It's not goodbye, it's just see you later

I can't believe the time is here and I'm leaving Chile. The past 5 months have been some of the most amazing months of my life and I am so thankful everyday for the opportunities I've had here. I feel like I've grown so much as a person here and the experience has opened my eyes up to an entirely new world.

Here are a few things I've learned throughout my time here:

1. My role as a U.S. citizen abroad. The role of the U.S. in Chilean history is vast and sad. From helping to create a terrible dictatorship to financing the disappearance and murder of thousands of Chilean citizens, the U.S. government has always had a part in Chilean history. For that reason, being from the U.S. has always felt a bit odd to me here. Not only do I have to carry the weight around with me knowing that where I'm from has done this, I also stick out like a sore thumb. Between my light complexion and blonde hair (in the U.S. I would never say I'm blonde but here I very much am), I am obviously not Chilean. So then people always ask where I'm from and when I say los Estados Unidos, there's a lot of ways people take it. Either they're jealous, they look at me with disgust, or they're fascinated by a gringa that can speak Spanish decently.

In addition to all of this, the U.S. culture has a huge influence on Chilean culture, specifically popular culture. One of my favorite things to do in Chile is go to the clubs and dance. Before I came to Chile, I was so excited to go out and listen to reggaeton and Chilean music in the clubs. However, about 90% of the music is from the U.S. At first I was completely surprised. But then I talked some to my host sister about music and her favorite artists are Adele and Taylor Swift. Not only does the U.S. influence music, but a lot of little things like shop names and labels are U.S. words or names. One of the biggest grocery stores here is called Lider and it's a Walmart company. The biggest food brand here is Nestle, and a lot of stores have english words in the titles because that supposedly makes it more high end.

The most important thing I've learned about being "estadounidense" (what they call people from the U.S. here) is that people from the U.S. aren't they only Americans. If someone here asks you where you're from and you say America, they're confused because they're American too. America doesn't just consist of the U.S., it's a multitude of countries. The U.S. isn't the center of the world, as sometimes we like to believe. We are just a small part of what is considered America and I think this is an important lesson that everyone should learn.

2. My ability to live without things I'm used to. I have gone the last five months without seeing my parents, hugging my dog, or seeing my best friends. And surprisingly, I've survived. For all who know me, I'm definitely an introvert and a homebody. I love being away from home but also being able to come back when I want to. With this experience, I couldn't do that. I couldn't go home and see my dog or my mom and I managed to survive.

3. My ability to adapt. The Chilean culture is entirely different than what I'm used to. I had to get used to living with a family again and letting someone know where I am at all times, living without the people that I'm used to, and eating food that I am not accustomed to eating. Despite all this, here I am five months later still alive. There were definitely moments where I was laying on my bed crying about the fact that I didn't think I could live in Chile for one more moment. But I lived through them and I definitely think I'm stronger because of it. (Of course it's a lot easier to say that on this side of things, but y'know we'll just go with it for now.)

4. Our role in the world is really insignificant. To be honest, this one seems a little silly. But I think my mantra of the trip has been, "We don't matter." Obviously, we do matter. But I have had the opportunity to experience everything from giant glaciers and mountains, to one of the driest deserts in the world, to seeing another universe. In Torres del Paine, I got to see a giant glacier, giant mountains, and natural rock formations unlike anything I've ever seen in the U.S. In San Pedro de Atacama, I basically saw the moon. I was in one of the driest deserts in the world. And on my astrology tour, I literally saw another universe with my naked eye. So yeah, maybe it is the end of the world for me when I ran out of milk for my morning coffee. But in the grand scheme, that doesn't matter. These amazing places created by nature, that matters more than running out of milk.

5. Food matters. Now, I have definitely adapted to the food here. That being said, I can't wait to get back to the U.S. and actually eat healthy again. The three foods that are eaten at every meal here are: bread, mayonnaise, and salt. I'm not kidding when I say they are at every meal. The average Chilean eats about 12 pieces of bread a day. A very typical Chilean breakfast is a cheese and butter sandwich. Ew. No thank you. Lunch usually consists of a salad (yay!) but then the dressing for the salad is mayonnaise. All the lunch food is cooked with a handful of salt and another sprinkle when it's done. Dinner isn't really dinner. It's sandwiches again, this time with mayonnaise, cheese, and ham. You get a tea too, except it has two tablespoons of sugar in it.

