Vina del Mar and UAI

Vina del Mar

    Vina del Mar is often called the garden city and is located on the central Pacific coast of Chile. Vina del Mar or simply Vina is absolutely beautiful. There is a long beach that stretches to the neighboring city of Renaca to the North and later to Concon. There is also an old and new part of the city of Vina including a newer touristic part as well as a lively older side. The newer part is along the ocean and on San Martin,with all of the restaurants and resorts along the ocean. There are also three large shopping malls (larger and more packed than Ala Moana) that have everything you could find in the shopping malls back home. So do not be afraid, you will still have Starbucks, McDonalds, Nike, Adidas, Lider (Walmart), and everything else you could desire. The older part of the city, resides 15 blocks down on Calle Valpo, this is where you can find the less expensive and more local shops. Such as music shops and souvenirs.

The beach four blocks from my house

The view of Vina

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

UAI sits on top of a large hill overlooking vina and the ocean.

Taken from Uai.cl

The view from the University was especially beautiful during the sunset. 

The professors are also very well trained and the University is very prestigious. It is a private University and is well known as being the upper class University within the region. UAI is known for business, but also has a wide range of Latin American history and culture classes for international classes. There are also different Spanish classes available. I took Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism within Latin America, Latin American Culture and Identity (both with Prof. Casanueva), Chile and Human Rights (Prof. Wilson), Latin America on Film (Prof. Salinas), and Latin America in the age of Globalization (Prof. Barros). I would highly recommend the Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism class for politics as you deeply analyze the different political systems over a wide range of Latin American countries and learn where the corruption began. Latin America on film was also an excellent class that showed the history of Latin America very well through film. Prof. Casanueva and Salinas were my favorite professors but Barros and Wilson were also excellent professors. The coursework was rigorous, but after the classes I feel like I truly gained significant knowledge that I will not forget such as other coursework I have done within the United States.

taken from Universite.cl

There are many different sport classes you can take including yoga, body pump, trekking, weights, swimming, and many others  and you can even join sports teams within the University. The University is large and consists of four different buildings. One building is for the classrooms, common spaces, and the gymnasium, another is for the offices of the professors, the library and auditorium, and the last is for the cafeteria. The gym is located in the first building and is very large. The food within the cafeteria is also nice and affordable. 

The library

Outside of the cafeteria

The view from campus

Dieciocho de Septiembre

Dieciocho is the independence day within Chile. (Similar to the 4th of July) There are two days celebrated known as fiesta Patrias. There were large festivals known as "ramadas" or "fondas" that lasted throughout the weekend.Chileans spend the afternoons with their families having large asados and then head out to the "ramadas" and "fondas" to celebrate for the night

My host mother and I dressed in Chilean attire

The festival

 The Fondas At the fondas there are countless stands with food such as antichuchos, empanadas, terremotos,and much more. Besides the countless booths for food there are also carnival games and rides. There is also a large stage that had live music and there was a separate tent with music and a dance floor.

Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso

     Valparaiso or simply Valpo is located South of Vina del Mar on the Pacific Coast as well. Valparaiso is known for being a large port and city filled with a unique culture, artists, and musicians and is often referred to as the Jewel of the Pacific. Valpo is also the location of the Congress in the country, so there are many different political demonstrations as well. Such as when the congress passed a law for same sex marriage in October. 

  Valpo is a city that runs all night long and is always filled with people. There are always different festivals that take place within the city and Valpo is the cheapest city to go out in. There were salsa classes every Wednesday night and there were always other places to go out dancing to reggaeton, bachata, and cumbia or as the Chileans say “Carretes”. There were countless live music events as well with a variety of music.

The streets of Valpo were also filled with street art that was beautiful but also gave large political statements. 

Below will be a paper I wrote for my Latin America on Film class of my thoughts on Valparaiso. 

