what do you say Mom, I’m think a bright purple would be perfect for our house…..homecoming present for me?! Besos!

I love this orange house 🙂

Life is Good 🙂

Welcome to the YMCA!

May 23, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Hola!

My home, the YMCA!

Wow, I have so much to tell! It’s been a jam-packed past few days, and I’m finding it really difficult to put my experiences into words, it’s definitely been a whirlwind and I wish I could tell about every little thing that I’ve experienced! But I was thinking that I should probably give some background to the YMCA and the actual city of Valparaíso before I start telling all my stories! I know that I didn’t know that much about this city before I came here, and I only know about Chile because a big part of my major is studying the culture and history of Latin American countries! So here is my mini introduction.

Before I came, I just thought it was funny that Valpo would have an exchange program with a city in Chile with the same name, and that was really all that I knew about Valparaíso besides that it was by the sea. But this is a main city in Chile, the third largest actually! I was really surprised on the plane when I was reading the guidebook that I’d bought (and saved for the plane, because I was too busy to read it beforehand, ha) listed Valparaíso as a place that you MUST visit in Chile and one of the most beautiful cities in Chile. Que buena suerte para mi! (What good luck!)

La playa 🙂 Simply gorgeous

And the guidebook certainly wasn’t exaggerating. WOW. Valparaíso for me is kind like the Chilean version of Chicago because it has a main, crazy busy city surrounded by hills that are filled with houses, like the suburbs of Chicago. The actual city of Valparaíso certainly isn’t as big as Chicago, but its big! The YMCA is right in the heart of the city. Looking at pictures of groups in years past, for some reason I thought that the YMCA was really small and that social programs were its main focus, but I was greatly mistaken! This place is huge, and has a million different things going on at every moment! One of the things I really enjoy about Valparaíso is that there’s an interesting mix of very modern things and very old-fashioned, and the YMCA is a great example of that. The first floor is like the lobby of any business in the U.S., and it has great wi-fi which makes me very happy! The 2^nd-4^th floors are filled with gyms, and classrooms for all the different classes that go on here: spinning, aerobics, dancing, and I swear that every single class has BLARING techno music that goes with it, especially in the afternoons! (This was not a grand beginning to my stay here, we were exhausted after the flights and tried to take a nap in the afternoon with this music blaring…not highly successful. I felt like the music was describing how I was feeling at the moment, my head spinning with lack of sleep and all the new things that I was experiencing, yikes!). There is also a youth gathering room for all the youth programs that go on here.

The main city, and in the distance you can see the hills that surround everything. It's so beautiful!

I live on the fifth floor, and there are at least 10 rooms up there that people can rent out to live in. Erica and I share a room, but there are 6 bunk beds in the room, so we have lots of space to spread out J The only sad thing is that our room is directly above the basketball gym, and people like to play until 11 when the Y closes and right when the Y opens…also, our neighbors are obsessed with watching movies until 1 in the morning…I’m becoming an expert at sleeping through anything! Oh, and also, I got all set up on my bunkbed only to find out that I choose the one that squeaks and wobbles when you move..but I’m to lazy to move all my stuff! We have a kitchen that all the residents of the Y share, and cooked for the first time yesterday. The kitchen is not very modern, no dishwasher or microwave and using a gas stove and oven was quite the experience, I’m still not very used to it! Also, probably burned my finger lighting the stove. Points for me 😉 We use the women’s locker room for our bathrooms, and the best part about that is COMMUNAL SHOWERS, woo! I’ve been really lucky so far, the Y is much more packed during the afternoon and night than the early morning, so its only been me and Erica braving the experience. But it’s only a matter of time…yikes. We also have a little laundry room, which Erica and I tried out yesterday. Disaster. First disaster was a display of my lack of what I like to call “life smarts”. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me where to put the detergent. Did I do it right? Probably not. Then, trying to figure out how to program that thing in Spanish was another good 10 minutes. Did I do it right? Eh, it started spinning and filling with water, so that was good by me. I thought that everything was fine when I started the dryer, but I came back an hour later to find my clothes still soaking. 2 hours later? Wet. 2 hours later? THROWN ON THE LAUNDRY ROOM FLOOR IN A PILE! AND STILL WET! Poor Erica’s clothes were thrown out of the washer and soaking, pobrecita! (poor thing!). So our room has clothes hanging from every possible spot….and they are not drying fast, let me tell you.

