Friday, June 27

Today was a very busy Friday. Manuel let me go into school at 9:40 (after the first class) so I could get a little more sleep. Fridays are always pretty boring at school because we have all the stupid classes. Instead of paying attention, we basically spent the whole day sitting around folding the wrappers of tea bags to make recyclable outfits for the alianza. After school we had barras until 4:30. It was kind of sad when I had to leave at 4:30 and say goodbye to Molly because she was leaving for Boston tomorrow. It made the fact that I have millions of goodbyes coming my way in like 2 weeks all too real. Anyway, from there I took a collectivo to the Jumbo. I was walking in when I ran into Isa. I accompanied her while she bought Chichi a birthday gift and wrote her card. Then Ale’s mom picked us up, dropped Isa off at her house, and brought Ale and me to Ale’s house. There, we got warm in front of the stove and then changed out of our school clothes. Around 8, Ale’s mom took us over to Chichi’s house. Her house is truly impressive. It is a big country house with a bunch of rooms and doors and passageways everywhere and it’s completely decked out in cowboy things. It’s seriously crazy, but it’s also kind of cold and daunting. We sat down in the living room by the big fireplace and talked for a while until Isa arrived.

We all sat down in a circle and decided to ask each other questions (kind of like truth or dare) to get to know each other better. We told embarrassing kiss stories, awkward moments, and funny things. We listened to awesome music and sang along. A little while later, the pizza delivery guy arrived and we ate pizza and talked for a long time.

Isa and Ale left at 1, and Chichi and I quickly went to sleep because we were all dead tired. Chichi let me sleep in her sister’s room, alone, and it was definitely a little creepy to be in that huge cold house alone, but I was so tired that I fell asleep anyway.

Thursday, June 26

Today was another good day. School was fun. I promised my friends Vicente, Stefano, Augustin, and Heian peanut butter cookies like the first time I met them, and finally, after 11 months, I gave them the cookies. They laughed at me and said that they were really good even though they were burned and hard as rocks. After school, we had barras until 6. It’s kind of annoying that they make the rehearsal 3 hours long and then we basically do nothing the whole time and everyone finds some excuse not to attend practice and I end up alone with like 2 other classmates. Anyway, after barras, Popi drove me and her friend Molly (the one who she met while she was on exchange in Boston and is now visiting her here) back to her house. We changed clothes and then Maca came over. We all went over to the casino in between Rancagua and Santiago that’s huge and famous. It’s called Monticello and it’s really gorgeous with walls of lights that change color on the outside.

One of the last things on my bucket list was to go to the casino, since you only have to be 18 to enter here. We got in and immediately went to start playing. We wanted to feel all grown up and professional and awesome.

It ended up a disaster. We tried to insert bills into the machines and they kept getting rejected until Popi finally worked up the courage to ask someone how to do it. We had to go put money on cards to be able to play. Then we tried scanning the cards and the machines still wouldn’t start playing. We had to ask an old woman playing next to us to explain to us how to use the machines. Once we got it, it became easier. Popi and Maca each won $30 and Molly won $60. I lost the $6 that I had been playing with. I looked on the bright side and decided that I don’t have good enough luck to develop a gambling addiction.

It was still really cool to be with them when they won and to watch the money amount rise and rise and rise. Around 9, we left the casino and stopped by McDonalds for dinner. We talked and laughed (all in English because Molly doesn’t speak any Spanish) and had fun. It was the first time I’d talked to Popi and Maca in English and it was cool seeing how their personalities change (just like mine does) in English and Spanish. Popi dropped me off at my house at like 11, and after filling in Manuel and Lilian on my lack of luck, I went to sleep.

Wednesday, June 25

Today was a fun day at school for no particular reason at all. I had had kind of a depressing day yesterday, and I decided that today would be better and it was. After school we had barras until 4:30 and then I went home. I knew I should have gone for a run, but it was so cold outside that I decided to stay indoors next to the heater. I did some work for the alianzas (we have to have a fashion show with 10 outfits made completely out of recycled material), worked on my blog, and watched Sherlock. I ate once with Lilian and Manuel, and then we made peanut butter cookies together. They got a little burnt (like my cookies always do), but we had fun making them together. I ended up getting to sleep around 11.

Cuarto Medio A

Generacion 2014

Tuesday, June 24

Today was Manuel’s birthday. I had known for a while and had planned his gift and everything about a week in advance, but when I got in the car in the morning, I had other things on my mind, and I forgot until we were almost at my school. I apologized and wished him a very happy birthday, and he forgave me. School was pretty average, and after school I stayed at barras only long enough for the tailor to take my fitting for the costume. Then I went home to be with Manuel. I arrived as he was sitting down to eat lunch (he always eats alone in the house), so I accompanied him and we had about a 2 hour conversation. I had been feeling a little down today because it was the day of the graduation ceremony at ANHS, and I was missing my friends and sad that I couldn’t take part in this important rite of passage with them, but talking to Manuel made me happier. I went upstairs to relax for a while, and then when Lilian got home, we went over to the Jumbo to eat Manuel’s birthday dinner out at Berezzi, the coffee shop we always go to. We had giant sandwiches and café cortados.