Having said all that, I really can't wait to get back to the U.S. and just eat a salad. Anyone who sees me within the first month or two of me being home will notice that I've gained weight here. And a decent amount for it to be this noticeable. For those who see me, don't mention it, please. I know I've gained weight and I'm working to get rid of it. The food we eat really does make a difference. I feel tired here a lot and I think that has to do a lot with how I'm eating. I definitely don't get the recommended amount of fruits and veggies, and eat way more carbs than I should. I also overeat here, a problem I never had in the U.S. Food matters and I can't wait to start eating like my normal self again.

6. My culture isn't necessarily the best. There are aspects of the Chilean culture that I have entirely loved. The biggest difference between Chilean and U.S. culture (for me) is that kids live with their parents a lot of the time until they're in their 30's. And even if they don't live with their parents, they call them everyday. There have been plenty of times I've been with my Chilean friends and they had to leave the room because it was the the time that they called their mom everyday. Whereas in the U.S., it's common that I don't talk to my parents for weeks at a time. There are aspects of the culture, such as this, that are definitely better in the Chile and that I hope to bring back to the U.S.

7. The complaints that I have everyday in the U.S. are definitely not always the biggest problems. I have seen extreme poverty and suffering here. I listened to the terrible disappearances of loved ones and family members of almost every family in Chile. I've heard terrible stories of domestic violence, abuse, rape, and inequality. Of course, all of these things exists in the U.S., but the magnitude and prevalence here is completely different. There have been so many times when I've been walking home alone, both at night and during the day, and I've been afraid that someone is going to come rob me, rape me, or kill me. These fears exist at a level that's nowhere near the level they exist in the U.S. for me. So all the complaints I have in the U.S. about being tired or cold are nothing in comparison to what some people live through.

8. The U.S. isn't the center of my universe. There are plenty of other places I can live and succeed. I have grown up with the idea that I will always spend my entire life in the U.S. But this experience has taught me without any uncertainty that I can survive and strive in another country. Because of this experience, I really would love to live in a foreign country and teach English. I have loved being able to live in a different culture than I'm used to and being able to do it again would be amazing. Although I have definitely struggled with having to speak Spanish all the time, I have also loved it. Coming back to a place where I would be able to do that would be amazing.

9. I am so excited to get back to a very liberal society. My time in Chile has been amazing and completely eye opening. That being said, it has also opened my eyes to the liberalness of U.S. society. I can't wait to get home and be able to openly speak my thoughts. I can't wait to tell people I'm Jewish, and not be afraid that they won't accept me. I can't wait to go home and not hear people being homophobic, racist, and classist at every moment of the day. Of course all of these things exist in the U.S. as well, but not nearly to the same extent that they exist here. The host student who was at my house before me was a gay guy from the U.S. The amount of horrible things I've heard against him for being gay is insane. The amount of racist comments at lunch or once have been numerous. And the amount of jokes made about people who don't look like the average Chilean has been vast. I can't wait to get back to my liberal society.

10. I have loved traveling and loved Chile, but the U.S. always takes first place in my heart. I missed so many major events in the U.S. this past 6 months, and I wish I could have been there to celebrate. I missed the Warriors winning the NBA finals, the U.S. Women's National Soccer team winning the World Cup, and most importantly, I missed the Supreme Court ruling gay marriage legal. I wish I could have been there to celebrate all these events, but I know I get to go home and celebrate anyways.

I can't imagine not being in this country. It really is going to be so weird going back to the U.S. I have made so many friends here, both Chilean and North American, and the last week of goodbyes has been incredible sad. But the saddest goodbye is definitely my goodbye to Chile. So Chile, thank you for everything you've taught me, for allowing me to grow, giving me some crazy experiences and stories, letting me travel through insane climates, and giving me some of the best 5 months of my life. John Steinbeck once said, "People don't take trips, trips take people."

Goodbye to Chile and everyone who has made my experience what it is. I'll never forget you. Thank you for everything.

