Past Weekend

My host family has another house in Ninhue, which is about a 30 or so minute drive from Chillan.  It is a very "rustic" spot, mostly of farmland and not as many houses.  My family has a much larger house there compared to the one in Chillan.  At the country house we have a swimming pool, tennis court, ping pong table, and three dogs! I've never been a dog person, but I am becoming to like them very much.  My host Mom's parents live across from our house and own a lot of farmland.  Last weekend my host Dad showed me around the land.  The have lots of animals, including horses, chickens, sheep, rabbits, cows, etc. It's a great spot, and the views of the mountains from there are so pretty.  It's really nice to go there because there's no WiFi, so it's a great opportunity for me to speak more Spanish and just hang out with my family without distractions from friends back home and those kinds of things.  Quality family bonding time!

The past weekend I got to see a little bit more of Chile.  My family took me to see the beach!  It was about 45 minute drive from Ninhue to the first part of the beach that we stopped at.  I was so excited to see the ocean.  It's gorgeous there, I can't wait until the summer to go swimming!  They have this seaweed that basically looks like a black garden hose that you can eat.  I just couldn't get myself to try it this trip, but maybe next time!  There were a couple of surfers and when they came out of the water they would just walk up to the pile of seaweed a break themselves off a piece of it and eat it!  It was an interesting thing to see! The last place we visited on the beach was basically like a mini mountain that had parts were you could walk through to the other side and then at high tide it would be filled with water.  It is also a place were people come to pray, there were various religious statues inside of it.  It was really cool though.  It was also great to see more of Chile, I hope to do more traveling in the future while I am here!

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First Days of School!

I had my first three days of school this week at Colegio Concepcion de Chillán.  Besides the fact that I have no idea what the teachers are saying half the time, school is going okay.  It's exhausting though having to get back into the routine of getting up early and its a long day.  Right now it is really frustrating to no understand what's going on and what everyone is saying, but I know that will change soon and I will be able to follow along.  Luckily enough I recognize some of the material being taught in some subjects which is good because then I have an idea of what they might be talking about! 

Here in Chile the school schedule is a lot different than what I am used to in Vermont, but I like it a lot here! I have school from 8am-1pm, then go home for lunch and go back to school from 3pm-6pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Those days are really long, I don't usually end up getting home until 6:45pm and by that point I am absolutely exhausted.  On Thursday and Friday I only have school from 8am-1pm, not bad! I prefer those days a lot more!  I take the bus to school too, but it's no yellow school bus here.  The bus is basically an old premier bus, it's so funny.  Most of the streets are pretty small and consist of very tight turns so it's always an interesting ride to say the least. 

In school here you stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers switch classrooms.  I have History, Math, Biology, "Lenguaje" (which is Spanish class), English, Philosophy, PE, Chemistry, Physics, and Elective.  I don't have all these classes everyday which is good, because I am totally and completely lost in Physics, and Philosophy and Chemistry.  I don't even know if I could take those in English..so they are a struggle right now! I haven't had English class yet because it is earlier in the week, but I look forward to it!  Each student chooses an Elective class, there are four to choose from, and in my case it's basically another 2 hours of Biology and then I also have Geometry on Friday.  Friday is only your elective class.  I understand some of the History and recognize some of the Math and Biology since I have taken those classes before.

My classmates are great, they are so welcoming and are always asking me questions and practicing their English with me!  It's funny to hear them speak English, but then again I must sound pretty funny too trying to speak Spanish with them!  My first day they threw me a surprise welcome party!  They made me a poster that said, "Welcome Emma" with a Vermont picture and a Chilean picture with an airplane connecting them.  We had some food and they played American music for me!  It was really fun, and it was so nice of them!  They speak slow and repeat everything for me which is great!  I have a great class and I can't wait to get to know them all better as the semester progresses. 

First Week!

It's hard to believe, but a little over one week ago I stepped on a plane and traveled 5,600 miles away from home for the year to study abroad as an exchange student. It has been quite a transformation from living in Vermont to switching continents and living in Chile!  Even though it has only been one week of a 11 month exchange, I know that this is truly the best decision I have ever made. I am so happy that I am here, and I couldn't ask for a more welcoming family, they are amazing.  I am so grateful.

The first day and a half I questioned myself what I was doing and thought I was crazy at first to take this on and step completely out of my comfort zone.  That thought is completely gone now, and I feel very comfortable with my host family and feel a part of their family.  They tell me that my Spanish is improving and that is a great thing to hear! I start school tomorrow, I am very nervous, but looking forward to it too! I look forward to going to school because I can begin to start my "life" here by making friends and having a routine.  From going to school and speaking more and more I know my Spanish will begin to pick up and I am so excited for that! I real conversation instead of si or no all the time!  Yesterday we drove to Santiago to drop my host sister, Valentina, at the airport.  She is traveling abroad as well to the United States! So I wish her the best of luck and I know she will do great!

