"ON MY OWN" - Me, standing on Salar de Atacama, in San Pedro.
Shortly after arriving in Antofagasta, Chile, I found myself standing in the middle of the world's second biggest salt flat, Salar de Atacama, in northern Chile. The foreign terrain under my feet seemed to stretch to the purple mountains and volcanoes on the horizon. From afar, the salt looked like frigid ice and up close more like snow, but when I touched it and dug around a bit, it was warm and wet like the sand at the beach. Indeed, I was alone and immersed in a new, strange world.
“My backyard” -- view of campus, UCN-Antofagasta, a few blocks from my house.
My university and host home in Antofagasta, along with the whole city, were tucked between the lucid South Pacific surf and a coastal-desert mountain range, creating a beautiful contrast of desert and sea. In this way, I was introduced to the incredible geographical diversity of Chile the moment I arrived and was reminded of its unique beauty every time I stepped outside. Consequently, I was daily captivated on my 15 minute walk to the university—time well spent pondering the depth, complexities, goals and challenges of my experience.
“Taking the challenge”--Paraglider over the coastal city of Iquique.
Speaking of challenges, as for the language, I found the Chilean reputation for cutting words short, dropping their 'S's and 'D's, speaking at lightning fast speed and propagating a myriad of cultural slangs (chilenismos) to be well deserved-- as if standard Spanish didn't give me enough trouble. But in the end, the “chilenismos” enriched the experience as well as all conversations with my Chilean friends, who I often teased by thanking them for making me trilingual, now speaking English, Spanish and “Chilean!”
“It's all about relationships” -- Jorge and I with Pisco Sours, Chile's mascot drink.
On all levels, the Chilean people made the experience. Whether in the classroom, doing homework, going out to a disco on Saturday night or struggling communicating with a cashier, I always found a warm-hearted Chilean at my side, eager to help and befriend me. I met two of my closest friends in Chile at the city tennis club, waiting for a court to open up. My best Chilean friend, Lenny, and I first met briefly in a pub through a mutual friend. Then, the next week he called and invited me over for dinner with his family and soon the two of us were on an overnight bus to Arica, 11 hours north, for a weekend getaway to watch a professional surf world competition. Those were the unforgettable moments.
“Baseball in Chile?” -- Pitching my first whole baseball game in Chile.
Chile was also filled with great surprises. While leaving campus my first week of school, a guard approached me in search of a flame for his cigarette. After establishing that I had neither a lighter nor a Chilean accent, he asked where I was from and what sports I played. When the answer was baseball, he explained with a shocked, excited look on his face that he was the baseball coach at the University and I received a personal invitation to the first practice, starting three weeks later. Playing on the baseball team opened up so many relational doors, as well as an opportunity to help coach a high school team in the community. Who knew I had to travel to Chile to reunite with my favorite sport, which I had greatly missed playing since high school?“The Academics”.
As a double-major student, Spanish and Communications, I joined the University's journalism program for the semester, which turned out better than I could have imagined. When choosing classes for the semester, I discovered that while the material presented in a journalism course correlated with my communications requirements back home, the presentation of the material in Spanish validated credits toward my Spanish major as well. As a result, I received six credits for my favorite course in Chile, Cinema Appreciation, in which I studied the evolution of film, diversity of genre and film style, wrote cinema critiques and reviews, and gave a class presentation all in Spanish.
“The colorful culture”.
While the University kept me busy enough during the week, I took advantage of every long weekend and holiday to see the rest of northern Chile and its neighbor, Peru. These trips included a journey to Machu Picchu (35 hours of travel by bus, train, and taxi...one way), camping in San Pedro de Atacama in the desert, observatories and sleeping under the world's clearest skies in Valley Elqui, surf trips along the coast, and entering the largest open-pit mine in the world, Chuquicamata. Then, after the semester, I spent three weeks in the southern half of the country. This included learning about the indigenous Mapuches, volcanoes, dozens of waterfalls, fresh seafood, hot springs, glaciers, fresh seafood, living and eating with the locals, a bareback horse ride down the beach and 6 days of trekking in the Patagonia.
A photogenic Alpaca, roaming wild at Machu Picchu
“Earning new eyes” -- Glacier Grey in Torres del Paine national park, Patagonia.
For me, five months of study abroad earned so much more than credits at a university. It presented me with numerous goals, challenges and opportunities that have shaped and changed me. I chose a city located in the driest desert in the world, a 20 hour bus ride north of the capital. I intentionally chose a university that hosts few students from the United States. I opted to live and eat with a local host family. I left the USA to experience the pure Chilean culture, speak solely Spanish and know intimately the geography, people, food and anything else the diverse country had to offer. Honestly, I left the comfort of the States nearly terrified about my audacious choices. But now, I have returned without regrets, convinced that I made the best decision for my semester abroad, and left a bit of “gringo” (non-offensive nationality classification and my personal nickname in Chile) in Chile and brought a bit of Chile back home.
“Reaching new goals” -- View atop a desert mountain in Valley Elqui after a long hike