I gave Manuel his present—a keychain from California (that I bought for myself in the airport on the way here) to add to his collection of keychains from around the world, and a card that I wrote.

We talked and laughed and enjoyed. Then we went to the Jumbo to buy groceries, and we arrived home around 9:30. It was late, so I said goodnight to my family, watched the rest of the movie The Bucket List, and went to sleep.

Monday, June 23

Today was a very fun day at school. Chile was playing Holland at 12, so the whole school stopped learning around 11:20, and everyone went to their classrooms (where students had brought TVs from home) and watched the game.

My generation went to a big auditorium to watch the game all together. Everyone had their faces painted (I brought the tattoos Manuel had given me and passed them out to all my friends) and was wearing Chilean jerseys, and we all watched the game intently.

Chile ended up losing 2-0 to Holland, but it was a great game and it was even more fun because I was with all my classmates and they kept singing rally songs and screaming at the ref’s calls. After the game, Chichi, Thomas, Joaquin, and I ditched English class to listen to Joaquin play guitar and talk. After school we had barras until 4:30. Then I went home for a while before Pablo came over. He had come over with the intention of studying math (I was to be the tutor), but we ended up just talking and laughing and sharing good music that we knew the whole time. He had once with my family, and it was a lot of fun all of us talking together. Pablo is the kind of person who can have fun and be himself in any situation, which is something I love about him. He is hilarious, and even though he spends a lot of time making fun of me, we always have a great time together. He left around 9:30, which was late, and so after he left I just got in bed, watched a bit of The Bucket List, and fell asleep.

Sunday, June 22

Today I got up late, ate breakfast with Manuel, chatted with him and Lilian for a while, and then went up to my room to work on my blog for a while. Then I went with Manuel to the feria. He goes a lot, so many of the vendors there know him. We talked to one of his friends for a while, and the guy let me try some candied sweet potato, which is a treat here.

random dude walking through the feria playing guitar for tips (there was another guy with a boom box dancing cumbia for tips)

Then we walked through the rest of the feria and while Manuel bought what we needed, I took pictures of all the cool things that you would never see in a farmers’ market in the US. A guy selling peanuts noticed me taking pictures and asked me to take a picture with him. Of course, I did it.

Around 2, I went over to the San Martins’ house. Nacho, my cousin, was visiting for the weekend, and he told me to come over because we hadn’t seen each other in a long time and he was sad that I was leaving soon. I spent the day over at their house, catching up with Nacho, having a long talk with Maxi about history, and making crepes with Sally and Nancy. I was planning to leave around 5 to watch the USA World Cup game with my family at home, but they convinced me to stay and watch with the whole family. They had face paint left over from the Chile game, so Sally and I painted our faces with the US flag (she will probably never let me forget that her painting of my face turned out way better than mine did… The flag on Sally’s face only had 4 stripes).

We sat down to watch the game with the whole family plus Nacho and his mom, dad, and brother Benja. Nacho’s mom was sitting in the room cutting Eric’s, Maxi’s, and Nancy’s hair while watching the game. Nacho and I were laughing and talking, and every time the US scored (twice), Sally and I would run up to each other screaming and hug. I was never this spirited about the World Cup in the US, but here in Latin America it is a much bigger deal. We ended up tying against Portugal 2-2. After the game finished, Sally, Nacho, and I made chocolate chip cookies. Around 9, I really needed to go home to my family, and so Nacho drove me home. To my great surprise, his car was a Hyundai Sonata in silver, which is the exact same car I have in the US. It was pretty cool to be sitting in “my car” again, and it made me realize how much I miss the freedom that being able to drive gives me (although I know I’m lucky to have so much public transportation available to me), and made me excited to return to that freedom so soon. I said goodbye to Nacho, talked to my family for a while, and then went upstairs to shower and go to sleep.

Saturday, June 21

Today I got to sleep in late. While I was getting ready, Lilian walked into my room with a tray with breakfast on it. She said “I have to spoil my daughter sometimes” and then left. It was basically the cutest thing ever. Then I got to work taking apart a pair of boys running shorts and sewing them together again. In the alianza, we have to do a parade of clothes made completely from recycled things, and to make the shorts count as recycled, they had to be sewn together by one of us. I volunteered because I really want to help as much as I can in the alianza as like a last little thing I do for my class before I leave Chile. Around 12:30, I got in a collectivo to go to school. Everyone was just leaving Peru (like SAT prep classes but mandatory by the school) when I arrived. I met up with Vicente, Fernanda, Nico, Dani, and Diego (he’s a self-proclaimed communist and USA hater but kind of a cool guy if you get past his shyness), and we started our journey down to a town about an hour and a half south of Rancagua called Santa Cruz. We were going to a famous museum there. The car ride was really fun (except for the fact that there were 4 of us squeezed into the back and I had about half of a butt cheek on the seat the whole ride) because Vicente was driving and it reminded me of typical car rides in the US with my friends.