The Jewel of the Pacific

     The scent of the ocean breeze and piscola brushes my senses as I climb up chaotic "escaleras" through the beautiful city of Valparaiso. The "paseos" and "cerros" within the city of paradise provide stunning views of the sea and vibrant colorful houses below. The sun radiates downward on the grand port beneath and street performers, vendors, and tourists assemble throughout the streets. The wall of every structure within the city is filled with radiant street art, graphic stencils, and deep messages that captures the eyes of any foreigner. The individuals roaming among the street art appear rough on the outside, but in an instant show warmth and friendliness towards the foreigner. Valparaiso is said to be “The Jewel of the Pacific” and she truly is. Valpo is a city within Latin America that demonstrates a type of life that cannot be found elsewhere. She is chaotic, raving, alluring, captivating, and charming. She demands to be looked at and to be enjoyed.

    Valparaiso is truly a beautiful, chaotic mess. She is a clash between rapid industrialization and the Latin American soul that is dying to be heard. The people of Valparaiso are restless and captivating, but the city is quickly becoming exhausted and weary. The night life of Valpo is filled with raving "carretes" that illuminate every dark corner within the central part of the city. The sounds of dancing, laughter, live music, and howling of the people can be heard in every "cerro" above. Life fills the streets and provides a certain charm that is foreign to anywhere else within the world. Discotecas and piscolas dominate the nighttime and allure any person who passes by on the stone streets. The image of people who have consumed one too many piscolas, crowded roaring streets, the beautiful tone of the Latin tongue, and the aroma of completos and empanadas after a night full of dancing and laughter will be the memories I will always recollect from my nights spent within the city that refuses to rest. Valpo is truly a ¨Jewel¨ for the young soul that desires an exciting, charming, and captivating lifestyle that does not emerge elsewhere in Chile or Latin America.

    Valparaiso appears young, alive, and thriving in the eyes of a newcomer. Within the first months of my arrival in Chile, I was in love with the beautiful street art, endless festivities, loud nights, and the certain charm that no other city within Latin America showed me before. The streets of the city enchanted me and were filled with a new perception of life that was foreign to me. The people I was introduced to within the streets were lovely and the city provided scents of richness and happiness. My first experiences within this beautiful and breathtaking city appeared almost as the mystical and luring as the place of ¨El Dorado¨. The city never appeared to run out of excitement and was my main destination for nights out in Chile. Although, the sight of the moonlight kissing the sea that sweeps across Valparaiso and the piscola kissing my lips within the night left me in a delusional type of love that I was rudely awakened from the following morning.

    When the sun rises and provides morning light, Valparaiso reveals her exhaustion of her exhausting lifestyle. The streets are filled with trash and loneliness. No person dared to care for the beautiful city that lured them in within the night. The people instead roamed the streets with looks of deceitfulness  that sent chills down my spine. The moment I stepped foot outside of the tourist centers and into the residential parts of the city, ¨The Jewel of the Pacific” was no longer apparent. The chaos and raving of the city became unbearable and the alluring, captivating charm of the city I felt so intensely before immediately vanished. The street art plastered on the structures began to provide a deeper symbolism of resistance and oppression the central government forced among the people of this beautiful city. The street art was the only voice the people of Valparaiso have, their expressions of mistreatment and cruelty of the government was shown. (Especially by the Mapuche nation) The streets of the city and the brilliant colors of the houses dwindled. The endless parties, street art, and charm was nothing more than propaganda to deceive foreigners of Valparaiso.

    ¨The Jewel of the Pacific¨ is currently encountering a constant struggle to overcome the oppression and betrayal she faces. She has become exhausted, weak, and disastrous. She is beautiful within the nighttime, but with the rising sun her true expressions of weakness are revealed. The colorful houses that are stacked within the "cerros" are slowly falling apart, the "escalares" are rapidly aging, and the "paseos" are filled with people who are in a constant battle for survival. The scent of "piscola" hinders on the breath of locals as they use it to drown their own sorrows within the city they once believed was a beautiful ¨Jewel of the Pacific¨. However, I do truly believe, Valparaiso will win her battle and become the Jewel of the Pacific once again someday.  She captivated my heart and opened my blind eyes as a foreigner to this chaotic world.

