Weekend Adventures

Laura is flying home to the U.S. on Monday, so the three of us girls are spending the weekend in Santiago! 

We took a bus from Viña and are staying at a nice apartment B&B on the 23rd floor! The view is amazing. 

Saturday we are doing a kayaking trip at a lagoon up in the Andes! It should be amazing and the pictures look beautiful. It is a 2 hour bus ride from here and then we get to kayak for the day!! We will be near Mt. Aconcagua which is the highest peak in South America. 

Then Sunday we are going to do some classic touristy stuff in Santiago and then leave Laura and head back to Viña! Sunday the 31st is Patrimonial Day in Chile and so all the museums and libraries and such have free admission! So we hope to take advantage :)

Our new roommates, Natalie and Mahathi, are arriving on Sunday morning so they will be at the house when we return! I'll keep you posted on our adventures here after we return home and I have my computer.  Should have some great photos to share! :)

Mother Nature's True Beauty

I have heard that Chile is home to some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world... And tonight was no disappointment! The sky was completely orange and lit up everything around the beach. I did no editing to these photos and that is how bright they were!

Here is a panoramic shot. The waves look crazy!

The craziest part about this sunset is how it started. Today was foggy and gray and not very nice. But Laura really wanted to go to the beach to watch the sunset since it is her last night here in Viña. We went and sat there, but the sky was gray and pretty ugly. Hardly anyone else was on the beach. Here is a snap of what the sky looked like for the first 20 minutes we were at the beach. 

Then suddenly out of nowhere this AMAZING sunset appeared. Just a testament to how things may not appear beautiful at first, but if you give them some time and a chance you never know what might come of it.

First Days as an Intern

Yesterday I began my intership at Centro Medico Comin in Villa Alemana! I am really enjoying it so far and I can already tell I will learn a TON while I am there because I am already picking up quickly on things and still have 6 weeks to go. This is such a great opportunity because I actually am getting the chance to work hands on with patients and perform various techniques, which I am not allowed to do in the United States since I am not licensed.

Mati is my supervisor and he is really great. He is a great teacher and really wants me to learn. He speaks some English, but he is very excited that I have an advanced level of Spanish and that I already know quite a bit about anatomy, movements, and physical therapy techniques. Since I have a high enough level of Spanish to communicate well with the patients, he is letting me work with them a lot and practice giving instructions, which will be such good Spanish practice. Giving instructions is hard because it needs to be precise and includes a lot of phrases I do not commonly use like "Face the wall, bend your arm, and place your elbow at your side."

Yesterday I did a lot of watching and listening while he explained what he was doing and how he was doing it, but I also got to perform two ultrasounds, mobilize a wrist, instruct a woman with her shoulder exercises, and stretch a shoulder. He spent some time asking me what I most want to learn about while I am here so he can help me learn as much as possible. Mati is currently studying to become licensed in chiropractics as well, so he was studying a little bit and his test was about the cranial nerves. I read through his notes which was interesting because I loved learning about the cranial nerves in anatomy and I was able to understand his notes in Spanish.

Today he let me do a lot more talking. He basically gave me one of his patients and was just telling me what I needed to do with her and the exercises she needed to do. I hooked her up to the TENS electrical stimulation, did a heat treatment, explained her exercises and helped her with them, got her ready for ultrasound therapy, and applied ice. She is such a cute little old lady and I was actually surprised at how well I could understand her Spanish. When performing the treatments, there is a lot of down time so it gives me a good opportunity to practice conversation. I let Laura do the ultrasounds today because she only has one day left here and I want her to make the most of her last days. Mati also had me watching a woman as she did her exercises and I had to correct her and explain what she needed to change. I also got to look at some x-rays and he was asking me questions about them and I had to analyze them and anything concerning that I saw.

I am very excited for what the future holds and everything I will learn while I am working with Mati! The patients are so sweet and so interested in my life.

