As of today, I have been Talca, Chile for a month and a half. Time really does fly.
It feels like yesterday when I was introduced to the class and got bombarded by people I didn’t know, kissing me on the cheeks and introducing themselves. From day one, every person I have met has been so kind and welcoming. My friendships have grown so fast, and I find myself calling certain people my best friends now.
I also feel very comfortable in Talca; it is my home now, after all. I can manage walking home from places and giving directions to my house now (which was a major difficulty in the beginning). I really love this city. It’s a little bigger than Ventura and I think it is very pretty, even though the locals don’t. The earthquake that happened in 2010 hit Talca especially hard, so there are still a lot of deserted buildings and damaged places covered in graffiti. {sidebar id=65}
I still love it, though.
What I have noticed is that teens here party a lot. Every Friday and Saturday night we go either to a barbeque or party, or to the discotech.
It’s so different from back at home. There is no going to the movies on Friday nights with friends or just sitting at home having a girl’s night. At least, I haven’t done that yet. I think the earliest I have been home on the weekend is 1 a.m. The parties here usually start around 11 p.m. and go until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. It is the country of no sleep and eating bread at all times.
On Friday night, I had a barbeque with my small class of about 24 people. It was so fun to hang out with the majority of my class outside of school! I feel like I bonded with them a lot more than I do at school because I am constantly tired during the school day.
That night, I had to be home around 1:30 a.m. because I had to get up at 5 a.m. the next day for a Rotary meeting in San Bernardo (about 3 hours north of Talca). When I went to sleep around 2 a.m., there wasn’t a party going on in my apartment building, but when I woke up there was. That is what I call insane. I can stay up pretty late, but partying until 5 in the morning? I would die.
The Rotary meeting was fun, but definitely not worth getting up at 5 a.m. for. I got to meet the other exchange students and some of them were really cool and funny, but some of the American girls were annoying.
The bus we were going on stopped at three places to pick up the exchange students. The first group we picked up around 6:30 a.m. They came on the bus screaming and blasting Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning after getting only three hours of sleep. I don’t think I exactly gave them my warmest welcome.
I am looking forward to bonding with some of the other exchange students on the trips we’re going on, though There are trips to the north of Chile, the south of Chile (Patagonia), and Easter Island. I think I’ll go on all of them except the Easter Island trip because it’s only for four days and is very pricey. Instead of Easter Island, I am going on a 10-day class trip to Brazil which I am so excited for! The trip is in December and we are already counting down the days until we get to go.
My family situation is really good here. My host mom basically lets me do whatever I want. I really don’t want to change families half way through my exchange, so I’m going to ask my Rotary counselor if I can stay with her.
Her cooking is not the best, but everything else about her makes up for that. Some nights, I can hear her listening to “Here Come Yours Man” by The Pixies while she is cooking. Considering The Pixies is my favorite band, this just proves I have to stay with her.
So far, everything about my experience has been terrific. The only thing I regret is not paying attention in Spanish for the past two years… oh well.
