Two tests and two papers down; one research paper and several despedidas (good-bye parties) to go before my flight on Sunday. I can’t believe how fast my time here is coming to an end (though for better or worse, this week has been dragging on and on, probably because I’ve spent essentially all [...]
Archive for the ‘Chile’ Category
July 9th, 2010 - 2:06 am § in Chile
On Bolivia:
So, a few weeks late (this blog is really great for productive procrastination, and with the end of the semester next week, I’m in high put-off-my-final-papers gear for the next few days): Bolivia me encantó. (lit. I loved it; also, it enchanted me.) The country treated us terribly; it’s a [...]
June 15th, 2010 - 8:36 pm § in Chile
Why we travel
I mean, I can’t obviously give you THE answer. But I can talk about me! I traveled in my first few weeks here for a weekend to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. They’re two towns located on the coast, about 1.5 hours from Santiago; the bus ride between them takes about ten minutes. [OU also has [..[...]
May 29th, 2010 - 2:26 am § in Chile
Where I’ve been, and some thoughts about language
Preliminaries: Apologies for my extended absence! I was locked out of this site for a while (my fault). Also, scratch what I said about extranjeros not actually being interested in the US’ domestic politics; trying to explain the health care debate intelligibly in Spanish is incredibly difficult ([...]
May 12th, 2010 - 1:10 pm § in Chile
USACH
Let’s talk for a few minutes about the place that is, after all, the reason that I’m in Santiago. Looking back, I guess I expected that it would be mostly like US campuses I’ve visited, minus the extravagant building projects, but I didn’t give the question much thought. Given that lazy prec[...]
May 11th, 2010 - 8:04 pm § in Chile
Questions I’ve been asked:
— “So, what do you think of Chile?” “Well, I like it a lot, you know? I haven’t gotten to travel enough yet, but I really like Santiago.” I haven’t figured out how to give a more complete answer than that yet, but I’m working on it. Fortunately, this seems to suffice. ̵[...]
May 10th, 2010 - 10:18 pm § in Chile
On harassment and contentment:
Here’s something I hate about city life: street harassment. In fact, hate is really not a strong enough word to describe my feelings about getting whistled at or called out to or honked at repeatedly or just stared at on the street daily (I especially detest encountering a line of cars at a stopli[...]
May 3rd, 2010 - 5:07 am § in Chile
Thoughts on homesickness and culture shock:
Reading through Bobbi’s recent posts got me thinking about what exactly those words mean for me; to tell the truth, I’m still not sure. It’s probably easier to start here by talking about homesickness, which is something I get asked about a lot. Honestly, I really don’t feel homesick. I don&[...]
April 27th, 2010 - 5:59 pm § in Chile
Playing catch-up: Hola from Santiago!
Hi everyone; I’m getting into this blogging game a little late, so let’s get right to the story so far: I’m a second-year Russian and East European Studies major at OU, currently studying at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile (or USACH) in order to finish Latin American Studies and Spanish [...]