Trying to dry my clothes after the laundry fiasco :/

Ok, well I guess this turned into more of a tour of the Y instead of Valpo, but I’ll do that next, it’s gonna need a few posts, because we’ve toured a lot of places already! But I did put my pictures on Picasa and Facebook as well, so you should check those out! Besides the fitness programs, the Y sponsors a lot of social programs and youth programs and that is what I am going to be working in. We tour all of the programs tomorrow and Wednesday and then start working on Thursday, so I’ll tell you about those later in the week! Chao! Besos! (Kisses! A common way to say goodbye between friends in Chile :D)

International Flights…¿Qué Divertido, no?

May 19, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Estoy in Chile!!! It’s crazy to think that I’ve already been here 2 days! It feels both very short and much longer than that at the same time 🙂

Viajadores a Chile!

But I’m gonna focus on the adventure of getting to Chile for this blog post, because let me tell you, it was quite the adventure. We took a pretty crazy flight because we were able to get it SUPER cheap…but part of the reason for that was that it had 2 layovers in foreign countries and arrived in Santiago at 2:35 in the morning…yikes. We left O’Hare at 10am, arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador at 1:30, had to wait for 2 hours, took a 4 hour flight to Lima, Peru, had to wait for 2 more hours and then took another 4 hour flight to Santiago! Once in Santiago we had to wait until 8 am to get picked up by the people from the Y and then had a 2 hour drive from Santiago to Valparaíso.

So here’s what I learned from this international traveling experience:

ANNA WIERSMA’S DO AND DON’TS OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL:

DO talk to the people next to you on the plane, you’ll be amazed by people’s stories!

I was a little bit worried about sitting alone (didn’t want to get stuck by a fat man snoring, ya know?) but I actually had really interesting people by me every time! First I had two male dentists who were going to Honduras for a week to volunteer in a dental clinic, second a couple going on their honeymoon to Macchu Picchu and third two Chilean women who I started to call my “mamas chilenas”. My “mamas chilenas” were my favorite becasue they were both my mom’s age with 20 year old daughters and started fussing over me immediately, it was adorable 🙂 They needed to know everything about my life at college and my travels to Chile and gave me as much advice as they could cram into our conversation! I’m very used to the American culture of public transportation where you sit as far away from strangersas possible and don’t talk, but everyone was very kind and eager to tell their story and hear mine, it was a great start to the trip. But you could definitely see the cultural shift with my “Chilean mamas”. Instead of onlytalking for 15-30 minutes, we talked for at least a good hour, in Spanish! It definitely calmed some of my nerves to actually hold an hour long conversation, plus they said my Spanish was really fluid already, so that was encouraging! When they heard that I had to wait in the airport for 5 hours to get picked up they were all worried about me and saying that they wish they knew me beforehand so I could stay and sleep at their house…and I’m finding that this is pretty typical Chilean hospitality, it’s grand 🙂
Pobrecitas! 🙁 Our makeshift beds in the airport

DON’T choose a flight where you arrive at 2 am and have to wait to get picked up…

The only scary/bad part was when we had to wait from 2:30-8:00 in themorning I suck at sleeping on planes…it’s bad. I tried so hard for the last flight, but I can never get comfortable enough, no matter how tired I am! I probably only really slept for an hour. So my advice would be, don’t bank on getting any sleep in a plane, unless you have a long flight and Tylenol PM! For our wait in the airportwe set up camp on some benches and tried to sleep, but it wasn’t very comfortable and the airport was FREEZING for some reason! Plus, we looked so pathetic, I felt homeless, and it was just odd trying to sleep in public. Again I only really slept for about 2 hours, because we were trading watches over all of our luggage! And THEN, in typical Chilean fashion, they didn’t show up until 8:30! I was freaking out that we were at the wrong gate, because we could only find 1 and not 1a like they had told us, and the telephone number we had for the Y wasn’t working and I was getting SO worried, until all of a sudden these 3 Chileans descended on us and started hugging and kissing and saying “Bienvenidos!”! Phew!

