A Chilean Adventure
Nicole Schmidt - March 2007
Neighbors!
Patricio (our landlord) told us that we had our first neighbor move in! Camila is a freshman in tourism and lives in the cabana right above us. She’s from Arica, which is about as far north as San Francisco is from Madison. Her family just moved to Osorno (about 60 miles away) because of a job change, so she decided to go to school in Valdivia so she’ll still be close to them. She seemed really nice from our brief chat, and she’s in the same boat as we are because she doesn’t know anyone.
Our other neighbors are sea lions. They live in the river, which is only about four blocks away. Every time we go downtown we pass them and watch them play on their big floating thing. I never knew sea lions could live in rivers, but they have a good spot right next to the fish market. I’m sure they feast on the daily scraps. In any case, they’re pretty fun to observe. I think I might look up sea lions on the internet to learn more about them.
We’re eagerly awaiting the rest of our neighbors. Every time Patricio takes people past our window we take notice and Danielle gets disappointed when they’re not college guys. It seems kind of crazy that the cabanas aren’t rented already, but I guess that’s the Chilean way.
Stocking up on Foo
A Day of Singing!
Danielle and I decided that joining the university choir would not only be really fun, but also allow us to meet some other students and community members. The music conservatory is downtown instead of on campus, but that’s no big deal.
So today we went to the conservatory to see what we had to do to sign up for the choir. We were pleased to find that they were more than happy to have us! They took us in right away to speak with the maestro and he wasted no time putting us through a rigorous vocal exam to determine our voice range, tone, and musical abilities.
I must admit that I was quite timid when I began the exam. There were some vocal exercises that Danielle and I did together and some that we had to do separately. When it came time to do the individual ones, it took me a little bit to feel comfortable singing by myself. After an hour of exercises, he declared we are both sopranos and we are the very first members of the choir. (The actual sign-up begins in a couple of weeks.) We start with practices on March 19!
We decided that since we warmed our voices up, Marcelo thought only made sense that we should go out to the local karaoke bar. First, we had to get all prettied up. We were lamenting over how we really wanted to fix our hair. When I tried to use the voltage converters that I brought to Chile, both of them stopped working after a few seconds. I think they blew the fuses, but I’m not really sure why or what to do about it.
As we were getting ready, Danielle let out a shriek and said that her hair straightener showed that it had the range of voltage necessary to work with the Chilean outlets. I looked at the tiny little engraving on my hair dryer and curling iron and discovered that both of them worked with the electricity. Yay!
So we got to do our hair for the first time in a month. When Marcelo came to pick us up, he was amazed at how different we looked.
The karaoke bar was a lot of fun. We were amazed at how many people just sit at their tables when they sing their song, so we decided to show them how they do karaoke in the U.S. We did an amazing Spice Girls performance to the song “Wannabe,” complete with dancing around the club and getting a lot of cheers from everyone else. It was fun and everyone seemed to like it, but I’m still glad that I did it in a foreign country where no one knows me! We’ll probably be coming back to the karaoke bar.
Searching for classes
Marcelo said we’d need about a week to sign up for our classes and take care of all the other things required by the university. It seemed a little ridiculous that it would take that long since we can normally pick all of our classes for UW-Madison in a few afternoons. However, he was definitely correct in his estimate.
UW-Madison has an online course guide that allows you to see a description and the times of any classes you could possibly imagine and it’s all in one place on the website. UACh (Universidad Austral de Chile) has a much different system. From the moment a student enrolls in the university they have to declare a major and they start that specific plan of study with all the other freshmen in their major. Therefore, the website just has the semester-by-semester outline for each field of study. Since they don’t actually pick their classes, the website doesn’t give descriptions for many of them. They also don’t have schedules because most aren’t set until the first week of classes.
We also referenced a book of course offerings from 1996-97. We discovered that the book was helpful because it organized the classes by the department and gave descriptions for each, but we had to keep in mind that it was 10 years old.
So, we had a big task ahead of us. UACh doesn’t have an ag journalism program, so we’re planning on filling some of our basic agriculture and international studies requirements. Once we found a class or group of classes that seemed promising, we had to compare it to some of the ones on our list of requirements and see if it might be similar. We threw together a big list of possible classes and then it was time for phase two.
Phase two was finding a person that could tell us about the class and its schedule. We used the old course book to find out which department the course was in and the professor who taught the class (10 years ago…). Then Marcelo took us to each different building to talk with the secretary or the professor who teaches the class. It was only the week before classes started, but a lot of the professors still didn’t have regular office hours yet. The first day we went around, we only talked with one person. All the others told us to return at a different time.
So, phase two took about three days. Another challenge that we discovered as we were talking with the professors is that it’s difficult to find out how many credits each class is worth. Since we’re trying to fulfill some of our UW-Madison requirements, it’s definitely important that we know how many credits we’re going to earn. We also have to make sure that we have at least 12 credits to be considered full-time students.
