Wrapping it up

In a recent phone conversation with my parents, my mom pointed out that the bulk of my (now very infrequent) blog posts have been discussing struggles, and I really haven’t talked too much about the joys of my experience. She has a point. I guess I’ve been focusing on the negatives because I needed the chance to vent. Venting is an essential part of life, and it’s tough when you’re struggling to talk to everyone in a foreign language and are so far away from friends and family.

But I want to make it clear; this semester hasn’t been all negative. It’s been pretty spectacular actually. The opportunities to meet new and exciting people and learn a distinct language and culture, to travel and discover new beautiful parts of the world, to get to know a city and region at a very intimate level... But I didn’t need to post all that. You can see my photos, I can talk to you about it, but the great parts of life aren’t that interesting. This blog would be even more boring than it already is.

But with all the incredible ups there have also been a few huge downs. The stresses of a study abroad experience in such an isolated world away from family and friends have given me the most challenging struggles of my life. Homesickness, social isolation while being trapped in a Spanish-speaking world, preoccupation over the lack of close and meaningful interaction with others, struggles with a slower and less efficient pace of life, challenges to my values, beliefs and customs, and frustration with a culture which is sometimes hard to understand and adapt to… Those are just a few of the emotions and tests which have worn me down. Yeah I don’t think it’s like this in all study abroad programs. But in one with such a big focus on immersion and dedication to the language, the struggles can be really debilitating. And I think that was true for pretty much all of us in the program in Valdivia this semester. We got emotionally beat up. It’s something they don’t mention in the Schools Abroad handbook, it’s supposed to be all fun and games. Yeah, it wasn’t what I expected, but I wouldn’t change anything because while it was an emotionally taxing experience, it has been incredibly gratifying.

A few days ago, I had a chance to go to the beach one last time with a few friends. After five months living here in Valdivia, just 20 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, I still never actually went for a swim. I came that afternoon resolved to finally do so. It didn’t matter that it felt like it was about to snow when we stepped off the bus, nor did it matter that there wasn’t a single ray of sunlight in sight. It didn’t matter that I didn’t bring a decent towel or warm clothes or that none of the others were going to swim. I needed to do it, not to prove a point, but to bring some sort of closure to my experience here.

It was more than just a quick polar bear plunge into the frigid 50 degree ocean. My body’s clash with numbingly cold water helped bring this whirlwind of a study abroad experience to an end. It knocked out all my frustration, stress, loneliness, and isolation. The icy water told me, this is IT, this is life, let it beat you up and kick you around, just live it and LOVE it because when you come out of it you’ll be stronger.

My semester in Valdivia may not have been the ideal study abroad experience. But I wouldn’t change it at all. It’s given me plenty of positive, unforgettable memories, and the struggles which never let me be made me a stronger and better person, and for that I am grateful.



So what am I up to next?

This Sunday, I leave the city I’ve called home the last five months for good. But I’m not coming home immediately. I’ll be heading to Buenos Aires for a week to spend the holidays with relatives. Then on December 28th I head back down to Southern Chile, starting a sixteen-day solo trip south through Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia. I will be covering a large corridor between Puerto Montt, Chile and El Calafate, Argentina in an ambitiously short timeframe. But hopefully it will give me a chance to relax and reflect, and I’m sure the solitude will get me even more pumped than I already am to return to friends and family back up north.

I reunite with my fellow Middkids/Valdivianos Lilly and Allison in Puerto Natales, Chile on January 13, where we hope to trek the entire Torres del Paine circuit. If you haven’t heard of Torres del Paine, do yourself an eye-candy favor and complete a quick google image search. After finishing the trek we’re off to Punta Arenas, the largest city in Patagonia, for a brief visit, and then Ushuaia (the southernmost city in the world) for one last hurrah of hiking and hopefully a boat trip on the Beagle Channel… I’ll be back in the States on January 29th and just a few days later will make the trip back up to Middlebury.

Well that’s it from Valdivia. I’ll update again when it's right.

Anyway, I love you all, and can’t wait to see you again.

-Alex

Quiet Study

For a moment this afternoon, I forgot I was in the library writing two essays that I need to finish tonight. People were shuffling in and out of the room, moving tables and chairs, yelling, laughing, saying hi to friends. This is life in the study lounges of Chilean universities...

