Mi Cumpleaños!

Yesterday I celebrated my very first summer birthday! It was very exciting to say the least! It was an absolutely gorgeous, but very hot day at about 85-90 degrees. Thank goodness for the swimming pool in my backyard! I had some of my closet Chilean friends and of course my exchange friends over to help me celebrate! Lots of swimming and being pushed in with your clothes on. All fun and games! It was a great afternoon filled with lots of laughs. I felt weird not being in school and not having to bundle up and look at snow outside like I am used to! But I liked it!

In preparation for my birthday, the night before my exchange student friend, Beret, helped me bake an American birthday cake as we ate the classic American frozen pizza. Beyond delicious, it hit the spot! All of my Chilean friends were very impressed with the cake that we had baked with the purple frosting! It wouldn't feel like a birthday without one! I also had my turn at the Chilean tradition. As the birthday girl you get to take a bite out of your cake and as your taking a bite my host brother pushed my face into the cake. Classic. A tradition I think I may just have to bring to my family in the States!

Overall a very memorable day with great friends and family! My 17th birthday will never be forgotten!

Bariloche Photos!

Bariloche, Argentina

A week well spent. I just got back from my class trip to Bariloche, Argentina. An extremely long bus ride, but it was beyond worth it! I can now successfully check off "Traveling to Argentina" on my Bucket List. It was also a special trip for me because my cousin was an exchange student in Bariloche about 12 years ago! It was cool to be able to get a sense of were one of my cousins spent his year abroad when he was my age!

The first day we spent the afternoon exploring the little city and all of the tourist shops. As you walk through the streets all you can smell is chocolate, an exchange students wish come true. Bariloche is known for their chocolate, and I now I know why. It was absolutely delicious. Later that afternoon I went to the beach with some of my friends, the water was freezing, but refreshing! The water was gorgeous and far out in the distance were mountains and behind them mountains with snow, quite the view to say the least. Later that night we all went out bowling. It was quite the sight for me. Most of my classmates had never been bowling before and were extremely surprised when they asked if I knew how to play and I said yes! Let's just say that was the first night I was the teacher. After bowling that night we went to a discoteque in town. Lots of dancing, screaming, chanting and lots of laughs of course! Lots of late nights and little sleep, by the end of the week I was exhausted!

Another day we took a chairlift to the top of an overlook to view the gorgeous lake, Rio Negro. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The ride up was a lot of fun as well. You were able to see so far out, it was a very clear and sunny day. Basically perfect! And after we all headed to another river. At this river, if you choose to, you could drink the water and for the amount of sips you took it had a meaning! So of course I laid down on the rocks and took one refreshing drink of the river water. Later I found of that my "fortune" will be that I will return to Bariloche someday in the future. Which I hope comes true, it is truly a gorgeous spot. After lunch we all went paint-balling at a outdoor place. It was my first time ever paint-balling. It is a lot of fun, but quite nerve racking too! After paint-balling we all were walking around with at least one black and blue from where we had gotten hit! Later that night I was once again the teacher for these Chileans! We went ice skating, in a very small and bumpy rink! Of course once again most of these kids were surprised and impresed that I grew up going to public ice skating on the weekends with my Mom! It was a very entertaining night to say the least, but I was happy to help as much as I could! It was a lot of fun! Later that night we all went to another discoteque filled with more of my embarrassing dancing. I still have to work on my dancing skills! They all need to teach me some moves!

On our last full day in Bariloche we went to a horse ranch, "Tom Wesley", and that is were I was able to cross another item off of my Bucket List! I can now successfully check off, "Ride a horse"! I was extremely nervous, and it is a little scary when you are up on the horse, but after a few trots it feels completely comfortable. It was actually a lot of fun! After all of the horse back riding our class participated in a human, life size version of Foosball. We were in this cage type of thing and were attached to the equivalent of baby "Jolly Jumper". Therefore if you were to miss the soccer ball you would swing back and forth like you were flying, it was entertaining to say the least! I dominated the game by scoring two goals for my team! The next thing we know we were getting drenched by water. And that's when the games begun! There was another class on the same trip that we were on and we had lots of competitions with them throughout the afternoon! It's hard to explain them, but I basically felt like I was doing some land challenges you would watch in the television show, Survivor. It was a lot of good teamwork and our class ended up coming out on top! After that crazy afternoon we all took a long nap and prepared for our last night in Bariloche! That night we all hung out at the beach all together, it was the perfect way to end such a great trip with such great classmates!

On Friday we had our final hours to go get our touristy stuff to bring home with us before we got on the bus again for another 12+ hour ride back to Chillan. Bariloche was a very special trip and I am so happy I was able to spend it with my other family, my classmates! I hope to travel back someday soon! Overall a very quick, but amazing trip!

More Updates!