The museum had absolutely everything in it, from prehistoric fossils, to ancient South American civilizations, to the beginning of technologies like cameras and cars, to World War 2 guns, to, my favorite, a giant room dedicated to the Chilean mining accident and the 33 miners who were trapped under ground for so long.

That was the only news I had ever heard about Chile before coming here, so it was pretty cool to find some mention of it here in Chile. All the Chilean flags with messages for the loved ones trapped below, plans and designs for how to rescue them, and a model of the capsule used to get them out one by one were on exhibit. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, although everyone else thought that part was kind of boring. After the museum, we walked around the tiny town for a little while. It is super small, but also really pretty and old fashioned. I liked it a lot.

We drove home and I arrived around 7:30. I had such a great day with them (I love the fact that they make me laugh really hard until my stomach hurts, something that not all Chilean senses of humor accomplish), but I came home dead tired. We ate once together, and then sat by the stove for a long time warming up and talking and just enjoying being together as a family. Around 10, I went upstairs, watched Ender’s Game in my warm bed, and then went to sleep.

Friday, June 20

Today I woke up knowing that it was going to be a very long day. We dropped Sally off at her school and I got to walk in and see it, then Manuel took me to Instituto Ingles. The day was pretty normal. My biology presentation went well and everyone clapped and cheered for me when I did it. After school we stayed until 6 practicing barras. They taught us a new dance that’s even more sexy than the others and I am going to have to work to pull it off without being embarrassed. Yesterday I had asked Sole if she could take me to Consu’s house after rehearsal because Consu was having a birthday “tea party”. She said yes. Only when rehearsal ended and Sole started asking other people if they could take us did I realize that she didn’t actually have a way to get us there. Everyone’s cars were full and so we ended up having to walk to the center in the dark to take a collectivo to the movie theater, then wait in the cold for about half an hour for a collectivo to pass that would take us to Consu’s house. We arrived about an hour later. All of Consu’s friends from B were there, and I was expecting it to be kind of awkward because although they’re all really nice, they aren’t exactly my closest friends. I really only went because Consu is one of my really good friends here. She gave me a tour of her house (which is basically like a museum of collections of old things) and then we sat down at the giant table filled with every yummy treat imaginable with all of her friends. They were so surprisingly inclusive of me. They all talked to me, asked me questions, and we had really awesome conversations. I was so pleasantly surprised that I was having so much fun. Manuel and Lilian came to pick me up around 9:30 and I went home, sat by the stove and talked to them for a while, and then went upstairs to sleep.

Thursday, June 19

Today was another normal day at school. After school I went to the Jumbo to get pictures printed. I’m giving all of my friends pictures of us together and I’m going to write them cards on the back telling them how much they mean to me and thanking them for all they’ve done for me over this year. Then I went home and drank tea and watched World Cup soccer until Sally came over around 7. We ate once with Lilian and then I left them alone to catch up while I went upstairs to write a presentation that I had to give at school tomorrow. It is just a little speech about the Chilean potato’s adaptations to avoid being damaged by freezes, but it was really hard to find information about that on the internet in Spanish. I basically wrote something very general and not too well thought out, but I made an effort and did it in Spanish, and that was still a pretty big win for me. (the next day I found out that in the Biology book which I do not own there was literally a page with the exact information that I needed on it) Sally came up a little later and we sat on my bed talking about life and boys and exchange and watching Jenna Marbles videos until 11. 

Wednesday, June 18

Today was an incredibly busy day. First I had school until 2:30. We got out early because Chile was playing in the World Cup at 3 and they wanted to give us time to go home and watch the game. I went over to Pablo’s house with Nico, Vicente, and Fernanda.

We sat around intently watching the whole game. Chile beat Spain 2-0, which is a pretty huge deal considering Spain is the former world champion. After the game I said thank you and goodbye to everyone really quick and then ran over to the Jumbo where the San Martin family picked me up so we could go to the center of town to see the crazy celebration.

The whole family had painted their faces and were wearing Chile jerseys and had horns and noisemakers and a big Chilean flag. Nancy drove into the center honking the horn and I was blowing the trumpet out the window. All the other cars were honking to in celebration. In the center of town there was a lot of traffic and all the cars were honking and we followed a big flat been truck with a bunch of people in the back shouting and cheering and playing a huge drum. Sally and I stuck our heads out the sunroof and waved the flag around and shouted and waved and blew kisses to the people in the streets.