Finally, we had our list basically completed. I still didn’t know the days and times of three of my classes because they hadn’t been set yet, so I was just crossing my fingers. We took the lists to the office for exchange students so they can enroll us in the classes through the online system. We won’t find out if everything works out until Monday.
Classes started…kind of!
It was pure irony this morning when we woke up for our first day of school and it was raining. Welcome to Valdivia!
We don’t actually know what classes we have or when they are, so we decided to go to the exchange student office to ask if they finished our registration. The student worker said that it wasn’t ready yet and it would probably take until Thursday. He said we’d have to go around to all of the different departments where we have class and ask for the schedule.
So, instead of actually attending classes today, we just went around and found out when and where they are. I was relieved to find out that none of them overlapped and I only have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday and one during the afternoon on Thursday. That makes for a lot of long weekends of going out at night or of traveling.
Where are the subtitles?!
I actually went to class today and yesterday and it was a little overwhelming. We only talked about the syllabus and the general structure of the class, but I’m not sure how much I understood. I need to make some friends so I can have study partners. My classes are general microbiology, rural sociology, rural economic development, and the technology of milk processing. They are with first, second, fourth, and fifth year students, respectively.
Another big difference about classes here is that they meet less often, but for longer periods of time. The longest class I have is the technology of milk; the lecture meets for 2.5 hours and the lab meets for 2 hours on Tuesdays each week. The classes each have a certain amount of theory and practical hours. The theory is basically the lecture and the practical hours are more like a discussion or lab.
Also, in each of the classes the professors somehow made it known that I was an exchange student from the U.S. It was a little embarrassing at the time, but I think it was good to prevent any of the background snickers. For the most part, all of the students know each other and have all the same classes, so I automatically stick out even before they notice how white I am and that I can’t really speak Spanish.
I can’t make too many other observations about classes yet because we haven’t started talking about the subjects yet. I hope I can understand all of my professors!
Wake-up call
Just when I was starting to get really comfortable in Valdivia, I got a startling reminder that we’re still foreigners.
Danielle and I were having a great evening of just walking around and seeing a new part of the city. We got up close and personal with some sea lions and attempted to take some pictures that would show just how huge they are. They seem like they are really used to humans because they come right up on the riverbank by all the excitement of the city. Even though they seemed to be sleeping, there was still no way we were getting very close. We were brave for the sake of the pictures though and got within a few feet.
Then we proceeded to walk along the costal street just to stroll along and check things off. We were talking and not paying much attention when a boy (probably about 12 years old) rode past us on his bike from the opposite direction and yanked my camera right off my arm. I was left with just the strap dangling on my wrist.
We yelled and screamed, but no one did anything (it probably didn’t help that we yelled in English) and he took off pretty quickly on his bike. We stood there for a few minutes, trying to comprehend what had happened. I picked myself back up and tried to look on the bright side; the camera was almost four years old and I had been contemplating getting a new one. Also, the only pictures that were still on it were from around Valdivia, so they’re easily replaceable.
It wasn’t a good experience, but it reminded me that I still stand out as a foreigner, even though I’m here for a couple of months. It doesn’t change my impression of Valdivia or Chile, it just helped me remember not to let my guard down too much.
A 21st birthday like no other
Danielle was both disappointed and excited that she’d be spending her 21st birthday in Chile. It’s not the wild and crazy night on the town in Madison with all of her friends, but it was our first night out on the town without Marcelo to show us around. We definitely played up the whole experience!
But before I explain all of the nighttime festivities, we had some fantastic daytime celebrations as well…mostly involving cake! First, we decided to get birthday completos from Café Volcán - the same place we got them the first time. Again, they were fantastic.
Then we went to get dessert. One day when we were downtown, Marcelo pointed out the best place to get birthday cake. When we got there, we were amazed by the selection. We decided to get not one…not two…no, we got four different pieces of cake! “Pieces” isn’t really even the word for it because they were at least twice the size of a normal piece of cake. We carried home a lot of calories! Don’t worry though; we only ate one at a time.
Then it was time to get ready and go out on the town. Since the dance clubs really don’t pick up until 1 or 2 a.m., we decided to go to a nearby bar to get a drink. We didn’t even get there until after 11, so we just made it in time for Danielle to get a drink on her birthday.
We then proceeded downtown to a dance club called “Casona Verde” (Big Green House). It’s one of the favorites of the college students and we could see why. Things were really slow when we arrived (around 1am), but by 2am it really came alive. The whole place was full of people dancing to good music in English and Spanish. We have a few dance clubs in the States, but they’re nothing like in Chile. Contrary to my previous assumption, they don’t dance as provocatively as in the U.S.
