20 Tips on Living in Chile

1. Don't adopt every sad stray dog you see on the street...because you'd have thousands. That's right, there are TONS of stray dogs in the streets. They're all really pretty and friendly, but they sleep in the bushes and look so lonely and pathetic and you just want to pet them, but DON'T, because they probably have pulgas (fleas). At 4am when you're walking home from the clubs, you can always count on 1 or 2 friends to accompany you though. One time I had as many as 10, which made me slightly nervous...

2. Beware of mayonnaise, they try to put it on everything.

3. Don't drink Capel, a really cheap brand of Pisco. It will give you the WORST caña (hangover) everrr. Oh and get ready to drink lots of Pisco, it's Chile's liquor.

4. Love manjar. It's their dulce de leche and it's delicious...even in empanadas! On that note, love empanadas and try all the different combinations.

5. Have correct change, or at least something close to it, when paying for La Micro (the bus). If you don't, the chaufer's will be annoyed with you.

6. When entering, leaving, or sitting on La Micro, always find something to hold on to. It doesn't matter if you're 99 years old, those Micros will not wait for you to sit down before lurching off at the speed of light.

7. Drink lots of tea. It helps warm you up.

8. Love palta (avocado). And put it on everything...sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, whatever.

9. Be careful with how many copetes (drinks) you consume. Their version of a rum and coke is a glass full of rum with a splash of coke.

10. Don't be surprised if you don't understand a single word Chileans say. They drop S and D sounds from their words, throw in "cachai", "po", and "hueon" at will, slur everything together, speak super fast, and with a sing-song Italian accent which I happen to love.

11. Never turn down an invitation to an asado (BBQ). Chileans cook the best meat I swear. It's simply delicious.

12. If you're a gringa (white woman), get used to Piropos (basically cat-calls or anything of the sort). Las micros do pretty awesome piropos. I was walking down the street the other day and this one started honking and flashing its lights and then they have some sort of button they push that lets out this loud howl-like whistle.

13. If you're going to participate in Chilean nightlife, be prepared to not sleep.

14. Love raggaeton and cumbia. So much great music, ask me for song suggestions if you want!

15. Say "super" a lot. And "rico/rica" can be used to describe people, food, situations, whatever.

16. No need to be on time, Chileans never are...even professors. We had one show up 45min late to class the other day.

17. Get used to having to go around to every person in the room when you enter a party, kissing everyone on the cheek and saying hello.

18. Never expect machine-made coffee. 99.999% of the coffee here is instant.

19. Enjoy sleeping in until noon or 1pm. It's not unusual.

20. Never stop appreciating the scenery. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Much needed update on my life here

Sorry I haven't posted in so long!! I'm running around so much here that I'm really spacey and forget stuff like this..please forgive me!

Gosh I've been up to a lot...it's kind of hard to describe it all.

First major change: I'm not picky anymore. I eat crazy vegetables, avocado, fish, all sorts of stuff. Basically whatever they put in front of me.

I'm taking classes at 2 universities, one of which looks like Hogwarts. It's sooo gorgeous, even prettier than Rhodes. All of my classes are in Spanish and I'm taking Chilean poetry, literature, spanish, history, christian anthropology, and probably one other class. (It looks like a heavier load but classes are rarely worth 4 credits here...many are 2 or 3 so I'm really just taking the normal 16 credit load).

I live in Viña del Mar, Chile which is sister cities with Valparaíso. It's on the coast and it's so beautiful with all of these crazy hills and cliffs too. I've explored Viña and Valpo really well and know my way around and last weekend we also went to the nearby Sand Dunes which were awesome (check my pictures on facebook).

I ride the buses everywhere. They're really intimidating at first because you definitely have to be on your game about getting on and off or you might fall and break a leg because the drivers don't really like to stop.

I love my host family. It's just me here with my parents, but they have 3 older children who live in Santiago who I'm hoping to meet soon. We live in a high rise apartment (14th floor) and have a great view. There's no heating indoors in Chile, because most people can't afford it, so I'm always really cold and have to wear like 5 layers of clothing, drink lots of hot tea, take scolding hot showers, and sleep under 5 thick blankets jajaja. But I'm getting used to it and it'll start warming up in September. The weather has been gorgeous for the most part so that helps too.