It was an uncontrollable happiness that was palpable in the whole city. It was an amazing feeling to experience not as a foreigner but as a Chilean. I never said “you guys won”. I shouted at the top of my lungs “WE WON”.

We went back to the San Martin house for a while, and then Manuel and Lilian came and picked up Sally and I. We went back to my house so I could change clothes and then at 8:30 Manuel dropped us off at a Rotary meeting. I hadn’t been invited to the meeting, but I had asked Monchito if I could go to one meeting before I left Chile (I have only been invited to one this whole year). I feel that it is my obligation to tell the Rotary club that was responsible for me this whole year that they have completely abandoned me and have not helped me, included me in their Rotary events, or even asked me how I am, in this entire year. We ate dinner with them and all 30 or so Rotarians that were there were super nice. They asked Sally and me how we liked Chile, and complimented our Spanish. I only wish I could have met them before, but they never took an interest in me before. I got up and gave my presentation. I started by telling them about how amazing my year here in Chile has been. Then I stopped and said that my year had been perfect in every way except for one. I proceeded to tell them how I felt, tell them the story of how I went to the hospital and they hadn’t even known, and finally, I made it very clear that I wasn’t mad or trying to make them feel bad about themselves, I was simply telling them how I had been treated so that this wouldn’t be repeated in the future. I had written a speech, but at the beginning I decided it would be better to just speak from the heart, and so that’s what I did. After I finished, about half of them seemed to understand me and want to do better. The other was angry. A man responded to me saying that Rotary had done all that it was required to do, and that I had no right to make these claims of feeling abandoned. I told him that I didn’t want to be treated as some business deal, and that I had come in hopes of making life long connections with these Rotarians. Then the fireworks started, and people were yelling about how my accusations weren’t fair and others were yelling that all this was Monchito’s fault (which honestly a big part of it is but he works so much that he really can’t handle all the responsibility) and others at Sally’s table were just calling me a “bruja” under their breath. A lot of people were yelling for the topic to be closed because they were tired and didn’t want the meeting to drag on too long. I felt very unimportant and unheard, and I almost started crying because I was so frustrated. However, after I finished by thanking them for giving me this amazing year in Chile and urging them to take more of an interest in the future exchange students and take advantage of the opportunity to share their culture with people of other countries, a lot of Rotarians came up to me and thanked me for being the only student in the history of the club brave enough to get up and tell them the truth. They told me that they hadn’t even known that this problem existed and that now that they knew they would definitely make more of an effort. Others refused to even say goodbye to me as I left. I guess I should have been expecting this sort of result. I can’t change everyone’s minds, and I just have to be grateful for the people that did understand me and hope that they make the change that needs to be made. Manuel came to pick us up, dropped Sally off at her house (she had been there as my moral support), and then I went home and went to sleep around midnight.

Tuesday, June 17

Today was another school day. We had PE today and we’re back to volleyball again which I really don’t like but today was actually really fun and I didn’t do too badly at it. After school we had a rehearsal for the people who are going to perform a song for the alianza. They are playing Counting Stars and they asked me to play the flute. It’s a super easy part, but I haven’t played the flute in so long that it still scares me a little bit. We practiced for a while and then I went back to the classroom to practice barras with the others. Molly, Popi’s friend from the US was there and a bunch of my classmates surrounded her and were trying to speak to her in English. I joined the conversation and they kept asking me for help on how to say different words and things and it was kind of adorable to watch them all trying so hard. After Molly left my friend Sole came up to me and apologized for making for of my accent so much (even though it really doesn’t bother me because she does it with love) because hearing Molly speak she realized how much I’ve improved this year. It made me really happy to hear that. I went home around 5, went for a run, and then ate once with my family, watched the DaVinci Code in Spanish, and went to sleep.

Monday, June 16

Today at school was a nice day. Except that after lunch I had English. I really don’t like English, and about 3 weeks ago I decided to do whatever possible to avoid the class. Today, I couldn’t convince anyone to ditch with me and I didn’t want to just sit outside the classroom alone, so I decided to try to just leave school after lunch. There is only one exit: the front door. I walked past the front desk and said something like “I’m leaving and I don’t have a note, but my parents know so it’s ok”. They told me that I couldn’t leave. I said “no but I’m an exchange student so it doesn’t matter”, and the woman looked surprised and said she had no idea because my accent was so good. She proceeded to start a nice conversation with me, let me sign myself out, and then let me leave the school completely without permission.

