Chile

Blog 1

¡Hola! Me llamo Alyssa Roudebush y estoy estudiando español e ingeniería forestal en la Universidad de Concepción, Chile. 

I have been in Concepción for close to two months and the time has flown by. The first two weeks were challenging as there were many new things to adjust to. The first day I went to buy fruits and vegetables at the store I quickly learned that you need to print out a price tag for the produce before you go to check out. I nearly died of embarrassment when the lady at the cash register asked me where the tickets were for the produce. But, as I have learned, it is important to be patient with yourself. As the weeks have turned into months, I have learned more about Chilean culture and become more accustomed to it as well as the unique vocabulary. 

There are many ways to increase our ability to communicate in multiple languages or multilingual capacity. In the United States it was sometimes difficult for me to find methods or ways to integrate Spanish into my everyday life but being abroad and taking classes in Spanish as well as speaking to everyone in Spanish has been the biggest help for me. It can be scary to speak up in class or start a conversation with a classmate because I know my Spanish is not perfect, but I want to improve my language ability, and it’s okay if I make a mistake because I can grow and learn from it. In addition to all my daily interactions being in Spanish, I have enjoyed increasing my multilingual capacity by reading Harry Potter in Spanish as well as watching a Chilean TV show called 31 Minutos which has been a very fun and helpful method to continue to acclimate my ear to their accent. Overall, it is important to remember that we all learn and grow in different ways but to try and stretch our comfort zones each day. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so let’s make the most of it! 

I want to leave you with a few of my favorite Chilean words and their rough translation in English. Enjoy! 

Cachai – do you follow? 

Filo – nevermind 

¡Que bacan! – how cool! 

¡Que fome! – how boring! 

Blog 2

Hola todos!  

I can’t believe that I’ve been in Chile for three months! To be completely honest with yall, I thought my Spanish was never going to get better, but just the other day a friend commented on how my Spanish has improved since I got here. I will attribute this to the necessity to speak and communicate with almost everyone in Spanish. Concepción is not a touristy city, and so little English is spoken. Although most people took English in school, the majority of people who I’ve met prefer to talk to me in Spanish rather than practice their English, which is appreciated, but also challenging at times. If you really want to immerse yourself in the language and culture, I would recommend either living with Chileans or living in an international house. I am living in the latter and have had the opportunity to interact with people from Mexico, Spain, France, Belgium, and Germany. A handful of my roommates don’t speak English which has pushed me to speak Spanish and be able to effectively interact even when I am tired. Even though this is hard, I love speaking Spanish every day and am definitely going to look for ways to continue to do so when I am back in the US.  

My Chilean friends have joked with me saying that I’ve become ‘Chileanized’ as I’ve started catching on and using some of the Chilean slang. Although it is true that Chileans speak very fast and use a lot of slang, it’s also a fun challenge to push yourself to understand and learn new words.  

One cool cultural experience occurred about a month ago when Chile celebrated “Fiestas Patrias”, which is similar to the 4th of July. We got a whole week off of school and I was able to participate in a handful of Chilean traditions including a traditional dance called Cueca. It was a lot of fun and I loved learning about this Chilean tradition. Also if you love bread, Chile is the place to go! Almost all their traditional food includes bread, as well as it is a staple part of every meal.  

I want to make a brief mention of seasons. As we all know, Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore seasons are flipped. While I knew this before I came, I didn’t realize the extent to which it would affect me. As someone who has lived her whole life in the Northern Hemisphere, I expect October to be when the weather cools off and the leaves start to change color. Obviously, this is not the case in the Southern Hemisphere. Chile is currently in full bloom with beautiful flowering trees and rising temperatures and although this is lovely, I can’t help but feel homesick for fall. I’m not sure what to do with this, but I wanted to let yall know that if you feel a bit off, but can’t put your finger on what, that it might be the weather. 

Blog 3

Hola yall! 

How’s life been? It’s super strange to think my semester in Chile ends this upcoming week (though I’m going to remain here for Christmas). The time has sure flown by! While everything is still fresh on my mind, I wanted to give a few helpful tips and share a bit of my own path from this semester. First of all, know that you can do hard things. Going abroad, leaving your family, friends, and pets is hard and there are some days when all you want to do is go home. But remember, this is only for a time, and make the most of it because chances are, we won’t have this opportunity again. The first few months in Chile were hard, partly because of the language, but for me, the seasons and the weather really got to me. I love autumn and as someone who has lived in the Northern Hemisphere her whole life, the days getting longer and warmer instead of shorter and cooler really messed with me. Here, Christmas is associated with being at the beach and Santa in swim trunks. All I could do to help combat this was to try and pretend that it was April and May instead of November and December. 