We go out a tonnn. Chileans pregame til about 2am and then leave to go to the clubs so the clubs aren't really packed til about 3am and then everyone stays out until around 6am. It is roouuugh. jajaja. The clubs are ridiculous! They're like underground with 3 different huge rooms usually with different dj's playing different kinds of music. Chileans are obsessed with raggaeton and this is my favorite song they play in the clubs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9ytgRg_F8

The other gringos (white people) in my program are really cool and I'm getting along well with everyone. Also, I've met lots of chileans and I love hanging out with them. The people are so friendly here and are willing to help you whenever you need it. I've also felt really confident and safe for the most part. I walk lots of places and people stare at me because I'm white and have green eyes, but they haven't been offensive.

That's all I can really think of for now...Post questions if you want to know anything specific or just to chat! :)

almost pulled a doctor jaslow.

so remember freshman year when dr. jaslow was attempting to help me improve my grade in biology by quizzing me...and then I started crying for no reason and couldn't stop?

and remember how this has happened with other figures of authority? yea clearly i have issues.

well the flood gates almost opened on one of the staff members today. we were casually discussing in spanish which courses i am interested in taking and all of a sudden i felt my heart rate quicken and i felt my eyes glossing over and that strange choking feeling.

not ok.

luckily i was able to hold it back, get to my room, calm down, and avoid crying altogether. of course, there was nothing to be crying over.

so lesson learned from this? not only do i need a pill to keep my hands from shaking, but mom, get me something for spontaneous, irrational tears. gracias.

los resultos de los examenes escritos y orales

So I just had my interview...

The spanish professor told me I got about an 80% on the written exam, which I was pretty happy with considering it was my first spanish exam, sin estudiar, in 3-4 months. Also, other students who have much better speaking skills than me and have studied abroad before got similar scores. I was pretty nervous while speaking to him, but he was really nice and just asked me about where I'm from and to describe Birmingham. He asked if Birmingham was famous for anything and I told him about its history as one of the most violent cities during the civil rights movement and about the bombing of the 16th street baptist church. He then showed me a comic strip of Little Red Riding Hood, pero había un distinto de la historia tradicional, and I had to describe what I saw.

He told me they were splitting the students into 4 groups (there's about 40 of us by the way, a lot more than I originally thought there would be) for the mandatory spanish language course. All the groups will be taught the same material...they're just splitting us up so we can receive more specialized attention and so that we're learning with other students at the same level. Groups 1 and 2 are more advanced...he said I would be in 3 or 4 bahahaha. But I'm happy with that...I'll feel more comfortable participating in class and what not.


Final side note (and my parents will like this the most): there's about 5 other girls here with tragus piercings...so I fit right in.


oh and i'm super behind on my picture taking. believe it or not...I've only taken 1 picture. We're too busy! get with the program emily.

First Days in Chile

Hola Todos!

I arrived in Santiago, Chile early Thursday morning. No Flight troubles besides a small delay in Birmingham. No customs troubles either yay! The other program students and I sat around the freezing cold Santiago airport for 4 hours waiting on the IFSA staff to come get us. Like I was literally wearing 2 jackets, tennis shoes, gloves, and a scarf. So cold. The program students are pretty cool. They're from all over the country, excluding the south (minus 2 students who go to Trinity in San Antonio, but that doesn't really count as the south does it...). There are kids from Maine, Washington State, California, and lots from Minnesota and Colorado. Upon learning I'm from Alabama, the first response is generally, "Oh, you don't have an accent." It's funny how we can all find connections within are group though. One guy is friends with Christena's old roommate Nikki, and then this girl named Abby is good friends with Virginia and Dani at Kenyon.

After being picked up by the IFSA staff from the airport (they don't speak English to us at all by the way) we rode in a bus for 2 hours through the Andes. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I'd never been on roads like that, such extreme hairpin turns that I thought surely the bus would fall off the side of the mountain.

We've been staying in a nice quaint little hotel in this town called Olmue for program orientation. There's practically nothing here, besides huge mountains rising high above you whichever way you turn. It has been rainy and really cold the past 2 days. My toes never seem to warm up, but I'm getting used to it. I think we're slightly spoiled in the hotel though because at least our bedrooms have small heaters and I hear our homestays won't have any heaters. But besides the bedrooms, indoor rooms are generally not heated. Oh, I have 2 roommates, Holly and Joey, and they're really nice and easy to get along with.