Beginning a New Routine

Tomorrow I will be starting my Physical Therapy Internship here! I was originally with a different therapist supervisor, but Pamela has switched me to a new clinic because my original therapist does a lot of in-home therapy, and she thought being at a clinic would be a more beneficial learning experience for me. I am going to be interning at the same place my roommate Laura is currently interning, which is very exciting. I went to work with her one day last week and I really liked her clinic and her supervisor. His name is Mati and he is a very good teacher and I think I will learn a lot working with him. He works at the health center in Villa Alemana, which is a smaller city located nearby Viña. I will have to take the metro every day, about a half hour ride, but it will be nice to get out of Viña a little bit and the ride is very scenic. I will be going with Laura these next 3 days, but then she heads back to the states this weekend so I will be taking her spot as his intern.

I am also ending my Spanish classes! Normally the WE interns here have one week of just Spanish, followed by two weeks of both Spanish and interning, followed by however many more weeks of just interning. But Pamela, our director, said I could end my Spanish if I want to because I am at a very advanced level already and the timing kind of conflicts with the hours that Mati works. I really like my teacher and am sad to end classes already, but I am excited to be able to spend all my time at the clinic. I am hoping to still go on the planned field trip with her next week.

Yesterday we went to Valpo in the afternoon and did a Tours for Tips walking tour. It was really fun. Tours for Tips is a group that provides 3 hour walking tours of Santiago and Valparaiso for free, and the guides only receive compensation via tips, so they are very animated and fun. It was neat to see so much of the city and learn a lot of the history behind the buildings, the street art, and the port. I am starting to learn my way around Valpo, and I really really like the city. There are a lot of cool things to do there so I hope to visit more while I am here.

We also met up with another girl from the US this afternoon! She is here on the same program Laura is, but she chose to do a home stay so she is living with a family in Viña but wants to meet some more Americans that are here. She came the same day I did so she has been here about a week as well. She is super nice so hopefully I can do some more activities with her before she leaves. Laura is leaving to go home this weekend, and Grace and I will be getting two new roommates this weekend so there will be 4 of us here in the house! It is so weird to think that a week from now Laura will be gone and someone new will be here. And then Grace will be leaving next weekend so I will be the old veteran roommate of the house. I am finally getting settled into a routine and figuring things out and it will all change! Ha. Oh well. New people, new adventures :)

 I will have to keep you posted on how my first day tomorrow goes! :)

Chilean Cooking Class

My roommates and I spent Saturday at a Chilean Cooking Class! I was very excited about it because my friend Alissa took a cooking class while she was in Spain and only had good things to say about it! :) I hope you are reading this my dearest Alissa. You are the best :)

It is held by a company in Valparaiso, which is just down the coast. We took the 30 minute metro ride to Valpo, and then met up with our cooking instructor outside of a coffee shop on the plaza. We had no idea if the class would be in English or Spanish, but it was in English which was very nice. There were a few other people in our class including two people from Taiwan, and a girl from the USA who has now lived in Santiago for 7 years, her Chilean boyfriend, and her parents who had come to visit her for a week.

The first thing we had to do was sit down and decide as a group what dishes we wanted to make. Empanadas were for sure on the menu, but we had to decide on an appetizer, a main dish, a dessert, and drinks. Once we made our decisions, our group hopped on a bus across town and we went to the fish market and the market. The fish market was CRAZY! I have never gone to anything like that before and it was wild. It smelled pretty gross, but it was really cool. There were people everywhere, as well as a lot of stray cats looking for something to steal. There were so many different kinds of fish. Some tiny ones, some HUGE ones. One table had these huge cuts of fish that seriously looked like tree stumps. They were huge! We asked the guy what type of fish it was and he said it was a swordfish! Crazy. I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but there were people everywhere and it was not a good place to be taking out a camera or phone. I did snap a few on the edges though.

This was the Conger eel which was really cool to see because we ate this at the Cap Ducal boat restaurant the other day!

After the fish market we proceeded to the fruits/vegetables market which was really cool as well. There were SO many vendors in there with delicious looking produce. They have some very interesting fruits here as well. I bought some prickly pears the other day, also known as cactus pears or tuna here. We basically followed our guide around the market as she navigated her way through and purchased enough of everything we needed. 

