Since infancy my parents have instilled in me the knowledge that I am a strong person. My parents taught me life is a roller coaster, and that life is unjust. My freshman year of high school I had climbed to another height on my roller coaster. I applied to be an exchange student with Rotary and prepared to spend my sophomore year in Chile, South America. Words could not capture the emotions I felt. I knew spending a year abroad would change my life. I did not anticipate how much my inner strength would bolster me in the coming months.
The first weeks of my exchange were great. I worked hard to understand the language, customs, and culture of Chile. I was at the top of my roller coaster when everything came crashing down. My host family had grown hostile towards me. It was as if everything I did was wrong. School was not any better. Two weeks after everything began to crumble, two classmates assaulted me. The first student walked up behind me and put a knife to my neck. A couple days later, another student sexually assaulted me during school. I reported the assaults to the school, and the local Chilean Rotary began to harass me. Additionally, they blamed me for everything. They told me on multiple occasions that I am the worst possible exchange student and a horrible person. A few weeks later my host family kicked me out of their house. In turn, Chilean Rotary kicked me out of the country. The Southern Oregon Rotary chapter and International Rotary provided me with no assistance.
I undoubtedly learned a great deal about myself from this experience. I can say with confidence I am grateful I had this opportunity. Without this encounter, I would be a completely different person than I am today. Now I know I handle stressful situations in a mature manner and with composure. Additionally, I have learned how to forgive and move on. This has been difficult for me to do, but I believe this is important. For me, offering forgiveness shows how you are the bigger person. Forgiveness is a strange but crucial concept and it is a necessity in life because, without forgiveness, society would be angry and depressed.
Since returning, I work to spread the word about my experience. I hope all potential exchange students and their families realize Rotary does not work to create ambassadors for the world and does not care for the both emotional and physical safety of its students while on exchange. I do believe at one time Rotary was a great program, but over time it has deteriorated. This experience made me realize how strong and unbreakable my spirit is. I recognize this experience made my desire to explore the world even stronger and plan on traveling more in the future.
I’ve been meaning to update this for awhile now. Every time I start to write a new post I get distracted or lose interest in writing. A lot has happened the past two and a half months. A major earthquake, trips, friends. New take an the world and my future. New stories, new faces. New me.
New me? What do I mean by that? Honestly I’m not even sure why I wrote that. But my fingers typed that out. So, somewhere in the back of head I know that there is something new about me. But what is it? Someone who’s exciting and crazy? Or someone who reads and studies all the time? Or maybe someone who has a new appreciation for life? Well, maybe parts of these are true. I am crazy but careful, smart yet sometimes dumb, interesting but sometimes boring. I am all of the things mentioned before. Well maybe I’m not comfortable enough yet to expose all of who I am. But slowly I’m coming out from my shell.
A painting from a little shop in Pucón
Major earthquake? No problem. Unless you don’t speak Spanish and you’re wondering why everyone around you is freaking out. I was in the kitchen getting something to drink. I had just got my glass from the cupboard when my host mom is frantically using her phone and calling numerous people. My host siblings were all acting strange. They had all of the sudden gotten a bunch of nervous energy. But from where? I had no idea. I was just standing there trying to figure out what changed. Did someone win the lottery? Did aliens suddenly land in Chile and ask for chili? Thankfully my mind didn’t have to wonder for long because Mane turned the TV on to show the earth shaking in Santiago and the surrounding area. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there watching the TV. I sat on the couch with Mane and Heran. I was trying to tell my family that I wasnt dead so they shouldn’t worry. Mane and Heran jumped off the couch like it had caught on fire. Apparently we had a mini earthquake. Or maybe they were just shaking from the nervous energy. Who knows?
After the earthquake my parents messaged me, but I didn’t have internet. So they messaged the group chat with both my family and my host family. My host dad replied with the very little English he had to tell me parents that we were ok. But what he actually said was : ” all is not well in Temuco.” My poor parents.
Trips? I’ve been to the beach, the mountains, skiing, and to Pucón. The first trip I took was to the beach. It was about 2 hours away from Temuco. It was so pretty there. We took a lot of pictures there. Nothing too major happened at the beach. Just me and my host siblings running away from the waves. Skiing is an interesting sport. I’m not going to lie to not as easy as it looks. I went on a ski trip with my school and then a ski trip with my host family. The bus that was taking my class and I to the ski lodge couldn’t make it up the volcano so we had to hike up the rest of the way. Welp, I mean I can’t complain. It was beautiful there. Learning to ski is already hard, but try learning it in a second language. That’s where things get interesting. Thinking he said one thing, when in reality he said another thing. Pucòn is a cute little town on a lake surrounded by mountains. It’s absolutely gorgeous there. I can never get a picture that is able to capture the true beauty of the place. I always walk around the town, thinking and watching. It’s great just being able to watch how the town works. There is this little market. There was a stand that was selling homemade tea. It was literally the bomb. I think that was orange mint? I’m not sure, I just know that I tasted orange and something else. But, boy. It was good.