But in all seriousness, everything is so much louder here in Chile. My nights are dominated by the sounds of nervous neighborhood dogs barking (here in Chile dogs sleep all day). Most days I wake up to the loudest and most obnoxious bird call in existence... the call of the queltehue. If I'm lucky, a neighbor's insanely loud burglar alarm is also going off (while crime rates are relatively low here, people are obsessed about protecting their home with fences and security systems. 99% of the alarms that go off are caused by somebody opening a door before deactivating the alarm...).

Life at the university is extremely loud. Not just in the study lounges. In my climatology class, I always have to sit in the first row if I want to get a chance to hear the professor, the other 80 people in the class are busy chatting with their friends. With no air conditioning, windows in Chile are always open, so you might be trying to enjoy a nice discussion on Argentinian history while some guy with a leafblower drops by.

It keeps life fun and interesting, but it'll be nice to come back to a slightly quieter world.

Sports

This is Latin America- all they play is futbol, right? Wrong. Not here in Southern Chile. Well there is a futbol team in town. They have a nice field which doubles as a swamp and a solid fan base of 50 people. Yeah so futbol is pretty lame here. The problem is, it rains so damn much down here in Southern Chile is that everyone prefers to watch or play sports which offer some sort of protection from the elements. Here in Valdivia, basketball is the main sport, it has a huge fan base, and the league has some of the best pros outside the NBA.

So last night I went to a pro basketball game with a Chilean friend. I'm not much of a basketball fan, but since this is part of the Valdivian experience, why not? It seemed like half the city had the same idea, including the entire police force (they're called carabineros and wear sweet green uniforms here). It was nice to know we were safe.

The game ended up being pretty worthwhile. I still don't understand where the away team came from- their jerseys all said Boston College Eagles but they were almost all speaking Chilean Spanish. (Since when does Boston College have a Chile campus? not sure) Both teams had a few Americans on their team- for the guys that don't make it to the NBA, Chile is a great alternative! (as long as you don't mind playing in a different language). Anyway the game went back and forth, and after Valdivia blew a 20 point lead and was down by 1, it all came down to a fantastic but tragic ending for the home team as Valdivia missed a last-second 3 point attempt and was left on the floor weeping. Well maybe not weeping, but pretty close. The whole game was really intense. The players and fans let it all out and were really into it- great sport atmosphere.

Afterwards, my friend and I walked back outside only to be greeted by near hurricane force winds and drenching rain squalls. I really do love Valdivia.

Classes

What an adventure this has been getting to know the Latin American university system. Two weeks into the semester, I still have no idea what classes I’m gonna take and the whole campus organization is a mess. Although it's a bit frustrating at times, I've learned to relax and just take it easy... Getting used to something new is what study abroad is all about.

First a few details about the academic side of my program: in our program we directly enroll in the local university (in this case, Universidad Austral de Chile) so we don't have any special classes or professors, and we don't get too much extra help as international students. We take classes (or at least try to) side-by-side with Chilean students in order to help with the immersion and cultural experience.

In Chile, students don't really have any flexibility in the classes they take- once they choose their major, their class schedule for the next four years is set. That creates problems for us gringos who arrive on campus wanting to pick classes "a la carte". Want to take a history class, a forestry class, and a film class? You'll likely have to see a dozen people in a dozen buildings spread out across the campus just to figure out the schedule for each class. And you're not out of the woods once you find the class. The big issue is that everyone seems a bit reluctant to get started after winter break... Most Chilean students seem to be skipping the first few weeks of classes, and professors don't always show up either. It's difficult to get a sense of how the class is going to be if you're the only person who shows up! Another slight problem I've had to deal with is that a few of the classes I wanted to take simply don't exist at all. Oh well. So I'll update the academic side once again once things settle down. Those of you at Midd- pass on my warm regards to the registrar's office and bannerweb. I miss them terribly.


Anyway I'm gonna sign off now. Right before writing this I got back from watching an incredible football game at a bar popular with the university kids. Chile just DESTROYED Colombia in a World Cup Qualifying match and all of Valdivia is going nuts. Now it's almost midnight and it's time for the celebrations/carrateando to begin...

Climatology

Calm after the storm


I've probably mentioned the rain a few times in this blog but rain is such an essential part of the experience here I thought I'd dedicate a whole entry to it. Plus, I think I'm gonna take a climatology course this semester so I should probably start getting used to talking about weather...

