Landscape

My Santiago Reflection

Santiago was quite an experience for me. I’ve learned a bit about Spanish cultures before in high school, but Chile was an extra step in that development. Being in Chile was a refreshing change for me. I loved being immersed into new area that at first seems alien to me, but after getting a closer look at all the things that make up the culture, it’s not all that different, but still unique.

The people of Santiago were generally very nice and relaxed. I’d probably contribute that to the stray dogs being all over the place, but I don’t know. I felt comfortable whenever I had to speak to someone, whether in English or Spanish. That really helped me adjust to the new surroundings and relax. That is, until I lost my wallet. Other than that though I felt safe for the most part and enjoyed whatever it was we were doing.

One of my favorite parts of Chile was the art. It seemed like there was some kind of sculpture or painting around every corner, especially in Valparaiso. It made what could have been another normal city into a lively and vibrant environment. Speaking of environments, there was so much landscape. Even inside the city! I thought that was a really cool feature that Santiago had. It made the city feel like it was more than just an urban, concrete fortress.

Up in the Clouds Going Back to Reality (post Chile blog)

Chilean Winery squad

Back to Columbus

I honestly was having withdrawal symptoms of missing Chile as soon as we were boarding the bus to leave for the airport. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the beautiful city, the culture, the food, nor the people of Chile. The first full day of coming back to Ohio, it was 35 degrees outside and raining. Not the best weather to come back to after being in 80 degree and sunny weather of Santiago. Although I do have to say that I am grateful we at least came back to rain and not snow.

The Santiago trip exceeded my expectations immensely. I not only gained an understanding of the Chilean culture and new sketching skills, but I also gained some amazing friendships along the way. Overall my two favorite parts of Chile was the nature and the importance of not being on your phone 24/7. I fell in love with the landscapes Chile incorporated throughout all of Santiago. Every street, every walk you took, you were surrounded by trees that bordered the road or trees/plants that created spaces or provided shade. There were numerous amounts of times when a lot of us wanted to be under the shade of a tree and it was provided no matter where we were. The importance of nature was really prevalent in Santiago, even their malls had openings to let in natural sunlight and fresh air. 

I also enjoyed not having cellphone service in Chile and how in the Chilean culture, they really want you to not be on your phones and to experience the conversations and the surroundings you are in. One of the restaurants even had a place mat that outlined where to put your phone in order to not be on it. I appreciate the amount of importance Chile promotes to not be on your phone and wish America promoted it as well. 

My experience of the Santiago study abroad trip has been one I will never forget and I hope one day, I will get to go back to see even more that I missed. 

“What was your favorite part of Chile?”

Home sweet home!  We have made it back to Columbus safely.  It has been a little over 24 hours since we landed in Columbus.  While I was excited to see my friends and am excited to see my family next weekend, I can’t help but miss Chile a little bit.  When we got off the plane in Columbus and I looked out the window, all I could see were gray skies and brown, leafless trees, the total opposite of the lush, green parks of Santiago that I loved.  I have to say that this has been the best trip I have ever been on, and Chile is now my favorite place.

I have spent the last 24 hours trying to get back into my normal routine.  I unpacked, did laundry, cleaned a little, and went to class today.  Going to class was good because I got to see all of my friends and we got to share our spring break stories.  Just about every person asked me “What was your favorite part of Chile?” and every time I have to pause because it is such a hard question.  So many answers immediately come to mind- the food, the weather, the mountains, the views, the parks, Valparaíso.  There are so many things I loved about Santiago that I can’t decide.  I was excited for the trip, but this trip greatly exceeded all and any expectations I had for it.

The food I found to be incredible.  I loved the idea of fried eggs on everything and I also loved the fresh fruit.  It was some of the best fruit I have ever had.  I also really enjoyed the empanadas, tres leches, and charquicán (Chilean stew).

