Right now I am staying in Hostal Providencia with the other members of my volunteer class (the September class). I'm in a bunk bed with 5 other roommates! It's been a bit hectic!
Sidenote: I have now learned that it is acceptable to travel around the world/Europe either in college or straight out of college, but if you get a job and make some money for a while (ie: have a nice home) it will be hard to bum around in hostals again one day and you will literally use the phrase "I'm too old for this" A LOT. But I'm learning! I'm ok now with showering in a nasty shower with shoes that is shared by 25 - 30 other people! And living in a hostal that does not have heat when it is 30 degrees outside!
Anyway we will be here until next Saturday and then we are moving in to our apartments. I will be living in an apartment with 6 other girls (yikes!), but all volunteers that I know and like. And I will have my own room - yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! I can't tell you how excited I was to draw THAT straw.
So we have been in orientation everyday. Learning about VE Global and what they do, what our role is a volunteers and learning about Chilean history. Think about it.... did we ever really learn about the history of South America in school? Nope, not at all. So it's been very, very interesting.
It's also been very overwhelming at times. Some of the sessions are in english, some are in spanish and some in a mix of both. So on top of learning all of this new information, learning in a different language that I'm trying to translate while they are speaking has been hard. Basically, limiting all night time activites because I'm so tired at the end of the day from a complete overload of information.
BUT, with all of that said, it has been really exciting. It's hard being in a different country and living this odd life, but it's exciting and everyone is really NICE. All of the people in my group are super friendly. They range in age from about 19 - 25 (yep I'm in the "old girls groups" - there are 4 girls who are 25). Three from the UK (and I imitate their accents daily), 3 from Germany, 1 from Austraila and the rest from the good ole US of A.... now known only as "The States"
Today, was our "day off" so I got out in the city and then went to visit my institution ( the place I'll be working). I'll share some about that tomorrow....
In the meantime... a few photos taken so far. (FYI, this will probably be more of a wordy story blog than a photo blog.... lo siento mis amigos).
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| The entrance to Santa Lucia, a really pretty building with parks and fountains that takes you to a view of the city. (We did a scavenger hunt across the city with teams from our class and this was one of our stops) |
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| The fountain at Santa Lucia |
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| A view of Saintiago and the Andes behind it from the top of Santa Luica. |
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| Brianna, Allison and I at the top of Santa Lucia. |
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| So in Santiago, there are dogs all over the whole city. Stray dogs who just sleep and walk around and wander. They are not mean or aggressive and people feed them. There is a random dog statue in the park of Santa Lucia and I thought it looked like Allison's pup, Khaki. So I took a picture. |
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| People slacklining the the parque de italia.... I felt right at home. A little piece of Boulder in Chile with me :) Who would have thought this would be an international activity? |
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