Author: Paityn

Back to Reality

Panorama of Santiago and the Andes mountains

It’s been about a week since coming back home to Columbus and I’m doing my best to get readjusted to the Ohio weather and getting back into the mode of doing school work. I definitely experienced a little bit of jet lag because all I could do for the first few days back was sleep. But thinking back to the trip, it was definitely amazing, a once in a lifetime experience (for me at least). So I am glad that Aimee chose this destination for our trip because Santiago, Chile was a place that I would’ve never have thought to go on my own.

The friends that I made on the trip

The food, the landscapes, the slower paced environment was almost surreal to me. This trip allowed me to travel, experience a new culture and allowed me to be more outgoing with my peers. Santiago was also my first trip out of the country so I am grateful that I was selected to be on this trip and also able to go with my close friends. Also, I’ve gotten better at sketching, I just found out while on the trip that I can sketch with pens than with pencils.

Sketch of the front of the Innovation Center, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Campus San Joaquin

Since coming home, I feel a new urge to  learn new languages, so I’m able to travel out of the country more and be able to be more independent while traveling. This experience is unforgettable. Right now, I’m missing the fresh food and weather more than anything else.

Empanadas, meat and cheese from Mestizo

Let’s go to the beach

A video of what I saw on the bus while in Valparaiso

In class seeing the pictures of Valparaiso I was amazed at how colorful and compact the city was. But, seeing Valparaiso in real life was definitely different because I saw its colorful buildings, amazing murals, and that it borders the Pacific Ocean. Our first stop in Valparaiso was the Pablo Neruda’s house, walking through it, I could tell that Neruda was a man with a large personality and that he loved his work and friends, and he also was a player. He had like 3 wives during his life, it kind of sounds like a telenovela. Anyway, walking around The Sebastian (Parks and Rec reference) I noticed the view from his bedroom, is was breathtaking. It was a clear view of the buildings in Valparaiso and the ocean, I loved it. Then from Neruda’s house we started our walking tour. The walking tour allowed us to see the street art and murals, the town we were walking through was filled with beautiful colors and styles of art. I appreciated seeing that and as I was walking I tried to take some drawing tips for styles in my experiential map. As we were walking a few strays tagged along and followed us to the funicular, something that I noticed about the dogs in Valparaiso was that they all poop in the street. You don’t see much dog poop in Santiago and it’s probably because there’s more grass and vegetation in Santiago than there is in Valparaiso. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember walking past a park in Valparaiso.

Pictures of Valparisio and the colorful homes.

We took the bus down to Vina Del Mar and ate at El Rincón de Greda, an Italian restaurant that Sergio suggested and the food was really good. Then from there we walked to the beach. I was very excited because this was my first time seeing the ocean/ a real beach (if Lake Erie doesn’t count) and we spent 30 minutes there, but I wish I had some more time to actually swim but I enjoyed playing in the ocean. Valparaiso was one of my favorite trips that we’ve gone on and I’m so grateful for being able to see the city and the beach.

We were in Vina del Mar, playing in the Pacific Ocean.

Follow the Yellow Brick Mountain

The front facade of Santa Lucía

The one place that we saw in class that I wanted to visit was Cerro Santa Lucía, I was beyond excited to walk over there Monday. But I will admit that I was not prepared to walk up the hill, I began to pant on the 3rd flight of stairs, it’s sad. We walked around the side of the hill, then to the top of it and then walked down to the front of it, it was a weird order.
The very top of the hill gave this amazing view of Santiago, it had a clear view of the Andes mountains and the surrounding neighborhoods.  I honestly have never been so happy in my life. We also saw the front facade of the hill which was beautiful the yellow color really pops around the green surroundings. The fountain also was a nice addition to the background. I was talking to Patricia and she told me that Santa Lucía had a great gift shop with a bunch of souvenirs and Surgio said the stuff was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go to the shop, but we’re definitely going back to the site because the entire mountain is amazing, it’s truly beautiful, one of my favorites. Also a kid stopped Lisa to take a picture with her, which was really cute.

First Impressions

Picture of an average street in Providencia

Today was our first official day in Santiago, after the very long 9 hour flight it was nice to spend the day getting acclimated to our environment. Coming to Santiago, the first thing that I noticed from the airport were the mountains and the luscious palm trees. Also another surprise were the amount of street trees in the city, the tree canopies covered majority of the street and I’ve never seen that in a big city.

Watermelon and tunas that I bought from a street vendor.

Lunch was great. For lunch we split up in groups and walked around Providencia. We ordered food from Juan Maestro (ordering food is the biggest hassle ?), we got papas fritas y empanadas; later we found a woman selling fruit on the street (I’ll be going back). I also tried a new fruit called tunas, it had a lot of seeds and looked like a kiwi but really was a native fruit to Chile that comes from a cactus.

The statue of the virgin Mary on Cerro San Cristobal

We also visited Cerro San Cristobal, I was not expecting the view. It was amazing, you could see the entire city and the Andes from the cable car. From the bottom of the mountains you really couldn’t see the view of the Virgin Mary at the top but when you walk to top of the hill the statue is complimented by the beautiful landscape places for people to sit. After seeing everything today, I’m excited to see the other locations, we’re going to this week.

Pre Departure Fun

This is my first time out of the country, so I am very excited about being able to go to South America and getting a stamp in my passport. This plane ride will also be the longest plane ride I’ve ever been on. The preparation of packing for this trip started on Tuesday afternoon, I rummaged through all of my clothes, figuring out outfits for the nice weather. I found myself up at 3 am with an idea of what I should wear but nothing, truly packed. Wednesday I went to Target to shop for all of the extra things that I needed for the trip like travel size toothpaste etc. Thursday night, I actually packed, folded all of my clothes and double checked my suitcase to make sure I had everything at around 4 am. For the past few days I haven’t been getting that much sleep, so I was hoping that during our 9 hour flight from Dallas to Santiago I’m asleep.

So preparing for this trip hasn’t been bad at all but I’m currently at Gate 25 waiting to board the plane. I’m also extremely tired, so it probably explains why I ordered the wrong type of pretzels for my friend at Auntie Ann’s while I was doing food run. But it’s about 16 min before the plane departs so, currently I am excited, tired and optimistic about what I will see in Santiago. I am also really excited to see the homes and ocean in Valparaiso, the view of the Andes Mountains and I really want to go to Cerro Santa Lucía.

Paityn’s selfie

 

2 Truths and a Lie

  1. I’ve been bitten by a dog twice
  2. I’ve broken my arm
  3. I’m the middle child