Holaaaa
Well, its been a little over a month since I have arrived
here in Yungay! Que emocionnnn haha (oops I mean jajaja). This past week, I
didn’t have school Monday and Tuesday because it was the end of the semester so
guess what I started? COLLEGE APPS!! Kinda forgot about those…
The rest of the
week I had to go to school but didn’t have classes because Wednesday was the
anniversary of my school. To celebrate the anniversary, all
the students were sorted into alliances depending on their grade, so my grade
(tresero medio) was in the alianza roja (red alliance) with my little brother’s
grade and another grade in basico. During the school days, members of each alliance
had to participate in various activities. If they were to win that activity,
points would be awarded to the alliance. My favorite activity to watch was a
race that included cracking an egg and throwing flour on your head, sliding
down a slip-and-slide, and fishing for keys in a pool of sea creatures and vinegar
to help the queen of the course escape (oh yeah…each course has an elected queen
and king. My sister is the queen of her course and my future little brother is
the king of his course). Another funny activity was a food competition where
participants had to pass fruits and vegetables down the line only using their
mouths. The order was boy girl boy girl, and some of the fruits were very small
haha. Other activities included running competitions, soccer games, basketball
games, dances, a march in the plaza of Yungay, a cake eating competition, dance
off, rap off, and others I’m probably forgetting. Some of these activities,
like the rap off, dance off, other dances, and march, took place in the
nighttime in the plaza. I participated in the running competitions, soccer/basketball
games, dances, rap off, and the pass the food down the line. Even though I
totally sucked at everything, I had a ton of fun not sitting in lenguaje
wanting to die!
Everyone was really surprised when I told them we don’t
celebrate anniversaries in West Chester. I guess this week of fun is universal
here in Chile…que suerteee. The closest we have to anniversario is homecoming
week, but during homecoming week, the highlight is wearing pjs to school (which
by the way, isn’t exactly special because you can basically wear pjs whenever
you feel like it without an excuse).
On Friday, I had my first Gala, which I can’t really compare
to anything because it was different than both prom and homecoming. People came
in pretty much any fancy dress they wanted (long like prom, short like
homecoming, or jumpsuit), and all the medio courses could attend. I felt kind
of awkward at first because everyone was dancing and screaming the lyrics of Spanish
songs, and I still don’t know many Spanish songs nor the lyrics. After about an
hour, a friend of my host brother (in Switzerland) asked me to dance, so I left
my group of companeras to join a “dancing line” of companeros in the grade
above mine. I really don’t know how to dance for the life of me, and my dance
partner is the best in his course, so it was kind of embarrassing for me.
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| Girls from my grade and I |
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| My classmates from the grade above me |
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| My dance partner haha |
There is not one Chilean I have met that can’t dance!! And it isn’t just like moving the hips dancing, it’s like
Dirty Dancing (the movie) dancing. I really can’t compare nor imagine a future
where I can compare:/ I guess Rotary put me in dance classes every Saturday for
a reason…
After the Gala, there was an afterparty at my classmate’s
house; a lot of people from my course went. At first, I felt kind of awkward because
everyone was just talking, but about thirty minutes in when my classmates
blasted reggaeton, I relaxed a bit and started to dance. I have to say, fiestas
here in Chile are SO MUCH better than parties in West Chester. Dancing until
like four in the morning is so much better than sitting awkwardly in someone’s
basement wishing you were at home playing super smash bros😉
This week was the highlight of my month in Chile, without a
doubt. There were many moments where I was just walking through Yungay looking like
an idiot just smiling. The high I get from living in a world of new culture, experiences,
people, and language is unreal; there is always something new to see or do.
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| More of Yungay |
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| Hail storm! |
After orientation, I was kind of jealous that all of the other
exchange students were sent to the same town and school. However, being the
only exchange student right now in Colegio Cholguan basically makes me famous(😉),
meaning it was super easy to get attention and not feel lonely. As self-centered
as it sounds, I really like being the new kid and having people interested in
talking to me.
However, at the same time, I feel extremely out of place at
times. Not knowing the language nor the culture of Yungay makes me an outsider.
As an outsider, my job is to observe and try to wrap my head around this new
way of life. My personality doesn’t exactly parallel that of an observer, so
this past month has been slightly difficult for me emotionally. At this point, it’s
not even that I have something to say and I don’t know how to say it in Spanish;
it’s more like my brain is completely starved of any phrase in Spanish or English
and my stomach is screaming because for some reason I am always starving (yes, I'm a stress eater and yes, I've already gained over 6 kg). The most
interesting thing about this extreme low feeling is that it doesn’t last for
more than 10 minutes (or at least I don’t let it). I play this fun game with
myself where I imagine an alien has landed and is watching me experience whatever
irrational emotion I’m experiencing and I think about how ridiculous I must
look (I think I wrote an essay about this in 6th grade…). I’ve been doing
this since I was maybe five, and it has helped me not take life too seriously.
Life’s short, so why waste it on a bunch of brain chemicals😉
Well, I’ve gone quite a bit over 1,000 words so I guess it’s
time to wrap things up (actually, I could keep writing but I’m about to go to
eat ice cream and I have my priorities).
JEJEJE CHAO
Y FELIZ DIA DE INDEPENDENCIA😊
Allie