DO fork out the cash to get yourself some real food in the airport!

Estoy in Chile! We found a playground in the Santiago airport...Levi and Erica were very excited 🙂

TACA airlines, thank for feeding me on every single flight. Really, that was super nice of you. But already by the second time around, your limp pasta noodles were not making my stomach too happy, sorry to say. Ordering from Subway in San Salvador however, was a lifesaver! Plus, it was hilarious. I had no idea how to ask for oil and vinegar, I had done well up until then, so I apologized and asked for “the salsa rojo y la salsa amarillo” and they started cracking up, but they understood. And then they told me I had done a great job for an American and even clapped for me once I paid successfully in pesos. I took a little bow, which got them laughing all over again, “tontos americanos” (stupid Americans ;D)

Ok, I think that’s all I’m gonna say for the trip. I have some pictures to share of our travels and my past two days have been jam-packed with touring Valparaíso, meeting new people, going out to try Chilean food and speaking in Spanish todo el día!! Valparaíso is an absolutely gorgeous city. I’m right in the center of the city at the Y, but there are humongous hills surrounding the whole city that are stuffed with brightly colored houses as far as the eye can see and I’m also a 5-10 minute walk from the ocean. I’ll describe more in my next post, I’ve already taken so many pictures!!!

As they say in Chile, “Chao!”

A little taste of Valparaíso 🙂

Memories of Lyon

May 18, 2011 / Emily Royer / 0 Comments

I’ve been working on this blog post about Lyon for quite some time now. For a while I had an extremely long description of my 7 hours in that breathtakingly beautiful city. However, now that exams are almost over and I’m looking at my last 3 weeks in France my perspective on my very brief day in Lyon has been slightly changed.

This semester has been extremely challenging for me. It was difficult to come here by myself and be faced with an enormous amount of free time. The majority of my semester has been spent with myself. Even when around friends who speak English fluently there always seemed to be a barrier of sorts, as if we were all divided somehow. This meant that I had quite a bit of time to think. For the first few months I thought about home and the people there and my relationships with them, but after awhile, I refocused and started trying to live completely here instead of having one foot in each country so to speak. I met some new people and grew closer with a couple others. Train rides to and from the city, and long runs around the lake in the park here provided me with ample time for reflection.

It was somewhere around that time that I found myself in Lyon, staring up an enormous hill at basilica that I could have sworn was a castle in a Disney movie. Later that day, after some beautiful sights and one exhausting climb, I sat on the top of that hill, looking at the roman amphitheater ruins stretched out below me, the old medieval quarter, and the modern city beyond that. I was struck all of a sudden by how alone I was. It wasn’t a realization of loneliness, but one of stillness. The city spread before me, growing out with time, but it seemed important that people still returned there to those ruins, and that I, in particular was there at the top of that hill, in that city, on the other side of the world from most of the things I love. Sitting there felt like the most natural thing in the world and something that was so indicative of what my entire semester has felt like. I won’t go into everything that occurred to me as I was sitting on that hill, but I will say that if there’s one thing I could honestly say will stay with me after this semester is over, it wouldn’t be the French I’ve learned, or the cultural experiences I’ve had, or even the thousands of photographs I’ve taken, it would be that feeling of stillness and the view of growth that time can bring.