The weather was incredible, and stepping off the plane into 30 degree weather was probably the saddest part of being home.  No more sunny, blue skies, flowers, or green trees.  Everything thing here looks dead and sad.  Hopefully spring gets here fast because I miss the warm weather (Today was the first day of Spring, but it wasn’t very promising).

I still can’t get over the views.  Just about everywhere we went had amazing views.  Cerro San Cristobal, Cerro Santa Lucía, Costanera Center, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, the Benedictine Monastery, Innovation Center, and Cousiño Macul Winery just to name a few.  I miss the mountains.  Ohio is so flat.

The parks in Santiago were amazing.  I can’t get over how many trees they had in their city.  Whether they were just lining a street or scattered throughout a park, there was a ton of greenery.  I loved it.  I often felt as though I wasn’t in the middle of a huge city, but rather a forest or just out in the country.  In Columbus, our parks have trees, but usually you can still see from one end of the park to the other through the trees.  The trees in Santiago parks were so dense that this would never happen.  I wish Columbus had more parks like this.

Valparaíso was like nothing I have ever seen before.  I loved all of the colors and how the houses covered all of the hills facing the ocean.  The street art was amazing as well.  It was a very cool city to see, and was very fun to jump over to Viña del Mar and sit at the beach for a little while.  We even saw seals!  We just have traditional suburbs and the Olentangy and Scioto.  Nothing compared to Valparaíso’s neighborhoods and body of water.

Chile is a place I definitely want to visit again.  Maybe next time I will explore the natural aspects more like the mountains, desert, Patagonia, and Easter Island.  I keep joking that if I could speak Spanish I would move there.  I mean, the Adolfo Ibañez Graduate School was really cool, who knows?  Until next time Chile, adiós!

Go Bucks! (Sunset from the Costanera Center)

The Hike to End All Hikes, Episode 2

Now officially separated from the rest of our hiking buddies, we rested for a moment in some rare shade before traveling onward and literally upward.  It was midday, around 85 degrees, and we had already climbed the equivalent of 300 flights of stairs.  Rico noticed the mood slipping as we trekked on and began to play some music from his phone, and everyone immediately became re-energized.  We walked to the beat and got to know each other better by asking funny questions about one another.  We were all growing hungry, but decided it would be well worth it to hold out on eating our packed lunches until we reached the waterfall.  The mountains began to flatten out as we neared our destination and we were SO grateful.  We reached a park ranger who informed us we were cutting it close to making it out of the park before it closed and that we could only spend 15 minutes at the waterfall once we arrived.  What we all thought would be a chance to relax and recharge before the four hour hike back turned into a quick jump into the water, a few rushed pictures, and shoving a few bites of food in before retracing our steps.  We began again, extremely excited that the majority of our return would be downhill.  We continued to ask questions and share stories and we jumped down the face of the mountains, watching each one of our steps as it is much easier to wipe out on the descent.  We hiked this way for a few hours, and as we neared the last stretch of the hike, we found the rest of our group!  We were so excited to meet back up and share stories of what had happened and what we had seen over the course of the day.  We had seen a waterfall, they had seen giant hairy tarantula.  We were all grateful to be alive after an unexpectedly hot, grueling, and physically exhausting day.  We finished the last hour of the hike together and returned to the base all in one piece, give or take a few cuts, bruises, and cases of dehydration that were to be expected after a day like ours.

Valparaiso- 3/15

On Wednesday we visited Valaparaiso. The city was absolutely breathtaking. Every corner you turned was filled with color and street art. The 2 hour walking tour through the streets was practically a hike because of the drastic change in section throughout. The buildings were all so different in form and color, making for a very intriguing skyline and beautiful view no matter where you looked. It was clear they had jammed in as many buildings as they possibly could. It was interesting to hear that if you took up residence in a house for at least 5 years, you can claim it as your own. A detail that I believe made the difficulty of the economy there more clear to us. There were multiple funiculars, which we used to get back down from the hills, just as we had at Cerro Santa Lucia. Following this, we were waiting on a bus and had a nice conversation with a man and his young daughter about the area. We then drove down to the beach and spent few hours of our day cooling off in the water, admiring gift stores and buying the majority of our souvenirs. And we tried the street food for our lunch, there were fantastic empanadas, and finished the experience sketching on the rocks along the ocean and getting ice cream.