To the U.S.: I'll see you in a little over 24 hours.

Classes in paro

First, let me start off by saying that I only have three more weeks left in Chile and I honestly don't know where the time went. It feels like I just got to the airport to meet the 36 other US students with whom I was to share this adventure. I am grateful everyday to have been given this opportunity, one that has shaped who I am immensely.

After tomorrow, I will be done with the four out of my five classes. We had my final Chilean culture class on Thursday and I was shocked that it had flown by so quickly. We spent the class, all six "gringos" and our professor in a coffee shop getting coffee and cake just talking about life. For my Latin American history class, I turned in my 20 page research paper on feminism (probably one of the most sad papers I've ever had to write in my life, writing about the killing of women just for being women) and was out of there. For my final Juegos Mapuche class, we had a BBQ, drinking beer with our professor and eating choripan, aka chorizo with bread. My final Chilean history class will be presentations about different landmarks in Chile. Then we get to the complicated class, my linguistics class. To explain why this is the one class that isn't finishing this week, I need to explain the education in Chile.

Somewhere after the fall of Pinochet's dictatorship, students were promised free higher, university level education. I'm not entirely positive where that promise came from, maybe Michelle Bachelet's first presidential term in 2006? Regardless, somewhere along the way, that was something promised to the students. After years of waiting for free education with no success, in 2011 the students carried out major protests for free education. They had marches, strikes and "tomas," or taking the university. For three months, the students of all levels in all of Chile shut down the education system. There were no classes happening, the schools were closed because the students were living in them, and there were marches every day. Here is one of my favorite protests I've seen that took place in front of the presidential palace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDRINm7411Y

To be honest, I'm not really sure how that asks for free education, but it's just a fun idea.

Flash forward from July 2011 to May 2015. Still, free education in Chile doesn't exist. And the students are pissed. They're tired of paying for education. So again, marches and "paros" (or strikes) start again. They aren't as extreme as they were in 2011, but still, many classes have been cancelled and a lot of the marches have turned violent. Like all the universities in Chile, the university I'm at, La Católica, has a board of students that directs the school. They get together and allow all the students to vote in each individual major whether the students want to do a march or a strike. So for the past 3 weeks, at least 2 days a week, the entire university has been in strike. No Chilean classes happen. The classes only for exchange students still happen, which is why I've finished with my other classes. Most of the time these strikes end after a couple days and then everyone goes back to class. But there are a few majors that voted to have a "paro indefinido", or an indefinite strike. And one of those majors is the Castellano major, the one that my linguistics class is in.

So for the last four weeks, that class has been in paro. I haven't had a class in four weeks. For the Chilean students, this is fine and dandy. They just cut their winter break down and continue with class when they decide the paro is over. But since I'm an exchange student with a set date I'm leaving this country (July 12th!), I'm having more troubles. I need to have a grade in the class before I come back to the US, and we still have four graded assignments left in the class. I've been in contact with my professor and she has been insanely unhelpful (that's what I get from the disorganization of Chile). So as I try to figure out how I'm going to complete three assignments and take a final exam, the Chilean students are partying and bumming around the house all day, saying that they're "fighting for free education."

I have talked extensively with my Chilean friends and my host family about the paro and everyone agrees that it makes no sense. It doesn't actually do anything to help the Chilean students, it just means they don't have to go to class. I am all for fighting for your rights, something that happens a lot in Chile, it seems like there's a protest every other day, but I also don't think not going to class is doing any good. The students are still paying for their education, now they're just wasting it. They're paying to sit at home and party. It seems ridiculous to me.

I have no hopes of going back to class before I go back to the US. I really don't think it's going to happen. So now I have to figure out how to get a grade in my class. It's extremely frustrating but also kind of amazing to see. This is something that happens in all of Chile, from the most northern city of Arica to the south in Punta Arenas. Chile may be the most disorganized place I've ever been, but the fact remains that this type of organization would never happen in the US. Fighting for free education? That would never happen in the US. And for this, I'm in awe of the Chilean students.

