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Aventura Extraordinaria: U.S. Students Exchange Comfy Classrooms for a South American Experience
Doris Hamilton
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Authentic Discount Designer Prada Sunglasses. | Authentic Designer Gucci Sunglasses. Discount Prices Online |. INFINITI. Alert the owner of the reverse phone lookup number. Second, pretending that you are.. Ringtones: absolutely free ringtones for verizon phones (mp3 format).. Free ringtones: download free verizon ringtones for mobile phone.. cheap car insuring young drivers. ringtones. 100% Free Killing Loneliness ringtones for nextel.. film online. Ringtones: Download 100% free mp3 ringtones for motorola mp3.. if you want the bio-fuel will go to Los Angeles, there is a ethanol blendingPatrick Edwards (right) with his father, Michael Edwards, in
Chile. Patrick grew up abroad and studied at an
international high school in Belgium. After attending
Colorado University, he decided to study in Chile, a country
that has enticed him ever since he saw the film Motorcycle
Diaries. (Photo by Libby Edwards)
Click image to enlarge.
It’s thousands of miles from home. There's no central heating in the winter. The Spanish is almost unintelligible, even if you already studied the language. And the airfare, just like the plane, is sky-high. So why do U.S. university students choose Chile as the place for a semester or year of study? And why do they feel like it’s over too soon? This is the story of three students who can answer those questions. They all took the challenge to walk out of their U.S. universities and into an amazing new world at the “end of the earth," as Chile is called.
Alexandra (Alex) Sharkey is presently completing her second semester in the University of Viña del Mar, (UVM) on the central coast of Chile. After finishing high school in Columbus, Ohio and graduating as one of her school’s valedictorians, Alex returned to her native Oklahoma to study at Oklahoma University (OU). “At first I wanted to major in Latin American Studies” she says, “but, the semester before I left for Chile I realized that my real passion was the language of Latin America, so I declared Spanish as my major during my sophomore year.” Alex has wanted to study abroad since the time she was in middle school, and decided on Chile because, besides wanting to study in Latin America rather than in Spain, her parents saw Chile as a “safe” option. Chile is presently considered one of the most economically and politically stable countries in Latin America. “And I chose UVM because there’s a good exchange program set up with OU. Students who had come here before me were very eager to recommend UVM because they had had such great experiences.”
During Alex’s first semester at the coast-side Chilean university, besides taking basic Spanish grammar and pronunciation classes, she also had a class in Chilean culture. This semester she’s taking more advanced classes: literature, Latin American civilization, a course on Chilean economics, politics and culture, and a history class targeting the Aztec, Mayan and Incan cultures. Her classes this semester are conducted in Spanish.
Now fast forward to Colorado University (CU) and meet Patrick Edwards, who has just finished two semesters at the same school Alex attends in Chile and is back home tackling his university architecture classes. Patrick grew up abroad and attended an international high school in Belgium. He has been attending CU “for the past few years” and, in the fall of 2005 decided he needed a change for a while. So, he made a big change and went to Chile. “I’d always heard of Chile and Argentina as amazing countries, and I decided I wanted to study down there, but not in a huge city. The architecture programs in Argentina were only in Buenos Aires, the capital, so I decided on Chile. Besides having programs in Santiago, the capital city, I knew I could choose to be in a smaller place. My program was at UVM and the great advantage of Viña del Mar is that it’s adjacent to Chile’s largest port, Valparaíso. Plus, I‘d seen Motorcycle Diaries, the film about Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s motorcycle journey through South America. The fascinating story-telling and fantastic scenery really got a hold on me. I basically wanted to get away to someplace that I had no basis in whatsoever--no language skills (Patrick was fluent in French, but hadn’t studied Spanish), no friends or family, different customs. That’s how I got to Chile!”
Patrick also was enrolled in classes at UVM, but as time went on, he found that besides the classroom education he was receiving, the whole experience of Chile itself was calling to him even more strongly.
One more stop--this time out in the Pacific Ocean, where John Paul Kennedy was working at several jobs on the island of Oahu (on the beach, renting surfboards, in a natural foods store, in an ecotourism company, in the Honolulu Zoo) to make enough money to get back to Chile--again.