pretty church in the center of town

I walked into the center of town to chill for a while. I went to the grocery store to buy the Chilean candy that I want to bring back to the US for my friends and family to try. Then I ran into Popi (a classmate who went on exchange to Boston last year) and her friend from the US who had arrived in Chile yesterday to visit Popi for 2 weeks. I think having someone from your exchange come to visit you is really amazing. It truly means that you made lifelong connections with people. I would absolutely love it if my friends came to visit me. I want to be able to share my culture and daily life with them like they have shared theirs with me this year. Anyway, I went home around 5 and then went for a run. At 6, the United States was going to play their first World Cup game. I turned on the TV to see it only to find out that USA soccer is so unimportant in the rest of the world that they weren’t even broadcasting the game. I had to find a live streaming of the game. I watched the whole thing and celebrated like a true fan when US beat Ghana 3-1. Then I ate once with Manuel and Lilian, watched Blancanieves y el Cazador in my bed with the bed warmer on the highest setting, and then went to sleep.

Sunday, June 15

Today I got up around 10, got ready, and then sat in my room looking into college dorm room supplies until Lilian and Manuel were ready to go. We were going to Donihue today to spend the day with Lilian’s family. It was Fathers’ Day, so I wrote Manuel a nice long letter and gave him some pens from the United States (I feel like I give so many gifts and letters here in Chile that I’m running out of words to say and things to give). We arrived in Donihue around 1, and greeted all the people there.

There were a few of my aunts and my cousins Cristobal, Maca, and Guillermo who had arrived for a 2 week vacation from his university studies in Holland. We ate lunch all together and then we went into the living room to watch the World Cup games and talk. A little later, some new cousins arrived that I’d never met before. Stephanie, Jean Carlos, and Pia (and her adorable dog Mota) were all super sweet and interested in meeting and getting to know me. We had fun watching the game together.

Me, Luciana, and Stephanie

Then Luciana (the little 10 year old cousin who reminds me so much of myself at that age) arrived with her mom. We all talked and watched the World Cup games until dinner. The food in Donihue is always the best.

Tia Mimi baking pan amasado

There is home baked bread, cake, fresh tea, and other yummy treats. After dinner, I was pretty done with making an effort to talk to people and be friendly and happy and grateful for the family and I wanted to go home and Skype with my parents for Fathers’ Day. We got home around 8 and I talked to my mom and dad until 9 over Skype. I honestly think I’ve talked to my dad like 4 times in the past year, so it’s always a big treat to be able to share with him all of my experiences here in Chile (especially since he kind of gets the same thing in Mexico and therefore he understands me a little better).  I can’t wait to go home and be able to tell them everything and show them not only how much my Spanish has improved but how much I have improved as a confident and more adult person. We hung up around 9 and then I watched a movie and went to sleep.

Saturday, June 14

Today Katie woke up around 7 and couldn’t go back to sleep. I finally made myself wake up around 8 because I didn’t want to leave her alone. We went downstairs quietly so as not to wake anyone up and made French toast for breakfast. Then we went up to her room and just talked while she slowly packed up the last of her stuff, weighed her suitcases, realized they were overweight, took out some unnecessary clothes (and gave me a few shirts and a skirt), and cleaned up her room. I went outside for a while to be alone and write her a goodbye letter. I was happy to finally be able to write her something that really expressed how important she is to me. She has been not only one of the most important people in my exchange but also in my life in general. She taught me how to be a teenager, how to be loyal to my friends, and most of all, how to be exactly who I am and not care what anyone else thinks about that. A little while later, Katie H, Louis, and Nicolo showed up. We ordered pizza (I got better at talking to the pizza guy over the phone), and while we were eating Papa John’s, Sally and Anto (one of Katie and my school friends) showed up. We finished eating, then sat around and talked for a while. Katie brought her bags downstairs and made the final preparations. Then around 3:30 Katie’s dad got home and they were getting ready to go to the airport. That meant it was time for us to leave. Sally, Louis, and I left together. We all just hugged Katie. I told her that this wasn’t goodbye and that I would see her at Disneyland in a couple months. It was a little weird and sad and strange walking away from Katie’s house to catch a micro home and knowing that I will probably never return to that house and Katie will never be there again and won’t even be in Chile for the rest of the time that I am here. I was also a lot calmer than I thought I would be. I already had my meltdown on Thursday in the movie theater, and now I’m really at peace with the fact that goodbyes are sad but necessary and that I just need to get through them in order to be able to get on with my life. I know I will see Katie again sometime, because a friend as amazing her is not one that I could so easily lose touch with.

Anyway, I got a micro home, went for a run, and came home to work on my blog for a while before joining Manuel downstairs to make once. We ate together, and then we sat in the living room next to the heater talking until 11 at night. I was trying to wait up for Lilian because she had gone to her sister’s mother in law’s funeral and I had felt really bad that I couldn’t go with her to offer her moral support because I had to be with Katie. I ended up getting way too tired and I went upstairs to watch a movie and go to sleep.

