I just got home from an amazing year abroad. I am in love with Chile. I am so happy to be home with my family. Thank you for all your prayers. Post coming soon about my trip to Easter island.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
UPDATE!
Hey everyone! I know its been a while. thanks for being patient with me. I have been really busy lately plus my macbook has been having problems and my keyboard finally stopped working.
School has been tough and they days are really long. I am exhausted when I get home, and I dont even go to Pre-university like my friends have to. They go to school from 8-4 everyday. On wedenesdays 8-5 and on Fridays 8-6, then after they are required to go the pre- university to prepare for the PSU. I cant imagine... I will never complain about my school schedule again.. haha!
Tomorrow I will be going with 40 other exchange students to (isla de pascua) Easter Island. I return wednesday. Just wait to see what I will have to blog after my trip!
thanks for your prayers and support. Please keep praying for me and I will be home in 25 days!! SALUDOS!
MADDIE
School has been tough and they days are really long. I am exhausted when I get home, and I dont even go to Pre-university like my friends have to. They go to school from 8-4 everyday. On wedenesdays 8-5 and on Fridays 8-6, then after they are required to go the pre- university to prepare for the PSU. I cant imagine... I will never complain about my school schedule again.. haha!
Tomorrow I will be going with 40 other exchange students to (isla de pascua) Easter Island. I return wednesday. Just wait to see what I will have to blog after my trip!
thanks for your prayers and support. Please keep praying for me and I will be home in 25 days!! SALUDOS!
MADDIE
Thursday, March 1, 2012
End of Summer. Badly needed blog!
heyy everyone!
February 27th was my 6 month anniversary here in Chile. Wow. It still feels weird saying it.
So i start school on monday and I figured it was necessary to take time out and write a blog about my summer no what it has come to an amazing but sad ending.
I will start with January:
I was at a house on the beach in Cartagena. The beaches of Chile are so beautiful but the water is freezing! THe only down side to the beach is that CArtagena is the closest beach from Santiago so all the "city slickers" from Santiago come and leave trash and food on the beach. Cartagena is a tiny town where everyone knows everyone. There is no mall, no movie theater, no bowling alley, just the beach. There is a mall in the town close by called San Antonio but even that mall is really tiny. My host family in CArtagena was amazing. They are one of those families that has all the connections in town and everyone knows them. One day i went to the supermarket with my host mom, Analia, and we were there wayy longer than we should have been because every isle we turned on, she knew someone. Another day the fire fighters came to our house to fill up the pool, which was way faster than using a regular water hose.
This family was way awesome, and when it was time for me to leave they did an "asado" or BBQ. AMAZING!
On to February:
THe first weekend of February i came back to Santiago to see some friends and visit some tourist places. I went to Cerro Santa Lucia which was a hill and it is very pretty and decorated, with magic fountains, and stairs that allow you to go all the way up to the top. It is a beautiful view from up top. We saw a lot of tourists here. I was with 2 other exchange students and we wanted our picture taken so we asked this couple if they could take our picture. I asked them in spanish obviously, and they they responded with a confused look and said "picture?" and I was caught a little off guard but then started talking to them in english. They were from Hawaii. Haha its always neat to encounter english speakers in a spanish speaking country. The same day we went to "La Moneda" which is the presidents house or as we would know as the "white house" of Chile. It was very pretty as well.
When I returned to Cartagena i just relaxed and with to the beach so i could try and tan and maybe look more Chilean instead of a ghost. I succeeded. :) February 20th I got on a plane to visit the South of Chile. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. God created an incredible world for us to live in. I felt so little next to the mountains of Patagonia. I feel like Chile is often forgotten about. This is a beautiful country and it has a little bit of everything and every type of climate. They have desert in the North, mountains in the South, and cold at the tip of the country because it is so close to Antartica, plus they have beach all along the coast of the country. They have the huge city of Santiago, and yet have farms in the country. CHILE IS BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately when we got the the South, there was protest that had just begun in the region of "Aysen" some were violent but for the most part the protestors just closed off the roads and wouldnt let anyone exit or enter the cities except for at certain times of the day. The trucks carrying gas for the cars were not allowed to enter, so there was a shortage of gas. We werent able to go on any tours or really get to know the special parts of South Chile, like the marble caverns, glaciers, or lagoons because there was no gas for the tour vehicles and the protestors had blocked the roads. As would say here " es una lata" but its just a thing. The environment was so beautiful it was almost impossible to be mad. I also got the opportunity to talk to the people protesting and they are normal people and I was able to get a better understanding of WHY they were protesting, and I supported them but like i said "es una lata" that we couldnt really get to know more of the country. Although I thought it was neat to see protests in action and get a more "real" view of Chile. It was a good lesson in learning how to enjoy what is in front of you.
I start school monday and my parents are coming in less than 2 weeks. LIFE IS GOOD>LA VIDA ES TAN BUENAA! :)
February 27th was my 6 month anniversary here in Chile. Wow. It still feels weird saying it.
So i start school on monday and I figured it was necessary to take time out and write a blog about my summer no what it has come to an amazing but sad ending.