We then hopped on a bus and headed back toward the cooking place. Valpo is an extremely hilly, steep city, and so we were climbing and climbing up to get to the kitchen building. Definitely a good workout! When we got there, they had Chilean cooking hats and aprons for us to wear, and we took some pictures, but Laura has those so I will have to get those from her. I did take quite a few food photos though as we were cooking! We started with a run through of everything we were making and how the day would go. Then we divided up dishes and tasks and started going at it.

Here is the menu of everything that we made:

I volunteered to help chop up things for the pebre, which is a salsa type dish, very similar to pico de gallo. It is very commonly served here at restaurants before a meal with bread. Similar to how many Mexican restaurants in the US always bring out chips and salsa. Everything had to be very finely minced, so it was quite the process. I was chopping cilantro, and that took forever but I did it! I also helped with some tomatoes. They always peel tomatoes here, which I have never seen before, but Inés (our chef) had this very cool tomato peeler that worked greatly! Laura was also helping chop onions, and the guy next to us was chopping onions and tomatoes like a pro. I have never seen anyone chop like that before and it was really cool to watch. He has definitely done a lot of cooking before and his wife just laughed at how amazed we were. He tried to teach us some tricks but we were really not that skilled. 

Here is a look at the finished pebre. Soo good!

Other people were working on various parts of other dishes, but we could all see each other and learned what needs to happen for each dish. Then I helped out getting the scallops ready. Some other people had cleaned them, but we needed to add garlic, butter, cream, white wine, and cheese. 

Here is a look at the scallops before they went into the oven:

Then we started putting together the Pastel de Choclo and empanadas. We each got to make our own individual ones which was fun. They have very similar fillings, and it was nice to be able to choose what we wanted in them because they normally come with olives, but I really do not like olives so I did not have to put them in mine. The pastel de choclo is a corn pie. The bottom layer is chicken, then ground beef with various spices and onions, then a hard boiled egg, then olives and raisins. Then the top is blended corn and milk and it gets baked in the oven. It was SO delicious. I can't wait to try more Pastel de Choclo at various places around here. It is also something that will be so easy to replicate once I am back home in the US. 

Here is a photo of me with my pastel de choclo before it went into the oven. I used raisins to mark mine with an M.

Then we made the empanadas. She mixed up the dough and we got to take turns kneading it. Then we had to roll it out, fill it with ground beef (the same mixture as in the pastel), egg, olives, and grapes. This is known as an empanada de pino and is a very traditional Chilean empanada. You can get them filled with various things, but pino is the traditional one. It was fun to make our own unique ones, and everybody's looked a little different. 

Here is my empanada after it came out of the oven! I gave it a little tail to remember it was mine.

We put the empanadas and pasteles in the oven, and then continued preparing a few last things. We made juice from the cactus pears, as well as pisco sours, the national Chilean drink. She showed us the proper way to cut a cactus pear which was great because I had struggled with cutting one the night before! They are a very strange fruit. I will have to take a photo of one someday soon.

It was interesting to see how Piscos are made because I see them everywhere. She put in grape brandy, lemon juice, egg whites, ice, and some sweetening syrup. Then it all gets shaken up in these interesting cans to break up the ice and make it frothy. 

Then the feasting began! Everything tasted SO good. Obviously this was a much larger meal than the normal meal would be, but we had lots of food to try! We also receive all the recipes, which will be so great to have when I get back to the states. I liked everything that we ate, and I was SO full by the end. 

Here are the completed scallops! I did not know if I would like them very much, but they were SO good. 

Here is our dessert! It was a custard covered with palm tree syrup! I never knew they made such a thing, but they tap the trees for syrup just like how we tap maple trees. SO delicious. 

