EAP Retreat: Water Slides and Piscola

This past weekend was amazing, and made me so excited for the next 6 months!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE the people in my program.


Friday afternoon, we took a bus to Rancho El Añil in Cajon del Maipo, about an hour outside Santiago. We split up into cabins and headed straight for the pool (with a water slide, YEAH!). That evening, we listened to a talk by our director, Isaac, then had dinner and a birthday party for his 7-year-old son, who ran around and kissed every single girl on the cheek. Starting young! 


Saturday was our longest day of orientation, and we had several talks throughout the day, with plenty of pool time in between. After orientation, we walked down the street to try to find a store to get snacks, but all we found was a group of horses (with babies!), sheep, chickens and some rabbits (one had a mullet that looked way too human-like...not important but I just wanted to share) next to what I think was a restaurant but looked more like a fort made out of scraps of wood. I wish I had pictures of our walk down (it was gorgeous) and the rabbit, but I didn't bring my camera...I was told it would be stolen. Back at the ranch, we bought some pisco (a type of Chilean brandy that they drink all the time) and Chilean beer, and everyone just hung out in our room and outside all night. It was so fun and I loved meeting and spending time with everyone! 


We had all of Sunday free, and most of us decided to go hiking near the ranch after breakfast. The trail up was super steep, but definitely worth the view. 


Last night, back at home, I hung out with my host sister Pamela and a few of her friends. They were all sooo nice, but this whole language barrier thing is still pretty frustrating. I start Spanish class today, so hopefully it'll get easier soon!


Campus Oriente (where my Spanish classes are):

Rancho El Añil:

I Just Want Some Ranch Dressing!!!

Yesterday morning, we had a meeting at Campus Oriente, and were introduced to our program administrators and our Chilean student mentors. I've met a bunch of people in my program now, and I think we have a really good group. Everyone is super friendly and it's fun meeting people from all of the other UC's. Campus Oriente is gorgeous. It was a monastery until the church converted it into a school.

This morning, we had our Spanish oral placement exams. Two of the Spanish teachers gave us a topic, and a group of 4 of us had to have a conversation for 15 minutes while they listened. In the afternoon we left to Cajon del Maipo for our orientation retreat, about an hour outside Santiago. Our "resort" isn't much of a resort except for the fact that it has pools; we're all in cabins and it looks feels like summer camp! We got here around 4, swam for awhile, listened to a talk from our director, and dinner, beef and potatoes AGAIN. I love that meal but really? Every time? On the bright side, we got wine with dinner! Yeahhh, Chile! Free wine! We toasted to not studying in Spain like everyone else. (No offense to anyone who did/is/is going to)

I loooooove Santiago, but there are a few things that could use improvement:
- Water isn't free. It's hot and I'm always thirsty, and I can't afford to buy water all the time.
- Streets are all one-way, and traffic direction changes on certain roads at specific times throughout the day.
- Not too stoked on this food. Tomatoes EVERYWHERE, and no spice.
- Can I PLEASE get a glass of milk from a carton, not a box? And preferably refrigerated?
- No hablo Espanish.
- No screens on doors or windows = bugs.
- No air-conditioning.
- Buses will not stop for you unless you flail your arms like you're drowning.
- Having to constantly protect my stuff against pickpockets.
- How all of the gazillion strays decide to start barking as soon as I try to go to sleep.
- Olive oil and lemon on all salads. Just a hint of Ranch would be nice every once in awhile.
- The Chilean accent. Ay-ay-ay.

Mi Familia Chilena!!!

I'm all moved in with my host family! The whole process of meeting them was super stressful...we were told to meet at Campus Oriente at 12 for an orientation meeting with the other EAP students and all of the host families. Then as soon as we sat down in the church (where our meeting was), they announced that they were going to call our names one by one and send us home with our families. No meeting. And so there I was, still knowing nothing about my program, sitting in the car with my host mom, Santi (la señora) and her neighbors, another older couple who were also taking home an exchange student from my program. 

Mi nueva casa is in the Nuñoa neighborhood of Santiago, in a completely residential area that seems safe and pretty quiet (although Santi's neighbor friend was robbed last week...very comforting). It's 2 stories and very old and run-down by Orange County standards, but it's comfortable. As long as I have Wifi and my own room, I'm happy! I live with Santi, her daughter Pamela, and Pamela's two sons, Matias (4) and Gaspar (15 months). They're both sooo cute. I'm so glad I got a family with kids, it gives me something to do instead of sitting there akwardly trying to think of something to say in Spanish. There's also a guy that lives here, Fernando, and I'm still not really sure who he is...maybe Santi's son. He pretty much just plays computer games all day. Not one person here speaks a word of English, and I'm  exhausted just from trying to speak Spanish all day (emphasis on trying...I wouldn't call my attempt successful) and the frustration of not understanding anything. But I love Pamela!!! She's 23 and really friendly and fun, even though we rarely understand each other. She blasts American music like Rihanna and Bruno Mars, and sings along at the top of her lungs even though she doesn't know any of the words and just says what she thinks it sounds like. I showed her a picture of my family and she yelled "QUE QUAPOOO!!!" when she saw Michael and tells everyone how good-looking he is. She practically fainted when he accepted her Facebook request hahahahaha...Michael, if you're interested in older women, specifically single mothers, DING DING DING!!! I found your girl! 