Admittedly, that growth wouldn’t have been possible without the people I’ve shared it with along the way. Though so much of my time here has been independent, I couldn’t imagine myself where I am now without having some of the conversations I’ve had. Just this past weekend I went on a goodbye walk through Paris with my friend Ali. She loves that city as a part of herself because in so many ways she has become herself here. We don’t see each other all that often but every once in a while we’ll sit down and talk about our thoughts on being here, things at home, going back, and throughout this semester seeing her grow so much has challenged me to look back on my own growth. So, in doing that, and in attempting to write this post, I had to write about that solitary moment on that hill, but I also have to tell you about another moment in Lyon, a few hours later.

After exploring more around the ruins, entering the basilica, and walking through the park just behind it, I descended the hill in search for something to eat. As I was heading down those steps I saw person after person walking up, tired, counting the steps left. It reminded me of a day I was running in the park and a man taking a walk with his grandson stopped me “Courage!” he said “C’est seulement un peu plus loin! Courage!”. Being approached by strangers here isn’t exactly an oddity but that memory stuck in my mind, and as the woman walking past me on the steps smiled at me, seeing that I must have made the very same climb I told her she didn’t have much farther to go “courage, Madame!”. She laughed, thanking me, and kept climbing.

The rest of that day was spent thinking about the hill and that short conversation with the woman on the steps. As I sat in a bakery later, watching a truly French progression of twins wearing pink tutus, a boy with his face covered in chocolate ganache, a dog carrying a baguette in his mouth, musicians, cyclists, old women, couples, and school children moving in and out to the rhythmic “ensuite, bonjour! – merci, au revoir!” and the punch of the cash register I realized just how necessary that rhythm was. This semester there’ve been a fair share of moments of stillness, just as there was on that hill, and those are important, but inevitably that rhythm needs to resume. I couldn’t just sit on the ruins on that hill looking at all the progress the city had made, I had to go down the hill and participate in the rhythm of the city once again. With a few weeks left here, I’m looking forward to doing just that. Even though thoughts of home are sounding better than a freshly baked baguette does to a hungry traveler, I’ll miss this place and the things I’ve seen here.

Going Home

May 13, 2011 / Lydia Mertz / 0 Comments

Well the day has arrived. On my way back to the USA. Last night we had a good-bye celebration which was super bittersweet but still fun.

My travel plans have changed a bit and it looks like I am going by myself to the airport in Mexico City. So, I’ll just confess to the entire world that I’ve been crying since 8:30 this morning. My friend Pat McCoy told me to cry and let it out and to feel sad if I have to.

It’s hard because my experience was more than just two semesters of traveling and seeing cool sites. Because of my lack of money, I really got to dive into the culture. Although my journey consisted of traveling, it was more getting to know the people and how the culture functions. I discovered that I identify more with Mexico than with my own-which makes it ten times more difficult.

However, I am so excited to go home. My friends Amrita, Howard and Erin are coming to pick me up and I am so, so happy to see them and other friends and of course, Mom and Dad.

I just have to let out the tears and have faith that everything work out and to breathe.

It’s hard but I’ll be back in Mexico very soon.

This experience made me realize the beauty of life and to live with more passion and vibrancy. I remember arriving here in August all excited and nervous but now I feel I am leaving with more confidence and a love for life.

I don’t know the future but everything will work out and no matter where I am at, Mexico will always be in my heart.

USA…here I come!

Saludos

Mexico has given me more passion for life.

Trendy or Socially Conscious? A Reflection on my Internship in Mexico

May 10, 2011 / Nick Derda / 2 Comments

Hey all,

So it’s been a few weeks since my internship at Fundación Origen ended, and as my time comes to a close in Mexico I’ve been thinking more and more about that. One of my Mexican friends the other day was telling me that the new “in thing” to do among the Mexican elite (aka the students who go to the UDLA) is to go to an indigenous community for a weekend, come back and talk about how difficult it was over non-fat Moka-Frappe-lattes with extra whipped cream at Starbucks, and then forget about all the people you met during your experience the next week. I was slightly horrified when I heard this. Ok, so I didn’t chat with my amigos over Green tea frappes at Starbucks (I’m still too much of a hipster to set foot into one of those icons of capitalism), but I had definitely talked about my time at the Fundación like it was the most difficult thing ever, and then went on living my life like nothing happened. Ugh. Am I one of those sell-outs, who was just doing this internship to be hip? What’s next…am I going to join the Peace Corps or Teach for America not because I have an actual social conscience, but because it will look good on my future resume? I don’t want to be one of “those people.” I can’t be!!!