8.3 Magnitude Earthquake

Terremoto

On the evening of September 16th, a large 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Chile, 225 Km North of the capital Santiago.  

There were also other earthquakes that struck in North America around Oklahoma and southern California around 4.0 magnitudes and in the West Pacific in the Philippines and Taiwan at 6.0 magnitude. 

http://www.adventuretravelnews.com/update-from-chile-operator-after-september-16-earthquake

I am sure if you were on Oahu, you were also aware of this earthquake as they issued tsunami warnings in Hawaii as well. 

Being born and raised in South West Colorado, I never experienced natural disasters and this was my first natural disaster, besides the hurricane warning from my freshman year on Oahu. (which luckily never struck the island).  

I was conveniently taking a nap in my home stay at the time the earthquake struck.

Although, I was supposed to meet a friend at the mall an hour before, but I somehow slept through my plans. It is a weird coincidence as I usually would never sleep through plans, but I did not have much sleep the night before. I will always be very grateful I was in bed when the earthquake struck and not out in the huge three story mall that makes the Ala Moana mall seem small.

When the earthquake struck, I also realized that I had no idea what to do in an earthquake. Do I run to the door? Outside? Was a larger earthquake going to strike next? The only thing I could think of was movie scenes where the ground splits open in the midst of the quake.

So, there I was waiting for the ground to split open underneath me. Luckily, it never did. Our house rocked back and forth for a minute and then it appeared to be over. Suddenly, it started shaking again and I was able to capture a quick video.

When the earthquake ended, I immediately got out of bed. I spoke with Victoria right away and asked her when the next earthquake was going to strike? She smiled and thought I was joking because the largest earthquake had already struck. We then went downstairs to meet with my host father and Paula. My host father and Paula were both extremely calm and I could tell that experiencing earthquakes was a normal experience for them. I was told to leave with Victoria and Paula to the restaurant as it was farther away from the ocean. (There were immediate tsunami warnings following the earthquake) My host father was going to wait at the house for my host mother as she was out at the gym and swimming pool.

We then began walking to the restaurant. Some people on the streets appeared to be calm and patient, while others were pushing and running to get to their homes. Paula and Victoria kept me calm as they explained there should not be a large earthquake after, as the first quake is the largest. They also told me about their experience in 2010 when a larger earthquake struck Chile and was a magnitude of 8.8, which was the fifth largest earthquake recorded by a seismograph. (At this time, we did not know how the magnitude of the current earthquake) so, they reassured me that this earthquake was not as strong and if we were at the restaurant we could easily evacuate to higher ground if a tsunami were to strike. They started laughing and told me that was the earthquake and it eased the tension.

Once we were at the restaurant, we waited for my host mother and father. We also pulled out a radio and listened to the news broadcasts regarding the earthquake. That is when we discovered the earthquake was an 8.3, but in Viña it was around a 7.9. My host mother then showed up at the restaurant and was very excited to see me as she thought I would have been at the mall when the earthquake struck.

When the warnings ended, we walked back home. There had been quite a few aftershocks from the earthquake, especially a large one in the middle of the night.

The aftershocks continued throughout the next months of my stay within Chile and they soon became normal to me as well.

Although, the city where I was in Viña did not experience bad damage, other areas and cities in Chile were not so luckily. Below are a few pictures from Coastal Cities in Chile that were not left unscathed. Especially, the areas that are impoverished and do not have well built structures to protect them such as the larger cities. 

 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/earthquake-in-chile-rocks-capital-santiago

https://zachnews.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/news-update-illapel-chile-latest-information-regarding-magnitude-8-3-earthquake-and-tsunami-alert/

The pictures above are not my own, as the area where I lived did not become destroyed badly. Although, the large cities did not experience bad damage, but 1 million people needed to evacuated and everything they owned was lost. (The pictures are from news websites and google).

