Leaving Vina in a Week

My program officially ends a week from today. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown. On the one hand, it does feel like a long time since I arrived, but it definitely doesn’t feel like almost 4 months.

Nothing major to report since I last wrote. Classes are winding down—the last couple of weeks I’ve actually had a significant amount of studying, writing papers, and preparing presentations to do. Linguistics and art are both completely done, and just another paper for history, a take-home exam for senior sem, and editing my service learning journal and then I’m good to go!

Last weekend was really fun, starting with the Thanksgiving dinner with our host families. Everyone brought a dish to share, and the food ended up being REALLY good. People even improvised stuffing, which was absolutely amazing. My cornbread (which was translated as queque de choclo—corn cake) with honey went over REALLY well. My host mom said she’ll have to buy the mix from Jumbo sometime to make it again! We also all traced our hands to make turkeys to decorate, which was a lot of fun and a trip down memory lane.
After dinner, almost everybody in the group went out together to dance off the meal in La Sala, a discoteque in Valparaiso.

On Friday, we went to the beach for a few hours (I am still not very tan…except for my shoulders which are sunburnt. “Que rico!” my host mom said when she saw them. Guess everyone in the international community celebrates when I manage to get color of some sort). After that, Andria, Lori, Jess, and I went to Lider to buy fruit and ice cream for our once, which we ate and then watched Elf because, since it was the day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas season officially started! There were Christmas decorations in Lider and a huge tree outside the mall—very strange to see when it feels like summer. I honestly have tried to listen to Christmas music, but it just doesn’t feel right. Also, listening to I’ll Be Home for Christmas makes me feel choked up…

Saturday we went to a vina (vineyard) and bodega (winery)—finally, after all this time in Vina! Sunday we went kayaking with Beth’s host dad. The day was blustery so paddling was definitely a workout.

Spent a lot of time in Café Libertad this week working on papers and eating pie de limon (because pretty soon I won’t be able to). I also made it to the beach a couple of times, since I want to take advantage of it while I can.

Decorated the house for Christmas a couple of days ago—we put up the tree! Now it feels more like the Christmas season as long as I don’t look out the window.

Today I had my final art presentation…I was really nervous and Salomo looked really skeptical while I was speaking but afterwards he said it was “impeccable.” (One second thought, I should probably look that up to see if it means the same thing in Spanish as it does in English.) Everyone said he looked skeptical for their presentations, too, so we decided that he was just concentrating really hard to try to understand us. After all, he corrected me at one point because I said the Academia de Pintura was welded in 1848, not founded (fundido, fundado, just one letter difference haha). Even after 4 months, I still haven’t mastered this language!

After art, Jess, Lori, Alex, and I went on a “castle tour” in Vina. We saw some of the historic houses that we hadn’t yet seen. We began with Castillo Wulff, which is right next to the ocean. If I had that view from my house, I would never leave it. The best part is that in one hallway, there are glass panes in the floor so you can see the ocean under your feet! After that we went to Palacio Carrasco, which is now the cultural center of Vina or something like that. There was an art exhibit by a local artist—really cool style, which scenes from the area (including a micro ride!) We picked up a brochure in Castillo Wulff, and have made it to almost all of the locations listed at some point…I do feel like a vinamarina.

Today St. Peter’s has Sports Day, which is an end-of-the-year celebration, so that should be fun to attend. There’s a sherry for the volunteers after (I’m really excited to go because I want to find out what it is!)

This upcoming week, I’ll finish up work for my classes and focus on completely enjoying my last few days in Vina as well as spending some quality time with my host family. Next Saturday (Dec 12) in the morning, Jess, Andria, and I will leave for Patagonia! At that point, I will have little to no Internet access until at least Dec 18 when Andria heads home and Jess and I venture to La Serena (where we’re thinking we’ll be able to check e-mail). And then I’ll be in MN the morning of the 23!

I’ve had such an amazing experience, and there are still some great ones to come.
Several of us have, however, made a list of a few things we won’t miss:
1) Bread for 2 out of 3 meals a day.
2) Comments, kissing noises, “I love you’s,” or applause made on the street by guys ranging in age from prepubescent to borderline senile.
3) Sitting on a bus so packed with people that someone’s hanging out the door.
4) Dogs that lurk behind the gate and then bark maniacally at you when you walk by (it’s only people’s pets that are the problem—street dogs are nice. I’m even friends with Flaco!)

Well I think that’s it for now! In case I don’t blog again before I go, just wanted to say that I miss and love you all! Thanks for keeping up with my travels, and I will see you soon!