Kate’s photo from Valparaiso because I lost my phone

Wine + Bikes + Gorgeous Views = Slice of Paradise

On our free day, a group and I decided to visit a vineyard near Santiago that was fairly easy to get to by metro and a 10 min taxi ride. The vineyard was called Viña Cousiño Macul and it was located south of Santiago. The vineyard was founded in 1856 and is still in the hands of the original family (the 6th generation now) which is rare because most vineyards have been sold off to bigger companies in around the Santiago area. The tour that we did was the bike and wine tour which included a guided tour through the vineyard on bikes, a tour through the processing facility where they make the wine, and a tour through the cellar where they stored wines to age. Our tour also included four wine tastings as well. I thought that the tour was so amazing! The vineyard was so beautiful because you could see the mountains from the property and one fact that I found really interesting was that the vineyard actually stretched all the way from the outskirts of the city to Plaza de Armas when it was first founded, but was slowly sold off over the years. The wine tastings were amazing and our tour guide who was an American from Colorado, showed us the proper way to taste wine which was the “5 S” rule:

See: Look at the wine first and see if it’s transparent or opaque…if it’s more transparent, the wine is much younger, if more opaque, the wine has been aged longer.

Swirl: Swirl the wine in your glass and see if the wine runs slowly or quickly down the walls of the glass. If the wine moves quickly, it will have less body in your mouth because it has less viscosity, and the opposite if it moves slowly.

Smell: Smell the wine and try to pick out different notes. Is it fruity, is it earthy, etc… everyone’s sense of smell is different, so no judgement can be given.

Sip: Taste a small portion of the wine and try to pick out any flavors that you smelled. Are you surprised by the taste? Is it sweet, more acidic, drier, etc…

Savor: Enjoy the wine!

Learning how to properly taste wine was so much fun and I encourage others to try the 5 S rule when trying new wine!

Here are some pics from the vineyard:

Rows of Grapes

Close up of some grape…they were delicious and sweet!

Guide to making some wine!

 

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls 3/17

These are some pictures from the trail

These are some pictures from the trail

These are some pictures of the trail

This was a long day. The plan was to have we our free day to go to the mountains and go for a long hike, approximately 9 hours. Thankfully it wasn’t actually that long. We started at 8:30, which became 9:00 when we weren’t all ready. So we called an Uber and made our way to the mountains. We started around 9:40 on what little ignorant me didn’t know would be one of the hardest, mentally, physically, and spiritually, challenge to ever happen to me.
It started rough. Nice vertical climb up a dry and desolate path. Eventually we reached the top, and I was very glad I could rest my calves a bit, this was only a tiny, minuscule portion of the events to come. We continued on the path and it became easier. Not sure if it was because my legs were beginning to go numb, or stretching really helped. The path started to become more vegetated and shaded, until we reached the first landmark. A smaller creek and mini waterfall. So of course, we took a little break to climbed around the water. Then we continued on, more excited than ever, what a fool I was. We ran into another group of osu students that wanted to keep going as well, so there’s about 12 of us now. The next portion of path, was what I call death mountain #1. Long story short, it sucked and I thought I was going to die. After a good 20+ minutes of climbing, we reached the top. It had a nice view so we took a group picture, good use of a break. Then we continued forth. This part was much more level compared to what we just went through.
It didn’t last long.
Introducing death mountain #2. Just as high and just as long as it’s brother. We reached the top of that, but we were starting to spread out. I lost contact with the people behind me, and couldn’t keep up with the ones in front of me. I was alone. To be continued….