In short, August was a climatological nightmare. It rained 29 out of 31 days, and the last 10 days of the month it just dumped on us non-stop. September, on the other hand, has been incredible. We’ve had a few soggy days but the sun has made quite a few extended stays as well. Everyone's spirits are up.

So what's this rain really like? Let’s look at a few U.S. city average yearly rainfall statistics, just for reference. (Thanks wikipedia)

Burlington, Vt: 34.6 inches
Seattle, Washington 37.1 inches
Washington DC: 39.1 inches

Ok, so what about Valdivia????

106.4 inches. 9 feet of rain each year. On average, the amount of rain that falls in Valdivia during June and July is more than what falls in Seattle in one entire year.

I really shouldn’t be trashing Valdivia for its excess of liquid precipitation, though. All the locals I’ve talked to have told me this was the most insane August they’ve ever experienced (my Chilean family has lived here almost 40 years and can’t remember a rainier August). And three times Seattle’s annual rainfall isn’t really THAT much. At least we’re not talking Indian monsoon rain or Amazon jungle quantities of rain here. I was reading the other day that some town in India gets 470 inches (39 feet) of rain per year while parts of Colombia get 450+ inches of rain as well. And at least all these rainy days make it a lot easier to enjoy and take advantage of the sunny ones...

Anyway, here's my message to all of you people enjoying life in the U.S. or in other significantly drier locales: appreciate your beautiful weather, because somewhere in the world, someone is getting absolutely soaked right now.

Communication

One of the things I've committed to as part of my study abroad program is a language pledge. Except for some communication with family and friends (i.e. this blog), I've affirmed to completely immerse myself in Spanish. The gist of it is that I'm doing almost everything in Spanish: reading, writing, speaking... even when I'm chatting with the other gringos, and even if someone wants to practice their English with me. Not using English as a crutch is definitely helping my Spanish a ton already. I'm learning new words every day, becoming more confident in conversation and I'm even starting to think in Spanish more and more, just two weeks in. Still, I struggle with every Spanish sentence. There's so much I can't say that I want to say, so many things I want to talk about with my Chilean host family and friends... but I just can't because I'm not fluent enough. It can be incredibly frustrating. But it's also super exhausting. My brain works so hard all the day that by evening everything just wants to shut down and I find it super easy to fall asleep. Every day I feel some progress though, and I guess this is what study abroad is all about. Struggling and making lots of mistakes, but pushing on and enjoying all the fun and great memories which come out of the unique experience.

Caramba it's raining hard right now. I'm going to bed.

Transport

One of the few downsides to my living situation here in Valdivia is that I live relatively far from the center. I basically live in a Chilean vision of suburbia. My neighborhood is called the “Villa Europa” (European Village) and all the streets are named after cities and countries in Europe. There's block after block of similar looking single-family homes, and most people use some sort of motorized vehicle to get around. So what do I do about transport? Well I’ve walked a few times. It’s only a half an hour to get to the city center, 40 minutes to the university. Thankfully there are also a few other options.

Micros (buses)

Micros are common throughout Valdivia. There are 20 different routes which cover the whole city. Routes 4 and 5 go near my house. I have to walk two blocks to a bus stop. Wait for the bus. Hop on and wait till it takes me to the center. There are two slight problems with this mode of transportation, though. One is time. Micros take the most erratic routes to get to where you need to go. They constantly turn onto side streets and stop to pick up more passengers, so it’s almost faster to walk. Secondly, I always seem to get the most aggressive micro drivers who weave in and out of traffic, narrowly avoid ramming into other vehicles, and never give me enough time to get off the bus before they zoom off down the road. This option has clear downsides.

Colectivos

These are basically taxis that have predetermined routes, squeezing as many people as can fit into the vehicle. I like this option for the quickest way into the center. But they don’t go to the university. They’re also really cramped. And the cost adds up if I take them several times a day.

Bike

I bought a bike this week. I’m really happy with it. It’s really cheap and crappy but gets the job done- it gets me places. The one problem is that Valdivia hates bike riders. It rains almost every day this time of year, so anytime I hop on a bike I'm just asking to get drenched with mud. The roads and sidewalks aren’t built for bike riding, and cars and micros love to hog the road.

I’m still trying to figure out the best solution…