I will start with January:
I was at a house on the beach in Cartagena. The beaches of Chile are so beautiful but the water is freezing! THe only down side to the beach is that CArtagena is the closest beach from Santiago so all the "city slickers" from Santiago come and leave trash and food on the beach. Cartagena is a tiny town where everyone knows everyone. There is no mall, no movie theater, no bowling alley, just the beach. There is a mall in the town close by called San Antonio but even that mall is really tiny. My host family in CArtagena was amazing. They are one of those families that has all the connections in town and everyone knows them. One day i went to the supermarket with my host mom, Analia, and we were there wayy longer than we should have been because every isle we turned on, she knew someone. Another day the fire fighters came to our house to fill up the pool, which was way faster than using a regular water hose.
This family was way awesome, and when it was time for me to leave they did an "asado" or BBQ. AMAZING!
On to February:
THe first weekend of February i came back to Santiago to see some friends and visit some tourist places. I went to Cerro Santa Lucia which was a hill and it is very pretty and decorated, with magic fountains, and stairs that allow you to go all the way up to the top. It is a beautiful view from up top. We saw a lot of tourists here. I was with 2 other exchange students and we wanted our picture taken so we asked this couple if they could take our picture. I asked them in spanish obviously, and they they responded with a confused look and said "picture?" and I was caught a little off guard but then started talking to them in english. They were from Hawaii. Haha its always neat to encounter english speakers in a spanish speaking country. The same day we went to "La Moneda" which is the presidents house or as we would know as the "white house" of Chile. It was very pretty as well.
When I returned to Cartagena i just relaxed and with to the beach so i could try and tan and maybe look more Chilean instead of a ghost. I succeeded. :) February 20th I got on a plane to visit the South of Chile. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. God created an incredible world for us to live in. I felt so little next to the mountains of Patagonia. I feel like Chile is often forgotten about. This is a beautiful country and it has a little bit of everything and every type of climate. They have desert in the North, mountains in the South, and cold at the tip of the country because it is so close to Antartica, plus they have beach all along the coast of the country. They have the huge city of Santiago, and yet have farms in the country. CHILE IS BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately when we got the the South, there was protest that had just begun in the region of "Aysen" some were violent but for the most part the protestors just closed off the roads and wouldnt let anyone exit or enter the cities except for at certain times of the day. The trucks carrying gas for the cars were not allowed to enter, so there was a shortage of gas. We werent able to go on any tours or really get to know the special parts of South Chile, like the marble caverns, glaciers, or lagoons because there was no gas for the tour vehicles and the protestors had blocked the roads. As would say here " es una lata" but its just a thing. The environment was so beautiful it was almost impossible to be mad. I also got the opportunity to talk to the people protesting and they are normal people and I was able to get a better understanding of WHY they were protesting, and I supported them but like i said "es una lata" that we couldnt really get to know more of the country. Although I thought it was neat to see protests in action and get a more "real" view of Chile. It was a good lesson in learning how to enjoy what is in front of you.
I start school monday and my parents are coming in less than 2 weeks. LIFE IS GOOD>LA VIDA ES TAN BUENAA! :)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
January
I hope everyone enjoyed New Years! I know I did!
I am now in a new family.I switched with a girl from North Carolina, her name is Rabia. She is now living with my previous family until march and then we will switch back to our firsts families until the end of our exchanges. One of the rules of Rotary exchange is for the student to change families in order to experience a different part of the culture, because every family is different. I will be with this current family until school starts in May. They live about 5 blocks from the beach and the weather is so much nicer than it was in Santiago. My host parents are bee keepers so that is a new experience for me as well. I haven't been doing much lately because its summer time. I am having a blast here and the people here are just beautiful loving people. i am so blessed to have this opportunity.
right now its hard to go out and make a lot of plans because I dont know anyone here, and i am not in school so it is even harder. i met a girl yesterday who was introduced to me by Rabia. I hung out with her nd went to the mall, and hopefully I will hang out with her and meet more friends through her as well.
I have some trips planned, one to the south of Chile and one to the most famous but least visited island, EASTER ISLAND!!! i am so excited!
well thats pretty much whats going on in my life. SUMMERR! <3
I am now in a new family.I switched with a girl from North Carolina, her name is Rabia. She is now living with my previous family until march and then we will switch back to our firsts families until the end of our exchanges. One of the rules of Rotary exchange is for the student to change families in order to experience a different part of the culture, because every family is different. I will be with this current family until school starts in May. They live about 5 blocks from the beach and the weather is so much nicer than it was in Santiago. My host parents are bee keepers so that is a new experience for me as well. I haven't been doing much lately because its summer time. I am having a blast here and the people here are just beautiful loving people. i am so blessed to have this opportunity.
right now its hard to go out and make a lot of plans because I dont know anyone here, and i am not in school so it is even harder. i met a girl yesterday who was introduced to me by Rabia. I hung out with her nd went to the mall, and hopefully I will hang out with her and meet more friends through her as well.
I have some trips planned, one to the south of Chile and one to the most famous but least visited island, EASTER ISLAND!!! i am so excited!
well thats pretty much whats going on in my life. SUMMERR! <3
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