Overall, the cooking class was such a great experience and I loved learning more about the food in Chile as well as the culture. It is neat to see how much preparation goes in to making these dishes. After the class we walked around Valpo for a little bit. The views of the coast are amazing, and Valpo has a large port so there are tons of boats around. The ocean is extremely deep off the coast so the ships are able to come right up next to the town which is crazy. I got to take my first ride on an ascensor! These are little elevator car things that go up and down in the city. They have a great view, and are very helpful for people who may not be able to climb up or down the steep streets. 

We rode the metro back to Viña, and then headed to the beach to watch the sunset. There were so many people out and about. It was a beautiful, clear night and the sunset was gorgeous. I can't wait to go to the beach more often in the evening and watch the sunsets. It is crazy how chilly it gets when the sun goes down. 

Exploring the City

As I said in my previous post, I have had Thursday and Friday off because of holiday here! So I have gotten a chance to explore a lot of Viña and see many of the famous sites.

On Wednesday after class, I went to explore the Quinta Vergara park! It is right next to the international center and is a beautiful park filled with palm trees and tropical plants, and also has a famous palace, amphitheater, and museum. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon so I spent quite a bit of time in there exploring. I climbed up and up and up and eventually was above the tops of the trees and could see over them and see the coastline. It was an amazing view but I could not really capture it in a photo. Here are a few pics from La Quinta Vergara.

 My view from up above the trees.

El Palacio

My very first empanada! There was a small cafe in the park and I decided to try out this famous Chilean food with some apple nectar juice. It was so delicious! It reminds me a lot of a hot pocket. I had ham and cheese inside of mine.

Later that afternoon, I went out and explored the beach in the sunshine. It was my first time wearing shorts since I got here and I loved every second of it. I walked for a long ways along the beach just exploring and taking photos. I had my first conversation with random Chileans and I was able to understand most of what the young family was saying. I also ran into some Americans for the first time! I was kind of suspicious they were Americans, and then when I walked by the guy asked me where I was from (in English) and we started to chat. They were super nice and it was neat to run into someone from the states! Here are a couple more photos from the beach.

 In the background of this photo, you can see the very south side of Viña and the city of Valparaiso wrapping around the coast. It is such an interesting phenomenon.

Since Thursday was a holiday, all 3 of us slept in and then we went exploring further south in Viña to see a couple of the main tourist attractions here: El Reloj de Flores (the flower clock) and La Castilla Wulffe (the Wulffe Castle). The sun was shining and it was such a beautiful walk. It was high tide at the time we were walking down the streets along the coast, and it was crazy because the waves would whip up even above the wall and splash people walking along the sidewalk. We had a near miss with a big wave and then realized we needed to watch out in places where the sidewalks were wet. The castle is really old and cute, but it wasn't open to go inside because of the holiday so we just got photos outside. 

Then we continued walking south to the flower clock. We got there at about 1:59 and bells chime and a song plays on the top of every hour, so we got to experience that when the clock hit two. It was really cool and a beautiful area, but they had an ugly big blue gracias sign sitting above the clock which kind of kills the beauty of it. I will have to keep my eyes out for if they take that sign down and then get some new photos haha. It is a completely functional clock which is so cool.

On our walk back, we decided to stop and eat at this cool looking restaurant right next to La Castilla Wulffe. It is called Cap Ducal, and is an old ship that has been renovated into a hotel and restaurant. It was not only a really good lunch, but an awesome experience. The view out the window was amazing, and our waiter was so nice. He actually spoke perfect English and it turns out he is Chilean, but was raised in Miami, Florida for most of his childhood before returning to Chile. While we were eating, the fish-cleaning guy was throwing the scraps out into the water so a TON of pelicans and gulls came up right next to our window in a feeding frenzy. They were crazy! It was so cool to see pelicans actually have fish in their pouches and eat them. The waiter told us to watch for a sea lion, because there is one that always comes every day at that time for scraps too. Sure enough, he came swimming up a little while later! He was really hard to get a picture of, but super fun to watch. We each tried a different type of fish that is very common in Chile. I had merluza. They were all SO good, and we even treated ourselves to dessert. 