John Paul’s first experience in Chile was in August 2004. He also attended UVM and, because the experience was so rewarding, when he went back to Hawaii to finish his last semester, he added three Spanish courses to his already overloaded science schedule and graduated in May 2005 with a B.S. in Zoology. In February 2006, he says, “I arrived in Santiago for the second time…. Arriving in Chile this time around, was completely different from my first experience, because my Chilean “mom” and oldest “sister” were waiting in the airport for me and right away I was able to tell them all about the trip.”
To be able to tell someone in Chile all about your trip is a major accomplishment for almost any person who comes to this long, narrow nation at the end of the world. Chileans in general have invented their own unique way of being South Americans as they went through the centuries hemmed in by the Pacific Ocean on the west and south and the Andes to the east. And, it would seem to most people that they also invented their own brand of Spanish.
The Spanish spoken in Chile is a challenge, to say the least. In fact, it’s like walking into a linguistic landmine. You never know where you’ll get hit first. The most basic challenge is that Chilean Spanish is spoken in a rapid-fire way. So, if you come here after having spent hours in a language lab, laboriously repeating phrases and sentences, answering questions and feeling you have made tremendous progress, once on Chilean land, you will feel you are back to square one. After the rat-a-tat-tat sound hits your ears, you’ll find that there’s something a trifle unbalancing about the pronunciation, too. Didn’t your teacher tell you to pronounce carefully? Now you’re in the land where s’s are “eaten," as they say in Chile. If someone asks you how you are, (¿Cómo está usted?), a basic enough question, you just might not recognize it in its Chilean form, ¿Cómetai? And, if you ask the other person the same question and he or she isn’t feeling too well that day, the answer might sound like “maoma," or "maomenonoma," which translated into “real” Spanish, means más o menos, or “más o menos, no más” (so-so). By the time you figure this out, it’s a little late to react sympathetically or ask the person what’s wrong.
So, Chilean Spanish is fast and has no audible s’s. That would be plenty. But, this version of the language down at the southern tip of the world can also make your standard dictionary a useless tool. Chileans are constantly inventing new expressions and words, many of which you will probably never hear in another country. For example, if someone asks you if you want to go out to “carretear," and you're new in Chile, you will probably politely ask what “carretear” means. The answer will be just as baffling. “Ir a pachanga, andar a paranda," the person might say. Still no comprehension on your part. Someone else might jump into the conversation to help out and add, “farrear, jarandear." Your face still registers one word: “Huh???” Finally, someone takes pity on you and says, “divertirse." Aha! You remember that word from the vocabulary lists you studied--divertirse--have a good time. Sure, you want to go out and have a good time! So, off you go with your newfound friends and during the evening, there’ll probably be twenty more times when you have that “Huh???” written all over your face.
“I knew some Spanish from the similarity to French,” relates Patrick, “and in Peru and Bolivia, where I traveled for a month before getting to Chile, it was amazing. I understood everyone, could hold conversations, felt right at home. Then I got to Chile and understood…NOTHING! It was fast, garbled and pure slang!” John Paul adds his own take on the language situation: "I had gone to Chile the first time so that I could really apply the Spanish language I was learning in my two-year foreign language requirement, and not just complete the last two required classes at the university in a vacuum. When I got to Chile the first time, all that I’d learned in Spanish classes didn’t help me in the slightest; I could barely understand simple sentences and definitely couldn’t express myself at all!”
And Alex ruefully bears out the same experience when she says, "Before coming to Chile, I was pretty confident in my Spanish, since I studied it all four years in high school and for three semesters at OU. But I was completely humbled when I arrived in Chile. I couldn’t understand anyone, especially my Chilean family. I just remember saying a lot, ‘Lo siento, no sé, no entiendo, más lento' ( ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know, I don’t understand, speak more slowly’) in the beginning of my adventure in Chile.”
But, "adventure" was probably the key word for these students. Here they were in a unique and beautiful country, learning how to communicate with real people who speak the language, and all of them succeeded. And Alex feels particularly fulfilled because she has heard repeatedly that if she could master Chilean Spanish, she would be able to understand Spanish all over the world. Once you’ve learned Chilean Spanish, the rest is downhill!
The three students plugged on, and at different points in their semesters could see the progress they were making not only with Spanish, but with life in general in Chile. Each one of them had a living situation that fit them well, and also helped them start to unravel the complexities of the language. Alex still lives with the Chilean family she started out with last semester: “Because of the exchange program with OU, I had to live with a Chilean family,” she relates. “I was placed in a family where both of the parents are retired and there are three children: a 27-year-old son and two daughters, twenty-five and thirteen. The son is the only one who doesn’t live at home. Over the past seven months, they’ve sincerely included me in their family and treated me like one of their own daughters. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, and three home cooked meals every day, too, plus laundry service!” she exudes.
