Vamos a la playa

Hey everybody! Sorry it has taken so long to post, I just have been so busy! This weekend I visited the coastal cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Only an hour and a half away by coach bus, these cities are popular for their art, beaches, and night life. However, the two cities were different from one another because Valparaíso had a more grunge, hipster look to it while Viña clearly is designed for tourists. I will just start off by saying that I am glad I chose to live in Santiago over Valparaíso this semester, because the streets are clear cut and I don't have to walk up a hill everywhere I step. Valparaíso is full of hills and curvy streets that are easy to get lost in, especially when you get caught up in looking at the fantastic street art and colorful houses! 

 

It is amazing how just an hour away from Santiago, lifestyles change dramatically in Valparaíso. Chile is known for supporting very relaxed cultures, where one can be as late as they want and it is socially acceptable. In Valparaíso, I felt life was even more relaxed with less people walking around, the breezy ocean air, and the houses on the hills with balconies for people to hang out on. Although at the same time, the nightlife seemed a little more intense and I did not feel as safe going out at night in Valparaíso than I do in Santiago. Part of this could be due to the fact that Santiago is starting to feel like home while Valparaíso was someplace new, with very confusing streets and hills that I could not comprehend within staying there for only two nights. On top of all this, I stayed in my first hostel. So overall, this whole trip to Valparaíso was one of my first adventures in Chile where I really experienced what it is like to be a student traveler, with limited cash, in a foreign city. I have to start somewhere though, and I think Valparaíso was a great first choice. In case any of you are interested, here are some pictures of my hostel (there were a total of eight of us to a room, pretty crazy but also really fun):

On our second day in Valparaíso, we took the metro to Viña del Mar to go to la playa (beach)! I was very excited because it has been awhile since I have seen the ocean and I really love the vast, endless feeling it evokes. However, before we got to the beach, we realized the metro dropped us off a mile away and so we had to walk in the blazing heat for about an hour. While on our walk we met a stray dog that accompanied us all the way to the beach and who we named Jesus. He was kind of a scary looking dog but I think in the inside he was a big softie...I mean he did walk with us for a very long time in extremely hot weather. Once we got to the beach, we stayed for seven hours, soaking up the sun, enjoying the ocean and talking with each other. I have to say that the pacific ocean is freezing and slightly terrifying. I got pulled under by the tide and was very scared I wouldn't surface. So after that experience I decided to stick only my toes in the water, for safety reasons. I had to go in the water at some points because it got to about 85 degrees around two in the afternoon. By the end of the day everyone was sunkissed (or burnt) and exhausted. The sun can be extremely draining and water was very expensive on the beach because it was a tourist hot spot. Let's just say that that night I fell asleep around 10:30 PM as opposed to 1 AM.

On our last day in Valparaíso, the eight of us went to the house of the famous poet and noble prize winner, Pablo Neruda. After seeing his house, I now can't wait to take a class in Madison on his poems because the themes of his literature relate exactly to how I feel about life sometimes. The guy is also an extremely creative person, and his house showed it. Sadly I could not take any pictures but I can describe some of the house's quirky attributes. First of all, Neruda was an avid collector of artifacts, kind of like my brother, Alex. In Neruda's living room resided a horse from a merry-go-round that he strategically placed in a circular portion of the room, so one sitting on the couch in there could feel like they too were still on the carousel. In addition, there were many oil paintings around the house of people and boats (because Neruda loved the sea) and there were tapestries from Ethiopia, Vietnam and China. In Neruda's office there was an elaborate british sink installed in the wall which Neruda never actually had attached, so it only served for aesthetic appeal. He was an eccentric dude who cared greatly about people remembering the complexity of this world and the need to remember, as an adult, your inner child. 

Grade school named after Neruda

View from Neruda's house

Bench with Neruda's head

Thank you for reading this extremely long blog post! It was a very busy weekend full of lots of exciting things to see. Te amo mucho y espero que todos recuerden la importancia de vivir como una poca inocencia en este mundo complejo.  

Explore What You Can Everyday

Wow! Can I just start off by saying that Santiago has made a great impression on me so far. Not only because of all the trees and mountains in the background, but also because everyone is so NICE! The people here are, from my experience, always willing to help you with directions and seem eager to return the goofy smiles I give them. I feel as if I am currently in the hidden gem of the world. I am positive that when asked where is the one place they would like to travel in the world, a person would not respond with Chile as the answer. But Chile is so unique being completely surrounded my a mountain chain on its eastern side and the pacific ocean on its western side. It also is very long, containing a wide range of natural landscapes that seem breath-taking. I hope that I can take advantage of the bus rides offered and the excursions my program will go on so I can experience the northern, southern and western life Chile has to offer.

