zachabroad2022

[zachabroad2022]

Sorry these pictures are rotated, just tilt your head. The first one is just some random graffiti on a lamp post. The second is La Casa Central de la PUCV, and the third is the sunset from Las Dunas de Punta Concón. Honestly today was a so eventful. A few days ago I met a Chilean college student and he offered to take show us Concón, which is the town that he lives in. It's about 15 minutes away by bus ride. But there, we went to the beach. The waves of the Pacific Ocean have two distinct qualities, they are big, and they are cold. Now I didn't swim but I did wade until about my waist. The was was so cold, it felt as if my legs were going to go numb, and the force behind each wave felt like it could knock me over if I weren't paying attention. But the sun and the sand, and the ocean waves really made this Sunday afternoon super great. 

[zachabroad2022]

BUT

Today after classes Megan and I met up with Lukas, from Virginia, and Grace, also from Eau Claire, to walk around the down town area. We stopped at a place called Río Magico and, of course, we got drinks. I got myself a Pisco sour. It was pretty good. We walked by the ocean and it was cold (still warmer than Wisconsin), but got to see some of the touristy hotels and bars. After that we went to another bar called the Destapas Beer House, and ordered an agustación de cerveza, there was a special going on so it was buy 1 agustación get 1 free. We OBVIOUSLY had to take advantage of the opportunity. I would say that we were little loud, but thankfully we were on the outside patio so the noise could escape.

[zachabroad2022]

And another thing

Slowly but surely I've been getting to know people outside of of my study abroad group. It really helps that I flew with my now friend Megan from Chicago -> Dallas -> Santiago. Yesterday, Megan and I met up with a boy named Willem from San Diego to buy a SIM chip for my phone and we walked around the place assessing the vibe, we did eventually stop at a few stores and I bought a shrimp and cheese empanada... wow it was so good. I might have to stop by again and get another one. Willem and Megan bought beer (hey now, we're all legal in Chile so it's fine), I decided to wait just a little bit.

[zachabroad2022]

Breakfast

I'm already getting behind on these... haha. Something that is really surprising to me is how lunch is the biggest meal of the day (at least in my current experience). Breakfast is typically bread, cheese, butter and some meat, typically taken with tea or coffee. HOWEVER, coffee isn't that big of a thing here so most of the time it's instant coffee. My host mother, Cecilia, was telling me that it's pretty weird in Chile to walk around with any other beverage besides water (maybe a juice) and a small snack like an ice cream (since the weather has been super nice compared to Wisconsin weather). I also started classes this week, but I'm not going to go too much in depth because it's all online, and I really care about in person classes which start next week... I'll be honest I wasn't prepared for how fast Chilean Spanish is and how much slang is used. El Chileno, they call it. I'm having a great time though.

[zachabroad2022]

El aeropuerto

The lines were super long, it took us about 2 hours to get through all the way. Each timeI thought the line was going to end we turned the corner and boom more line, but since the line was so long we didn’t have to wait for luggage. There were mountains, like actual mountains that surrounded the airport. Santiago is HOT and dry. The drive around Valparaíso was crazy, the streets are narrow, have really tight turns, and they are very very steep. I'm talking like 45 degrees steep. But it is beautiful and the ocean looks amazing with the boats and what not. When I arrived at my house, the first thing I did was unpack my luggage, I needed to destress, decompress and get my shit out of my bags, otherwise, I would have never gotten to it. My host mother, Cecelia, made me lunch which was stuffed zucchini, potatoes and corn. We talked for a while about all sorts of things it was pretty great. I spent most of the day getting to know the family. They are such welcoming people. I went to bed early (at least for me) before midnight. I didn’t sleep much on the plane, and if I did it was for short periods of 15 minutes, so I was very very tired. I think I slept for probably 11 or 12 hours. Like a rock.

[zachabroad2022]

My flight

Wow what an unbelievable day. Probably one of the longest days of my life. Yesterday I arrived down in Chile, and on Saturday, I was leaving Chicago. The flight from Chicago to Dallas was very easy. However, it left late, so my arrival was delayed by about 15 minutes. That would have been fine had it been only a single flight, but of course, my layover was only 55 minutes. The plan from Dallas started boarding just while I was waiting to deplane. It was then a 25 minute way to deplane, 10 minutes to get to my gate. And boy, did I have to use the bathroom. Had I been in the bathroom any longer, I would have missed the flight. I made it to the gate with minutes to spare, and lo-and-behold, I had to get my documents (which had already been checked in Chicago) had to be checked again! I really thought was about to miss this flight, but I made it in the nic of time. That plane was fine, but since I was one of the last people on the plane, my carry on and personal bag were scattered throughout the plane. There went my in flight entertainment, so I had to sit with just my phone and headphones, listened about an hour of an audiobook before the used up what I had downloaded, and then just listened to music. There was nothing to entertain my hands or my eyes for that matter. I didn’t want my phone to die. So I sat, for 9 hours, with hardly anything to do. 

Overall, the flight went well. I think I would have lost my mind if I didn't have my noise-cancelling headphones because there were babies scream while I was trying to sleep. I was very thankful however, to finally land and get to the airport. And dang, I had really underestimated how long the lines would be to get out of there...