One Month Left

I have exactly one month left out of my six month stint in South America and I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly. This truly has been the experience of a lifetime and I am so sad to be leaving Chile. That being said, here are a few of the things I'm most looking forward to when I get back to the US:

• my dog Alvin (who, of course, my mom has been so nicely sending me pictures of just to remind me that she can hug and cuddle him and I can't)
• Mexican food, which, seemingly, doesn't exist down here
• salad (the "salad" here is iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions with no dressing)
• REAL COFFEE (drip coffee doesn't exist in this country, it's all instant coffee and it's terrible)
• being able to walk down the street and not get hooted and hollered at
• understanding everything going on around me (although this has improved drastically from when I first got here, there are definitely still moments where I feel like a lost exchange student)
• driving
• being legal in the US (my 21st birthday was here so I haven't had my first legal drink in the US yet!)
• being in a country where everything isn't ass backwards and belly up (Chile has been amazing but this country is all backwards. None of the public offices work like they should, students shut down the university for days on end because of strikes, everything closes in the middle of the day to sleep, you eat lunch at 2:00pm and dinner at 10:00pm, parties don't start until 1:00am and you party until 8:00am. Suffice it to say, this country has me all turned around with what's normal)

There are plenty of more things I could add to the list, especially food I'm excited to eat and people I'm excited to see, but I figured I'd keep it short. It's unreal to me that there's only a month left and thinking about it makes me want to weep like a baby. I don't think I could have picked a better place to study abroad and I am so thankful everyday that I have the opportunity to do so. So, for the next month, I'm going out and experiencing all that Chile has to offer. I want to make this month as memorable as I can.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

This weekend, my program, CIEE, took everyone to San Pedro de Atacama, one of the driest deserts in the world in northern Chile. We left Thursday morning and got back to Valparaíso on Sunday evening.

When we first got there on Thursday, we had about an hour to explore town. It was not what I expected at all. All the buildings were made of adobe and one story. The streets were made of dirt and there seemed to be a tourist agency or souvenir shop in every other building. After exploring town, we had a short lesson about the history of the people of Atacama and the land. After dinner, we went to sleep in anticipation of a full day the next day.

Saturday started with a hike at Pukara de Kitor. It ended up being two mountains that we hiked up and got amazing overarching views of the desert and the Andes that surrounded it.

Then we went hiking in a place called Devils Gorge. It used to be a gorge with a river running through it, but because we were in a desert it dried up. In order to get there, our bus took us to a certain point and then had to drop us off because there was a river it couldn't cross. So my entire program had to take off our shoes and cross the river in order to get to the hike. It was pretty funny seeing a group of 36 students and 3 trip leaders up to their knees in the river.

After lunch, we went to the National Flamingo Reserve, which encompasses the Atacama Salt Flats. The Salt Flats were bunches of salt that took over the entre ground. I tasted some of it and it just tasted like table salt! It was incredible. The flamingos live in the lagoons of the salt flats and eat the small crustaceans that live in the water. There are three types of flamingos in the reserve: Andean flamingos, Chilean flamingos, and James' flamingos. The Andean and Chilean flamingos looked very similar to the flamingos we have in the US. But the James' flamingo was really small and like a bird. The difference between all of them and the ones in the US is that the ones in Chile could fly!

Our third day started bright and early at 5:30 am. We drove two hours to Tatio Geysers to watch the sun rise. It was so incredibly cold (like 14 degrees farenheight). The geysers were really cool (I had never seen any before) but the cold made it hard to appreciate them. One of the coolest parts was that we ate eggs that had been hard boiled in the geysers! They tasted like normal hard boiled, which was incredible. In addition to the geysers, we got to go to hot springs that were heated by the geysers. It was fun! The hot springs weren't as warm as I had hoped though, and could only spend about 10 minutes in them before I froze.

After lunch, we went to Death Valley and Moon Valley. Moon Valley was probably the most beautiful place we went in Atacama. We hiked up to the top of a sand hill and watched the sunset over the Andes. It was absolutely incredible. The pictures I took can't even come close to doing it justice. The reds, pinks, and oranges of the sunset were so beautiful.