I was also surprised at how calm all of the Chilean students and professors at the University were. As International Students were making remarks on how the earthquake was one of the most fun, craziest, Adeline rushes of our lives, people who were born and raised in this part of the world, were used to this experience.

When the aftershocks would strike at the University, the building would shake and the professors would not stop class or hardly even react to the earthquake. One professor would say ¨C´mon people it´s Chile¨ as many of the International students including me would always react.

After my experience with the large earthquake I truly understand how valuable life is and how we as human beings truly never know the moment life could end. I also have a large respect for people who live in the ring of fire and experience earthquakes normally as they are extremely brave human beings.

Mi Vida en Chile

The beginning of my travel.

July 30th, 2015.

At the end of July, I packed all of my belongings into a suitcase and caught a plane to South America. I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. 

It was my very first time traveling out of the United States and I was going to travel all alone.

I planned to fly out of the Denver International Airport to the capital of Santiago, Chile before travelling to Viña del Mar, Chile. I booked my flight through my program AIFS and it was scheduled to depart on July 30th (AIFS does not offer flights to Chile out of Hawaii unfortunately). My first appearance  in the airport however, did not go smoothly.

When I arrived and began the check in process on July 30th, I was told that I was not allowed to fly out of the United States due to not have obtaining my student visa. Although, I was told by my program director at AIFS that I would obtain the student visa upon my arrival in Chile and I would only need to show the airport and immigration my acceptance letter into the University. However, for DIA this was not sufficient. After countless phone calls back and forth from the immigration in Chile, the University, and AIFS. I was rescheduled a flight for the next morning.

(However, every other student who participated in the AIFS program, flew out of the U.S. with no problems at all. None of them had student visas issued before their departure out of the U.S. and half of them did not even have to show their University acceptance letters. So for this one, I am not sure.)

My program AIFS helped me immensely throughout the entire process at the airport and re-booked me a flight through a different airline the next day at no cost. Therefore, I do not blame the program at all for this happening to me and I feel that AIFS is a good program to study abroad with.

We also did get our student visas in Chile with the assistance of the University and the AIFS program with no difficulties and barely any cost later on in the semester.

So, Advice.

1. Make sure you obtain the necessary travel documents before studying abroad, such as your student visa. (So, you don’t miss your first flight!)
2. Travel Insurance is always a good idea.
3. Arrive to the airport early.
4. Always stay positive. Things will work out in the end!
5. An extra day to spend with your family is always a good thing.

July 31st.

Adiós USA! Today, I was able to leave the Denver International Airport without any problems. Although, my new flight itinerary was very lame.

My first flight was Denver to Toronto, Canada, a seven hour layover, and then Toronto to Santiago, Chile.

After flying in the opposite direction to Canada and then back down South, I finally landed in Santiago, Chile.

Once, I arrived in the Santiago airport, I felt a wave of excitement wash over me. I found my way to the baggage claim and retrieved my guitar and large suitcase. After I made it through customs, I began to realize I could not understand a single word of Spanish from anyone.No one spoke English around me.

The Chileans also spoke Spanish rapidly and the words often times did not have endings but rather merged together. So, if your main goal is to become fluent in Spanish in Chile, you will not become fluent in the grammatically correct Spanish, but instead with Chilean Spanish!

If you do book a flight through AIFS, they also provide you with transportation from the Santiago Airport to your home stay family in Viña del Mar.  Even though, I was a day late the University still sent a nice professor to pick me up from the airport.

The professor was Manuel Casanueva, a Spanish, Politics, and Culture professor for international students. He turned out to be a professor for two of my classes. (Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism in Latin America and Culture and Identity in Latin America) He was very friendly and eased my nervousness the entire drive to Viña del Mar. He also became one of my favorite professors as he was easy to talk with, adventurous, extremely intelligent, and not the typical college professor.