Just a short 22 weeks ago, roughly 154 days ago I left for Chile! Like I said in my last post, I am just at the halfway mark in my exchange year. Today officially marks my "5 months". It's beyond crazy how fast the time as gone by. And all I have heard from former exchange students is that the second half goes by even faster! I'm sure it will!

Quick Updates:

• I was lucky enough to have been able to see some family this past week. My oldest cousin in my family, Erin, was working in Santiago for the past week and a half and she was able to travel to my city for 2 days. It was beyond perfect timing. It's a long time to go without family. To see someone familiar and that knows you and that has been through the same thing (she was also an exchange student) just made me feel so much better. It was a great visit. 

• It's been a tough week as well. I am very grateful my cousin was with me to help me out and comfort me. I am changing host families after I get back from my class trip to Argentina next week.  It's a very awkward feeling within my house right now, but I know that it is best to change families. It's what is best for me and that is what is most important. It's a very stressful time to say the least. I am looking forward to a new experience with a new family and to be able to enjoy myself more here in Chile. Hopefully the transition will be smooth and it will all work out well!

• Chile is getting HOT. Weeks on end of 90+ degree weather. To say the least, it is getting extremely toasty. The Chileans keep saying just wait, it will get hotter. I don't know if I can take more heat! It's very dry here as well which makes it that much hotter. It is for sure summer! I do love seeing the sun shine everyday and getting tan isn't a bad bonus either!

Those are my updates for now! I am headed to Bariloche, Argentina on Monday night for the week with my class from school! There will be a blog post following that trip! A whole new country!  A quick shout out to my best friend, Tieta. She is finishing the last couple of days of her exchange in Costa Rica! She has been there for the past 6 months! So proud of you! Safe travels back to the United States! Be sure to read about her crazy adventures at tietatravels.blogspot.com !

Halfway

As 2012 has now come to an end I want to reflect on my exchange so far. I am now at the turning point and I am headed into my second half of my exchange, which is unbelievable to me. I knew this year would go by fast, but I never thought it would go by this fast.

Last December, just days before Christmas, I found out my acceptance into the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Later in February I learned that my exchange would be taking me to Chillan, Chile for my entire junior year. At that point I couldn't believe that my dream of following the footsteps of my many older cousins, and my dream to travel to South America were coming true. It never really hit me until the day I was crying in the airport and saying goodbye to my parents for a year. There are still days where I can't believe that I have been living in Chile for almost 5 months now and knowing that I still have 5.5 months or so left. It sounds like a lot of time, but if I have learned anything, time passes by extremely fast and I know the day of crying in the airport saying goodbye to my host family and friends will unfortunately be here sooner rather than later.

I have learned so much than I ever thought I would in such a short period of time. I feel like I have become a very different person here in Chile. Of course I am still the same old Emma, but certain things I know have changed for sure. I am a lot more optimistic, which I think is necessary while you are an exchange student. Not everything goes as you planned or thought it would be. This exchange has been a roller coaster of many different experiences. I still can remember my first night here with my host family. I cried myself to sleep and questioned what I was even doing. So glad those days passed. Now my host family is truly my other family. There are difficult moments too and the holidays seem to hit me the hardest, but I know that it is all part of the experience. I am very close with my family in the United States, so missing out on traditions were the hardest for me. But I was also a part of new traditions here with my new family. Not everything is going to be the same, obviously, but all of the culture differences and traditional differences makes this exchange that much richer. I have had so many amazing experiences so far, and thousands of memories that will last a lifetime. I have made amazing friends that are so supportive, funny, helpful and truly just the best people out there. I am so lucky to have met the people I have. I am always so lucky to be with a great group of other exchange students that are in my district here in Chile. It feels like I have known most of them for my whole life. They are another family here too, and it's great to have all of them! I know the bonds with my friends and family will just become so much stronger over the next half of my exchange. I have no idea how I will ever say goodbye! 

As I head into my second half of my exchange year abroad I want to really make sure I don't waste a single minute. Time goes by fast, and I want to experience everything that I can. I don't want to be trying to fit everything into my last month! I want to really focus on my Spanish. It is coming along pretty well, but I really want to be confident and speak, speak, speak as much as I can! I just want to enjoy myself and to not be scared to try something new. I want to soak up as much as Chile as I possibly can!

I am truly having the time of my life and I have never been so happy with a decision before. It is exactly what I needed. This is exchange is an eye-opener and it really teaches you life lessons and things about yourself that you would have never known. I am so grateful for my family and friends and all of their support. I couldn't be doing this without them! I can't believe I have been away from my little home state of Vermont for about 5 months now. Feels like forever, but then sometimes it feels like I just left last week!

Viva Chile, Mierda!

Almost 5 months ago this photo was taken with my host sister Valentina who is an exchange student in the United States. Man do I look different and the classy blazer has a lot more pins too!