That night we did my favorite thing of the entire trip: we went to an observatory. According to scientists, Atacama is the best place in the world to go star gazing and I can entirely see why. The tour started with a PowerPoint lesson of the sky. Our guide told us a really interesting story about how the Incas saw negative space in the Milky Way and saw different animals in it; they saw a sheppard, a big llama, a little llama, a snake, a frog, and many more. They believed that when the sheppard, which is the first negative space in the Milky Way, touched the ground, it was time to plant their harvest.

After the presentation, we went outside and looked up at the stars. It was INCRESIBLE! Seriously probably the coolest thing I've ever seen. You could see everything. I clearly saw the Milky Way and all the negative spaces and animals, Jupiter (which is always the first star visible in Chile), and another galaxy.

Then we went up to a giant telescope on top of the observatory. Through the telescope we saw the lines on Jupiter, Saturn and its rings, and a black hole. It was absolutely incredible.

Unfortunately the next day we had to leave. San Pedro de Atacama was easily one of the most beautiful places I've been in Chile. The nature was incredible and the desert was unlike any desert I've seen in the US. I'm sad that my time there is over but I'm so glad I got the chance to experience it.

Mendoza, Argentina

This weekend, I traveled to Mendoza, Argentina with one of my Chilean friends. We left at 10:00pm on Thursday evening, spent 3 hours waiting at border control in order to cross into Argentina, and finally got into Mendoza around 9:00am on Friday morning. We got really lucky with weather the entire trip; it was around 80ª everyday.

Going to Mendoza, I knew very little. I knew it was a wine town in Argentina, not too far from the Andes. I expected the Argentinian version of Napa. However, that’s not what I got at all. Mendoza is actually a pretty big city. The population is 115,041 people. Mendoza is the capital of Mendoza Province (which are the equivalent to states in the US). It actually reminded me a lot more of San Francisco than Napa, but if you traveled an hour outside the city into the suburbs, you got into wine and olive oil territory.

We spent a good portion of Friday hanging out after not getting much sleep the night before. The one thing we managed to do was walk to Parque San Martín, a giant park in the middle of Mendoza. The park really reminded me of Golden Gate Park in terms of how it looked. There was a giant lake in the middle that we walked around, dirt paths everywhere, people running, and trees everywhere you looked. One thing about South America is that juice is really popular here; you have it with almost every meal and it’s everywhere you look. So, not surprising, there was a woman making homemade juices and smoothies in the park and we decided to stop and get some. You got to choose the fresh fruit that went into your smoothie (I chose mango and Eduardo got mango, pineapple, and kiwi) and then she made them into a smoothie. It was probably one of the best smoothies I’ve ever had, and my biggest regret was not going back to get another one.

Saturday was spent trekking around mountains in Parque San Martín, specifically Cerro La Gloria, and walking around the city. From the top of Cerro San Gloria, you got a panoramic view of the city. It was incredible! The entire city is surrounded by the Andes so everywhere you look there’s mountains. At the top of the cerro there’s a statue paying tribute to the Army of the Andes, the army used to free Chile from the Spanish Empire in 1817. I also found some flowers that grew in our backyard when I was growing up so I made sure to take a selfie to send to my mom.

Sunday, we went to Las Termas, which are hot springs an hour and a half outside of Mendoza. I had never been to hot springs before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they were really cool! Because it’s the off season, it’s fall here, half the pools were closed so only 12 were open. Each pool was a different temperature and they recommended only spending 10 minutes in each pool. So every 10 minutes you moved to a pool with a different temperature. Half the pools were inside and half were outside, but I definitely liked the pools outside more. When you were outside, you were surrounded once again by the Andes.

Monday, our bus didn’t leave until 10:00pm again so we had basically the whole day to hang out. Eduardo doesn’t drink for religious reasons, but if I was in Mendoza I was going wine tasting. So I dragged him out to a vineyard with me to go wine tasting. It was probably my favorite thing I did in Mendoza. We tried five different kinds of wine: a chardonnay, three kinds of red wine (one of which was a Malbec, the most well known wine from this region), and a sparkling wine. Since I turned 21 while in Chile, this was my first wine tasting and it’s definitely something I’ll be repeating. The whole thing was in Spanish so I’m excited to come back to the US and do it in English and be able to understand everything. I bought a few bottles of wine, of course I had to get a Malbec to bring back to the US with me. When I did the conversion, I realized the winery was selling the wine for a little over $8. Definitely the best $8 bottle of wine I’ve ever bought.