Now before I went off the deep-end into one of those philosophical self-inquiries, somebody reminded me of something. Ok, so I came back from my weekends in the indigenous community and talked about how difficult “their” lives were. Wasn’t that the experience I was looking for? I live a privileged life. That’s an undeniable fact. Going to work with this community gave me the opportunity to confront that privilege. I might not think about how easy I have it when I go turn on the hot water in the shower on Monday morning while I’m racing to class, but it would be too stressful if I was thinking like that all the time, right? Instead of unpacking my privilege and trying to collaborate with other people to help make their lives less stressful, I would be doing nothing but feeling guilty all the time. No thanks, I’ll pass.

If there’s one thing that I’ve taken away from this experience, then it’s the fact that I’m a lot more defensive of people who are less privileged than me. When we went to stay with my friend Ivan last week in Mexico City, we were driving around in his car and these kids, who couldn’t have been more than 12 and who were most likely of indigenous origin came up to his car and started washing his windshield. He gave them a peso for their work (the equivalent of about 10 cents). He complained that they were just lazy and should have gotten a real job. Normally, I’m kind of reserved about this things. However, for some reason that day I flipped out. The culture of poverty doesn’t teach people how to function in a normal work environment. Mexicans discriminate against indigenous people in the workforce all the time. Many indigenous people who go to Mexico City to work don’t speak Spanish. And why should these little kids be working at all? They should be having fun being kids and not dealing with the fact that the Mexican government and educational system has failed them miserably.

Whether you agree with me on this point or not, I think it’s clear that my outlook on life has changed because of my work with Fundación Origen. I’m not so sure that many people could say that about their internship experiences. Thanks for that Mexico.

Un abrazo,

Nick.

Ok. So this could be interpreted as a post-colonial theorist's nightmare, what with the white kid helping out the brown-skinned kid. However, I'd like to think that my experience at Fundación Origen was different than that.

One.Week.

May 6, 2011 / Lydia Mertz / 1 Comment

ONE. WEEK.

That’s all I have left in Mexico. So, how am I feeling at this point? Oh, let’s say this: sad, happy, excited, wanting to break down, frustrated, thrilled, stressed…ummm, yeah that’s all I got for now. The big pit in my stomach seems to be less strong as I learn to deal with the reality that the study abroad journey is coming to an end.

The colors of Mexico....just beautiful

Although Mexico is our next door neighbor, it’s going to be weird to go back. After being here since August (and never having gone back for vacations), I feel more compatible with Mexico than my own culture (that’s ok, after being homeschooled for 4 years, I’ve never really adjusted to American culture that much). However, I have decided how I am going to live out my next few days. In Mexico, you really don’t plan anything but just go with the ball. So here goes:

1. Despedidas!! Going away parties have filled up my social calender. Every moment I can get to spend time with the friends I love and have gotten to know is valuable and there isn’t much of it. So, bring on the good times! Tonight, I am meeting with friends from my internship, Valpo and my ex-roomies from last semester. Tomorrow night includes the same and pretty much the rest of the week. We have to celebrate!

2. Study. Yes, despite the parties and fun times, I have just one final exam (Pyschology in Spanish, God help me) and then I will be free. Fun part is, I’m taking summer classes at Valpo which means 4 days of vacation for me…yes! (note the sarcasm)

3. Prepare (somewhat) for my future in Mexico. I’m planning to come back to Mexico. Not for vacation but to live and work. Although jobs don’t pay the best, I love living in this culture and want to really dive into it! There are positions in my field, Public Relations, so I just have to get my name out there and make those contacts. It’s not easy but fortunately my family and friends support and somebody else who is very important…

Now really, I could never leave him!