John Paul also spent two semesters with a family--the same folks who met him at the airport on his second arrival in Chile. During his first stay in the country, he says, “I always felt as if my family here in Chile was not just a host family housing a foreign student for the semester. Instead I really felt as if I was part of the family, the one who doesn’t speak much at the dinner table, but still is part of the family as a whole.
"My two ‘parents’ and three ‘sisters’ and an endless number of other family members were always there for parties, birthdays and other occasions, and made me feel comfortable trying to understand the conversation or express myself in this new language. I still cherish those moments I was able to share with the family and feel that apart from learning Spanish I was also able to learn more about how to be a good person and live together as a large family.”
During this first experience in Chile, John Paul advanced quickly and went from not being able to put together a sentence to having teachers tell him they couldn’t believe the progress he had made in such a short time. No wonder he felt so great to see his Chilean mom and sister at the airport his second time around! John Paul continued with the family for another semester and now lives independently. “I moved out,” he explains, "not because I didn’t want to continue living there, but because I wanted to experience living here in Chile from a different point of view. I sincerely feel as if they’re still a part of my family and I know that I’ll always have a great relationship with them. I continue to talk to them and visit them often, but am excited to begin this new stage of my experience here in Chile.”
What about Patrick? He had already had numerous travel experiences under his belt, so when he got to Chile, he says, “I lived according to my own preference: in a student pensión (a sort of boarding house where the residents do their own cooking, follow their own schedules, and get together for meals and occasional social activities). I think this was the best option for me. There were a few international students, a few Chileans--the perfect mix. We all helped each other communicate and the presence of the Chilean students was invaluable because they helped us decipher their language!
"However, being in that situation, as opposed to living with a host family, is completely different. I only recommend it for someone who is exceptionally independent and used to culture-hopping. I had to shop for everything myself and do my own cooking. Chile is harder than other countries in terms of expenses because the cost of living is more expensive. I felt this much more living on my own and buying everything I needed. But living in a pensión and buying one’s own stuff is still miles cheaper than staying with a family.”
During his first semester, Patrick lived in a pensión in Viña Del Mar, the same city where he took his classes. In the second semester, he shared a house with five other people in Valparaíso, which was the city that he loved and where he felt, as they say in Chile, “en su salsa” (totally at home).
And when students come to Chile, do they spend all their time in the classroom or at a desk doing assignments? Not really. Chile is full of things to do, and all of these activities can be part of the student's experience. Patrick says that when he came to Chile he was looking for a relief from the difficult architecture courses that filled his life at CU. He had the idea that maybe Chile would be sort of a sabbatical for him. He says, “Before coming to South America, I mentally envisioned my priorities there as first, surfing; second, sleeping; and third, learning Spanish. But after a little while, this changed and my priorities were first, working in the campamentos, second, learning Spanish, followed by doing my schoolwork, and, oh yes, a distant fourth priority, sleeping.”
Campamentos in Chile are shantytowns that can spring up wherever poor people need a place to live--if having no decent housing can be considered living. Many campamento inhabitants use pieces of cardboard, plastic and zinc to hold their dwelling together, and life in the campamentos is a far cry from life in Viña Del Mar, even though geographically, the distance from one place to the other can be only a matter of a few kilometers. Approximately 450 campamentos still exist all over the country and hopefully, if future governments continue to see housing as a national priority, will be totally eradicated in a few more years.
Patrick discovered the campamentos when he got involved in a program in Chile called Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile), an organization founded in 1997 by concerned young people who wanted to make a difference in their country. “Un Techo Para Chile is a lot like Habitat for Humanity,” Patrick explains. “Except, it’s a lot cooler: it’s all university students doing all the activities: legal advising, budget management, small business entrepreneurship, health/sex education, and ‘school re-enforcement’: English, Spanish and math help for the kids. Then after a whole battery of workshops, we all get together one weekend and build a few sturdy shacks for families who have completed some of the workshops. Basically, Un Techo Para Chile totally rocks!” The ultimate goal of the organization is to enable people to someday live in a better home environment and obtain more spacious living quarters through the government housing programs.
