ecología forestal

while i am procrastinating for my huge exam tomorrow, i might as well tell some embarrassing school stories that obviously had to all occur in the same class. thus, my profe thinks im an idiot, and the rest of the class probably does as well.

incident one: there can be too much sunshine.
during the first three weeks of the semester, we had a "práctica" after each lecture in my forest ecology class. the first one entailed measuring tree heights and angles with these instruments i had never heard of - an hipsómetro and a clinómetro. this day was particularly sunny, so with the combination of my sensitive pupils and inability to wink, i was basically doomed when asked to use these tools. we were supposed to look through the tiny eye piece and line it up with the top branch of each tree and read the percentages/measurements through the glass, which would later be used for some fancy calculations. i fully understood HOW to use the hipsómetro y clinómetro, i was just physically disabled. my professor didn't realize this and kept explaining it to me over and over while i just died a little inside each time.

incident two: i can barely understand the chilean accent on a daily basis, how am i supposed to understand it when they say scientific plant names?
another práctica after ecología forestal. this time we had to keep track of all these tree species that our teaching assistant was yelling out saying one time with absolutely no projection in his voice and use our data to calculate the "species richness" of the area around our classroom. i ended up following this kid around trying to copy his paper and eventually gave up and snuck away from the class when no one was watching.

incident three: the bus almost left without me.
this is the most embarrassing, and therefore best, story yet. once again, in ecología forestal! we had a terreno ("field trip") to a site outside of Santiago called Río Clarillo where we hiked up a hill for about an hour, stood there for 15 minutes while listening to my professor talk about the landscape, hiked down, and then had a quiz on calculating tree cover. well, i still didn't know how to check my school email at this point in time, so i was not aware that we had a quiz that day. thus, i had no idea how to do the majority of the problems and asked my professor at least 5 questions throughout the 45 minute period. i was the last one done and still ended up turning in a practically half-blank test*. since we had to make the hour and a half bus ride back to campus, i thought i'd use the restroom first. well, i ended up getting lost trying to find my way back to the bus and didn't realize i took the wrong trail. as soon as i finally discovered i went the wrong way, i started hurrying the opposite direction. at this exact moment, i hear a long, drawn-out beeping sound. and then again. and then again. and by this time i'm sprinting down the trail until i see the parking lot and my teaching assistant running after me, calling my name. what did i do? casually boarded the bus, said "hola" to my professor (who unfortunately happened to be on the same bus as me) and awkwardly walked down the aisle to my seat. nothing screams "OBLIVIOUS EXCHANGE STUDENT" like almost being stranded in the middle of nowhere on a class field trip...

*redemption: that half-blank test still got me a B on the quiz! the teaching assistant must have pitied me and bumped my grade up because i clearly had a rough day.

estoy enamorada de chile

this is my official announcement that i have extended my study abroad in santiago to another semester. i feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, despite the many important things in my life in california that i have given up in order to be able to stay in chile for another five months.

when going through the decision process it seemed like an extremely difficult decision, but looking back it wasn't the deciding to stay part that was the hardest for me. that part was so easy. i woke up, and i just knew. it was an inner feeling, a sort of revelation, where my head was clear, my mind was focused, and the alternative decision seemed so irrational. the part that worried me was how i was supposed to tell those few special people that i wouldn't be coming back to the states any time soon. but i am certain that if i leave in july, after only one semester, i will regret it for the rest of my life

the truth is, i have fallen in love with chile. with santiago, with the south, with the north, with the coast, with the slang, with the activism, and with my life. and i'm not ready to give that up any time soon.


¡viva chile mierda!

urban hygiene

one of the many realities of living in a city, i'm dirty all the effing time. this is proven by my habit of putting socks on before i go to sleep. not because my feet will get cold, but because i don't want to ruin my clean sheets. my first few months in santiago i had an obsession with washing my feet before i went to bed, but alas i have now stooped to a new level.

the best part? when i wake up the inside of my socks will probably be dirtier than the outside of my socks. imagine that.

metro etiquette

during rush hour, is it more appropriate to be smashed up against some random dude on the metro front-to-front or back-to-front? one of the most important factors is definitely how tall the guy is. chilean men are typically very short, so it's a matter of my boobs being all up in his face or, well you know. the other way around. his boobs in my face?

kiddding. but you get the point. 

sometimes i worry that i'll get too into the music i'm listening to on my ipod, start tapping my foot a little, and end up bobbing back and forth to the beat. which will involuntarily result in me grinding on whoever is behind me, in front of me, and on either side. i doubt they'd complain anyway.

regardless, i continually find myself trying to be jammed onto the metro in a strategic fashion, but when it comes down to it there's really not much choice between who you are all up on and which direction your body is turned. 

today i wasn't so fortunate, better luck next time?

viña y valpo

since summertime was nearing its end, i had to make it to the beach at least one weekend! i went to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar with my three friends rachael, natalie, and andrea

Valparaíso is known for its incredible street art and one of Pablo Neruda's houses called "La Sebastiana". Valpo is also known for being sort of flaite (sketch/ghetto) in some areas, so we did our best to steer clear of those?

Viña del Mar is known for its popular beaches and summer fiestas. but i guess summer technically ended the weekend before we got there, because after talking to some people on the beach we discovered that we just missed out on multiple DJs, live bands, and hundreds of people partying

we stayed at a hostel up on a hill in Valpo and quickly learned how to use the bus system to get us to Viña for the day. these were probably the craziest bus rides i have yet to experience in south america. we were literally flyinggg and even while sitting down you had to hold on for dear life

one of the many buses we took that weekend. this one was special because it had random stuffed animals and trinkets hanging everywhere that were swinging all over the place

the walk from our hostel down to the pier led us through graffiti-ridden paths where we had plenty of great photo-ops. the artwork was amazing

i was slightly reminded of san francisco, with all the different colored houses and steep hills

cute little birdies outside the window!