Furthermore, as I have mentioned previously, I am not living with any other Americans, but instead with 10 other international students. This has been an awesome experience as we only speak in Spanish (there are a handful of students who don’t speak English) and thus has forced me to speak in Spanish or explain what I am trying to say rather than just saying it in English. However, for some people this might be too much of a challenge and cause a shut-down, so know yourself in the sense of if you want a challenge or looking for more support from your roommates. I think that this has allowed me to really be immersed in Spanish as there have been a lot of days when I go without speaking English. Furthermore, this is a wonderful chance to meet people from around the world and expand your global network of friends. 

As far as language is concerned, if you want to be challenged and want to become fluent, Chile is definitely the place to go! As Concepcion is not very touristy, everyone automatically assumes that you speak Spanish which is super helpful when you are trying to practice. The 4 classes I took at the Universidad de Concepcion (UdeC) were all in Spanish and although it was hard the first month or so, it paid off. I love being able to understand and speak with my professors in Spanish; it’s an amazing feeling that I hope you can experience. One tip I can offer is that, if possible, try and take either first- and second-year classes in your major, and try to take only first or only second-year courses. I took second-year Forestry classes and was able to make a bunch of Chilean friends that way because we were all in the same courses. Another tip would be, don’t be afraid to participate in class. Maybe your Spanish isn’t perfect, I know mine isn’t, but making mistakes is how we learn. Plus, this helps to build a good repour with your professors, which can be very useful when it comes to searching for internships later on in the semester. 

One thing that I noticed when comparing the structure of classes between NAU and UdeC is that here classes tend to only be once a week and last 2 hours. Also, depending on your major there is often another 2-hour lab later in that week. My entomology class for example had a two-hour lecture Monday from 3-5 and then Tuesday, we had lab from 10-12, and that was it. You basically drink from a firehouse of information for 2-4 hours at once and have a week to digest it all. Professors will post the PowerPoints, so focus and take notes on what the professor is saying and what they are explaining because there’s a good chance that will be on the test. Also, I found it helpful to take classes that I had taken at NAU again, but in Spanish. This helped me to focus more on learning new vocabulary rather than trying to learn the new vocabulary plus the concept. 

I hope that this post has been helpful! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about Chile or UdeC! My email is alr567@nau.edu 

Nos vemos! 

Blog 4

Hello everyone! 

I have officially finished with my semester at the University of Concepcion which I can hardly believe! Now onto the fieldwork! As I mentioned last time, I’m staying in Chile for Christmas / New Year and will go straight into my internship without returning to the States. I’m excited to learn more about the Christmas culture and see what kinds of traditions people have, but some days I wish I was home. But hay, once in a lifetime experience! 

As I’m heading into my internship I’ve started to think more about the shift from being a student to being a practicing professional and how interdisciplinary thinking will play into that. My internship will be focused, broadly, on the role of fire on ecosystems in Southern Patagonia. Unlike Flagstaff, the trees are not adapted to fire, and with climate change and more human initiated fires, it will be important to understand the impact on the ecosystems. As the goal is to communicate during this internship in Spanish, I decided to take some courses at UdeC to help me prepare. For instance, even though I took an Ecology course at NAU, I retook it here to learn vocabulary. Furthermore I took a dendrology class in which I learned about trees here in Chile and thankfully my internship will involve a handful of the trees I learned. This way I already have a head start in the sense that I already know a little bit about the trees and the ecosystem as well.  

Although I have done internships in the past, I’ve never done one outside of the US nor in a language other than English. This being said, I think that the relationship between employer and employee might be a little different. I noticed in my past internships that it was common to be friends with your professor, in the sense that it was more relaxed. However, from what I’ve read, I think that the relationship will be more professional and definitely not on a first-name basis. I even noticed this a bit at UdeC in the sense that professors and especially experts are treated with great respect and a very professional relationship. Anyway, it will be an adventure, no doubt! Hope yall are doing well and until next time!