Yesterday was Easter (Día de Pascua). I went to church with my host family. I was very excited to be able to spend that special day with them. One thing I was NOT looking forward to was the epically long church service. Oh man!! I know I'm an adult with an attention span but I cannot handle it! Church starts at 10:00 and doesn't get out until 2:30!! That's 4 and a half hours!! I'm not used to that. I love going to church. Love it. It's a time for me to hear what God wants to say to me and bond with others in the Body. It's usually such a joy. In the states, I go to this great bible based church. I'm accustomed to having a church service for an hour and a half. ... read more

I took salsa lessons with my host brother today. He really wants to learn how to dance. I went because I love dancing of any sort and the first lesson es gratis (free). Dancing really is a universal language because at times I didn't know what my dance partners were saying but it didn't even matter. We'd move in sync anyhow. I learned a valuable cultural lesson today: sometimes it feels good to snap. It needed to happen and afterwards I felt super refreshed. Many people assume that becoming more culturally tolerant means not saying anything when things bother you. Just chalk it up to a cultural difference and get over it. To a certain extent I thought the same thing. The past few times I've gone out with my host brother or he's gone out ... read more

While doing my research before coming here, I discovered that there isn't much information out there on people of African descent in Chile. Simply because there are virtually no black people in Chile. True story. Since I've gotten to this country, I've seen less than 10 black people and that includes my time traipsing around Santiago, the capital of Chile, which has over 5 million inhabitants. As a result that means that black people here are seen as extremely exotic. I've never experienced anything like it. Over this past month, I've come to see myself differently and I've also come to recognize the destructive influence that the U.S. media can sometimes have on the selfesteem of my African American community. It's a subtle, unnamed problem in society that I've lived with my whole life. I've lived ... read more

Night has fallen on this fresh Monday and I just got back from watching the sunset on the beach with Bri, Bre (Briana and Breanna), Mike, Brook, Eileen, Benjamin, and some French chick. Ooops...forgot her name! Ben wanted to snag some wine and watch the sunset on the beach to celebrate his birthday. Love this country! Earlier this morning, me and the other ISA students got back from Pucón, which is 12 hours south of where I'm living. It was AMAZING!! We left from Viña del Mar on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. and arrived in Pucón at 9:00 a.m. the next day. Pucón is a small pueblo surrounded by a lot of natural beauty. There are mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, natural hot springs, rivers, lakes, national parks, ect. I've never seen anything like it! I know ... read more

Yes. I am writing this blog as an ode to the micros. Haha! Trust me, it's worth it. I have never ridden anything like it and if you've only done public transportation in the U.S., I'm sure you haven't either. From the outside, they look like your average unsuspecting bus. Nothing fancy, nothing worthy of inspiring fear. That's until you get on... Let me just say that they WHIP IT!! They whip up the mountain, down the mountain, around curves, around each other and they do it at astounding speeds. Every day when I get on I feel like I'm on an actual rollercoaster! You get on and you hold on for dear life. It's quite exciting! I've never had my life flash before my eyes on a bus before. Haha! Where we favor straight lines ... read more