Not Likes but Loves

First off, I’d like to say that I’m sorry for not keeping everyone updated day to day like an actual blog is supposed to do. It has been crazy busy here so basically every night, when I finally got home, I would just knock out.

SOOOOOOOO

I’ve decided that I’m going to do three posts right in a row. In this one, I'm going to be telling you all the things that I didn't just like about the trip but the things that I LOVED about the trip.

Let’s get started! Where should I begin?!

Chile is such an amazing place. I highly recommend everyone to travel here at least once in their life. In all honesty, I highly recommend all of the places I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to. Traveling just opens your eyes in a way that words can’t even describe. It brings a whole new outlook on life and depending on where you travel to, you’ll discover something new each time.

I’m going to start with the weather.

Oh.

My.

God.

When we first arrived in Santiago, it was a little hot but I didn’t mind because it wasn’t the freezing cold that was back home. However, we did a couple three-hour walking tours around the city. Now, don’t get me wrong. I really did enjoy them because they were very informative and interesting. But let me tell you, I was sweating like a pig by the end of it. Who am I kidding? I was sweating throughout the whole thing. I quickly found out that the little coins that you accumulate throughout will become your best friend because one coin can be worth 500 pesos which you can buy a bottle of water (SIN gas) with. But in all seriousness, I highly recommend Tours4Tips because you can have your tour be done all in Spanish, English, or a combination of the two. They are very nice and very informative as well and will answer any question you have.

Our first three days were jam packed with walking tours, exploring, and learning a lot about the history of Chile. We did have some free time where we could do whatever we wanted to do. Most of us went to go and try the food (shocker right). But after those few days, we took a bus to Vina Del Mar.

Let me just tell you. Vina is freaking gorgeous. The weather was sheer perfection, it was right on the coast and within walking distance to the beach.

While here, we met the other students that we would be working with to plan this summer camp for kids ages 7-12 give or take. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. I met some lifelong friends within a very short period.

The planning part was a little stressful at times because there were so many ideas being thrown around that it got a little chaotic sometimes. However, it all worked out because the camp went so smoothly!

I absolutely loved the summer camp. The campers were so much fun to be around. They had this attitude towards everything that made you happy and smile. They really wanted to learn as many things in English but also wanted to teach us some things in Spanish. Mixing cultures like that is what I live for! I love the fact that even though there is somewhat of a language barrier, you can still communicate with others and still make friends and memories, amazes me. It was super hard to say goodbye to them. I can’t even tell you the amount of hugs were exchanged between everyone at the camp.

The day after the camp ended, we went back to Santiago. We visited this memory museum and it was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. It was very hard to take it all in because of how real it is. There were times as I was walking around that I would start to tear up. I couldn’t even imagine living through that or anything like that. One of my favorite parts of the museum was when you first walk into the building. There is a wall that has pictures hanging up and you notice that it makes out worlds. It isn’t until you actually walk up to it that you see that the pictures are actual pictures of people being tortured and killed. I had no words.

All in all, the trip as a whole was really great. It was very memorable and makes me want to go back in the very near future!

Welp… That’s it for this post!

Stay classy my friends : )

Much to Learn

So far, this trip has been amazing. The weather is super super nice. I've already gotten a little sunburnt but it's okay because it'll turn to tan.

For this blog post, we were asked to discuss something that we've learned and reflect on it.

One thing that I thought was very interesting was when we went to Cemetario General de Santiago. We were on a walking tour (three hours remember...) and the tour guide stated that this particular cemetery is larger than over 100 football fields.

Just the thought of how large this place is was incredible to me... Mostly because I would one hundred percent get lost.

But anyways, after the tour, we returned to the cemetery after lunch. Our professor, Dr. Rojas, took us to Violeta Parra's resting place. It had many flowers around in and after hearing her story it was very interesting. If you don't know much about Violeta Parra, I highly recommend looking her up and also listening to her music. Also, if you ever get the chance to travel to Chile, you should visit her museum in Santiago.

The next resting place we visited was Victor Jara's. We saw his original burial, which is still kept up. The outside is painted red so it stands out. After the war was over, they transferred his body to a bigger tomb. And let me just tell you, it was incredible. The amount of little things people left for him and how it was all put together and kept neat.

We also saw a few other famous graves throughout walking around. This place was incredible. Granted, a cemetery is definitely not incredible. However, I think because of the size and the amount of people and how it is all kept up is just amazing. I was very impressed.

This experience really stuck with me because it was incredible to see. We don't have anything like that in the United States as far as I know.

Even though we have already learned a lot, there is still so much to take in.

Until next time...

Stay classy my friends : )

Critical Incident

For this blog post, we were asked to talk about a critical incident that has occurred so far on this trip using the DIE model.

For New Year's Eve, Missi, Liv, and I went to the beach in Vina Del Mar to watch the fireworks. We had bought tickets earlier in the day to this club/party after the fireworks. However, we found out a little too late that in order to get to the party we would have to take multiple different means of transportation. We also found out that we wouldn't even arrive to the party until about 2:30 or 3 o'clock in the morning.

We had heard that Chileans party until very early in the morning on New Year's, however, we were definitely not expecting this. So at first we thought "well we already bought the tickets so let's go." But when we were trying to get on the second micro (it's basically a public bus), people were pushing and shouting and (in a way) fighting to get on. After that, we said no way and decided to go home.

In this critical incident, I learned that because of the language barrier and the different culture, we should be clarifying a lot more. We didn't ask the right questions and we just assumed which definitely was not the smartest.

But all in all, my time here in Chile has been amazing so far. I can't wait to start working with everyone! So until next time...

Stay classy my friends : )