Living as a Trotamundos

That's right the beach! Well in this case it wasn't actually a beach but a fishing port. I had the pleasure of spending the day with my host mom in Talcahuano. Talcahuano is a beautiful little fishing town that is known for it's population of sea lions. The sea lions gather in the port at the base of boats waiting for the fishermen to through them the scraps. It seems like these sea lions are living the life, free food and easy hunting, I don't think there is anything better. I spent the afternoon with my host mom as the wind played with our hair and we watched the boats. it was a relaxing and much needed weekend. My host mom told me the history of Talcahuano, it is just a fishing town so it is mainly filled with lower middleclass families that work as fishermen or in a factory. In 2010 an earthquake struck the BioBio region of Chile and severely damaged Talcahuano. As we drove through the city we could still see the ruins of old buildings that had collapsed durin...

I have just about reached month three of my study abroad adventure and for my very few avid readers or those just stopping by I want to be honest with you. I want to be honest with how I am doing, with how I have been feeling. Studying abroad is one of the loneliest things I have ever done and there have been a few days when it has taken it's toll on me. I have spent my whole life in one community and I've never left it for more than at most 3 months at a time. My time away was short, there was always an end that quickly came into view. But now I am away, and the end is still a long ways off. I left my community, my family, and my friends. I left all of the people that are my support system and yes they still support me, but they aren't here. I don't have my friends here where I can just go and eat lunch with them, I don't have some one that I can just call up to hang out. And yes I understand that I just have to go out and make friends and I'm doing that, I...

For the past couple of weeks I have rarely had time to leave the university campus. My life has been school, school and more school. I just took my first exam in my Calidad del Agua (water quality) course, and lets just say I tried my best. This course in particular is very chemistry heavy, advanced organic chemistry. In other words pure torture. At the very least just about every other student was struggling right along with me. In a study session I had with the local students they were telling me about how it's their least favorite course to take. But at the end of the day I tried, I studied hard, and I did my best. The exam took two and a half hours to answer four questions, but I did my best. And at the very least now it is what it is. I can't change my grade now and my stress is gone. But a recommendation to all of you out there, if you consider taking Calidad del Agua in Chile you may want to think twice about it. On a little bit of a more fun note in the city there a...

Let me start by reminding you all that I am from Arizona. Landlocked, closest ocean is eight hours away, Arizona. And then to top it off I am not really a fan of sea food, I never have been I think it's a textural thing but anyways...here we go. So yesterday my host mom was in a rush and asked if I could help her out by cooking for her. I told her yes and not to worry about it. As she was running out the door she then told me quickly to cook it (there was a bag of 'it' in the sink) in a pot with a little bit of garlic, salt, and celery in a pot and then to make sure it was covered with water. I told her that I got it handled and it wasn't a problem. I thought I was just going to be boiling some chicken or something. It was not chicken. I cut up some celery and garlic, sautéed it real quickly and then went over to the bag so I could put, again what I thought was chicken in the pot. I opened up the bag and there were CRABS. There were five living and moving crabs! At ...

I grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. There is a population of about 70,000 people nestled in a mountain town at 7,000 feet. You can drive across Flagstaff in 20 minutes and the bus will go almost anywhere you need to go. I grew up with the forest at my convenience, the mountains as my playground. And now I'm in Concepción, Chile with a population of a little over one million. Adapting to big city living hasn't been the easiest for me at all, but one thing that is AMAZING about Chile is that not to far away you can always find a beautiful view. I went to Las Termas de Chillan not to long ago and was able to find a little bit of relaxation and home. In the snow and the mountains surrounded by trees I felt my heart sigh with relief and comfort. In Chillan there are natural hot springs captured into pools for the public to enjoy but I was mesmerized by the views. Chillan is about two hours away from Concepción and it was a much needed get away. I can constantly hear the sounds ...

July 31st, the day school started in Chile...or that is kind of started. School here in Chile is of a whole different breed than what I, or I imagine anyone outside the boarders of Chile is used to. If the university systems in the United States and Chile were dog breeds, the U.S. would be a golden retriever puppy (Full of energy and in the teething process) and Chile would be a confused box turtle that didn't know which way to go. And yes I realize that a box turtle is not a dog, but from my experience the Chilean university system moves at about the pace of one. And that's not to say that I don't like the university system here, it's just different and something that I had to adapt too. I am only taking four classes while I am studying in Chile, I'm taking it easy and hey give me a break all of classes are taught in Spanish which terrified me. I have been in school for a month now and of my four classes I had one that started in the first week of school (I th...

I had the paperwork completed, my visa in hand, the plane ticket bought! I was already and set to go! I had my fears of course but I figured that I would set those aside and just pack them into the bottom of my suitcase. All that was left was to say my goodbyes and let everyone know who didn't already know I was leaving that they wouldn't be seeing me for a year. Even my fortune cookie had told me that I was all ready and set to leave! Typically in these conversations I would be asked what I would miss the most. Now being a kid raised in Arizona I would promptly respond "Mexican food." Most of the time I would then get a dumbfounded response of "They don't have Mexican food there!?" I would then stare at them for a moment, think how I could be polite and say "Well it is a different country..." In all reality yes Chile and Mexico both speak Spanish but they are still 4,600 miles away. The east coast in the states has yet to experience In-N-...