Food???? My oh my. There is food that is so good. It’s called manjar. I’m not sure how to explain what it is. But just imagine heaven on earth. It’s like this caramelly thick spread.. Mhhhmm un manjar. Then there’s sopaillas and empanadas. They’re also really good. I have to make them when I go home. There’s cheese and piña empanadas. Cheese is well cheese. Piña empanadas are pretty much what we would call everything empanadas. They have meat, onion, olives, and eggs. So good. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. For breakfast we have toast and milk. You can put butter, palta, ham, and/or cheese on your toast. My favorite is palta and ham. Palta is pretty much avacados mashed with oil and salt. There are only two types of cheese. Normal cheese and then cheese that is like tofu. I don’t like the tofu cheese. For lunch I usually eat some sort of meat with rice or potatoes. Sometimes with a salad. For dinner its the same thing. Salads here are different. They’re one vegetable covered in oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and salt.
School. We had one week off from school to celebrate the independence of Chile. The Friday before break we had to dance the National dance of Chile. This wouldn’t be a problem if I knew the dance a little better and if my shoe would fly off. Literally dancing and trying to keep my shoes on makes for one heck of a show. I am still not understanding what is being taught, but I just nod my head and attempt to write things down. We had a biology test today. I did try to complete it. I did my best. But while I was waiting for everyone else to finish, I got the worst case of the giggles. I was doing a pretty good job of covering them up. What caused me to get the giggles. Jee thanks Abigail and Asbjørn.
The are a total of five Rotary exchange students in Temuco. Asbjørn and Laura from Denmark. Abigail from Australia and Willow from the US. All of are already acting like a family. I mean how many memories do I have with them already and its only been three months?Yesterday everyone came over for cupcakes. After eating the cupcakes we decided to go to the mall. No, we totally did not eat a bunch of chocolate and Doritos. Pshhh? What…oh yea. Dont forget the hamburger.
This is just a little update. I decided that I will write another one again either tomorrow or the next day. So, until next time. Chow.
It still feels like a dream. It feels like I haven’t actually left home. Or maybe I’ll be going home in a couple of weeks. Who knows? Maybe I’ll discover that I don’t know where home is.
I have been in Chile for a three weeks now. I have learned a lot, more than I expected for three weeks. There are a lot of things that are different, but everything is great! Last Thursday I started school. School is really diffierent and difficult. I am taking fourteen classes, like physics, chemistry, and music. In the U.S. I would go from class to class, but in Chile the teacher comes to my class.
Everyone at school is super nice. No one hesitates to help me with my Spanish. Also if I don’t understand something, they usually explain it to me. I am so happy with me being put in Greenhouse.
So far, I have met 31 people from all over the world. On my flight from Dallas to Santiago, I met five other exchange students that are going to the same district. Having them on the flight with me made the long flight easier. I have already made friends with people around the world, but will continue to do so at the next meetings. I can’t wait for the next meeting. It will be good to see everyone again.
Going from one sister to three siblings was insane. Life has been hectic with them, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Mane is 15 and she is in the same class as me at school. Montse is 12 and Ignacio is 8. We all go to the same school together.
Orientation was at Salto del Laja. It is so pretty there. I am really happy that we had an orientation first. Everyone was so nice. Some queen thought of the brilliant idea for us to bring candy from our home country. The last night there, we all sat in a circle and ate candy from other countries. But, omg. It was so good.
My host family was dropping their daughter off at the airport in Santiago. Cata was leaving for exchange to the U.S. They were not able to pick me up, so I stayed the night with another family. It was really great meeting them. I had a lot of fun. Also their son, Esteban, had just gotten back from exchange in the U.S. He helped me with my Spanish, which was awesome. I also found out that he goes to the school that I attend. His brother, Max was so nice. I am glad that the two of them go to Greenhouse.
When I arrived at the airport in Santiago, I was extremely tired. But the excitement kept me going. When I was meeting the other inbounds these two little kids kept coming up to me. They were so cute. They kept running back from me and their Dad. They welcomed me to Chile, and introduced themselves. I’m not sure if I have ever met more outgoing kids.
At Salto del Laja we all learned the Chilean dance. I have to admit that it was easier than I thought. I mean, I think that I could teach you if you wanted. Ok, maybe not…but still.
From Oregon to Chile 