Ciao Chile!

After being home for a little over a week, I have had plenty of time to reflect on our trip to Chile. Although I consider myself to be relatively well-traveled for my age, Chile was a very new and difference experience for me. A majority of my travels have been in Europe, and South America obviously was very different. The biggest challenge for me obviously was the language barrier. This trip has been the longest time I’ve been in a country where I didn’t speak the language. Most other countries that had languages I didn’t know well spoke decent English or I wasn’t staying there long enough for it to be an issue. Luckily, this difficulty did not damper my experience. One of my favorite things about this trip was that for the first time in a while, I learned about a completely new subject matter. I feel as though throughout most of our young adult life and into adulthood we are mainly re-learning, reviewing, or learning about subjects we already touched on previously in more depth. Chile’s history, politics, music, geography, and more were all things I knew relatively little to nothing about! As a history nerd, this fascinated me. Through music, art, and the everyday life I experienced with my host family, I grew to understand this culture at a deeper level. Chile was definitely a humbling experience for me. It was outside my comfort zone and I grew by having to navigate life in a foreign country where I struggled to communicate. As a future ESL teacher, I think this experience is remarkably important. Teachers will often say they “understand” how difficult a subject is, but with English teaches, this is not always accurate. After being in this situation, I feel as though I can really relate to young students trying to learn a second language must feel. My impression of Chile has not exactly changed, because I didn’t really have many expectation. I do now have a greater appreciation and understanding of a country I knew so little about. The camp really was an eye opener that I am right on track with my career choice. I love kids, teaching, and making a difference, and these were all things I was able to do at this camp. This trip to Chile is one that I will never forget.

Museums, museums, and more museums

Our last touring day in Santiago was one of my favorite educational experiences on our trip. Personally, I am a big fan of tours and museums, and was happy to hear we were going to see some more. First, we toured the Pablo Neruda house, something I had been hoping to do during my time in Chile. His home in Santiago was fantastic! I, for one, am always down for a good audio tour. The audio tour for his home was really interesting and was particularly useful for myself considering I don’t speak Spanish. I love touring houses of famous people because I feel as if you can understand someone on a deeper level by seeing how they lived in their own personal homes. Pablo Neruda’s house taught me many things about the author that I did not know about prior. Because of my love for Europe and travel, I really enjoyed the European influence and his odds and ends he collecting during his travels. I also love unique houses and his was so windy and appealing to me. The mosaic art in the courtyard was one of my favorite parts of the house. We also visited the memory museum that day. I really liked this as a final museum, because it really summed up what we had been talking about the entire trip. This museum was very modern and interesting and I especially liked the media aspect. I thought it was very moving to be able to hear the speeches and see the riots and brutality on actual footage. It is so much more inspirational to hear and see it than to just read about it. All in all, as a museum nerd, this was one of my favorite days of the trip!

Alpacas Socks, Alpaca Sweaters, and Alpaca Hats (Oh My!)

This week I have learned something very important; products made of alpaca wool are my new obsession. Before I came to Chile, I knew I wanted a pair of Alpaca socks because I had a friend who got a pair from Peru and I was hoping to find a pair here. Little did I know that socks were only the beginning. I bought one pair of socks at the beginning of the week. Later, Missi and I found an artisan market and here was where the madness truly began. Originally, I was thinking of buying a few pairs of socks for gifts. Then, I discovered this beautiful sweater that fit me perfectly. After a very long time exploring the stand and the different products and colors that were available, I left with almost everything that could possibly be made of Alpaca wool. I got one pull over sweater, one zip up sweater, five pairs of socks, and two hats (one for my brother and one for my boyfriend). For all of this, I spent less that 40 USD! One sweater in the US is usually about this much. I am so happy and cozy with all my super soft alpaca goods. I can't wait to show the gifts I bought to all my friends and family. It was super interesting to see how cheap goods can be when you don't have to pay for them to be imported. This is something I also noticed in regards to the jewelry. Gem stones and handmade jewelry can be very expensive in the U.S. but since they are mined here, they are much cheaper. Although I may be loving Chile, my wallet definitely isn't!

