Latin America is not a "slum"

Today I encountered something that cannot go untold. Unfortunately I don't own a news program or have a spot on the radio, so I will use the only stage I know of: my old blog. The original purpose of this blog was purely for my study abroad, but I see no reason as to why it can not be reconditioned now. I will do my best to start posting more often if nothing more than for personal reasons

Buuuut back to what happened today...
Due to poor planning, I am currently enrolled in a Geography course geared towards Freshmen and Sophomores  While the class is terribly dry and useless  I have no one to blame except myself since I did not take it earlier in my college career. With the class, I'm required to attend a discussion with 20 other students and a TA maybe 2 years older than me. I can excuse them for the lack of depth in their topics, but I refuse to accept what I witnessed today.

After a short and pointless discussion about some articles in my discussion course, we shifted the topic to Latin America. I did my best to have low expectations, and I tried to keep my mouth shut since I was the only senior in the course, and by the end of 2013, I will have a degree in this very topic. However, it proved to be an impossible goal due to the overwhelming amount of ignorance escaping from the man at the front of the room's mouth. He starts the discussion by asking the class what knowledge they have on cities in Latin America. When I sheepishly state that they are growing economic powers in the world economy, my brilliant TA shifts the conversation to social classes in LA. I have no problem with this idea because clearly, we do not have sufficient time to discuss each country in the region, and we must cover something so that way OU can continue to drain my bank account. The TA then states in the most moronic phrase I have heard in my college career "Latin American capitols are surrounded by large slums. The center of these large cities is an area of great wealth, but they are surrounded by undeveloped slums..." I kid you not. My blood starts boiling, but the buffoon continues to spill crass stereotypes until I loudly interrupt him to inform him of his numerous errors. My argument was as follows:

1. The generalization is completely false. For example, Santiago and Montevideo have almost no "slums."
2. You cannot paint all of Latin America with one broad brush. Nothing in Tijuana is like Buenos Aires. Trying to do so is nothing short of ignorant and inexcusable.
3. His exact same argument can be applied to the United States. Ex. Oklahoma City and Chicago.

The entire class just sat there in silence. Instead of delivering, the TA made his wisest decision of his life and rescinded his statement. This exchange only took 10 minutes, but it was long enough for me to want to write the head of his department. You see, this man was placed in a role of authority. The students in that class arrived under a large veil of ignorance and do not understand the world. They do not know that Latin America is actually a gorgeous, growing, and safe place in the world. All they hear is a vague stereotype of a massive part of the world that discourages any interest unless they want to "save" the locals. 

Before this "lecture," I did not plan on attending this course outside of the dates of exams, but now I guarantee I will be sitting in the front row every class ready to act as a large annoying car alarm every time my idiotic TA even thinks about generalizing a part of the world because we as an institution are better than that. 

The A-Z update on life

I've been gone for awhile, sorry about that. Life is pretty crazy busy here in Chile. Here's the update in an A-Z format.
A - Acceptance
I watched an incredible talk by Chimamanda Adichie about the dangers of single mindsets about countries and cultures. It relates a lot to my time here in Chile. I would highly recommend watching it. She talks about the importance of seeing cultures and life styles from a different perspective and the dangers of the "single story". WATCH IT!

B - Buenos Aires
January 7-11 I will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina for my last vacation in South America. It's the capitol of Argentina, and basically the most European city in South America. I'm traveling with some of my best friends here and it will be a nice way to close out my time here in Chile.

C - Christmas
For Christmas, we rented a house in Olmué. It's about an hour and a half north of Viña and out in the country. 29 other international students and I will be spending 3 days pool side for Christmas. Everyone is bringing some type of food as well from their country for Christmas dinner.

D - David Guetta
January 13th 10pm DAVID GUETTA CONCERT IN VIÑA!!

E - Europe
I'm currently planning my trip to Europe in August. Here's the schedule as of now: Aug 1-7 Barcalona and Madrid, Aug 8-14 Paris, Aug 15-31 Germany. I still exploring options, and I might squeeze London in there.

F - Fútbol
We are playing a game today at 6:30 and Tuesday we are even going to play American Football. I managed to find someone with a ball! I searched for 3 hours here trying to find one, but finally a Chilean friend brought up the idea and informed me he knows where to find one. I'm going to flip out when I finally feel the pigskin in my hands.
G - German
I've started studying German. My Spanish is at about 75% fluency. I understand everything, but I'm still missing a few words. After meeting so many Europeans who can speak 3 or 4 languages, I decided I wanted to do the same. I debated a long time between French and German. French is more practical, but German was much more interesting. I love how it is like nothing I have ever heard before. Hopefully before I go there in August, I will be able to get around. I'm picking it up pretty quick too.

