One Month

I only have 1 month left in this beautiful country. My official departure date is June 21st (I had to change it to earlier due to college orientation) and I’ll arrive back “home” early morning on June 22nd. Now that I’m officially within one month of coming home it finally makes it real that my year in Chile is not infinite. Obviously when I came here I knew that after one year it would be over- yet getting on that plane back to the U.S. just seemed so far away.

The going away parties for my fellow exchange students have started. Being with other exchange students is just something special- no matter where we are or what we are doing its always automatically fun. Most of the going away parties end with us all crying at 3 in the morning because there are those moments moments when it hits us that we don’t know when we will all see each other again.

Leaving the U.S. to embark on my exchange year was so difficult- yet I knew that without a doubt in 10 months I would be back home. Leaving Chile is going to be a whole different story because I have no clue when I will have the money or the opportunity to come back. Hopefully I’ll be able to return to visit in the next couple of years and all of my Chilean friends will still be here. Yet I have no idea when I will be able to go see all of my exchange student friends- unfortunately I’m not a millionaire who has the money to travel all over the U.S. including Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Germany, and France.

But instead of just complaining of how hard my life is, (poor little exchange student who has to end the best year of their life) I’m just trying to enjoy my last month here.

the first of many going away parties

Update

with my classmate Ale during break

my school has a stray cat that lives there and she just had kittens! and yes it is wearing a sock

celebrating Student's Day with my classmates

helping out at a Rotary event and getting a picture with Sponge Bob

at a parade to celebrate the Chilean national hero Arturo Pratt

with friends from my first school in Cajon de Maipo- a countryside area in the mountains. we went and stayed in a cabin for the weekend to celebrate my friends birthday

EASTER ISLAND-RAPA NUI-ISLA DE PASCUA

Lorana! (Rapa Nui for hello). This is a little late due to problems with my internet...but nevertheless I just went on my third and final Rotary trip to Easter Island! Also known as Rapa Nui (the native word) and Isla de Pascua (Spanish). 5 days on a tropical island filled with so much magic and mystery with 50 exchange students from all around the world. Needless to say it was absolutely incredible. We toured the entire island, saw almost all of the Moai's, went to beautiful beaches, ate some of the best fruit in the world, rode horses to the highest point of the island, went to a Rapa Nui night club, took millions of pictures, and went to a native dance show. This trip definitely holds some of my best memories from this year.

arriving at the airport on Rapa Nui & being greeted with fresh flowers

jumping in front of the only moai with the completed eyes

with Macie at a volcanic crater

Posing with the girls in front of the only moai's facing the ocean (The rest face towards the island to offer protection. They do not know why these face the ocean but they assume they face where the original inhabitants came from: Poleynesia

At the Moai Factory- the volcano where all of the carved Moai's came from. The ones scattered around the Moai were never transported to their final locations.

kissing a Moai <3

Ahu Tongariki: the famous 15 Moai by the ocean

Rapa Nui man who scaled a coconut tree to fetch fresh coconuts to sell

Drinking fresh coconut juice fetched from the man in the above picture at a beach.

We met the first lady of Chile!

All of the girls with our awesome bus driver/tour guide Jimmy

our two tour buses that took us all around the island for the week

We went horseback riding to the highest point of the island where you can see all 360º of the surrounding ocean.

Hanging out at the top of the island

Getting our faces painted at a dance show

Two of the dancers

Posing with one of the dancers

Easter Island had such a simple beauty. The lush rolling hills, the beautiful beaches filled with palm trees, the clean humid air, the gorgeous tropical flowers, the delicious fruit that grows everwhere, the crystal clear Pacific waters, and of course the mystical Moai. I completely fell in love with everything.

Out of my three Rotary trips (Patagonia, the North, and Easter Island), I honestly can't choose which one was the best. They are all so different that it is impossible to compare them. Special thanks to my lovely parents for letting me go on all 3 trips- I'm so lucky to only be 18 and have already traveled to such exotic places. I love my life here <3

School

 I figured it was about time to talk about my new Chilean school, Instituto Sagrado Corazón (Institute of the Sacred Heart), which if you didn't get from the name is a private Catholic school. I'm really happy at my new school- I already have a close group of friends and I can follow along in class (whereas before I simply sat there not understanding anything 8 hours a day) and I'm actually getting passing grades without studying.

Although both my old and new Chilean schools are private and Catholic, ISC is a lot more relaxed than Campanario (my first school). One reason is ISC is not as heavily Catholic- it is still a religious school but not to the same extent as Campanario. In Campanario we had an hour mass every Thursday morning, grades were split into all girls and all boy cursos (classes), and in the required religion classes they taught how divorce, gay marriage, and abortion are all sins (which was quite awkward considering I had multiple classmates with divorced parents). In ISC we still have required religion classes but they are much more relaxed (we currently are just talking about youth culture), classes are mixed with boys and girls,  and we only have mass for holidays or important events.

taking pictures on my friend Fran's iPhone during school

with my new class IVº Medio C during a class bonding fieldtrip

I have mixed feelings about school. On one side I really enjoy going- my class is really awesome and I get to talk with my friends all day. I already graduated high school so my grades here don't count, meaning I get to enjoy the best parts of high school and go out with friends whenever I want to without any academic stress. Yet at the same time sometimes it feels a little pointless going to school when I'm not really learning anything (the Chilean educational system is a disaster but that's a whole different blog post). But no matter what it is better than being at Carmel High School in which every senior is plagued with senioritis.