Day 7-8

In these last two days in Chile, we had 7 hours hiking on San Carlos de Apoquindo Natural Park and went to the Vega market. The hiking in the free day was amazing and I was exhausted after it. All I wanted to do was lying on the bed and never leave it!!! The waterfalls in the mountains are beautiful. We drank the river water (because we didn’t bring enough water and the day was super hot) which is clean and sweet. After I went back hotel, I found my white shoes were covered by thick dust and they became black. My pants also turned from black to brown…

San Carlos de Apoquindo Natural Park

The very last day, we went to Vega market. I really like the market which is full of local foods and super fresh fruits. I haven’t seen so many fresh strawberries, yellow peaches, and blueberries and I found some fruits I had never seen before. Many local people were purchasing the vegetables and fruits with little carts. The flowers there are beautiful. After getting out of the market, I saw some people selling the lunch around the market and I got one box of the food. That was really inexpensive and good!

Vega market

Wednesday Adventures

Wednesday was my favorite day of the trip so far. It exceeded all of the expectations I had. The views were unbelievable and everything was so colorful. My favorite thing about Valparaiso were the colors that were present there. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The walls were not normal colors and they also had a lot of graffiti on them. This is what made them so distinct. Every single wall had something unique on it and was so interesting to look at and analyze. The people of this town don’t see a lot of the stuff on the walls as graffiti, instead they think of them as art. This made for an amazing experience on our walking tour.

This is a sketch of the hill at Bellavista

Another part of Wednesday that I really enjoyed was going to the beach. The beach was absolutely amazing. From the hot sun and the warm sand to the cooler winds up on the hill, it was perfect. The sun was ever present wherever you were on the beach. This made everything so much happier and more enjoyable. We walked up to the board walk and bought some juice and candy. Everything here was so enjoyable and I hope this continues throughout trip.

 

This was a huge palm tree that I saw on the side of the hill at Bellavista

Some thoughts on landscape and architecture design

During these days visiting various architecture buildings, I notice that the combinations of how landscape is starting to correspond to architecture is creating amazing moments.
The first time I notice this is outside the Benedictine Monastery Las Condes. Because that’s the place where natural landscape context is corresponding to manual landscape design outside the church. And the church itself is painting pure white, it’s a high contrast with the green landscape and blue sky. As the saturation of context such as plants and sky are always very high, the white architecture could easily pop up to catch my first attention. Also, the shape of plants along the outside ramp of Benedictine Monastery Las Condes varies, from tall pine trees to square boxwood, it helps me to open my horizons to further natural landscape such as background of mountains.
White architecture buildings also occur normally in urban campus. Where the landscape design is more formal with ivy as ground cover. Helping the architecture itself to show off from the background.
Not only green plants are used to be landscape design, but also stone designs could be a special way to illustrate beauty. Such as the stone spheres in front of the innovation center in PUC. The stone spheres is emphasizing the shape of circle while the with contrast of formal rectangle shape of innovation center is creating the sense of recreation. So people can feel more entertained.

Sketch of natural landscape vs organized landscape

Natural landscape outside Benedictine monastery las Condes

Landscape design outside Benedictine monastery las

Stone spheres

Day #5

One of the highlights of this trip has been day 5 in which we visited Valapariso and Viña Del Mar. These two coastal towns were absolutely stunning, and were more beautiful than I could ever imagine. My favorite part of day 5 was doing the walking tour of the streets of Valapariso, which were filled with colorful buildings and street art. I enjoyed the contrast between the murals and the colors of the buildings, which blended together nicely. The cobble stone streets also added to the appeal of the layout of the city. Despite its beauty, it seems very easy to get lost on the streets of Valapariso, as they are narrow and not marked by a sign.

Going to Viña Del Mar was a nice break from being in the fast paced city. I could see a noticeable difference between the coastal towns and Santiago, as the coastal towns are much more relaxed, have less people, and are more slow paced than the city. I hadn’t been to the beach for a long time, so taking the time to relax on the beach was great. The water was extremely cold as expected, and I was surprised by how strong the pull of the waves was.