H - Humor
I think I've made my last big achievement in Spanish. I'm finally able to show my sense of humor. I don't feel like anything is lacking anymore, and that's a great feeling.

I - I hate dogs
It finally happened. I found my reason to hate animals. While walking home from a friends place, I managed to get bit by a stupid dog. They say the violent ones are more likely to have rabies, so you know where this story ends... HOSPITAL! This was easily my worst experience in Chile. We arrived at 3:30 in the morning to the public hospital around the corner, and immediately I realized why my advisor told me to go private and pay the extra money. I was put in a room with 3 drug addicts screaming and moaning. I won't ever go back. I can get hit by a truck, and I will crawl 2 days to a private hospital. The doctor wouldn't even give us his name. I'm still not sure if he gave my a rabies vacine or syphilis. Good news: It was free. The bite and the rabies shot.

J - Jumbo
Jumbo has made life soooo much easier in Chile. It's a huge supermarket where you can find all kinds of international food. I've finally found Ranch dressing, Twinkies, Bagels, and most importantly Cookie Krisp. You don't realize how much you miss the basic food back home until you leave.


K - Kilometros
I still don't understand the metric system. I have no idea how far anything is when people describe it here. Why do we learn feet and miles in the US if nobody else uses this system? Dumb.


L - Laguna Verde
Laguna Verde is a beach about an hour south of Viña. We went there last week to send of Brian, my old roommate. Great day on a gorgeous beach. It is officially my favorite place in the Viña/Valparaíso area.


M - Moving
December 28th is our last day in the apartment. After that, I'm moving into my friends house/hostal in Valparaíso. It's got a great view of the town, and I'll be living with a ton of friends. I'm pumped.


N - New Years
New Years is supposed to be the craziest day in Chile. The coast is lined 3 cities long with fireworks. We are going to spend midnight at my friend's place so we can see all of them and then at midnight everyone floods the streets and parties there until the sun rises. People from all over Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina flood to Valparaíso for this day. They literally close every single street. I can't wait. Apparently, the big New Years tradition is the dinner on the 31st. It should be interesting.


O - Only Gringo left...
They've all left (almost). It's pretty strange, but I will have 0 opportunities to speak English until I head back home. It won't be hard, just strange. Expect my English to get a lot worse.


P - Patagonia
Patagonia was INCREDIBLE! I will write a blog on it soon. I promise. Until then, look at the pictures on my Facebook.


Q - 'QUAKE!!!
Yesterday I felt my second temblor in Chile. It's not really a big deal because they happen all the time here,  but normally I'm asleep or don't feel them. The weirdest part about was that I was reading my friend's Facebook status about an earthquake the night before when it happened. Very strange and creepy.


R - Reimbursement
After 2 months, I finally received my reimbursement from living with a Chilean family. The process was ridiculously long and tedious. I don't believe they had any intentions on ever giving my the money. There are a ton of students still waiting for theirs in the US. I had to go to the head of finance and basically threaten to call the police to finally receive a check. This university is a gigantic scam. I can't wait to inform OU about my time here. I love Chile, but man do I hate UVM. It's a private school, and I've quickly learned it's only here to make a profit. For example, we had a ton of events for the international students, but they were much more chances for UVM to take our pictures and use them to try to attract more international students. Complete and total failure. I won't miss their terrible campus, or half-assed classes. I now completely understand why Chileans protest for a quality education.


S - Surfing
Finally went surfing for the first time in my life. It was.....difficult to put it lightly. I managed to get up a few times, but it seemed like it always ended with me falling on my face. Actually, I think the falling was the funnest part haha. I don't think I have ever laughed so much while failing so badly. It was a great time and I will definitely return.


T - Time Flies
I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left in Chile. The last 5 months have gone by quicker than I could have imagined. I remember the day I landed like it was yesterday.


U - Uruguay
With my trip to Buenos Aires, we are also going to explore Uruguay Jan 11-13. It's a little country, with about 3 cool cities: Montevideo, Punta del Este, and Colonia. I'm actually flying in and out of Montevideo because it is a lot cheaper than trying to go to Buenos Aires. I've got to pay a nasty $140 entrance fee to go to Buenos Aires since the United States decided to tax the whole world to enter our country. I could rant about these stupid fees for years, you have no idea how hard it was to plan this vacation.