Friday, June 13

Today was a really busy day. School was just a normal day filled with plans for the Alianzas. After school, Thomas, Mery, and I walked into the center to meet up with Katie. We got McFlurrys from McDonalds and sat in the food court talking for like 2 hours. Katie invited me to her house to watch the Chile vs. Australia world cup game. I told her I couldn’t because I already had plans and she seemed to get really angry because I didn’t want to spend her last night in Chile with her. I couldn’t tell if she was kidding or seriously mad, but I told her that I couldn’t cancel the plans I had already made but that I would go over to her house after the game to sleep over. Thomas’s dad dropped me off at the Jumbo, where I met up with Pablo, we bought some chips and an onion, and then we walked over to Cata’s house. Cata and Louis were already there with Cata’s brother Seba, her live-in housekeeper Pau, and Pau’s daughter Laura. We sat down to watch the national anthem and the start of the game.

Lilian had given me a hat, blow up finger, and Chilean flag as gifts to get me into the world cup spirit, and I had brought them to Cata’s house. We had fun cheering and Chile scored 2 goals in the first 15 minutes. After a while, Cata and I got up and went to the kitchen so I could make nachos. Nachos covered in melted cheese, vegetables, and onions do not exist in Chile, so I felt that it was my duty to let these Chileans try our national super bowl food.

They turned out fantastically well and everyone loved them. We watched the rest of the game and cheered loudly when Chile won 3-1. Then we went outside and hung out for a while and did stupid random things like hanging upside down from Cata’s little jungle gym in the backyard. Around 10, Seba was nice enough to drive me over to Katie’s house. I arrived, promptly burned my finger on her heater (the blister is now purple and huge 3 days later), and then sat on her bed and watched her pack up her last suitcase and clean up her room. We then got in bed and talked for a long time, watched the movie Vantage Point, and fell asleep.

Thursday, June 12

Today we went to school in normal clothes because we had a long day of university tours scheduled. We drove up to Santiago in busses through the pouring rain. I had chosen to go to the Universidad de Chile to look at a career in medicine first. I really just wanted to go to the university because I remember that my mom had once read a list of the top universities in South America and it had been high on the list.

We got there late and only had 50 minutes for a tour and presentation, but I still definitely got a feel for the place. It was super old and very ugly, with white walls, white floors, and white ceilings. It all would have felt way too sterile if it hadn’t been for the communist and liberal political posters lining every single wall. This university also has a reputation for being very left wing politically, and it was obvious.

There were posters everywhere about the education movement and other big social issues in Chile. It was a pretty cool experience. Then we got back into the bus and traveled toward the Universidad del Desarrollo. While we were on our way there, it started to snow. Snow in Santiago is not a common thing, and everyone was excited and taking pictures out the window.

They laughed really hard when they saw how excited I was about it, and a lot of my friends started singing Christmas carols in English. Apparently one of my friends who went on exchange to the US the year before had been asked in Chileans change the date of Christmas to June so they can have white Christmases too. Gotta love Americans huh? Anyway, we made it to the university and got out of the bus all bundled up.

Pablo walked through the snow in a t-shirt... When I asked why he just responded with "cause yolo" in English

This university was the most normal. It wasn’t that gorgeous, but the type of people I saw around the campus generally looked nice, happy, and not super stuck up and rich. I went to a presentation about the career of law. Then we all got back on the bus and traveled to the last university on the list, La Universidad de Los Andes.

This one has a reputation for being the most gorgeous campus in Chile, but also for having the most stuck up, perfect little Catholic people (it’s a private Opus Dei run school) in the whole world. Admittedly, even through the clouds and rain it was absolutely beautiful. We got a tour through the buildings and then went up to a laboratory where they were doing cancer cell research. On the walk up to the lab, we could see the whole city of Santiago under us with new rays of sun hitting it as the rain clouds parted. It was a really amazing sight.

Anyway, around 6:20 we left for Rancagua. Mery and I were going to meet Katie W, Katie H, and Sally at the movie theater to see The Fault in Our Stars on its premiere night at 7:15, but the bus was so late in leaving Santiago that we didn’t even get to the school until 7:50. We arrived at the movie theater at 8 and Katie H ran outside and passed us our tickets. We ran in soaking wet from the rain and panting from running and took our seats to watch the movie. It was such a great movie. I loved that it stayed true to the book. Katie H, Sally, and I were sitting together, and it left all 3 of us in tears. We went outside to meet up with Katie W, Mery, and 2 of Katie’s Chilean friends that had gone with her. Katie is leaving on Saturday, so her 2 Chileans would have to say goodbye to her here. I was still sad from the movie, and watching Katie and her friends crying and hugging made me realize not only that Katie was leaving soon (and honestly Katie has been one of the most important people for me during this exchange) but that in one month I would have to hug all my friends and say goodbye to them just like she was now. I broke down crying and hugged Katie and told her how much I loved her. Then Manuel came to pick Sally and me up. While we were driving toward Sally’s house to drop her off, she hugged me and I cried and Manuel and Lilian left me alone. I never used to be so emotional, but I guess exchange has made me more sensitive. It was just a lot to handle realizing that I was so completely unprepared to say a permanent goodbye to the incredible life I have and people I love here. By the time Sally got out of the car, I had composed myself. We got home and I took a quick shower while Lilian made once (I thought it was the cutest thing ever that they had waited for me until 10 at night so we could eat dinner all together). We ate and then I went to sleep.