View of Valapariso

View of the Viña Del Mar beach

 

Sketch of palm trees in park

Valparaiso, A City of Chaotic Beauty

Someone once told me that the irony in his major of study, was that as a planner, his favorite cities in the world were actually unplanned.  I felt this observation in the steps I took and the meandering change of elevations I made along the streets of the seaside Chilean town Valparaiso.  The artistically and visually rich city was interesting from top to bottom, every wall displaying a unique piece of art.  This colorfulness of the city’s walls and buildings was matched also by its inhabitants, and namely one of its more famous, Pablo Neruda.  The Neruda house, La Sebastiana, was filled to the brim with visually stunning objects, and a visually stunning view of the sea as well.  Each object had a story, but my favorite was a map all the way at the top of Pablo’s house in his study.  Reading 1698 at the top, I knew that as a lover of history (and maps) I would be spending at least fifteen additional minutes pouring over the ancient artifact to learn the many secrets it held.  Valparaiso was beautiful in many ways.  It’s chaotic beauty in the realization of its city-scape is apparent, matched by the rolling Pacific Ocean to its west and ever-present Andes to the east.  Having experienced every facet of the topography of Chile’s capital region (save climbing a mountain) has helped me understand Valparaiso and Santiago better than a map or a book ever will.

One colorful street in Valparaíso. One of many, each with its own set art and architecture.

3/16 -Memories

So today was a fairly simple day. Go to the cathedral, the park, museum of memory, then eat. I’m really glad we got to go to the cathedral too. I’ve seen some cathedrals in Spain before and they are massive, even compared to the one we saw today, but I appreciated the use of space that this cathedral had. Like adding the crypt underneath the alters (I think). Which I also though the crypt was really cool how it shows a transition from the clean white marble, to the rougher, tan marble and wood hand rail ends and steps. I’m curious on why the hand rails were purple too. The only reason I could think of is it was supposed to be a wine like color, and the wood ends are like the wooden cups that Jesus would have drank from. Other than that it’s a mystery to me. The park we went to today was actually really cool, we took a walk around the whole thing after doing a sketch and it had some real interesting trees and features to it. It was a fun time. The memory museum today though. That got a little deep. On an architectural standpoint, I though it had really good spacing between each display and the path you would follow was easy to go through. As for my emotional state, it made me feel numb. I couldn’t read almost everything in the museum, but the images speak for themselves. Knowing that an entire country was changed in a single, devastating day, makes you think for a moment. I don’t know exactly all of the details, but I got enough to understand that a lot of people were torn apart during this time. Wether that be because they lost someone dear to them, or had to leave everyone dear to them. The museum captured what was to be felt and understood about its history, and I’m glad I was able to have this experience be a memory that I won’t forget.

Museum of memory

Picture outside the crypt

Picture inside the crypt

Day 3-4

‘Sun’tiago

During these days, we visited the various universities around Santiago as well as the Costanera tower (tallest tower in Latin America). At the universities, I had a chance to observe the interactions between the students which turned out to be very similar to the interactions of American students. The layout and the structure of the colleges played an important role in helping enable the social environment. The college had large, spacious courtyards where all the students gathered to hang out between classes. The fresh air and view in which the college was situated in which added to the fresh environment. Studies have proven that having ventilation and sun help improve creativity, thus a prime setting for a university. The landscapes around the building were mainly shrubs or shrub-like looking trees, helping maintain greenery and preventing potential soil erosion. After visiting the university, in the evening we went to the Costanera Tower. We went up to the 62nd floor to watch the sun set behind the Andes mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous. In addition to the gorgeous sunset, the architecture of the top of the tower was also breathtaking. There was no ceiling at the top, so the air surrounding us was fresh, enhancing the experience. All around the top floor, there were hidden drains that would take care of any water that may accumulate with any precipitation.

After the sunset, we explored the rest of the tower which was essentially a shopping mall. We went into the department store which closely resembles a Walmart or a Costco from back home in Ohio. Overall this day was amazing; the views and the similarities I noticed between Chileans and Americans were striking.