The only other thing I can write about in my blog is that I made a Chilean friend, Rodrigo. We met because his friend, Erwin, is in our milk processing class. We ended up hanging out for some of the night and he explained the Spanish lyrics to me and I tried to explain some of the English lyrics to him. A Chilean friend!
So, we’ll just say that Danielle had a unique, but equally as awesome 21st birthday!
An informal international roundtable
When Marcelo asked us if we wanted to go out to eat tonight with the Germans, we gladly accepted and didn’t think much of it. However, when we got to Entre Lagos (Between Lakes), we were amazed at how the evening progressed. We ended up with eight people total from five different countries and speaking four different languages. It was pretty crazy!
Here’s the run-down on everyone there: Marcelo is Chilean and speaks English and Spanish; Leo and Tanya are Columbian and speak English and Spanish, Andrea and Natalie are German and speak English, Spanish, French and German (show-offs!), and Stan is Swiss and speaks French, English, and a little Spanish.
The topics didn’t get much deeper than talking about basic Chilean culture and all of our experiences abroad, but it seemed like chaos the whole night. It was fun though!
Learning the library
Everything in Chile has this really steep learning curve. When you have to do something for the first time, it’s always really terrifying at first, but there are a lot of small victories along the way that make you feel really good in the end. Today, our victory was figuring out the campus library.
One really nice thing about UACH is that we don’t have to buy books for any classes. They still use textbooks, scientific articles, and other reference material, but all of it is available in the campus library and you either check it out for a limited amount of time or just photocopy the pages you need to read.
Sounds simple, but it’s easier said than done. We were really nervous to do our first homework assignment for our milk processing class, so we waited until the day before to start it. We went into the library and tried to use the card catalogue, but there were big hoards of people and we felt like we were taking way too long and we weren’t really sure how we were actually supposed to get the books we needed.
We sheepishly went to our professor’s office and she assured us that the books were in the library and that if we asked one of the workers they’d help us with everything. We went back and it the whole building seemed like it had cleared out a lot from our first time being there (I think we were there between classes the first time). There was a very nice gentleman that explained how to use the card catalogue and on which floors the books or other reference materials could be found. Once we got the call number of the book we needed, we went downstairs and a different gentleman took us right to the shelf where all the dairy processing books are located.
As I started writing this entry, I wasn’t sure if the experience was actually “blog-worthy.” I don’t know if I can really express how much of a victory this really was for us. It seems very silly, but everyone takes for granted of all of those silly things in the U.S. It’s blog-worthy.
Daniela ganó en Strike!
Lot’s of excitement today! First, we met some other American exchange students. Now we know four students (two guys and two girls) from Vermont and three girls from Michigan. We met the Vermont students last week, but we haven’t really talked to them much. We met the Michigan girls this afternoon and immediately connected with them.
We connected so well that we went out with them tonight. First we just chilled and had some drinks at the bar down the street and then we headed to Strike for some karaoke. This time I didn’t sing any songs, but Danielle did. Each night they have a competition with five participants and we made her enter. She agreed, but only if Katie (one of the Michigan girls) and I danced.
The crowd loved it and Danielle won the contest, but we’re not sure what combination of factors led to the victory: blond, American, song in English, Madonna, or the dancers! Her prize was a hat that reads, “Yo gané en Strike!” (I won in Strike!).
Now that we’ve (Danielle) has really made a name for us, we might not be able to go to Strike for a while. Our new karaoke goal is to sing a song in Spanish. We bought a CD of a Mexican singer (Julieta Venegas) and we’ve been working on memorizing the lyrics. It’s only a matter of time…
Valdivia for the capital!
History was made today in Valdivia and we were there to witness everything! Today was the formal signing into law of the new Rivers Region and Valdivia is the capital.
I was really amazed and confused that they are going through so much to split the region. I couldn’t imagine trying to create a new state in the U.S. now. Marcelo said that the reason is to strengthen the area’s economy and create more jobs. Valdivia was previously the capital of the region, but when the earthquake hit in 1960 they decided to move it to Puerto Montt.
The law was passed by congress a while ago, so today President Michelle Bachelet came to address the city and sign the law. We went downtown and got right in the middle of everything…which meant we couldn’t see a thing because there were tons of people in front of us. It was still really exciting and a random old guy next to me gave me his Valdivia flag.
Later that night, there was some live music by a Chilean band. Danielle and I went to check it out, but didn’t stay long because it seemed kind of strange and the crowd didn’t seem to be into it. We found out later that the second band was the better one. Oh well.
A really funny side note about the creation of the new region is that a few years ago there was a big hit song with the main long being “Valdivia…the beautiful Valdivia. Valdivia…for the capital.” (in Spanish of course!) The lyrics were meant that Valdivia should be the capital instead of Santiago, but now it’s like it came true…just with a twist.