It is only the beginning and I know I have many more experiences to come my way while I am here and I look forward to each and every one of them.  I know that this year will fly by and be over before I know it, so I don't want to waste a single minute!  Like one of my cousins said to me the day before I left, " Open your mind and your heart and let it all happen!  And be aggressive- try everything."  My goal is to really follow those words of wisdom and really make this the time of my life! 

Updates!

I have only officially spent 2 days in Chile with my host family, but it already feels like I've been here for longer!  I am still adjusting to all my new surroundings, which is still difficult because there really isn't that much here that reminds me of my home.  I also think that is a good thing though.  I have been keeping busy too which is good.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to meet one of my host families old neighbors that had lived down the street.  She is now 18, but she had spent the last 8 years living in New York.  Aka, she spoke ENGLISH! She helped me translate to the family and explain things to me about school and life here in Chile.  It was really nice to have met her and she said if I ever need anything she will help me out!  It's so nice to have someone that can help me, especially in the beginning when it's very hard to communicate with the family.  I have been saying si (yes) quite a bit!  My host sister Valentina, and my translator, Pia, took me to my new school to show me my classroom and the school in general.  The school is so nice, much bigger and nicer than my school in Vermont.  I probably won't want to go back! In Chile, from what I understand, you stay in the same classroom with the same people and the teachers change classrooms.  That was a sigh of relief, now I won't get lost as much!  I met many of Valentina's friends and they all seem very nice and are excited to have an exchange student, they were all practicing their English with me!  It was pretty funny, but I must sound pretty funny to them too! I think once I start school my Spanish will become much better and I won't miss home as much either because I will be busy with school and making friends and adjusting to that too!  I start next week after Valentina leaves for the United States!  After I saw the school we went into the town, where the mall is and various shops, it's a busy place!  We bought my shoes for school, basic black flat shoes..different! Last night at dinner I also gave my family my gifts for them from Vermont, they loved everything and now I feel much closer to them and I feel more a part of the family.  My host brother, Michael, recognized the Burton t-shirt that I gave him and that was pretty cool.  And that sums up that day!

Today, so far Valentina took me into town to get my uniform for school.  I have never had a uniform before, it's not too bad I guess!  It will be nice to have one here because it is one less thing to worry about!  Then we meet up with my host mom, Nancy, and we were in town and we went to the market where there are many little shops outside where you can buy clothing and basically anything, they said it's like a tourist spot!  I want to go back though to shop!  Valentina is having a party tonight as a going away for her and a welcoming for me.  They said it starts at 10pm and won't end until like 5am tomorrow!  It's going to be lot of fun, I just hope I don't fall asleep! I am still very tired from everything! 

This is what I have been up to so far.  I am really excited, but also very nervous to start school!  I am sure it will be great though!  My host siblings have already told me my Spanish sounds better, which is great to hear!  If anything I wish it were  little warmer, it's so cold and houses here, unless the family is very well off, don't have central heating they just have one small stove in the living room/dinning room area.  I am getting used to it though!  That's it for now, continue reading!

ADIOS!

First Couple of Days!

I made it safe and sound!  Chile is amazing already and my host family seems so nice from the little that I can understand them!  It's very difficult already, they speak so fast and slur some of their words together so it is hard to understand, but then again I have been here for only like 24 hours so I am sure my Spanish will improve fast! It took me about 15 hours of actual flying to get here, the flights were very long and I am still very exhausted.  I need sleep and lots of it!  I was lucky enough to not have to fly alone. 

The exchange students that are in the same district as me, about 12 of us were all picked up at the Conception Airport. We have students from the USA, Germany, Denmark and Canada in our district.  From the airport we got on a bus and went to our hotel, Hotel Salto Del Laja, in Los Angeles.  The hotel itself was up in the mountain overlooking a gorgeous waterfall.  It was breathtaking!  We stopped at the bottom of the mountain/hill thing for our first Chilean meal! We basically had a 5 course meal, it was crazy and pretty delicious! We then went back to the hotel part where they have a "meeting" building.  The rotary members with us went over the rules and everything, not to mention Chile is coming out of winter, but it's still freezing and there was little to no heat in the building so it was freezing!  We then went back down to the restaurant and had dinner, around 8pm!  All of us were exhausted at this point from all of the traveling!  Then after dinner they finally let us go to bed!  This morning we met together to have breakfast and then more orientation things and more rules that we need to follow, etc.  At noon we were being picked up by our host family!

Meeting my host family is definitely the highlight of my day!  They are all so welcoming and so nice, I am very lucky!  We went to this like carnival type of place for lunch.  It was very interesting and it's hard to compare it to anything in the states!  I had chicken (pollo in spanish) because that was the only word that I recognized on the menu!  And then we had ice cream, it was very good but it made me colder!  Its about 50 degrees here, but coming from the summer in Vermont makes it feel much colder than I think it really is! Then the most exciting part, my new home for the year!  I live in like I neighborhood type of set up, but it is VERY different.  I like it though.  The house is nice, but very small!  My family also has a house in the country and they said it is much bigger than this house in the city.  I am so excited to just finally be here!  I moved in all of my stuff into my new lime green room!  But other than sleeping for a bit that is a short version of what I have done so far in Chile!

