Julieta Bautista-Lopez
PUCV, Chile
Day # 1
Yes. Yes. I am finally in Chile and I still can not wrap my brain around it. I have only been here for a matter of hours, but I already feel so at home.
I should begin with my plane ride; which I thought was going to be terrible but I actually received a great seat. I had plenty of leg room and was given dinner and breakfast. Did I mention my plane was huge!!! After I got off the plane we met with the rest of the international students. We were greeted by a PUCV student whom they call "monitors". He will be our Chilean host or mentor.
After we left the airport we had a 1 and a half hour bus ride from Santiago to Valparaiso. I tried my best to stay awake during the car ride, but I eventually fell asleep. Once we arrived at the Casa Central, where the international department is, we waited for our host families to arrive. I live with a host mom and sister in an apartment in Viña del Mar which is about 20 minutes from campus. My host mom's name is Tatiana and my sister's name is Marcela.
When I arrived I was fed a traditional Chilean meal which consisted of a soup that had chicken broth, carrots, and spinach. Then I had a chicken breast, a baked potato, and ground beef empanadas. Chilean meal times are a bit different. They eat a very light breakfast from 8-9 am like cereal or toast, and their heaviest meal is lunch which is usually 3 course meal and then a light snack around 9 or 10pm. I did learn that they eat a lot of bread and drink tea all the time. It will definitely take some getting used to because I am always hungry.
After dinner I came to my room and unpacked my belonging and settled in. Then a fellow international student invited me to go to the beach and see the town. So we went out at around 9pm, which is very normal here because there are always people out. We walked to the beach and walked along like a boardwalk and bought some delicious fresh made churros. Apparently you can only buy them by the dozen so I received a dozen churros for about $4 U.S dollars. It was starting to get late so we walked back to my apartment and Kathryn and her host sister headed back home.
I found it a little difficult to get to sleep because although it was midnight here, in Tennessee it was only 9pm so I decided to facetime with my boyfriend or as they say here pololo and then by 2am I was finally getting sleepy so I said goodbye and that ended my first night in Chile.
Day # 2
After some much needed sleep last night I feel better, but thanks to the wonderful weather here ( 70 degrees) I am already getting a cold :(. Today I woke up ( at 1pm) but no big deal I needed to rest right. I ate lunch with my host family which was white rice and carrots and shredded chicken with corn. After that I went to buy a Chilean phone and I got some snacks from the local supermarket. To my surprise they have a lot of American products, most importantly they have oreos. The mall or shopping center here is very different. Inside they have everything you could need. There is something like a walmart, best buy, home depot, food court, and many shops. It is very convenient to have right across the street from my apartment. It is already 6pm here so I think that will be my only adventure today. Tomorrow I start my first day of orientation at 8:30am( not a morning person) but I am excited to meet new people. I have yet to take many pictures so hopefully once I know how to get around I can take my camera.
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| at the beach with my bag of 12 churros |
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| my bedroom |
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| my bedroom |