Bustamente Skatepark

Rico and I visited the Bustamente skatepark two days in a row. It was a lot of fun, and I feel like I got to connect across language with Chileans by skating beside them.

The skatepark is located within Parque Bustamente, a long swath of green space that extends south from Baquedano the metro station. The Parque is excellent! It’s about a block wide and continues for over a kilometer, with swaths of public green space, playgrounds, and even a library at it’s midpoint.

What I noticed most about the skatepark and the larger Parque surrounding it was not its design but the sheer amount of use it saw. It seems that on some days the park lighting is mostly off, save for the skatepark. However, there were still hundreds of people using the Parque, seated in small groups and talking, or participating in classes like self-defense and yoga. The skatepark had over 40 people actively skating, and over 100 more just sitting and watching.

That is absolutely unheard of at all but one of the 75+ skateparks I’ve visited in the US. Two design choices support this level of public use.
First, the park is sunken into the site, and lined with ramps that encapsulate it into a bowl, with a pleasant tree-dotted lawn hilled around. This makes the park into an arena, as entertaining to watch as to use. Second, the placement of the park in a central Parque is a simple but bold decision. It is much more common in the US to place skateparks far from the city center.

As nice as the supportive design decisions for the skatepark are, I think that the excellent use of Bustamente park comes down to culture. Over the rest of the week I hope to search for the origins of that culture of rich public life, to find how to bring it to cities and skateparks of the US.

Santiago Interacts Better

We took the bus to El Parque Infantil and I was presented with a feeling of utter joy that was so overwhelming I began to tear up.  We sat watching the children play in the water, exuberant with every interaction they had with the water, the ground, their mothers, fathers, each other.  I sat and took it all in, becoming more amazed by the human connection every second.  I was reminded of the importance of attempting to make a connection with everyone you meet and the impact this can carry.

Fast forward two days and we are enjoying a group lunch at a beautiful outdoor restaurant called Mestizo.  We had just finished a bus trip to a small private university, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez.  My first impression was similar to that of the college I attended my freshman year – small, antisocial, lacking diversity due to the steep price.  But as classes ended and lunch rolled around, the public spaces turned into mini social paradises.  Since the students do not live on campus, they made incredible use of the campus in between class instead of retreating to their dorms and apartments.  It looked like such a great release to be able to socialize to that degree and it left me wishing that Ohio State students would simply walk with their heads up to class.  Frank Brought up an interesting point – was it due to growing up up in a predominantly warmer climate that was condusive to utilizing outdoor space well?  What if we were to build a city in a colder climate, but treat the outdoor public spaces as if it was warmer?  Would the social culture begin to shift?

There is always something to think about.

First Moments

We have landed in Chile after a 10 hour overnight flight on which I dreamt of various approaches to my next lithography project.  As we touched down, the sun was beginning to rise over the Andes mountains and they appeared as some kind of flat construction – three pieces of faded paper pasted onto one another and hung around an entire city.

I had forgotten what travel really felt like, the freeing energy you feel walking down a street on the opposite hemisphere as your own.  An odd familiarity paired with an uneasy feeling of knowing absolutely nothing makes me feel like a child again.  It felt wonderful to have these feelings again and to recieve happiness and joy from the simple act of presence.

We dropped our belongings at the hotel and 20 girls managed to change in a bathroom made for three.  From there we headed to Cerro San Cristobal – rode the cable cars up the hill, joking the whole way up but taking a few silent moments to absorb the sights around us.  When we reached the peak I was able to spend some time alone to recharge and reflect, reveling in all the intense feelings travel provides.

Murals, Colors and More Food!

Valpariso is a magic place. People here are nice. The murals are beautiful. Even dogs here look lazier than anywhere else, stretching and sleeping everywhere on the ground. The walls in Valparaiso are painted into different popped colors. Great amount use of bright colors light pure yellow and blue is reasonable and cool. One of the most features of Valparaiso attracts me is that the combination of the sinuous and wide, straight streets which create distinguished feelings when people travel through the town. Meanwhile, I noticed many interesting details of this town from the structure of architectures. This base structure of a wooden lofted house is pretty interesting since it is featured with its pointed foundation.