Patrick’s main activities in working in “Reñaca Heights” (a campamento situated above a wealthy coastal area called Reñaca), and “Villa Hermosa” (“Beautiful Villa”), near Viña del Mar, was to teach English and conduct a yoga class. His experiences in the “classroom” were frustrating, but taken, on his part, with a good dose of humor. Kids showed up here and there at various hours, some with more ability to pay attention than others. Sometimes the lessons flopped and, in a desperate effort to keep going, Patrick would scratch around in his mind for Emergency Plan B. Even though when the whole course had been completed Patrick felt that he hadn’t made a big impact on the students because of feeling he was only teaching half of the enrollees, due to the winter rains, bus problems, or family problems, he was still reconciled that he had done something of worth. “Probably the most important thing I did was just to show up on time, every week, treat them fairly and be nice.”
Alex and John Paul have also had their crack at teaching English. Alex still works as a volunteer in a local high school. “During my first semester,” she relates, “I had to teach English as a requirement in one of my Chilean culture classes. Although the culture class ended last semester, I’m still teaching the same class, but as a volunteer. I really enjoyed the class and the students, and the teacher is thrilled to have a native speaker for another semester.” Besides the English class, Alex found a non-denominational Christian church online and decided to try it out. “I fell in love with the church during my first visit because it felt like my home away from home. I was amazed and relieved to discover that I actually recognized some of their songs and could understand the pastor. Besides the Sunday services, I decided to attend their youth group, which meets every Friday. Not only have I met a lot of Chileans close to my age but have also improved my Spanish skills. Besides that, there’s a family at the church who has taken me under their wing. They’re a true blessing in my life and I absolutely love when I can go to their house for lunch after church!”
John Paul is presently teaching English to fellow students (Chileans) who are interested in also having an experience abroad some day. And, through one of his classes (ecology) he had another great experience. “We went on a study trip to a natural reserve over Easter Break (called El Parque Río Claro) and I was able to really get to know some of my classmates. Spending the entire day working on our project in the river, then analyzing our data back at the cabin in the evening, and finally conversing throughout the evening really helped me to get to know my classmates and understand a bit more about Chilean culture. After we finished the project, the professor organized an asado (barbecue) there in the cabin and this really seemed to bring the whole experience together.”
Besides all these activities, all the students have found time to move around a bit and see other places: John Paul has been not only in Chile but also in Perú, Argentina and Uruguay; Alex has visited various places in the north and south of Chile, as well as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And, besides his travels in Perú and Bolivia before arriving in Chile, Patrick went to the south of Chile with his parents.
During their stay in Chile, many U.S. students receive visits from their parents, siblings or friends. While it’s highly satisfying for them to see a friendly face from home, the experience can also help the exchange students gauge their progress in the host country.
In talking about his parents’ visit, Patrick confides, “I hadn’t been that exited to see them since I left our family home three years ago. Basically, I had arrived in Chile with zero experience, and, after six months there, had built myself a life, had friends who were like family, and I could show my parents around. I could haggle in the markets, I knew where the micros (short for microbuses, one of the main forms of public transportation in Chile) went and which one to take. And my parents just went where I took them!
"I was especially happy because they were there for the graduation ceremonies in one of the campamentos, and got to hear me make a little speech before the ceremony was over.” Alex bounces off this idea of being the “family leader” when she says, “ My parents came to visit me for three weeks in July for my ‘winter break’” (seasons in South America are the opposite of North America). “At first it was very stressful for me because they don’t know any Spanish. We pretty much had to switch roles: I became their parent and they were my children! I had to translate everything, watch out for them and worry about them. After about a week in Chile, they caught on to the dos and don’ts and I found myself switching from Spanish to English quickly--it became second nature. I loved taking them around Chile and showing them what my world had been for the past five months. The only bad part was that I ate a lot of cold meals while I was translating everything for my own parents, my Chilean family and my friends! My parents were very proud of everything I had accomplished during my first semester abroad, and were amazed at my Spanish fluency.”
So many ways to integrate into Chilean life and so many experiences that will affect those who visit here for a long time in the future. Do these three students have any advice for people thinking about a study period outside of the U.S.? “I would advise them to study abroad for two semesters,” Alex says. “I’ve talked to a lot of people who studied abroad for just one semester and truly regret it. Why? Because right at the end of the first semester is when they felt most comfortable and most adjusted with the language, people, the place and the culture. Two is better than one as far as semesters are concerned!”