Just a few of the many pelicans that came up right below us!

My delicious merluza with spinach and cheese sauce.

After that, we walked home and relaxed for a while. We somehow managed to trip the circuit breaker in our house and did not know how to get it back on and had no power in the kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom. Since we could not really do anything in the kitchen, we decided to go to a sushi place near our house for dinner and hung out there. 

Today I did not have class, but Laura still had her internship today and she is also a PT intern so I went to work with her! Her kinesiólogo she works with is super nice and said I could come with. It was a really cool experience and made me so excited to start my internship this coming week! It is so amazing how health care and therapy is so similar to the United States, but at the same time so different. I am definitely going to learn a lot from being in my clinic here. I got to see a variety of patients and they were all so friendly and nice to talk to. The Chileans are SO interested in talking to foreigners and learning about life in the US. I also had my first experience with the micro buses and the metro today when I went with Laura because her internship is in a neighboring town. The metro is not totally underground which is so cool and I got to see a lot of nice scenery and buildings as we rode through the countryside. 

I will probably be relaxing and doing some homework the rest of the day! Laura, Grace, and I are doing a Chilean cooking class tomorrow so I am very excited for that! Hope you enjoyed the photos and summary of my adventures! Hasta luego!

Navy Day

Today is a national holiday in Chile, El Día de las Glorias Navales, also known as Navy Day. It is the anniversary of the Battle of Iquique between Chile and Peru where Chile gained control of Iquique, an important port city.

Since it is a holiday, almost everything is closed and I do not have class and my roommates do not have their internships. I also have tomorrow off as well, so I have a long weekend! It would be a great chance to travel to another place for the weekend, but tickets are very expensive on such short notice and for a holiday weekend.

It's a pretty nice day outside so I think we are going to go explore the city and do some touristy things here. I will post an update later with some pictures from today and yesterday! Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL and I even got to wear a t-shirt and shorts. I have done a lot of walking (over 7 miles yesterday!) and have taken a lot of pictures.

Have a great day! :)

First Adventures

Today was my first full day here in Viña, so it was obviously filled with a lot of first adventures!

I started my day with an orientation and some Spanish class at the school. My teacher's name is Karina and she is so sweet. I am excited to work with her. I am in the Advanced Spanish 1 level, and I am the only student in her class right now at that level so it's 1-on-1 but will be nice because I will learn a lot. Today we did some grammar and then I watched a Spanish movie and we discussed it some afterwards and she asked me some questions. It was about some of the history of Chile when the dictator was overthrown so I learned a lot.

Laura walked me to the International Center because I had no idea where to go, but after school I had to find my way home by myself! I made it though without getting lost! I also stopped at a tourist booth on the way home and grabbed a map to have just in case I need one in the future. My house is about 2km (1.2 miles) from the center so it is about a 25 minute walk, but it was very enjoyable and beautiful. On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store to buy food for the first time which was quite the adventure. All the food is so different, and they don't have some basic foods like brown sugar, shredded cheese, alfredo pasta sauce, and more. This was just the small store on the corner by our house, so I will have to go to a bigger one and see if they have more stuff. There were people everywhere and they have security guards in the grocery store which is so weird to me. I passed by the same guy like 6 times as I was wandering around and he probably thought I was trying to steal or something.

Then I came home and cooked lunch for the first time. I decided to make macaroni and cheese with nutella toast. Such a cultural food HAHA! I was actually really pumped I found mac and cheese. Something quick and easy. Except we have a gas stove and I had to light it with a match and that proved to be more difficult than expected. It heats the water SO quickly though.

Then Laura and I hung out at home for a while chatting and talking about life, and then at around 4 I decided to go for a walk and explore the city. I went down to the beach which is only a couple of blocks away and walked along the shore for a long time. It was kind of rainy and foggy so it wasn't that great looking, but I can tell it is a BEAUTIFUL beach with such a great view because the city kind of wraps around the coast. I am excited to go there more in the future. Then I kept exploring the city, and it is pretty easy because all the streets go in numerical order besides the three big ones that have names. I never even had to use my map, and I know which numbers I live between so it is easy to find my way home. I ended up at the mall again and explored some more and went into the Lider (which is like their Walmart). Then I was getting tired so I walked home and have been hanging out here with Laura and Grace ever since!