I still can't believe I am here, it really hasn't hit me yet.  It's hard to not understand anything, but I know that it will get better.  I have a very patient family that I know is willing to help me learn!  I will try to post when I can, but I don't want to be on the computer all the time!  I hope to post pictures next post as well, I can't wait to take some!  Adios por ahora! (Bye for now!)  

Last Day in VT

It finally came.  My last day in Vermont.  I never would have thought 6 + months ago that this day would actually come.  It's become pretty real to me now.  I spent the day deciding what clothes to bring, and then packing and unpacking all my stuff!  I successfully got all of my stuff into 1 large suitcase and 1 smaller suitcase!  That was pretty difficult! I probably over packed, but it's hard to bring what you feel like nothing for a year! I am looking forward to shopping in Chile though!  Something exciting happened today though, my family has an exchange student for a semester while I am gone this year and we met her in the airport today!  She is from Finland and speaks great English!  I wish her the best of luck this year while she is here in the United States.  It was great to meet her though and I know that we will stay in touch during the year! As expected, today was extremely hard for me.  Lots of tears, both happy and sad.  I spent most of the day with my family and some close friends which was nice.  It was as relaxing as it could be and that was all that I wanted.  It's hard to say goodbye to such an amazing place with all my friends and family, but I am ready to start my adventure in Chillan, Chile! Wish me luck!

Insight From My Best Friend

I am lucky enough to have a couple of friends studying abroad all around the world at the same time as me, but I am even luckier to have my best friend studying abroad.  My best friend, of literally my whole life, is studying in Costa Rica for 6 months.  She has been there for about 2 weeks or so by now and we stay in touch by emailing a lot.  Our goal is to reply on the same email the whole time, until my exchange is done so when we are both home and reunited we will read through and it will be like a diary we wrote together.  In an email between us we share anything that comes to mind so it will be fun to look back on every little thing that popped into our head while we wrote an email to one another. Obviously a classic thing teenage girls would do.  But anyway, she tells me that she is having a great time and loves being in Costa Rica and that she loves her host family and that they are trying to teach her everything they can. Which is amazing, I am so happy for her! Hearing that makes me feel so much better about my exchange.  She also tells me that she feels lost at times and that it is difficult and she becomes homesick sometimes.  It's hard to read that, first because she is my best friend and you never want to see someone you care about so much have a hard time or feel lost and second because I am just thinking, well that will be me in a week or so.  But then again, this is all expected which makes me feel better and I hope it makes her feel better too.  Words cannot explain in anyway how grateful and lucky I am to be able to share an experience like studying abroad with three close friends and one being my best friend.  Just to be able to share adventures and experiences that we had and to talk about our host families together is really cool.  Also to be able to talk about things like being homesick or feeling out of place in the first couple of months.  To have a close friend that is going through the same exact things makes it so much easier to talk to them then a friend at home who really couldn't relate at all.  I think it will make my exchange that much better and easier to not have to go through it all alone.  Although we are all in different places around the world I feel like it will still make a difference. 

Other than that I have 2 more full days at home which means lots of packing and emotional filled days! I can't wait to start posting about events that happen in CHILE! Thanks for reading, and keep reading and following my blog!  It will get much more interesting once I am actually in the country! I can't wait!

One Week

I have finally hit the one week mark after months of waiting! It is actually crazy to know that I am leaving Vermont for a year in a week.  I still can't completely wrap my mind around that.  Leaving this gorgeous state and familiar surroundings is a strange thing to think about right now!  I received my travel itinerary about a week ago and that is when it became more real to me because I had an actual set date.  I am really nervous about flying without anyone, it will be my first time.  Then again it's all part of the adventure I guess! I am sure everything will work out just fine. 

It's been a sad couple of days, and I know more sad days will come.  Saying goodbye is getting really hard.  It's hard especially with friends because I am so used to seeing everyone in the hallways at school and hanging outside of school on the weekends.  It will be weird not being able to just hang out.   But with the use of email, facebook and skype I know I will stay in touch with my closest friends and still be apart of their lives even if we are living on separate continents!

This past week has been going by so slow.  I am getting antsy! It's so difficult to wait for something like this to start!  I am also becoming very emotional and sad, which I know is obviously a common thing that would happen.  I never thought it would be crying every day, but it's hard not to sometimes.  Which basically means I have given up on mascara..it just doesn't look good streaking down your face! Haha.  I got an email from my aunt the other day and she wrote, "I wish you a most amazing time in Chile and look forward to hearing all about your experiences. Keep your eyes wide open and take it all in. You'll learn more than you ever thought you would." and she is right and I can't wait. Getting something like that reminds me for the reasons that I am so excited to be going to Chile and some of the tears go away and a smile appears on my face.  I want this week to go by faster so the tears can stop and this absolutely amazing journey of a life time can start!