Wednesday, June 11

Katie W never goes to school on Wednesdays because she hates philosophy, and since this was her last Wednesday, we decided to all skip and go have a fun day with her in Santiago. Katie W, Katie H, Sally, Louis, Nigel, Christine, and I met in the center of Rancagua at 10:30, all wearing our Keep Calm and Kiss an Exchange Student sweatshirts. Katie brought her nice camera and we had a little photo shoot in front of the trademark Rancagua church and statue of Bernardo O’Higgins. I’m so happy we did it and weren’t too embarrassed to be a giant mob of gringo dressed in matching sweatshirts taking pictures in the center of town on a Wednesday morning because the pictures turned out really adorable. If our little exchange student Rancagua family had Christmas cards, this is the picture I would choose to put on them.

Anyway, then we walked over to Terminal O’Higgins and got a bus to Santiago. From there we went to Feria Santa Lucia for some last minute souvenir shopping, and then we went to Parque Arauco to have lunch. We decided we were starving and in the mood for some good old American food, so we went to the only TGI Fridays in all of Chile and ordered burgers. Cassidy and Alexis, two exchange students from Santiago, met up with us to eat. After we finished eating, we went down to this sketchy underground ice rink next to a parking garage to ice skate. It was super lame and flied with little kids, but we were together and we were happy and that made it an amazing experience.

We skated circles around the ice and sang “Libre Soy” from the Disney movie Frozen at the top of our lungs.

By the time our hour ran out, I could have done more, but we had to go. We stopped at a self-serve soft-serve ice cream store and got some ice cream. Then we walked out into the rain and tried to eat it as quickly as possible before the rain ruined the ice cream. We were going to have to take a bus and then a long metro ride to the bus station, but we decided to just negotiate to get a good price on a taxi. Like always, they left the Spanish talking to me. I went to the first driver and asked him how much it would cost to take 6 people to the bus station. He told me the lowest he could go was 15 mil pesos. I told him I was going to ask the guy behind him. I told the next guy that the first guy had given me a price of 12 mil pesos and I asked if he could do any better. He said he would do it for 11.500 and I told everyone to get in as fast as possible before someone found out that I had lied. I felt like a great negotiator and a terrible person all at the same time but whatever. We piled 5 people into the backseat and Nigel sat comfortable in the front. We weren’t comfortable, but that ride to the station was a bonding moment. We rode the bus home, and then Lilian and Manuel came to pick me up from Terminal O’Higgins. We ate once and I went to sleep.

Tuesday, June 10

Today at school I gave Monse her birthday Oreo bonbons and the card I had made her. I told her how much I loved her and wished her a happy birthday. I wish I could have done more to celebrate with her but I didn’t have time.

After school, we had a barras rehearsal until 4:30. They were practicing lifts (like cheerleaders do) and it scared me a lot because they are totally unprofessional, they don’t have any coaches, and I just don’t want anyone to get hurt. After practice, I took a micro with Vicente (he was going home and lives really close to Katie) over to Katie’s house. Christine and Sally were there baking brownies. We ate brownies, and then ordered pizza from Papa John’s.

Ordering pizza in Spanish is hard especially when you don’t know the address of the house you’re out or the word for “delivery” in Spanish (it’s domicilio in case you were wondering hahaha learned that one the hard way). We ate pizza, and then Sally and I left to catch micros home in the dark. I arrived home around 8 to find my aunt, her daughter, and her daughter in law and two grandsons in the house. We sat around the table eating once (I just drank tea since I would have died if I’d eaten any more after the pizza) and talking. They’re super sweet women all three, and although the two little boys, 3 and 5, are absolutely crazy, it was fun to watch them terrorize the house for a while. The family left for Santiago around 10 and I took a shower and went to sleep.

Monday, June 9

Today at school was a pretty boring day. Then after school I walked into the center with Vicente (he had preu) to go meet up with Katie. We hung out, I bought supplies to make Oreo bonbons for Monse’s birthday, and then we met up with Katie H, Sally, Pierre, Louis, Nigel, and Nicolo in the food court. We were supposed to be having a meeting with the heads of Rotary from Santiago at 4 in the food court.

