Verano 2020:)

If I were to give anybody who is considering exchange some advice, I would say, “GO TO SOUTH AMERICA (obviously Chile, if I’m being bias).” In South America, summer break is December-March because that happens to be when summer is in the southern hemisphere. That also happens to fall right in the middle of an exchange year😉 If you haven’t seen the memes already, exchange students love to eat immense amounts of junk food, sleep whenever possible, and (most importantly) NOT go to school. And that is exactly what I did, and SOOOO much more hehe.

I do, however, have a disclaimer before I go into all the fun things I did: there were A LOT more lows this summer than I expected. There were some days I was just at home the whole day without people to hang out with and days when I felt sad, homesick, or anxious. I probably will retouch this topic throughout the blog post, but I just wanted to put this out there before I go on and on about how wonderful summer is. I will also organize this like how I organized the Bariloche post, so after this sentence, I’ll put headings of the highlights, then do a little reflecting afterwards back in paragraph format.

Christmas: I don’t think Christmas here is as big a deal as it is in the United States, in terms of celebration. On the 24^th of December, my host grandmother came over for dinner (usually people don’t eat a formal “dinner” here every night like we do in the states; here we have something called “once” which consists of bread and butter or something light like that. Lunch is the big meal with real food). It was fun and the meat was SOOO good (obviously, papa Emilio is the king of asados).

After dinner, we stayed up until 12 am to open presents. We each got a lot of presents, and opened them all very fast; I was still opening my second present when Martina had finished. This is different than I’m used to because in my house, we go in a circle each taking turns opening gifts while wearing Christmas PJs listening to lots of Christmas music. I do have to say, this made me a little homesick because I did miss my family traditions, like finding the pickle on the tree, eating tons of foundue, and wearing Christmas PJs all day. But it was still a fun and new experience:)

When I woke up the next morning (Christmas day), my second host mom brought me to her house to meet all of her family. Although they seemed to do a little bit more for Christmas, it still wasn’t exactly the same, as we didn’t listen to Christmas music nor wear Christmas clothes. I did have a ton of fun though and met a cousin that I got along with very well. 

I later called one of my friends from Colegio and asked her if Christmas is usually celebrated like how I experienced it here, and she said it was. I guess I thought everywhere in the world went CRAZYYY with decorations and music during Christmas like we do in the states.

New Years: For New Years, we went to a beautiful city on the beach called Viña del Mar. Every year in Viña, there are fireworks for the new year, but this year, they were planning on canceling them due to the manifestations. However, when we went, I guess they changed their minds and went on with the show. I REALLY enjoyed myself; we went to a party on the roof of the apartment building where there was lots of music, people and a PERFECT view of the fireworks over the ocean. With my host parents, I danced all night, starting 2020 off in the best way possible😉 Along with going to this carrette, we also went to the beach basically every day. I also went running every morning at around 9 so I could explore more of the city and see the ocean before boats and people filled it up.

Exchange student visit: Every year, my host family goes to one of their friend’s campos to pick blueberries. As it turns out, this friend had a daughter living in Chillan who was hosting an exchange student from Switzerland named Salome. When my host dad found this out, he and my host mom invited the girl from Switzerland to come live with us in Yungay for a couple days. When she came, we went to the blueberry campo, ate a ton of blueberries while my host parents were busy filling like 5 coolers with blueberries, and went to the Salto de Itata. Saltos de Itata are about a 20-30 minute drive from downtown Yungay, and are BEAUTIFUL!! I have been wanting to go to the falls ever since I first arrived in Yungay, and finally I was able to see them. I got along really well with Salome, and so did Mika (german exchange student also in Yungay), so the three of us had sleepovers every night until she left. The day she left, I had yet another opportunity to go to Salto de Itata but this time with my cousin, Amanda, and her family. I went, and it was just as gorgeous as I remembered it😊

Semana Yungayina: Yungay’s birthday happened to be over the summer! This was a fun week filled with artisan vendors, shows/concerts, FOOD, and Cueca. Because I was still part of the traditional Chilean dance group, I had to dress up in my cueca dress again and participate in the “desfile”. I already participated in a desfile (parade) for the 18 de Septiembre (Independence Day), so I knew the drill and knew to arrive as early as possible in the morning to get my hair done by my Cueca teacher. A surprisingly small amount of people came to watch, but a lot of people participated; every group from Tae Kwon Do to my host mom’s group of matronas (midwife/OGBYN doctors) marched. A reporter who was making voice memos throughout the first day of Yungay week saw that I was a gringo in a flowery Cueca dress and interviewed me. I totally messed up the interview because he talked super-fast, and I might have accidentally told him I’m pregnant when I said “estaba super embarazoso”, but I guess that’s life.