4. Continue to fall in love with my boyfriend (the wonderful Oscar Escobar). Yes, I have a boyfriend! Yeah, he’s a sexy Mexican, knows how to dance and be romantic and can even cook! Many people have asked me what I am going do when I go back. Ummm, well…stay with him! How could I leave this wonderful man who has made me stronger, treats me like a princess and brought so much joy to my life? Long distance will be hard but it could be worse. Besides, we have skype and facebook and I hope to visit in December…no matter what, I could never leave the love of my life!

5. Pack. Ohhhh packing that dreaded word that brings upon a tornado of stress. It’s all good though, I’ve become good at packing but I just don’t have the energy. Any volunteers? 🙂

6. Buy last minute gifts. Rosary for mom for sure….there are other things I want to buy. Maybe a bottle of tequila and a Mexican flag?

7. Immigration and official documents. I need to check my email because I have to print off some important form that I don’t remember what it is called or what it is for but it’s important. Pfff, why is this SO complicated?

8. Prepare for the culture shock. Oh yes, that thing about reverse culture shock the International Office and every other ex-study abroad student keeps telling me about.

Staying in touch with some amazing friends!

9. Eat a LOT of Mexican food. I’m going to go eat a lot of tacos, mole, chilaquiles and whatever else I can find to eat. The food is tasty and so amazing here. So, if you see me and I’ve gained weight, you’ll know why!

10. Basically, celebrate the present…and look forward to the future. Mexico has taught me to live one day at a time but also enjoy that day to the absolute maximum! Live it up! Laugh, love..whatever you do, do it with passion. But for God’s sake, take it easy and actually take your time. The present is beautiful right now as I sit here with the love of my life about to prepare for the evening parties. However, I am so looking forward to the future. An exciting senior year is in store for me back at Valpo but I know deep down inside my heart, Mexico is in my future along with other adventures. What can I say? I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Saludos!

I’m leaving?!

April 30, 2011 / Molly Kestner / 0 Comments

I thought it fitting that my first post title was questioning my arrival (I’m in Africa?!) and now my possibly last post title is questioning my departure from this lovely place. Time has flown. In less than 6 hours I will leave Windhoek for a week in Cape Town, South Africa and in 8 days I will be on a plane bound for home. When did that happen?

I don’t have any idea how to start a post that sums up my experiences here. They were overwhelming. Eye-opening. Enlightening. Beautiful. Upsetting. Heart-warming. Frustrating. Humbling. The list goes on. But ultimately, because of the good and the bad, this semester has been wonderful. Every day presented a new adventure. Every adventure had a lesson to be learned. I know that I will continue to learn from my days here long after this, especially in my first months back at home. People always tell you that studying abroad will change you and your life, and while I can’t say for sure, I can foresee myself agreeing with that statement.

I’ve been working on this post for two days and I’m still at a loss for what to say.

My housemates, my homestays, my travels, my classes…they’ve all given me more than I could have imagined in one semester. The question I think we’re all struggling with though is how to take it all back. At this point everything I’ve learned is still pretty overwhelming. Just know that when you ask me how my semester was, the short answer that you’re expecting won’t even begin to skim the surface of how my time here went.

I’ll leave you with the link to CGE Namibia’s blog which we were required to write in throughout the semester. I don’t know why I didn’t think to post it earlier, but it will give you much more insight into what we learned about here than my blog has.

We’re off to the airport in a few minutes and I have no idea when, if ever, I’ll be able to return to Namibia. I’m not sure that I have really realized that yet either. Since I’m doing a terrible job at summing things up here, perhaps I’ll give it another try when I get home.

Thank you Namibia and CGE for giving me the best semester yet of my college career!

Student Stories from Around the World