One snapshot from the beach! I uploaded some more to Facebook. I have been waiting to take a lot of pictures until it is sunnier and nicer outside!

It is only in the 50's here at the moment, and none of the houses have central heating here in Chile so it was really cold when we woke up this morning. Thankfully, one of the guys stopped by and showed us how to work the space heaters and it is like a miracle. We only have one on right now, so I put it in my room while I was getting ready for bed and then moved it into the living room and hopped into bed and it is so cozy and warm. Can't wait to do some more learning and exploring tomorrow! I think I will start my internship on Monday after having a full week of Spanish this week.

Another crazy thing... Since we are in the southern hemisphere it is technically fall here instead of spring like it is back home! It is weird because the sun rises much later and sets much earlier than it was when I was in North Dakota, and the trees are changing colors and losing their leaves! Ha. They have HUGE leaves.

Arrival

I made it!! After a long day of traveling, my final flight arrived in Santiago this morning at about 8:50 local time. We left about 40 minutes late, but arrived only 20 minutes late so the pilot definitely made up for some lost time in the air. It was a pretty good day of traveling. I was so exhausted I accidentally fell asleep on the 45 minute flight from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, but that was okay. We left Minneapolis a little late because of the rain, but I still arrived in Atlanta with plenty of time to catch my next flight. I was glad I had gone through the Atlanta airport before for an international flight, because the international terminal is a whole seperate part of the airport and you have to take a train to get there, but I knew how to do that. I was kind of dreading my 10 hour flight to Chile and not being able to sleep, but I was somehow blessed with an open seat next to me! It was so great because I was able to lean against the window wall and then stretch my legs out across the open seat. I fell asleep almost immediately after take-off and then missed dinner, but one of the flight attendants brought me some after I woke up. I slept on and off throughout the night while watching Frozen and Mockingjay in Spanish. I also "watched" about 10 minutes of Malificent but slept through the rest. I was SO thankful that seat was open because I do not think I would have slept will if I were stuck sitting upright. The flight into Santiago was GORGEOUS because the sun was rising up and we were over the mountains and the ocean.

When I got through the airport, it took a while to get through passport security and customs because multiple international flights came in at the same time. Their customs screening is actually really intense which I was kind of surprised about. When I finally made it through, I was unable to find my driver from my company, but I called them and ended up taking a different taxi to Viña, so it all worked out. I was glad my Spanish skills are good enough to communicate with the people at the airport!

They brought me to my house here, which I am sharing with two other roommates, Laura and Grace. They were at their internships when I arrived, so I had the house to myself for a while and spent some time unpacking and getting settled in. I got to the house at about noonish. They were still making me a copy of the key so I couldn't really leave the house, but I had no idea where anything was anyways. I hadn't bought a towel yet, but really needed to shower so I just showered and dried off with my hand towel. Ha! Survival skills at their finest. I relaxed on the couch and watched some TV. I found Toy Story 3 in Spanish which was fun, and then it was followed by Miss Congeniality. I seriously love watching movies in Spanish.

Grace and Laura came home around 4:15 and we chatted for a little bit and hung out, and then we went on a walk and they showed me around a little bit. There is a grocery store and a panaderia (bakery) like one block away which is so nice, and there is a super nice mall that is about 5 blocks away! It has 5 floors and is super fancy. So that will be nice in the future. I needed to buy a towel, shampoo, and some food, so I did a little of that but will do more grocery shopping tomorrow when I have some time to think about it. Side note: People always talk about all the stray dogs in Chile, and that is SUCH a real thing! They are everywhere. Napping in the middle of the sidewalk, running around, laying in the grass. Seriously anywhere. They even know how to wait to cross the street until the light changes and they walk with the people. Some of them are so cute and I want to pet them, but I know I shouldn't because they probably have fleas and other gross stuff going on.