V - Vacations
Vacations are starting to pile up for the future. It seems life 3 next three years are officially booked, every single break and budgeted.
2012- Argentina, Uruguay, California, Chicago, Spain, Germany, France, and Mexico
2013- Costa Rica and New York
2014- World Cup in Brazil for a month


W - Weather
The weather here right now is AWESOME! It's summer, and it is absolutely gorgeous. We've been at the beach at least 8 times the last two weeks. I do not miss the snow back home. It's hard to get in the holiday mood when it is 85 degrees outside, but I really don't mind.


X - X amount of days left in Chile
It feels like everyone here knows their number of days left. The end is near, and we all feel it. There is a strange tension in the air. No one wants to leave, but everyone wants to go home. We've created a second life, but haven't forgotten our first. It's a strange emotion. I'm working on a big project to explain this emotion. Stay tuned.


Y and Z - are stupid letters.

Catch Up

Catch Up Week: Day 1 - First Soccer Game!

Crazy fans!

Finally went to my first soccer game! It was La Universidad de Chile against Flamengo (Brazil) in the South American Cup. I can honestly say I had no idea what to expect due to the lack of exposure of the sport in the United States. Once we arrived in Santiago, we immediately met up with Sven's cousin and his girlfriend, who bought our tickets. They were both die hard La U. fans completely decked out from head to toe in blue. We entered the stadium about an hour before kickoff, and I was in shock from the moment we stepped in. The stadium wasn't as big as our football stadium in Norman (Aprox 45,000 people), but it was waaaay louder and much less regulated. It was completely full, and the field was surrounded by tons of police armed in riot gear. People brought balloons, streamers, huge flags, flare guns, fireworks, musical instruments, and lots of marijuana into the stadium. All of the crazy fans sat in 3 sections in one corner of the stadium, and we luckily had seats in the very middle of them. These were the cheap seats and you could definitely tell by the amount of "fleites" (ghetto people) around us. It may sound strange, but I was happy to be here. I wanted the real legitimate soccer experience, and that's what I got here. Our section was even surrounded by police and barbed wire fences. I've been to MLB games, OU/TX, and NBA Semi-Finals but none of these could have prepared me for the amount of yelling I would do during a Chilean soccer game. Like OU football, we stood for the entire time, but the biggest difference from any other sporting event is that we sung, chanted, screamed profanities for every second of the game. You literally did not stop at all for 2 hours. The songs ranged from the typical "We are going to win" to the extreme "Fuck the police", "Fuck your mom", "Suck it", "We are going to destroy this stadium", and more. Here is a pretty good example of how crazy the fans are. I couldn't even focus on the game because I was completely distracted by the crazy fans. At one point during the match, 3 kids started a fire four seats over from us, ON PURPOSE! For the next 30 minutes they danced and jumped over the flame. When La U. scored their first goal, I thought I was going to die. The sky was filled with fireworks, flares, and confetti. Someone shot a flare gun at our side of the stadium and it missed us by 10 seats. The worst/best part was the amount of falling everyone was doing on other people. We were all standing on our seats jumping, and I can personally testify that you don't always land perfectly. With the amount of celebrating, you would have thought they just won the world cup. La U. went on to win 2-0 in a game that didn't have much action outside of the fans. We stayed for about 30 minutes after partying with the fans, and then headed out. Everyone should experience this at one point in their life but just know you don't sit, you don't stop singing, and you don't quit smiling. Here are some photos from this crazy night:

Taking out seats on the bus!

Aaand 5 minutes into the bus ride.

2 and Half Mexicans

New Roomies, Rogelio and Paco!

Big news amigos! I moved out of the house of my Chilean family and into an apartment with 2 of my mexican friends. I didn't really have a problem with my family, but it was just too expensive. $750 a month for everything! In my new apartment, rent is only $210!!! Also, I'm just not used to living with a family. My old house was way up the hill in the middle of a neighborhood, but now I live 2 blocks from the middle of downtown Viña del Mar! The apartment is incredible. My roomies are from Aguascalientes, Mexico. All three of us are pretty good friends, but we will see how things work out over the next 3 months! While I'm very excited to finally have the opportunity to speak Spanish every minute, I'm a bit concerned at how much Mexican I'm going to pick up. They already have me cursing in Mexican haha. One thing pretty cool is that I have gotten to the point where I can Spanish 3 different ways, Mexican, Chilean, and formal.
The apartment is only 2 bedrooms. Roy and Paco share a room and I have my own. 2 bathrooms, one shower. The best part is the 3 balconies! I'm actually writing this blog from one of them. I'm going to spend the majority of my time outside because it is just getting to summer here and it is absolutely gorgeous! It is right next to 2 museums and I'm a 15 minute walk from everything, 15 minutes to the mall, beach, or my school.
It's crazy to think about how far I have come in my Spanish. The first 2 months I couldn't say more than a sentence, but now I'm able to live fairly easily with 2 guys my age  completely in Spanish. I'm sure at times I will have my difficulties explaining myself, but my roommates make it so much easier. This is easily the biggest achievement of my life. I still can't comprehend that I'm able to live in South America with 2 friends completely in a different language.