For those who would be thinking of coming to South America, Patrick has these words to add: “If you’re looking for ‘Latin’ and ‘exotic,' go with Argentina. If you’re looking for a real South American experience, come to Chile, and hopefully to Valparaíso. You’ll be coming to a country that could be Europe or the U.S. fifty years ago, to a country that in some ways is just coming into modernity and struggling with it. You can see it all firsthand.” And John Paul adds, “ Based on my experience, I feel that Viña is a great place to meet people from all over the world and practice your Spanish. The opportunity to study in Chile not only would allow students to learn a different language, but they could also easily travel to all parts of this country, as well as to the surrounding countries. The chance to study in Chile would be an extremely enriching opportunity.”
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Alexandra (Alex) Sharkey and John Paul Kennedy. “If I had it
all to do over again," says Alex, "I would definitely come to
Chile." (Photo by Patrick Edwards)
Click image to enlarge.
Alex, John Paul and Patrick are representative of many young folks who travel to Chile as one person, and go back home as another. Maybe they leave their exchange studies feeling far more confident about their own abilities to speak the language, to reach out to others, to learn. Perhaps they see their own country from a different vantage point, appreciate more what they have at home, and wish that other U.S. citizens could see their country from the outside for a while, too. It could be they don’t like everything they find in Chile, but definitely enough to make them reflect on values such as family, new political trends (Chile elected the first-ever woman, Michelle Bachelet, as President of the Republic while these students were in Chile), and student rights (high school students led massive street demonstrations during all three's stay in Chile).
With such a rich South American experience, a great deal of growing went on for these three U.S. university students, not only linguistically, but culturally and personally, too. One final, burning question: Would they do it all again if they had the opportunity? Patrick states, “Because it was such an important experience in my life, yes! I’m glad I went to see the extreme poverty of the campo (rural areas) in Peru and Bolivia before seeing Chile. Chile has a great deal more materially speaking, and there were some things I didn’t like there, and some that I did, but I didn’t go for a party vacation. I learned a lot about South America and about myself in the process.”
“No hesitation,” Alex strongly replies. “If I had it all to do over again, I would definitely come to Chile. This has been the adventure of a lifetime and I can’t believe I only have a couple of months left! It’s trulyd me to the world outside the United States, and I’m grateful for this experience!”
“Would I come back to Chile?” asks John Paul. “Well, I’m back again, so I guess there's something here that appeals to me. I’m not exactly sure what has drawn me back to this country, but I think a lot has to do with the country itself. Chile has a compelling beauty that comes from combining the dry desert in the north, the fertile central region and the majestic forests in the south. Along with the natural beauty, Chilean people themselves have a way of life and mentality that has really captivated me.
"I feel as if the country as a whole has a certain alma, a soul that once in a while you can sense. Usually this experience happens due to contact with the people or at a moment when you’re reflecting on the natural beauties of the country. So, personally, I feel the chance to study in Chile would be an extremely enriching opportunity for other students, too. And who knows? Maybe they just might come back a second time!”
MORE INFO
For information about some of the exchange programs available in Chile, you can consult the following websites:
--Universidad de Chile (http://pme.uchile.cl). Click on “English Version” and select “Student Mobility Program.”
--Universidad Católica (www.uc.cl). Click on “English” and select “Exchange Programs.”
--Universidad de Viña del Mar (www.uvm.cl/oiie/).
--To read about Patrick Edwards’ travels in Bolivia, Perú, and Chile, go to http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/p-trick/
Author’s Note : This article is based on a visit with Patrick Edwards in Isla Negra, Chile in August 2006, and email interviews with Patrick Edwards, Alex Sharkey, and John Paul Kennedy during August and September 2006. Many thanks to the three students for giving time to share their thoughts, impressions and opinions. I caught them all at the beginning of their very hectic university semesters and they responded graciously.
Doris Hamilton is a freelance writer presently based in
Chile.
She has taught Spanish, Latin and ESL on both coasts of the
U.S. She holds an M.A. in Adult Education and was twice named
in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She has written
for the City College of San Francisco publications, Union
Action and ESLETTER, and for Cuadernos, the
official publication of the Pablo Neruda Foundation. She
works
in the Pablo Neruda Museum in Isla Negra, Chile, and cares
for
abandoned animals in a home-based shelter.
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