Since I haven't posted for a couple days, I am just going to talk about my tour of downtown Santiago yesterday and my hike up San Cristobal today. Starting with the tour downtown, a few friends from my program decided to get a group of people together to see some of the popular spots downtown. We all met at La Moneda (pictured above) which is Chile's equivalent to our White House in D.C. My trip to La Moneda required me to take the train all by myself, but have no fear because I'm practically a master at navigating the subway system :). Once at the Moneda, a tour group near the building gave my friends and I free maps of the popular Santiago spots. So following that, we all headed to La Plaza de Armas. The plaza was actually under renovation so all we could see were the buildings surrounding it, which were still very beautiful. 

At the plaza, we visited Chile's national history museum which was very interesting. There I learned more about the Mepuche, the largest indigenous tribe in Chile, and about the communist-like rule in the country. The plaza was a fun area, but all of us were mainly excited to head over to Santa Lucia, the second highest point in Santiago. Santa Lucia was absolutely beautiful, with a great view of the city and nature greens galore.  I have posted pictures below of my adventures there.

Last but not least involves my travels today. The same group of friends and I set out for San Cristobal, the highest point in Santiago where the Virgin Mary stands watching over the city. To get to Mary was very difficult however, because we had to hike all the way to the top in eighty degree weather. Let's just say that my shoulders are very unhappy with me and my SPF 50 sunscreen did not calm the pain. It is ok though, because the top of the hill was breath taking and up near Mary everything was very tranquil. On top of the tranquility, however, I also felt a little sad. Being so high up was definitely a powerful experience, but the strong spiritual atmosphere that surrounded the place was making me remember those who have passed, the struggles my loved ones face today and the unknown future ahead. I couldn't help but shed a few tears, remembering Baba, my grandfathers and James, a friend from my high-school who passed away recently due to a terrible accident. At the same time though, remembering them at such a spiritual place made me smile through the tears and know that the time I did spend with them, if any, was great and never will be forgotten. Also I took the time to pray for my uncle Walter, a strong individual who is struggling with a major obstacle life has thrown at him. Just the fact that this one place in Santiago evoked many emotions and memories from me showed how powerful and important it is to make the effort to go places you may have never thought of going and to take advantage of the time life gives you. 

To end the day at San Cristobal, we all went down the mountain/hill via the funicular-the cart pictured below. I was kind of scared because I don't really enjoy heights and the funicular seemed kind of wobbly. 

El Metro??? Que??

This morning began with a very tasty and balanced breakfast that contained many foods I will enjoy anywhere in the world. I had oatmeal that tasted even better than oatmeal at home, a juicy peach, chamomile tea, and of course I had bread (typical of a Ukrainian). I ate EVERYTHING on my plate, which actually isn't very surprising since eating is one of my favorite hobbies. 

After breakfast, my host mother and I headed out to the metro station "Los Orientales" which was about four and half blocks away from the house. However, before we got on the train, mi mamá pointed out to me that it was probably wise I had un cuaderno (notebook) to take notes in during orientation. So before arriving at the metro station, we stopped at a nearby supermercado (super market that looked similar to Walmart) and I purchased my very cheap, less than one dollar, handy-dandy One Direction themed notebook:

 
Once I had my notebook in tow, mi mamá and I set out for the metro station. We were at the station that houses the purple line. It was not a straight shot to the Universidad though (where my orientation is held), instead we had to transfer to the red line at the station "Tobalaba". The red line is probably the most important because it is the train that spans the major road in downtown Santiago-Liber Bernador O'Higgins. I was really surprised by Santiago's metro system, known as transantiago, because the trains are very clean, tunnels have fans with water mist spraying to keep people cool, and payment for the metro is similar to in the states. Above is a picture of my bip! card. This card is my ticket to riding the metro or the buses. Almost everyone in Santiago owns a bip! card to easily get around. Each trip costs approximately $1.00, so by the end of my trip I will probably end up spending most of my money on transportation.  Below are some pictures of a map I grabbed from the metro station. The first photo is the overall map and the others are bits and pieces of the map. The station I start at is along the right side of the map and the main building of the university is in the center on the red line.