Bedtimeee, gotta get up in 5 hours to walk to school for our real orientation. 


My amazing dinner at Como Aqua Para Chocolate:

Matias and Gaspar! (Stole these from Pame's Facebook)

Last Day of Freedom

I met some people from my program today who are all staying at my hostel and I'm sooooo excited to spend the next 6 months with them!!! Everyone is so nice and excited to be here, and I feel like we'll all get along really well. Most people I've met so far are from UCSB, but I've met 1 from Cal and 3 from Davis too. We ate dinner in Bellavista at a restaurant designed after the book Like Water for Chocolate and our table was set up to look like a bed, with rose petals and a pillow at the end. Shexy, huh? A little on the pricey side but definitely worth it.

Our program starts tomorrow! We're supposed to meet at Campus Oriente at 12 for our meeting, and then we go home with our homestay families. I feel like peeing my pants just thinking about it...not sure if it's out of fear or excitement but either way, we're all freaking out.

Pictures tomorrow, gotta go to bed!

FIRE!!!

Today started out really slow...I think I stayed in the same spot on the couch until about 3...then I went into Barrio Providencia with Anna and Chuck to try to find this English bookstore, but we couldn't find it so we ate ice-cream instead.

We went to dinner in Barrio Bellavista with this guy Jack from Australia who we met the other day. The plates here are really simple but they give you sooo muchhh foooooood. And the bread comes with salsa instead of butter, which I thought would be weird but is actually brilliant.

An old church caught on fire in Bellavista today, so all the streets around it were closed down and there were police all over the place. EXCITING!!! (I'm only saying that because I don't think anyone was hurt. If they were I take it back.) It was kinda fun watching the firemen put out the flames but a fire in Santiago only means the air is even worse now. Ash is never a good addition to smog. After dinner, we hung out at the Bicentenary Fountain that lights up in all different colors at night. So pretty!

Excited to meet more people from my program tomorrow!

Stop! Drop! ROLLLLL!!!

Bicentenary Fountain:

Just Flow...Flow.

This afternoon, Anna and I walked to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Precolumbian Art). Everyone says it's the one museum you can't miss in Santiago. It's small, but filled with ancient Latin American artifacts from the Maya and Inca and a lot of other early civilizations. There was a lot of pottery, and a bunch of small stone and clay sculptures, but the bigger statues and stone carvings were really cool to see. And I finally met someone that's in my program here in Santiago! This guy Armin who goes to UCSD met us outside the museum. There are a few other people who are already in the city but it's been practically impossible to coordinate meeting up with them when our only form of communication is Facebook.

We were starving by the time we left the museum but couldn't find food ANYWHERE. The city completely shuts down on Sundays. It felt really weird walking down the street and not seeing anyone outside, even on some of the main streets. We finally found a restaurant that was open, and we all got hot dogs. Hot dogs are served in real restaurants here and they're so different than at home. You can either get completo with onions, mayonnaise, and this hot tomato paste, or italiano with palta, an avocado spread, and usually the combination of toppings is bigger than the actual hot dog and is impossible to eat without getting it everywhere. But as they say in America, if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face, right?

We had a BBQ tonight! Deeeeeelicious. Some artist who's apparently famous in Chile was there because she did all the interior design for the hostel, and I pretty much love her and want to be her. She's crazy and hilarious and all she says is "Let it flow. Just flow. Feeling." The guys that work at the hostel are all good friends so even though only one person was actually working, they were all here just hanging out tonight and the BBQ somehow turned into a huge jam session with Pato (his name means duck?) on the piano and Rodrigo on the guitar. There's a British guy here who has a radio show and recites stand-up poetry who made up songs to all of their Spanish music, and sang along to all the English ones.

Another great day. Love it here!

Museum:

Lazy Bones Jones

Super lazy day. Just hung out in the hostel all day until around 9:00, when everyone in my dorm at the hostel went out for dinner in Barrio Brasil, the neighborhood we're in. Finally had my first Chilean steak and pisco sour! Sooo good!

After dinner, I went out to a discoteque called in Bellavista with Aldi. It was so different from anything I've been to, even in Argentina. Every song was in Spanish, even though every song I've heard on the radio here has been in English. And everyone there knew every. single word. I had so much fun just watching them all go crazy. It wasn't like the US at all. No one was dancing with each other, everyone was actually just there for the music and dancing in groups or on their own. Even groups of just guys would all dance together and sing every word and seemed like they were having so much more fun than most people at clubs or parties at home.

This is Lucy. She has her own facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001903528540