The Semana yungayina also had a ton of concerts; Salome, Mika and I decided to go one night to the concert in the plaza. We didn’t stay for too long because we decided it would be more fun to buy a ton of food and chill at the house talking, but while we were there it was fun. The last night, my second host mom and I went to another concert together by a group called, “Los Vazquez”. I actually knew the songs from this group, so I was able to jam with my host mom.

Los Vazquez performance

Coronel, Concepcion: My Rotary counselor’s wife was having a baby, so they invited me to their baby shower with all of their family in Concepcion. I went with them for the day, met their family, and got to see a new part of Concepcion filled with beaches, old cole mines, and statues of people from the United States who were big in the mining industry in Chile. It was fun, and there was a lot of really fancy food, but I do remember feeling extremely awkward sometimes. It was another one of those experiences where people I have never seen before keep walking through the door, except this time, at least 10 of them were pregnant women. I felt like one of them after eating all the food (I overeat to the point of death when I feel anxious…and it didn’t help that the food was actually really good).

Pucon: My second host family invited me to Pucon, a city in the south (I went there with both the host families in like October or November of last year). They had a two-week break from work and wanted to spend their vacations in their new apartment down there. They told me about this vacation and how they would take me I believe at the end of November, so I knew I would be going at some point in the summer but I didn’t know for how long. A couple hours before I left, I was in dance class, and my teacher told me we had a big performance in a little over a week. We had been practicing for months (or they had been practicing for months; I was on vacation or doing something most Saturdays), and I had already been put in 3 different dances. I guess I had some sort of misunderstanding with my second host parents because I somehow got under the impression that we would be gone for 5-6 days, when in reality, they were taking me for 2 weeks. So, I told my dance teacher I couldn’t go to the next Saturday lesson, but could go to the dress rehearsals and obviously the performance. She wasn’t mad, so I went home in a peaceful state of mind ready to pack for the trip. I brought one sweatshirt, two shirts, two shorts, one pants, like 5 pairs of socks and underwear, and a bathing suit top. I told them all I was ready, so they picked me up and we set off on the four – five-hour car ride. Once we arrived, my host mom told me to unpack my stuff and put it in the closet, and when I finished, she asked me where my other clothes are. Confused, I told her these are my clothes. I remember she laughed for like five minutes because she thought I was joking, and when she realized I was serious, she was like “ALLIE VAMOS A ESTAR AQUI PARA DOS SEMANAS Y TU SOLO TRAJISTE 1 POLERON Y 4 CAMISAS!!” To be honest, I wasn’t concerned about the clothes because I survived 5 weeks with two shirts and two pants when I worked in Oregon; I was more concerned about the concert I would be missing! I called my teacher praying she wouldn’t pick up, which, thankfully, she didn’t, so I left like a 10 minute voice message explaining how I didn’t know I would be in Pucon, I’m so sorry, bla bla bla. After like 4 days, she finally responded and said it was fine and that I shouldn’t worry. I still feel bad about it now because she had spent so much time preparing, and I think she even kicked me out of the group because I don’t get the group texts anymore☹ But I guess that’s life haha

Other than this drama, I honestly had no other problems on the trip!! They brought me to Huilo Huilo (a biological reserve like three hours south of Pucon) where we hiked the trail, “la leona” to see a beautiful waterfall of blue water, took a gondola up to the top of a mountain to enjoy the view of volcanoes, and visited several of the seven lakes in the region (the region is called “la region de los lagos” for a reason). They also took me even farther south to Puerto Varas (a beautiful town on the shore of a big river with a view of a volcano) and los Saltos de Petrohué (waterfalls with a gorgeous view of two different volcanos: volcan Osorno and volcan Calbuco). Because Petrohué national park is even farther away, we stayed in a hotel in Osorno.

On a daily basis, I went for runs every morning and found a route I liked that took me to what seemed to be a run-way for a small airplane with a mountainous background. I also liked running through town before it got hot and filled with people, so I did that as well. Running gave me time to re-generate and stay animated and happy every moment; I started to make voice messages of things that happened to either record fun events (I’ve been bad about finding time to just sit down and blog) or talk about my feelings from my exchange in general. Pucon was just overall an incredible time, and honestly made me excited to move into my new family in the future😊

Noche de Chicas

Mapuche historical site

Going up to the top of Huilo-Huilo in gondola

Saltos de Petrohue

First fam came with Jose to pick me up in Pucon

Valle de Vacas: I had under a week between Pucon and my next vacation with my current host family. In this time, Martina went with a family friend camping in the Valle de Vacas, and I stayed at home with my host mom. I had never really had any extended conversations with my first host mom alone before because usually Martina would get jealous having it just be us two, so I really got some quality time to get to know my mamá. We had many deep conversations, and she gave me lots of advice😊AND it was all in Spanish hehe.