Once done with orientation, my host mother picked me up and we headed back on the metro. This time however, we got off at a stop next to the mall and took a bus back to the house. I have posted some pictures of the area where the bus station and metro station are located. The green squiggly awning represents a bus stop and those green squiggles are seen all throughout the city.

 

Last but not least, I told myself in my room at the end of the day "yeah you got a nice tan". I will let you decide if you think my pale skin is an indication of a tan.

The Greatest Journey Has Begun-Living Like a Chilean

Today has been a lot better than yesterday, both because I learned more about how to navigate here in Santiago and I met mi mama anfitriona, Gloria (see picture to the left)! Before I start talking about my familia, I want to talk a little about how this experience has been so far. It is definitely a difficult task to try to comprehend the in's and out's of a large city like Santiago all while trying to understand what people are saying to you. Chilean spanish is not at all like the Spanish I have learned in the classroom. For example, Chileans have many slang words they use, drop all s's from words, talk very very very fast, and pronounce t's like ch. Overall, when I try talking to someone in a store or on the street all I hear are mumbles. What makes it worse is that it seems other people in my program can understand everyone very easily (but most of them have taken spanish since middle-school . Anyways, even though understanding is very difficult, I feel like if I achieve my goal of improving my comprehension, listening and speaking skills in Spanish here in Santiago, it will be a piece of cake understanding Spanish in other countries. Apparently Chileans have one of the thickest accents of all Spanish speaking countries in the world, so I will be pretty proud if I learn to comprehend those around me. 

Now to talk about the early portion of my day. This morning we all ate breakfast at nine and headed out to a classroom at one of the universities we will be studying at. There we had another orientation session which included learning more about how to move around Santiago, how to avoid disasters (stolen money, dangerous walks, etc.) and popular Chilean slang words. Probably the best part of the whole orientation is visualized in the picture below which contains a transit map of Santiago, a guid book to the program and safety in the city, and a CIEE personal bag (which I already got dirty...). Last but not least, the coordinators of the program gave each of us letters from our respective host families. I posted an image below of the letter so you can see how my host mother organized it. Getting the letter really got me excited because I now knew something about my mysterious family and learned that most of the members are scientists! You can tell that Gloria, my host mom, really put time into the letter and is passionate about having a host daughter in her house.

Around 5:00 PM, Gloria arrived at the hotel to pick me up and show me my new home. In the taxi we talked about what I am excited about, questions I may have, and my goals for this trip abroad. She is a very sweet lady and treats me like I am already a daughter of hers. One of her actual daughters lives in the house but works late most nights. Below are some pictures of the house, starting with the living room and then showing my bedroom.

I really enjoy how my bedroom is pink...and I have a large space to study and relax! It is a very calming room as well. Sometimes though it gets loud because we leave the windows open for fresh air (a common thing chileans do). Overall I like the apartment a lot. I also love the providence it is located in-ñuñoa-which is an area full of trees, a park right outside my window, a very large and very fancy shopping mall, and a vibrant/distinct lifestyle different from downtown. I will not mind spending most of my time studying outside in the park and watching life around me. The point of this trip is to experience and learn all that Santiago, or Chile overall, has to offer me, therefor I want to try to keep an open-mind and enjoy all that has been provided for me here by my host mother, the program, and Santiago's eclectic atmosphere.

 Of course I cannot forget Bicho the cat! Who apparently might cuddle with me in my sleep...have I mentioned cats kind of freak me out?

A Never Ending Day of Touring and Walking

At 9:20 AM Santiago time I arrived at the Santiago de Chile International Airport! After waiting around in baggage claim in an insanely long customs line and staying at the airport until 12:00 PM for others to arrive, we all finally set out for our hotel "Rent a Home" via this very vibrant bus. 

The living room of our rent a home. Girl in pink is one of my roommates and the girl in the chair goes to Madison.

My bedroom for the night at the Rent a Home!

View from the restaurant on the 16th floor (it was one of those restaurants that spun round and round and was all fancy). I ate some tasty empanadas as I watched the scenery move by.

What a long day!! Enjoyed a nice dinner but now I am ready to hit the sack. What a crazy, busy day. 

The Journey Begins!

Well I am off to start my crazy adventure to Santiago, Chile! I will miss my friends and family a lot but I know that this will be an experience that I will grow and learn from greatly. Let the journey and spanish speaking begin!