Personality vs. Language Barrier

I need to start this post with a little bit of clarification. Chile has been the greatest experience of my entire life. I love my friends, the country, and every thing about this new place I call home. I have met the greatest people in the world that I will talk to until the day I die. In 3 months, I have found people that I feel comfortable calling by the names of brother and sister. I could honestly write pages and pages about how fantastic everyone is, but at times I still have frustration. My problem is sometimes I believe I have taken on a task that I was not ready for. I'm trying to completely 100% submerge myself in Spanish and Spanish culture, without speaking any English.

I came to Chile for the challenge, but I don't think I realized how difficult it would be. I struggle to communicate my personality in Spanish. It's not that people don't understand me, but much more that I don't feel like I'm successfully portraying myself. It is something that can leave me feeling very isolated and stupid at times. I used very harsh words to describe these emotions, but I find them to be most accurate. Life is fantastic here, but it is no where near easy. Our perception of ourselves is a mix of self awareness y others views of ourselves, and when one aspect isn't complete, life just doesn't feel satisfied. It feels like everyday is a struggle and there is always something left out there that I wasn't able to really say. Frustration isn't something that happens only once a week, but almost everyday. I'm trying to be me, but in a world that isn't me. Not all of the problems relate to Spanish, but I feel like I only know how to blame them all on my Spanish. I'm currently having a hard time distinguishing between basic normal downsides in life and language barriers.

While at times Spanish can be very frustrating, it provides more motivation than anything ever in my life. A second language is difficult enough, but living in a country that doesn't speak your language is absolutely insane! The same exact insanity is the reason I'm here. It is because of this that I wake up every single day with a smile on face. Monotony doesn't exist in Chile, only challenge, hard work, and achievement. I just need to realize at times I can't win every battle.

Trekking, Music, Gameday

A list of events in Viña for just October. Too little time here!

Sorry I haven't updated my blog recently. It isn't that I haven't done anything, but that I have done too much! Life in Chile is always busy. It seems to be something completely different every day. Last weekend I went trekking 11km in the mountains of Olmué, Wednesday my first Chilean concert of Nano Stern in Valpariaso, Thursday I watched my Chilean friend perform in a rock bar, Friday we watched the Chile vs. Argentina game (VIVA CHILE!!!!), Today carnival in Valpairiso where people paint their bodies and go dance in the streets. SOO MUCH!!!! I could do something everyday here for 10 years and never be able to be satisfied. I've started really getting into Chilean music too. I enjoy the relaxed rock feel of it. Everybody should look up Nano Stern. He is a phenomenal vocalist.

Gamedays here were phenomenal! The first one was Friday Argentina-Chile in a qualification match for the World Cup. I met up with a bunch of friends at a local bar to watch the big match. My friend, Sven, taught me a normal German drink, Sprite and beer. A very strange mix, wasn't bad, but I really couldn't figure it out. It covered up the taste of the cheap beer, so I might have to stick with it. The game turned into quite a dud, very quickly. Argentina won 4-1. We stayed until the end mainly for the sideline commentary in the bar. Chileans act like the stereotypical Italian during soccer. They screamed things I can't say on here and busted out the CHI LE chant after the only Chile goal. Hopefully the next two games this week are a bit better to watch. We've got Mexico-Brazil and Chile-Peru which I'll be watching with natives from every country except for Peru. After the game, we all went to Club Ovo. It's a club located in the nicest casino in Chile. We managed to get on the list before hand so we didn't have to pay the usual $20 cover. The club easily could have been featured in a Jersey Shore episode. It was huge and stacked with filthy rich people. I managed to get home by 6:30 a.m. It sounds so late when I'm typing it, but it's just normal here. I went home after the club, but some people even went to an After party. I don't understand how these people are alive...

My Spanish has started to shift from the Intermediate to fluent level. I now only speak Spanish, even with the gringos! I'm able to talk all day and not come home with a massive headache! I still don't understand TV or songs very well, but hopefully in time. If there are subtitles, I'm able to understand almost everything.

Here are some photos from Olmué

On the way down we fell a lot

We climbed to the top of there