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.
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 wasyelling 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.
another práctica after ecología forestal. this time we had to keep track of all these tree species that our teaching assistant was
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.
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.
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