It's currently 8pm and I am SO ready for bed! I wanted to nap earlier but knew I shouldn't because otherwise I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for bed. So I am definitely ready now! I didn't really take any pictures today, but I will upload some when I do! The weather was kind of foggy and drizzly this evening when we were out, so I am waiting to go explore the beach until tomorrow. We live like 2 blocks from the ocean shore which is AMAZING.

I have my orientation at the International Center tomorrow morning, so hopefully that all goes well! Thanks for reading! It's crazy that I am halfway across the world.

Big Day in Grand Forks

Today was a busy and exciting day for me! I graduated from UND . . . HOORAY! I have successfully completed my B.A. in Spanish and graduated Summa Cum Laude. It was a full day from start to finish, and thankfully the weather cooperated and the rain held off for most of the day. 

As soon as I was done with commencement, I spent some time packing up, and after dinner with my family I went crazy with the packing. I had not put anything in my suitcase until tonight, but I had made a very detailed list so it didn't take too long! It is currently 1:03am and so I leave in about 12 hours! SO CRAZY! I can't believe the day is finally here. I hope it does not rain like they say it is going to. 

I will be arriving in Chile on Monday morning and getting an orientation there to get all settled in. For those of you who are wondering, Chile is 2 hours ahead of us in the Central Time Zone, so it will not be too big of a time difference which is nice. 

I will have wi-fi at my apartment in Chile, so I will try to keep my blog updated as regularly as possible! Since I am abroad, my phone will not be able to call or send texts, but you can reach me through Facebook Messenger, iMessage, WhatsApp, Facetime, or Skype! 

I should probably go to bed, but I am okay if I am exhausted tomorrow because I will have plenty of plane time to be sleeping! I will hopefully post an update sometime in the next couple of days about my adventure getting to Chile and getting settled in! Thanks for reading :)

¡Bienvenidos!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! My name is Michelle and I am a senior at the University of North Dakota and will be graduating with my B.A. in Spanish in just a couple of weeks. In addition to studying Spanish, I am also Pre-Physical Therapy and will be starting the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program here at UND in the fall. These two diverse majors have collided and brought me to the adventure I will be embracing this summer: a physical therapy internship in Chile!

My internship placement is in the beautiful, coastal city of Viña del Mar, about an hour and a half west of Santiago, the Chilean capital. Viña is Chile's fourth largest city, with around 324,000 people, and is a very popular tourist destination since it is located right on the Pacific Coast. Viña is filled with beautiful architecture and sights I cannot wait to explore. I am very excited to be living so close to the ocean and to the mountains, a couple things I do not experience at all in North Dakota! Since Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, it will actually be winter while I am there. Their average winter temperatures range from lows in the 40's to highs in the 60's and 70's, which isn't ideal beach conditions, but I am still so excited to be able to take it all in.

 My internship is coordinated through World Endeavors, a provider of interships and study abroad experiences across the world. I am so glad I found them! I will be working at a physical therapy clinic, Kinesiología el Mirador, which specializes in trauma and neurological therapy, which I am very excited about. In addition to my hours at the clinic, I will also be receiving some additional Spanish language training. I leave right after graduation and will be in Chile for 8 weeks.

I will be living in a small house/apartment with a couple of other WE interns, and I have gotten to chat with my roommates a little bit already. They are both already there, which has been so nice because they are able to answer all of my last-minute questions! Our apartment is just a couple of blocks from the beach which will be SO nice.

I leave two weeks from tomorrow . . . AHH! I cannot believe how quickly the semester is coming to an end. I feel like I have so much to do before the time comes, but I am thankful I have previously studied abroad and have experience with international travel and packing. I think (and hope!) I will be much better at packing this time around.

I will keep you all updated as my journey gets closer, and I can't wait to give you an inside look at my life in Chile! :)

Here is a sneak peek of Viña! Can't wait to experience these beautiful views.