Blogs from Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 23

Your mind can have the tendency to go crazy when you have a massive amount of thoughts, feelings, and emotions running ramped in your head and throughout your body day in and day out. What do you do when this happens and you feel it's too much to take? How do you release those natural occurrences to give you a feeling of relief and pure satisfaction? Do you empty the glass when it begins to overflow? Does that clean your mind and wash away those thoughts? Sometimes you have to call upon another's wisdom in life and personal experiences to teach a therapeutic technique (that's what I’ll call it) of feeling better with life in general. Emi taught Jennie and myself a tool used between her and a friend of hers in Minnesota to feel a ... read more

This may be a little deep for a travel blog, but it's my thoughts and I feel like sharing them. So here it goes...... I never realized just how much a person can change by experiencing something completly unfamiliar. What exactly does it mean to seperate yourself from everything that is so familiar, everything you love, everything ostensibly comfortable? How does it change you to be a better person? "It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power." I woke up this morning and a huge part of me felt like my life is going ... read more

So today was my first day teaching English (ingles)(profesora-teacher) at Ruben Castro Colegio--they even call me profesora which is pretty cool!!! I have a classroom of 15 students, ages 14-15 years old. A few of them speak conversation english, half the class speak more or less, a few words here or there. The rest not a word. So it was quite interesting to deal with those who could answer my questions and those who couldnt, as I tried to speak very little Spanish to them so that they can get used to hearing and speaking only in English. They all learn British english here so it was interesting to hear lil bits of the british english pop in every now and then. I have three tests this week, two I dont even really know what they ... read more

Renacca is a neighboring town that is still considered to be Vina. I have gone there several times already and in fact experienced my first strong earthquake on this beach. Something I new that Chile was known for but was not informed about how often it happens. I have to admit I have been crazily excited to feel each earthquake that occurs. Call me crazy, but it was so exciting. I will never forget my first frantic phone call from Sara asking me if we had just had an earthquake. I was so bummed because I missed it because I happened to be out on the street. She is such an awesome girl and a great friend to have here in Chile. She and I have bonded since our first day of class. She's a Jersey ... read more

Okay- so its been awhile and a lot has happened. I arrived here in Viña on the 20th and have been busy ever since. I life in a beautiful house in Viña del Mar and attend the Universidad Catolica in Valparaiso. The two cities are different but next to each other so are considered as one. It takes only 10/15 mins for me to get from my house to the University. I am only a few blocks away from the beach--where i have been spending all my free time of course- and only 3 blocks from one of the most popular bars for the students. Claudio (my host dad) is 41 and is a civil engineer. He also raises pure breed german shepards and participates in dog shows--his dogs are some of the best in Chile ... read more