During my time here in Chile, I've had the pleasure of experiencing many things. Some of these experiences have been completely foreign and new, while others resembled something I had seen or done before. Something that's always been really special in my family back home is birthdays. This is the first year I've not gotten to spend at least a portion of my birthday with my American family. Luckily, my Chilean family had my back.
On the morning of my birthday, I had to prepare for a presentation at school. In the states, we're usually on spring break during my birthday, but not here! While preparing, I heard my door crack open and in came my host mom, brother, and sister with a birthday cake, singing happy birthday in Spanish. The cake was a delicious chocolate cake, filled with cream and cherry filling. It was decadently delicious and it warmed my heart that not only did they remember my birthday, they went out of their way to make my day special. My host mom is an excellent cook. For lunch she made homemade gnocchi (suck it Olive Garden) in tomato sauce because she knows I love pasta. My host sister even got me a gift!
After lunch, I went to school to give my presentation (a moderate success, it's hard to work on your birthday), and then that evening, I met up with my friends at a restaurant in Cerro Alegre for, you guessed it, more food! We went to a sweet little Italian restaurant that had the largest calzones I'd ever seen! I had pasta relleno. It was soooo good! Afterwards, my friends and I walked around Valparaíso, laughing, snapping pictures, and just enjoying our time in general.
Studying abroad definitely has its challenges. Chile has been new, exciting, challenging, and so many other things, at all once. One of the hardest things for me has been finding new ways to relax and enjoy myself, since so much of what I usually rely on is back home. But it was definitely nice to have friends and family that cared enough for me to help me celebrate my birthday
A fun note about my first picture in this blog. I took this at the Italian restaurant I went to with my friends. In this case, cerrado is referring to the restaurante, "El restaurante está cerrado". But! If you use the verb ser instead, por ejemplo, "Allison es cerrada", it's like saying someone is timid or shy. The same can apply to abierto. "La puerta está abierta", the door is physical open. "Él es abierto", he's extroverted, he's open. The more you know! :)
After lunch, I went to school to give my presentation (a moderate success, it's hard to work on your birthday), and then that evening, I met up with my friends at a restaurant in Cerro Alegre for, you guessed it, more food! We went to a sweet little Italian restaurant that had the largest calzones I'd ever seen! I had pasta relleno. It was soooo good! Afterwards, my friends and I walked around Valparaíso, laughing, snapping pictures, and just enjoying our time in general.
Studying abroad definitely has its challenges. Chile has been new, exciting, challenging, and so many other things, at all once. One of the hardest things for me has been finding new ways to relax and enjoy myself, since so much of what I usually rely on is back home. But it was definitely nice to have friends and family that cared enough for me to help me celebrate my birthday
A fun note about my first picture in this blog. I took this at the Italian restaurant I went to with my friends. In this case, cerrado is referring to the restaurante, "El restaurante está cerrado". But! If you use the verb ser instead, por ejemplo, "Allison es cerrada", it's like saying someone is timid or shy. The same can apply to abierto. "La puerta está abierta", the door is physical open. "Él es abierto", he's extroverted, he's open. The more you know! :)
