The Night the Earth Shook

I walked to my room feeling an uncomfortable unsteadiness. As I came to the doorway I noticed there was something eerily different- even in the dead of night my room had never been so dark.
I quickly flipped the light switch up and down, up and down. Right as it dawned on me that the electricity was out, the shaking began.

Thinking about it now, it's impossible to say how much time passed. It's one of those moments in life that posses the ability to take hours as the feelings pass through your body, but in reality occur in a matter of minutes. All I know is I felt the first tremors that then quickly erupted into the shaking and moving of my home and all things inside.

I distinctly remember the darkness shifting into a weird mix of light and movement and noise. SO MUCH NOISE. Everything in the house was clanging together creating a sound that was felt impossible to think through.

However, all that drilling in grade school and as I tried to process what was happening as well as what I needed to do, one thing came to mind- go to the basement.

Well, 2 things.
1. there was no basement
2. The basement thing was meant for tornadoes which had been the majority of the drills we had during school because anything else was pretty unlikely in the midwest.

Anyway, I went along with this plan the best that I could and through the shaking crawled down the stairs all the while covering my head, not trusting anything to stay on the walls.
Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, like so many times thus far, my brilliant Spanish consistently failed me and all I could think to yell was HOLA. Again HOLA.
To my surprise it worked and suddenly my host brother was there, grabbed my hand and pulled me into the main doorway of the house.

Kind of weird to say, but it was an incredible moment. One foot in the house, one outside into the street, and holding onto the doorway watching our world shake.


Everything changed that night. In that night and the hours that followed we became family, we became friends, and Chile became a different country.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

My Family!

I met my mom in the lobby and was so nervous and excited the first words that came out of my mouth were "sorry my Spanish is terrible, but I'm Katy!"

I was met with a hug and the traditional Chilean kiss and as we walked to the car and squeezed my oversized luggage into her two door we began the somewhat complicated process of getting to know one another.

So some facts about my Chilean Family:

Mother- Paula

Sister- Karina (Kari) 21 years

Brother- Max 20 years

Dog- Don Gino (or Dino as I call him) 10 years

Since moving in with my family I can't imagine a study abroad experience any other way. Through them I have met people such as my sister's ex-fiance (yet best friend- yep it really works for them) Fernando, who has become like an older brother to me.

Also, from taking long walks with Dino I have gotten to know my little area in Providencia really well so no more getting lost! I hope...

Also, they are the people that I continue to embarrass myself in front of with my attempts to converse in Spanish. My family is so patient with me! The first two weeks I would end my nights with Karina going over things in Spanish that I never learned or had never understood before.

It's frustrating because I so desperately want to communicate more about myself with them and to deepen our relationships, but my mouth opens and nothing comes out...

However, on those rare days where I'm thinking in Spanish amazing conversations will happen such as over the education system in Chile or the political makeup of my brother's university.

Although many days I feel like giving up and go into default gesture mode, with their patience I hope that one day I will speak effectively and eloquently in Spanish.

Chile- let's start at the beginning

3 weeks in Chile. Never thought so much could happen in 3 weeks and still feel like so little time here.

Well this study abroad experience was bound to be interesting right from the start with my crazy flight delays that had me going from Chicago to Toronto to Dallas and finally Santiago.

I think i would have been more nervous to finally arrive in Santiago if I hadn't been so relieved to be finally done with planes and airports for a while.

On my cab ride to the hotel where we were having orientation I felt like a lab with it's face glued to the window unable to get enough of the new sights and smells- Chile definitely has its own special smell.

As I tried to make small talk with the cab driver I realized two things

1. they weren't joking about Chilean Spanish

2. And my Spanish was in fact a joke.

As the car sped towards the hotel the juxtaposition of mountain and city was like nothing I had ever seen before. Finally we arrived at the hotel which was this beautiful mix of an old building and modern decor.

Orientation turned out to be a great mix of getting to know the other students, information about Chile, and Spanish-- lots of Spanish class and already Spanish homework.

Before I knew it, orientation was coming to an end and we were going to get our host families!!