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