Exchange isn't a year in your life, it's your life in a year

¡Hola!

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an exchange student. Six of my siblings have gone on exchanges and so it was just a matter of time before it was my turn. And that time has arrived! In October I submitted the long and tedious application that would start my adventure. Part of that was putting a list of countries available in order of preference. Then I had to wait a nerve-wracking couple of months for my country assignment. On January 25th I got the news that I am going to CHILE! I was beyond excited. I will be learning Spanish which is nice because I have 2 years of it. My reading skills are better than my speaking, but being in the culture 24/7 will make me pick it up quickly.

The Chilean Flag!
¡Viva Chile!







In April I started getting friend requests on Facebook from people from Curicó, Chile! Curicó is a city in the Maule region and is about 110 miles south of Santiago. It has 120,000 people which will be a lot different from Ironwood's 5,400. I'll be in Rotary district 4340. 

I'll spend my year with two different host families. My first is the Duarte family. Sergio (dad), Debora (mother), Sergio (age 17), Felipe (12), and Vicente (10). While I'm in Chile, Sergio will be on his exchange to Germany so I don't think I'll ever get to meet him in person. I've been talking to my host dad and they seem like the perfect family for me. I'm very excited. I haven't heard too much about my second one yet, but I know I'll have two. This is so I get a perspective on how two different families live.

My school will be Colegio San Ramon Nonato. I don't know much about it yet... I'll wear a uniform though! I'm kinda secretly excited. Haha. Mostly because it'll help me fit in a bit more. Maybe? Being a tall, white, blonde, American in Chile won't make me stand out, will it?

I've got my passport and all of my paperwork is now in for my visa. It's being processed at the Chilean Embassy in Chicago. They'll contact me and then plane reservations can be made! Whoo hooo! I'll leave sometime after August 15th. I could be leaving in as few as 40 days! Crazy!

And here's a couple of pictures from the last Rotary conference. I went to one in October, February, and will go to one next week (July). We have a lot of meetings about culture shock and how to deal with situations we'll encounter. I'm in a group called the Outbounds (because we're BOUND for OUT of the country! haha). There are 24 of us.

And here's me in my Rotary blazer. We all buy blazers and then we exchange pins with other exchange students we meet. It's pretty cool. By the end of my year it'll be covered! And when I go on the airplane down to Chile I'll wear it. It'll mark me as a poor little foreigner who needs help! 




Well, that's all for now. I'll try to keep this blog updated with all of my adventures! Questions and comments are welcome!

¡Hasta luego, amigos!