After about an hour and half of driving, we reached my home stay family in Viña!

Profe. Casanueva helped me grab my luggage out of the taxi and rang the doorbell for my host mother.

She was not at all what expected.

She was short, extremely tan, and very beautiful. (keep in mind she's 66 years old). She was wearing larger heels than I have ever worn and was dressed extremely well. She then gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. Below is a picture of my host mother and I.

My home stay was a cute, cozy home. There was a living room, dining table, kitchen, and bathroom on the bottom floor. The upstairs was also very nice with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

I lived only four blocks from the beach, two from the shopping mall, and one block from the main street Libertad. (A perfect location within the city.)

As soon as I set my things down in my new bedroom, my host mother came up to get me. If I’m honest, I could not understand a single word she said, but she understood my confusion and remained very sweet to me. She said we would be going to eat lunch at her daughters restaurant and I would meet my host father there. 

We then walked down side streets that were filled with graffiti. Some of the graffiti was beautiful and was more of a street art and others were different. This was the first significant difference I noticed between the U.S. and Chile. The city was filled with graffiti and it was rather normal for them. On the way, there were many small shops, restaurants, and parks along our walk. My host mother continued to talk to me, even though I'm positive she knew I understood nothing. I kept saying si and nodding and it seemed to get me by.

Eventually, we ended up in front of a restaurant called Aji Color.  Once inside, I was introduced to my host father, Manuel, the daughter, Veronica, and the granddaughter, Victoria. I was hoping the granddaughter would speak English….but not really. She could understand what I was saying and helped me with the menu but she did not speak to me in English. This made understanding and holding a conversation with my host family extremely challenging in my first few days.

At the restaurant I tried my best and communicated as much as I could with my new family. We had an amazing lunch filled with three courses. I also later discovered, my host sister Paula was well known in Viña del Mar for traditional Chilean food.

Although, I could not understand much of what my host family said. They were all very sweet to me and I already felt very welcomed and at home. My inability to understand them often brought us to laughing and the food was better than I ever imagined before. 

Gracias Familia. 

My next few days in Viña del Mar included getting to know the other AIFS students and having a walking tour of Viña where we saw the famous "flower clock", German castle, casino, and many other places. We walked along the coast and through the city. My host mother also took me shopping in the mall and to the beach. (Although, the beach was freezing in this time of year.) 

Unfortunately, within my first weekend, there was a terrible storm that destroyed a restaurant and many vehicles along the coast. I did not go out, but instead stayed home with my host parents and attempted to communicate with them more. 

A truck damaged from the storm

A nice restaurant that was destroyed 

The aftermath of the storm

There are more posts to come! 

Mi Vida en Chile.

Viva Chile. Mi Vida en Viña del Mar.

Hola. My name is Shalynn Marissa Murphy (most of you may know me by my preferred middle name Marissa) and for the Fall semester of 2015, I studied abroad in Viña del Mar, Chile. This blog will follow me on my four and a half month journey of studying abroad. I will write about the people I encountered, the culture of the Chileans, and my new perceptions of the world we all live in. I hope you enjoy!

Firstly, Why Chile?

Chile is an incredible and absolutely stunning country. Chile possesses the Andes Mountains to the East, The Pacific Coast to the West, the Atacama Desert to the North, and Patagonia to the South. This country basically has it all.

The two greatest reasons I wanted to study abroad were

1. I wanted to meet new people who were different from me.
2. I wanted to experience a new country and lifestyle that was foreign to my own.

Although, Spain would have been amazing I decided I wanted to experience a country that was still developing and under discovered in some ways. So, I chose South America, a continent filled with beauty and excitement that I do not believe everyone has the chance to experience.

There are more posts to come soon.

Also, if you are considering studying abroad in Chile and have any questions for me about the country, my experience, and so on feel free to email me at smurph15@my.hpu.edu and I would love to share more with you!