Also took a much needed girls shopping trip to Santiago with Wiebke, a German exchange student in my school.

taking webcam photos in the apple store

I'm still living the dream and loving every minute of it.

CHAOO!

An Awesome Weekend

 Just a weekend wrap-up.

 Luci, Fran, Chica, Me, Dani

Friday afternoon I went to my friend Fran's house with my group of girl friends from my class and we just hung out, talked, and ate until midnight. Even though I've only been in their class for a little less than a month we get along so well and it so much fun to hang out with them.

  

My host brother Dani got 3 free tickets to Fantasilandia (Chile's big amusement park, their version of Kings Island) that expired this Saturday. He couldn't go because of work so he gave them to me and I went with my exchange friends Briana and Olivia. There are 2 pretty decent rollercoasters and one okay drop tower that we went on, but the rest of the ride were just spinny teacups and tiny water rides. It was a great day but Fantislandia has got nothing on U.S. theme parks.

 Chica, Fran, Me, Luci, and Dani

Saturday night I went to a big party with my Chilean friends, it was an great night filled with lots of dancing.

 LOLLAPALOOZA!

This weekend was Lollapalooza Chile. Lollapalooza is a music festival originally started in Chicago (I went to the Chicago one in 2010). Last year it started to expand internationally and this was the second year the festival has been in Chile. I went with my good exchange friends Kelly, Olivia, and Grace and we got to see Foster the People, Band of Horses, Tinie Tempah, Skrillex, and the Foo Fighters. The festival was almost the exact same as it was when I went in the States and it was really gringo (Spanish word for American). I have never seen so many foreigners in one place in Chile. It was an awesome day, spent with amazing people, filled with great music, lots of dancing, and many hilarious experiences.

During the Skrillex concert with Kelly and Olivia

I have Thursday and Friday off of school for Semana Santa (Saint Week) to celebrate Easter. I'm leaving today to my host grandparents beach house to celebrate with my extended host family. Hope all of you have a great Easter!

¡Temblor!

Tremor! (For those of you who don't know that's basically a mini-earthquake). Today I finally felt my first temblor, they happen a lot here because Chile is on a huge fault line, however this was the first time I felt one. The temblor today which happened at around 8:00 p.m. was huge, in the epicenter was an 8.0 on the richter scale and in Santiago it was a 5.8. It was awesome- everything just started shaking and you could see everything rocking. My host brother ran into my room to make sure I know it was officially a temblor and we went outside to watch- you could even see the cars rocking back and forth. There was a threat of having a tsunami along the coast however it never happened.

I, along with my fellow exchange students in Chile, was extremely excited to finally experience my first temblor because 1. I'm in Chile, I have to experience at least one before I go and 2. it is a really cool feeling to have the ground moving under your feet. However most Chileans get really scared during temblors. In 2010 there was a HUGE earthquake here that destroyed tons of houses and had a death toll of around 525 people. For them it just brings back bad memories and fright because they've seen what happens when there is a real earthquakes.

But for us exchange students who are just living in this almost fantasy world without any true worries or responsibilities, it was bakan (Chilean slang for awesome).

¡VIAJE AL NORTE! NORTH TRIP!

This blog post is a little delayed due to internet issues but here is my blog post about my recent Rotary trip to the north of Chile from February 26th to March 5th. 9 days on a bus (including two overnights) with 42 exchange students from the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark, and Holland from Santiago to Iquique (a city 2 and a 1/2 hours south of Peru). It was simply wonderful. We all became one huge international family of exchange students traveling through the driest desert in the world, and that is pretty epic. 

I could go into every detail but I’m frankly too lazy so here is a picture summary. 

the group! a small offroading bus (didn't know there was such a thing) that we took to go to the border of  Chile and Bolivia to see llamas and beautiful mountains

LLAMA!! we had a big of a llama obsession on the trip. some of them (like this one) are decorated with colorful tassels attached to their ears for a local festival

with Mayella (Holland), Carmen (Holland, and Anna (Germany) swimming in the Isla Dama where we saw penguins, pelicans, sea lions, and dolphins

in a small village (population 250) located in the middle of the desert to donate personal hygiene products to a nun

with my best friend Macie represting the U.S. 

'swimming' in an olympic sized pool in Humberstone- an old mining village that was abandoned in the 60's

at the geysers of taito! altitude 4,200 meters

at the geysers, freezing at 7:00 a.m. (the coldest part of the day and when the most water leaves the geysers) 

swimming in a natural thermal pool

with my friends Macie (USA) and Mayella (Holland) in the Valley de la Luna at sunset

what we drove by for 9 days

the group!

in the desert town of San Pedro de la Atacama at a famous church with Ida (Denmark) and Macie

walking through Valley de la Luna with Robin (Germany) and Stuart (Canada). white stuff is salt, it usually isn't there but due to recent rain its been extracted to the surface

in the salt flats seeing flamingos

Valley de la Luna

our last night party- theme of switching genders

kissing llamas!

I can’t really explain it but Rotary trips are simply the best- exchange students rock. Spending 9 days in a bus driving through the desert could have the potential to be pretty boring and claustrophobic, however with exchange students this was not the case. Time spent on the bus was just as fun as the well welcomed time off. On the trip we were joined by exchange students in Chile’s northern and southern Rotary districts (I’m in the central district). Even though we had never met them until this trip, by the end of the week it seemed as if we had all been lifelong friends. We had so many crazy adventures and sleepless nights filled with power naps on the bus to keep us going. I learned so many jokes, stories, riddles, foreign slang, and random things which will just barely tide me over until the next (and last) Rotary trip in April to Easter Island.