Victor Jara

Today in class we discussed Victor Jara in more depth. I enjoyed this lesson because although we had some content on him before, I don't think I truly understood the importance and relevance of this man, especially to our course, until today. There were several things in particular that I found to be the most interesting. First, although it doesn't have to do with Victor Jara himself, I was very intrigued by learning more about Che Guevara. I had heard of Che, but was not aware of the impact he had on Latin America as a whole. The death of Che Guevara had such a powerful effect on the people of Latin America and the music that came from it showed how many people his actions reached. I also really liked listening to Victor Jara's music. I personally believe you can read a million books on an artist, but cannot truly understand them until you see their art. Today I felt like I understood the appeal and importance of Victor Jara and his music much better. I appreciated the English translation as well and though the lyric to his songs were so powerful. To me, one of the most impressive aspects was that even though he sang about a serious subject, his songs still were catchy and upbeat tunes. My having good music behind serious lyrics, music can reach a broader audience and appeal to even more people. I though out of everything in the presentation, being able to analyze his songs was the most important and interesting part of the whole lesson.

The Beach Disaster

The D.I.E. model is a very useful way to analyze situations, and in our case, cultural ones. We've experienced a lot so far in Chile, and sometimes when traveling we learn the most by reflecting back on our situations in a critical way.

One situation I personally think I learned a lot from was when we went to the beach.

D: Description - On New Years Day, Missi, Riley, and I decided to go to the beach. It was INSANELY crowded. We found a spot where there was a lot less people and set up our things decently far back. Soon though, the waves became much bigger and completely drenched our things, ruining our snacks, and causing us to walk home in wet clothes without a dry towel to dry off with.

I: Interpretation - Obviously, to us, this was not a pleasant experience. We were uncomfortable and discouraged at first, although looking back it must have been pretty funny. I'm sure the people involved thought it was hilarious, and most likely thought we were very dumb.

E: Evaluation - I think there are a few things that can be deducted from this experience. Most importantly though, I think we learned to pay closer attention to our environment and what the locals are doing. If its a holiday and there's an empty spot on the beach, there is probably a reason why. I think from this experience, we will become more observant in the future.

American English vs. The Rest of the World

More and more I am learning that being understood in a foreign country, even by those who know the language well, can sometimes be difficult. After doing some research for Dr. Pierce's class, I have come up with a few things I can try to help other non-native English speakers understand me more clearly.

First, I know I need to slow down. Often times when I get excited or comfortable in a conversation, I begin talking faster, which I know makes me a lot harder to understand. By slowing down, I think I will be much easier to understand. 

Second, I think avoiding slang or improper English terms will help non-native speakers understand us better. Some words and expressions we use regularly are not taught in even the highest level English class, so by avoiding these, we can help others to understand us. 

Third, I think everyone should make an effort to be clear and concise without being patronizing. I think its important to enunciate, but in a casual way and not in a way that makes the other person feel stupid.


Overall, native English speakers often do not realize how difficult we are to understand. By following a few simple guidelines, it will make the whole process easier for everyone.

When in Chile!

After being in Chile for a few days, there are many things I can reflect on. My week has been difficult, but definitely a good learning experience.

One "critical incident" I have been faced with a lot has to do with the language barrier. I speak no Spanish and I knew this would make my trip difficult, but I don't think I truly understood how much I would have to rely on other people for my information. My original host family did not speak any English and once they learned that, they did not speak directly to me much. I ate meals with them but had very little interaction with them besides this. This made me feel very left out, but from their point of view it must have been very difficult as well. I do not think they were a bad host family, but overall, they were not the family for me and I knew I could be happier and enjoy the trip more elsewhere. My new host family however had been wonderful. Although their English isn't perfect, they really try and they help me to understand Spanish as well.

New Years Eve, Missi, Riley, and I experienced a very difficult situation. Due to a misunderstanding, we bought tickets for an event that we thought would be from around midnight to three am when in reality it was an hour away and would not be over until 6 am. We fought through crowds and traffic and eventually were helped home by two boys our age. New Years Eve is very different here, and was a little chaotic, especially because we were in an unfamiliar city where we didn't speak the language well. For us, it was too much, but for people more familiar with the area and tradition, it may have been a very fun evening. It shocked me not only how crazy it was, but how nice the locals are. The fact that these two strangers helped us to get home and even paid for our uber was crazy to me. Between these boys and the stray dogs that walked us home and protected us, we were able to get home safely. This situation may have been difficult for us, but I learned a lot trying to get through it.

Overall, although the language barrier has been tough, I am having a great time. I love the culture and the weather and I'm so excited to see what the rest of the weeks and the camp with the children will entail! Adios for now!