Jose’s son, Lucho, Works in the Valle de Vacas, so she invited me to go for the day with her husband, son, and grandson. Jose and I have a LOT in common, and I had been getting to know her more and more throughout the summer, as we spent a lot of time together while she was cooking or hanging out in the house watching us. We had been talking about going to the Valle for so many months, and I was beyond excited when it happened. The Valle de Vacas is this mountain town that is still considered apart of Yungay, and it is absolutely gorgeous. It was number 1 on my bucket list because everyone in Yungay talked about it (and the Saltos de Itata as well) because it is a hidden jem of the Bio Bio region.

Before lunch on the Saturday we went, I walked to Jose’s house and ate lunch with them. I then helped them pack up an asado to bring, got into the truck, and we set off. The Valle was absolutely stunning; there were mountains everywhere, a crystal-clear river, and lots of untouched forest areas. Lucho showed me where he works, then took us across this wooden bridge that crossed the river. We then took a camping site and while Marcello made the asado, Jose and I swam in the river. It was cold but absolutely gorgeous, and there were lots of fun rocks to jump off of. I’m so greatful that Jose took me to see it😊

Jose, her husband and their grandson

Viña del Mar: After I got back from the Valle, my first host family took me to Viña for a week! However, the day before I went, Mika (german exchange student that I hung out with every day) and I went to the river, Aliwen. We explored the rocks near Aliwen and went swimming in a salto, which is basically a little waterfall (it was EPIC because you could literally jump from the top of the waterfall and work your way down the river…I was so excited for my dad to come and be able to do the same). Coincidentally, we saw one of my friends (the boy I went to the Gala with), and he took both of us to the Saltos de Cholguan, which was a short walk from Saltillo. The trail maybe had one rock (it was a dirt path), and OF COURSE I manage to stub my toe on this one rock and break my toe☹ it hurt, but I thought I’d be fine; however, when I got home, it was HUGE, purple/black, and didn’t look right shape wise.

As soon as we went to Viña, my host mom took me to the clinic and the doctors said it was broken and I needed a boot☹ I was so excited for Viña because I LOVED to run there (lots of fun routs near the ocean), and now I could barely walk. However, when we went to the beach, I still swam (but con mucho cuidado😉) and put on the boot whenever I wasn’t in the ocean.

Every day, we would go to the beach and would stop at this empanada restaurant along the way to eat empanadas and drink pisco sours. I tried crab empanada, oyster empanada, and another empanada that had some other sea creature I had never heard of before in English. They were soooo good (I liked crab and shrimp with cheese empanadas the most). The pisco sour was also really good.

We were also in Viña during the time of the festival of Viña, so we saw lots of people and even watched the manifestations from the roof of the apartment building. People were burning tires to signify that we shouldn’t be having events celebrating Chile when Chile is in a bad state socially and politically.

Viña was soooo much fun and gave me a nice memory with my first host family before I move to the next host family😊

Manifestations before the Festival of Vina 

REC 2020: In Concepcion, there was a free concert where several groups, including Bomba Estéreo, came and performed. One of my Chilean friends, Nachi, invited me to go with her, so we went and had SOOOO much fun hehe. Bomba Estéreo sings a song called “Soy Yo” that we would listen to in Spanish class back in the states ALL the time (thanks Maestra M), so it was super exciting to see the group in person.

Camping: As a last memory with my first host family, my host mom took us camping. We went to the river Aliwen and swam all day, ate homitas (basically corn with onion in a pasty consistency wrapped up in leaves), and spent a good last couple days together. This sounds very strange, but it felt SO good to not have to shower and be all dirty from playing in the dirt and then go to sleep on the ground. Even though it wasn’t as rustic as I’m used to (didn’t have to dig a hole to go to the bathroom!), it was just a fun time in nature😊

New family: The day before school started, I packed up all my things in my first house and moved into my second house. Something kind of scary: I have WAY too many things; I realized there is no possible way I would be able to go home, so I started to put some recuerdos aside to give to my parents to take home when they come in April.

WAYY too much stuff...I'm never going to be able to go home haha

Overall, my summer was super eventful😊 I always kept myself busy on the days I had nothing going on (hanging with Mika/other friends, applying for scholarships, playing guitar, running, etc.), but even though I didn’t have too much time to myself to get bored, I still experienced many anxious, sad, or lonely moments. But overall, this was my most eventful summer of my life, and I am so greatful for being able to see all the things that I did😊

Zumba crew