We waited around for them (and got McFlurrys from McDonalds) until 5:30 when they finally showed up. We wanted to discuss the many problems we’ve had with the Rancagua Rotary Club (basically Monchito and the club show absolutely no interest whatsoever in us… they’ve invited us to one meeting in 10 months, we hear from Monchito, our counselor, about once every 3 months, and he never pays us on time), be paid our monthly salary for June, and ask if we could get the $400 security deposit that we had made at the beginning of the year back as soon as possible. They seemed very helpful and like they wanted to solve our problems and really cared about us, but I have had this same conversation and made these same complaints to so many different Rotarians so many different times, and nothing is ever done to fix anything, so I really don’t have much hope. The one really good thing that did come out of the meeting was that Clara, the president of Rotary, forced Monchito to allow me to give a speech in front of the Rancagua Rotary Club next Wednesday to explain to them exactly how abandoned they have made us feel this year. I am not the person that can sit around and let people get away with doing things wrong of unjustly, and before I can leave Chile in peace I need for Rotary to know what they have done to us. I also truly want these practices to change for all the future exchange students that come through Rancagua.

the micro home

Anyway, around 7:30 I took a micro home, made the Oreo  bonbons for Monse, ate once with my family (and filled them in on all the juicy details from the meeting since they hate Rotary Rancagua as much as I do) and then went to sleep later than usual.

Sunday, June 8

Today Katie and I woke up around 10, ate a quick breakfast, and then although it was raining and cold, I went outside to wait for a micro to take me back to my house. I probably should have just called my parents to come get me but I really wanted to let them see that  I could be self sufficient and that  I didn’t need to trouble them too often. I waited out on Katie’s street for a while, and then went walking toward the micro department nearby. When I saw that there was a padlock on the gate, I got a little worried. I decided to walk out to the main street to see if any micros would pass. None did. I called Manuel and he said that of course he would come to get me as soon as possible. I ended up having to wait for about 40 minutes more in the cold on the side of the street under the overhang of the bus stop. The collectivos would drive by and spray water over the curb and by the time Manuel arrived I was actually freezing cold. We drove home and I immediately went upstairs, took off my shoes and socks, and put my bare feet next to the space heater in my room. After I finally got warm, I went downstairs to talk to my parents.

Then we got in the car and went to a restaurant called El Mini Sheraton. It is a really popular restaurant, and we had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table. It was so worth it though because the food was amazing. Lilian shared chicken and a salad and we couldn’t finish it all even between the two of us.

Later, we drove home, and all of us were tired, so I went up to my room and worked on my blog while listening to the rain pour outside. Later we ate once and we all went to sleep early.

Saturday, June 7

I woke up late Saturday morning. I took a shower, got ready, and then went with Lilian to the bread store (panaderia… I’m not sure if stores that sell only bread products exist in the US) to buy me an empanada for lunch. Lilian and Manuel were going all day to Manuel’s dad’s house in Curico. I had plans in the afternoon so they said I didn’t have to come, and I said that I really wanted to meet Manuel’s family. Lilian, however, advised me not to go, saying that she absolutely hates it there and that it is the most boring experience I could possibly have. So I stayed home alone for a while, working on my blog and watching National Geographic documentaries (it is strange that a large number of those documentaries are “not available in my country”). Around 4 I walked outside in the cold and light rain to wait for a micro to Katie W’s house.

This is what a micro looks like in case anyone was wondering

About an hour later, I finally arrived at Katie’s and we hung out for a little while. Then Mery came and picked us up and took us over to Pitu’s house. We were having a tea party with Katie’s girlfriends from Ingles as a goodbye party for her.

Amaya, Lorenza, Rosario, Pitu, Mery, and Anto were there. They are really not my favorite people in the whole world. They’re sweet enough when they’re not making fun of our accents, but they just never really make an effort to include us. Also, their conversation topics are utterly boring. I am so glad I found good friends here in Chile because if I only knew these people I would honestly question the Chilean sense of humor.

Anyway, we ate pie, merenguitos, and ordered pizza. We sat around talking for a long time, then put on music and danced our dances from the alianzas (they’re all from C so they are in the same alianza and will perform the dance together, and I’m from A and have different dances and am on a different “team”). We talked for a long time and laughed (I forced myself to extract as much humor as possible from their jokes) and I actually ended up having a really great time with them. I was so sure that I was not going to have any fun that I went in with a bad attitude that the girls really didn’t deserve. They’re really sweet and nice and I do enjoy spending time with them; it’s just that they’re not my best best friends. Around 11, Mery drove Katie and I back to Katie’s house. We lay down in her bed under like 1384128350 blankets and watched the movie 50/50 while listening to the pouring rain outside.