Reñaca Beach in Viña del Mar

playing with andrea's uruguay sarong
 

delicious mochafrapps w/ manjar 

the strip club where we went to dance that night. just kidding.

where we actually went to dance. the music was AMAZING and super chilean/latino. no north american songs played the entire night! i kept trying to write down lyrics to the songs on my janky chilean phone so i could look them up later. the other picture is actually a strip club though.

we asked our hostel where we could find good seafood and empanadas de mariscos in Valparaíso. they basically only told us NOT to go anywhere near the water in Valpo because the pier is dangerous - people with knives who steal your stuff?

we still didn't really know where we were going so we just got off the bus at a random spot where it looked like we could find some food.

*as we are crossing the street*
"hey guys, i think this is where they told us not to get off the bus"
and it clearly was. but we went anyway and did end up finding some bomb empanadas de camarones (shrimp empanadas)

really cool apartment buildings at Reñaca Beach!

view of Valparaíso

and one of the most puzzling garages i have ever seen. if i had to park a car in here there would be scrapes along both sides for sure. i took pictures at multiple angles to show the full extent of how impossible this garage is.

that little ledge on the left is at an extremely awkward slope and very narrow.

okay. so this post is probably the most disorganized i have ever written but i'm a bit delirious at the moment and just want to be caught up on my past travels sooo i'm over it! :)

LoLLaPaLooZa

time for me to catch up on some of the more exciting events that have happened during the past few weeks! starting with.. LoLLaPaLooZa! (i don't know why, but i always have to write it obnoxiously with upper and lowercase letters)

Day 1: Saturday March 31st

i spent the whole day with my friend Maya who is also studying abroad from UCSB, and my chilean friend Iván

zona de hamaca - "hammock zone"

iván trying not to fall off. he still did though.

while we were chillin on las hamacas, we were approached by a chilean news station who wanted to interview us to put on their website. maya and i obviously immediately told iván that he had to do all the talking because as soon as we opened our mouths it was beyond obvious that we were foreigners. well, that plan failed. because after they asked iván a few questions one of the guys from the news crew started frantically pointing at me, cueing the interviewer to ask me the next question. i miraculously understood everything the news guy was saying to me and told him what bands we were planning on seeing. and guess what the second question was? "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!" luckily i have been asked that so many times that i had no problem answering. i still haven't had any luck finding the news clip on the internet (granted i haven't reallyyy tried too hard to find it. i'm not trying to see how much my spanish sucks on video)

me, maya, iván

mock weddings!

now for the bands i saw on day one!

inti illimani histórico

gentlemen

pretty lights

cage the elephant

arctic monkeys

                         

calvin harris - this performance was beyond epic.

and other random photos:

apparently this funny looking guy is a chilean talk show host

the deathly hallows

me, iván, maya, marie, gina

my 2-day wristband

                                

Day 2: Sunday April 1st. and i didn't even realize it was april fool's day until it was over :(

sunday started off pretty interesting for me. i was frantically trying to look at a potential apartment in the morning before heading to Parque O'Higgins for the festival, but of course i got lost, couldn't find the apartment, and thought i was going to be late to meet up with all my friends at the metro. i told everyone to go ahead without me. turns out, i got into the park about an hour before everybody else due to my line-hopping skills. there was a line of about 400 people and i just waltzed right up to the front, stood next to a group of people in line, and was inside within 10 minutes. granted, i probably definitely would have tried to do that anyway even if i didn't think i was going to be late

green spirit! i love how music festivals are always eco-friendly

the festivities of day two included:

chilean band BBS paranoicos

foster the people

we were at the front of this crowd for foster the people

but then i almost got in a fight with this @$$h0l3 because his arms were right in my face, so i hit his arm back and then he hit mine and i hit him back again and thennn some nice chilean kid pulled me away before things got any worse. and i was super drenched in sweat at that point because there were so many people at it was over 90 degrees outside, so it was probably for the best that i chilled the rest of the set in a less claustrophobic space. and things worked out, because i ran into two of my friends, deanna and shermila!

me and miki :) and the random kid that decided to photobomb.

TV on the radio

anddd my favorite performance of the whole weekend: Fernando Milagros

setting up the stage

front and center :)

Fernando Milagros is a group from CHILE <3 this was my favorite performance due to the intimate setting and amazing sound. súper tranquilo. 
you should check out their songs, here is one of them.

and by far the most bizarre act i have ever seen: Peaches

and i took some video to prove it to you. trust me, you don't want to miss these:

this is where i became covered                       and this is, well, i'll let you make 

in champagne:                                                        your own judgements:

yes, those are fake boobs with little barbie doll heads as the nipples. 

i chose to not ask questions.

my first ice cream of the day.

miki being interviewed for a chilean fashion/style news station. hipsters for the win!

dirty feet from being repeatedly stepped on. its okay though, because i stepped on everyone back.

maya, miki, me, lauren

my second ice cream of the day.
this was the best gelato flavor i have ever tasted - plátano manjar.
givememore!

waiting for foo fighters!

dave grohl!

since the foo fighters played a TWO AND A HALF HOUR SET. insanity. we went to check out above&beyond for a little bit

the crowds at lollapalooza were insane and it was obvious that each band was feeding off our positive energy. for santiago, and chile as a whole, events as big as lollapalooza really don't come around that often. everyone at this festival was having the time of their lives because, for the majority, it was an entirely new experience