Meals here are HUGE. We have a buffet style breakfast with yummy fresh fruit, toast, pastries (that I avoid), coffee and juices. Lunch and dinner are 4 course meals. They usually start with some sort of weird salad, then a mystery creamy soup, a meat entre, and then dessert. Oh and there's baskets of rolls on the table too. Meal example: meat, cheese, and veggie empanada; tomato soup; turkey and rice; ice cream drizzled in chocolate syrup. I've tried 90% of the foods put in front of me so be proud everyone! Added bonus: most of the time I don't know what I'm eating. We are all constantly full though and I don't think anyone really looks forward to meal time. It was nice to get up yesterday morning and do a brief workout in the tiny gym here (that has an interesting array of equipment I might add).

Orientation is overwhelming and tiring. We've received lectures on culture shock, the 3 universities we can take courses at, how to register for courses (the most stressful process I think), chilean slang, safety, and tons of other information too. Every night we've taken Chilean dance lessons with these 2 men that give me a run for my money in the hip shaking department.

Last night 5 other program students and I went out with some of Whitney's local friends. They took us to this cute little bar where they played lots of american music...not quite sure if that was because we were there or just because they love the music. I definitely enjoyed jamming out to some Jay-Z though. It was so hard to understand them and I got really nervous and couldn't communicate at all. Definitely discouraging but Mexico and Peru taught me that that's just the way it goes the first couple of days. We're supposed to meet up with them again tonight, so hopefully I'll do better in round 2!

We took an hour long written Spanish exam today to evaluate where we stand...I think they will split us into different groups for our mandatory program language class. I have an interview this afternoon with the IFSA staff to evaluate my oral skills. I felt pretty confident after the written exam, probably thanks to my writing intensive course last semester. I was nervous about where I would stand with the other program students considering I had at first applied to be in the intermediate program but then IFSA made me do the advanced program because they said I had taken too many spanish courses to do the intermediate one. Turns out it's a similar case with most of the other students (most of them first applied to the intermediate program). There's a couple of students who are far beyond me speaking-wise though but they have studied abroad before so I don't feel too terrible.

We watched part of a chilean movie last night, which was awkwardly very sexually graphic.

Puuesss, that's all I can think of right now. I'm gonna go take some pictures because the sun's coming back out, finally! No freak outs yet, but this is definitely an out of body experience. I think when it finally hits me, y'all will know. I'll try and keep this updated!

Love and miss you all!

El análisis crítico de “Una señora” por José Donoso

En “Una señora” por José Donoso, el narrador empezó el cuento con la descripción de su vida casi normal. Dijo, “Cuando me aburro…de mis conversaciones habituales, suelo tomar algún tranvía cuyo recorrido desconozca y pasar así por la ciudad” (Donoso 1). Un día lluvioso, cuando tomaba el tranvía, él se dio cuenta de la existencia del otro individuo. Una mujer estaba sentado en el asiento de pasillo al lado del narrador. Ella llevaba un paraguas mojado y cubría por un impermeable verde. El narrador continua observar el paisaje por la ventana y no se dio cuento cuando la mujer salió del tranvía. Los dos nunca conocieron uno al otro oficialmente. Un día más tarde, él creía que vio la señora misma del tranvía cruzando la calle. Él se convertió en obsesión con ver esta mujer, observando las constumbres suyas, y la buscando en todas partes. Después de pocas semanas, él se despertió una mañana “con la certeza de que la señora se estaba muriendo” (Donoso 3). El día siguiente, el narrador miró por el diario que los deudos y encontró que una doña Ester de Arancibia había muerto. Creyendo que ella era la mujer quien llevaba el impermeable verde, él fui a sus funerales. Aunque el cuento es oscuro a veces, creo que centra en los malos efectos de la vida de rutina de las ciudades en las interacciones sociales entre personas.