The other little known thing about Mendoza is that they have a lot of olive oil and olive groves. So, of course, I had to go check one out. We did a tour of a grove and then a tour of olive mill. The guide kept asking us questions, and Janell would be proud, I blew the guide away with my knowledge. After, we got to do a tasting of some of the oils they do. Unfortunately, the mill we went to doesn’t do very many different kinds; they only do one type of blend, and then four different infused oils. The infused oils were garlic, oregano, rosemary, and basil. As good as they were, I do have to say that those from Olive This Olive That are much better. However, after not having had good olive oil in three months, it was nice to get a little fix.

 

I’ve been in Chile for a little over two months now, and have grown really accustomed to the Spanish there. However, the Spanish in Argentina is vastly different and I definitely noticed that it was harder for me to understand. Had you asked me two months ago if I would have been able to tell the difference between someone from Argentina and Chile just from hearing them speak, I would have called you crazy. It’s really interesting to see how much my ear has changed in just two months and I’m excited to see what happens in the next three.

Santiago, Chile

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Santiago for 3 days and 2 nights. Originally, I went to Santiago with my program to visit El Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos, in English the museum of memoria and human rights, for my history of Chile class. However, I stayed in with three friends from the program.

Our day Friday started bright and early with our bus leaving from the university at 7:45am. After our 2 hour bus ride to Santiago, we stared at La Moneda which is the Chilean version of the White House. We got there just in time to see the changing of the guards. There were tons of people surrounding La Moneda taking pictures, drums going, and of course, plenty of carabineros (Chilean police officers) changing position. From there, we went to the museum. The museum was one of the most eye opening places I have ever been to; in my journal, the only relation I could think to give it would be going to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. The museum is a historical museum about the Golpe de Estado, the coup d'état, on September 11, 1973 in Chile.

For those who don't know much about the history of Chile, from 1970-1973 Chile had a president, Salvador Allende, who identified heavily with communism. Although he did a lot of good things for Chile, because of his ties to the Soviet Union, the U.S. placed a blanket around Chile so that other countries couldn't do trade with them. Because of this, during Allende's reign, there was severe rationing in the country. Eventually, Allende was forced out of office and his successor, Augosto Pinochet, ruled in a dictatorship for the next 17 years. During this dictatorship, Pinochet approved many actions, such as torture, against human rights. Pinochet took hundreds of thousands of Chileans from their homes and tortured them, eventually killing them.

The museum talks about the coup d'état and what happened in Chile during Pinchoet's reign. There were interviews with people who we're tortured and had their families taken by Pinochet, and it was one of the saddest things I've heard. The amount of pain that existed during that period of time is unreal.

I spent Saturday and Sunday exploring Santiago with three of my friends. We went to the central market that sells fruits, vegetables, and fish and had lunch at one of the fish restaurants. I got a salmon and it was the best salmon I've ever had. Considering I didn't start eating fish until five months ago, who would have thought I would have started loving it. We also went to Cerro San Cristóbal which is a big hill in the middle of Santiago that overlooks the entire city. It had amazing views of the city and you could see the Andes behind the city.

Overall, it was a really fun weekend in Santiago and I will definitely be going back soon.

Quema de Judas

Feliz Pascua! Or for those who don't speak Spanish, Happy Easter! Yesterday was my first major holiday in Valparaíso and it was pretty fun. I got to experience a cultural event unlike anything I've experienced in the US and it's called Quema de Judas, or in English, the burning of Judis.

My friend Paloma and I went high into the hills of Valparaíso to a little square called Plaza Waddington. We got empanadas for dinner from a little panaderia right across the street, and the headed over with the masses to watch the Quema de Judas. There were many families and kids there, all there to watch the burning.

There was a giant doll built of paper in the middle of the square, and it was honestly one of the ugliest things I've ever seen. A group of drummers started the festivities off while someone lit something that looked like a giant sparkler. Then they lit the giant doll on fire. It was pretty amazing seeing how everyone reacted to the experience.

The significance is that you're burning away the old year and all your past problems so that you can go into the new year without anything from the old year holding you back.