Para comprender este punto de vista, en primer lugar es necesario examinar la vida de Donoso. Nació en 1925 en la Santiago, Chile en una familia rica y aristicrática y fue educado en los Estados Unidos a la Universidad de Princeton. Los breves cuentos de Donoso demuestran el resentimiento por la clase alta, el que probablemente tiene su origen en su niñez. Según Martínez, “para las personas desfavorecidas o los viejos, la vida y la muerte tiene inmediatez que nunca es sospechosa por la clase alta de mucha satisfacción, la que ignora el caos por cubrirselo con un velo de orden…Donoso estudia la dualidad de vida entre el bien y el mal, el orden y el caos, la vida y la muerte, y además examina la incapcidad del humano conciliar los dos lados de la existencia” (250). La vida de la ciudad puede tener un efecto similar del velo. Las ciudades son unidades ordenadas. Son planeadas en las manzanas y todo dentro de la ciudad trabaja por un programa, sus ciudadanos, sus empresas, sus tranvías, etc. El narrador de “Una señora” comentó sobre eso: “La hilera de casa bajas se prolongaba a lo largo de la acera: ventana, puerta, ventana, puerta, dos ventanas, mientras los zapateros, gasfíteres y verduleros cerraban sus comercios exiguos” (Donoso 1). Es facíl estar envuelto por la rutina y dejar de observar los individuos y sólo ver las personas como caras en blancos entre la multitud que pasa rápidamente. Quizás en “Una señora,” Donoso sugiere también que la gente ha hecho demasiada desencantada que rara vez se detiene a pensar en las muchas personas que mueren cada día.

“Una señora” no centra en una mujer especifica. Usar “una” en vez de “la” en el título significa desespecificación, que la mujer en el cuento puede ser alguna mujer. Otras descripciones de la señora entre el texto apoya esta línea del pensamiento: “Una de esas seõras cincuentonas, de las que hay por miles en esta ciudad: ni hermosa ni fea, ni pobre ni rica” (Donoso 1). La descripción es imprecisa, y puede aplicar a cualquier mujer. Cuando el narrador creía que había visto la señora por la segunda vez, por la única razón que la mujer también llevaba un impermeable verde, comentó, “Hay miles de impermeables verdes en esta ciudad” (Donoso 2). Para mí, esta frase significa que esta mujer probablemente no es la misma del tranvía, pero por otro lado es una representación de la mucha gente que sin ser visto que vive junto en una ciudad muy ocupada. Esto es más apoyado por el hecho que la mujer se parece estar todos lugares: “Me sentaba en un parque y ella lo cruzaba llevando un bolsón con verduras. Me detenía a comprar cigarrillos, y estaba ella pagando los suyos. Iba al cine, y allí estaba la señora, dos butacas más allá” (Donoso 2). Si ella fuera la misma mujer, se daría cuenta de su acosador obvio. Al contrario, el narrador dijo, “No me miraba” (Donoso 2).

En esta vida agitada que vivimos, olvidamos nuestros conciudadanos, ellos quienes están sufriendo y muriendo sin nuestro conocimiento. Tratamos de ocultar esta realidad con programas ocupados y apariencias del orden, por como dice Martínez, somos incapaz de resolver la dualidad de existencia: la vida y la muerte, el bien y el mal. Las personas entran y salen de nuestras vidas cada día, pero casi no las nos damos cuenta, al igual que el narrador dijo, “No recuerdo con certeza cuándo fue la primera vez que me di cuenta de su existencia” (Donoso 1). Cuando el narrador creía que la mujer había muerto, él fue a los funerales de una mujer al azar que la había encontrado declarado muerta en las noticias. Después de los funerales, él pensaba “en la señora sólo muy de tarde en tarde” (Donoso 4). El último párrafo, el narrador creía que el presente ser una reprodución del otra vida ya vivía, y luego pensó que en una vida futura, él conocerá la señora por otra vez. Sin embargo, él terminó el cuento con esta frase: “Pero me da un poco de risa, porque yo mismo vi depositar su ataúd en el nicho, en una pared con centenares de nichos todos iguales” (Donoso 4). Una señora era sólo una de muchas. Quizás, todos debemos reducir la velocidad de vida, tomar tiempo observar y agradecer la gente, nos bajamos del tranvía.


La bibliografía

Donoso, José. “Una señora.” http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/cuentos/esp/donoso /senyora.htm

Martínez, Nelly Z. “José Donoso: A Short Study of His Works.” Books Abroad, Vol. 49, No. 2. 1975. Jstor. Pp. 249-255.

Mi tercera diseminación - ¿Por qué amamos al doctor House?, Por Sonia Lira

Creo que la razón la que encontramos ser atractivas las personas que tienen personalidades muy inteligente, pero también arrogante y grosera, es porque nos cuestionan. En conversaciones con este tipo de persona, tenemos que pensar fuera de la caja. Mientras lo hacemos, descubren nuevas verdades interiores. Quizás también, por pensar fuera de la caja, los humanos pueden hacer más cambios significados al mundo.


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