Pointed base

The spheres of Roadblock also remind me many spheres pieces we saw in Santiago downtown.

Painting on the Roadblock

Creative artists here transformed this mounted town to a paradise for tourists.

At night we went to Baco and we have a nice dinner there. The place is pretty popular even it’s a Wednesday night. The atmosphere was buoyant and people were chatting and having fun. As usual we ordered fish and steak. This time we also had the salmon salad which was made by raw salmon and lettuce. It was also good!

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.

Day #3

The first activity of day 3 in Santiago, drivijt into the foothills of the Andes to visit the Benadicine Monastery, has been one of my favorite sketching assignments. The site and building were beautiful, and I enjoyed taking the time to draw in a quiet and peaceful setting.

Our next activity was driving to the University Adolfo Ibanez School of Architecture. The entire time I was there, I thought about how incredible it would be go there and attend a school in this landscape. The view of the city from the foothills was truly breathtaking and a view that I’ll never forget.

Mestizo Restaurant was the highlight of my day, and easily one of the best meals that I’ve ever had. Not only was the food incredible, but the atmosphere and design of the restaurant were amazing. I enjoyed exploring the park, and loved the ponds and overall landscape of it. I continue to be impressed with the landscapes and parks throughout the city; and wished that the United States would invest more in their parks, especially in urban dwellings. Going to the top of the skyscraper was another amazing experience, and despite feeling slightly dizzy 300 meters up, the view was truly breath taking.

 

Parque Bicentenario

View of University Adolfo Ibanez School

Size Does Not Matter

So today I saw how size does not matter when it comes to forms of amazement here in Santiago. To help justify this statement lets take a look at two examples starting with the smaller end of the scale. On our way to another campus of PUC we passed a house that had a privacy wall with purple and white flowers growing down it. Now I understand, just flowers; we have them in Ohio, however I have never seen a flower like this one before. After some research I discovered the name of the intriguing flower, it is a Passiflora × belotii. Also, to my amazement, I found out that there are similar flowers in the family that grow in Ohio. I believe this flower to be a prime example on the smaller end because as we passed by the house, there was a stop. Seems a number of students could not continue their walk without snapping a show of exotic plant. This obviously is something amazing and rare to us.

 

            Passiflora × belottii
       Found as far north as Ohio

My second example of scaled amazement would be the UC Innovation Center. This monolithic structure cannot help but bring attention to itself. Its the first building you see when walking from the train and last one on your mind when you go. The color and shape truly work to the building’s advantage. It is this hard gray giant that sits in the foreground of the Andes, and from some angles on the campus, looks like it is rising from the soft canopy made with the trees on campus. This just goes  to show how size is not necessary when it comes to being amused by Santiago

The Innovation Center of UC looking north

 

Another day, another 650ish pesos

Curves in the benedictine monastery

We have been here for four days now and tomorrow we are going to Valparaiso, more commonly referred to as the BEACH! I’m excited to go tomorrow but I can’t let my excitement overshadow the experiences that I’ve had here in Santiago. On day two, I had a great time with my friends touring the Cerro Santa Lucia, a smaller and more structured hill in the middle of the city. I really appreciated the panoramic views from the top of the hill and the structures and landscapes that covered the small mountain. Although I was separated from the group on the way down and consequently left alone in the city without a map, the studies of the streets and understanding of the subway system got me back to the hotel.

On day three, I really enjoyed visiting the Benedictine Monastery and sketching in the space. I found a spot full of curved edges which was in surprising contrast to the very angular structure. The view was incredible too and I left with a stronger than anticipated appreciation of the building.

Furthermore, we toured a private university in the foothills of the Andes and even had the chance to talk to students at the school. I was surprised to find out that one of the girls there had studied abroad in Cincinnati, Ohio and new of my hometown in Dayton. She and her friends were also willing to take a picture with my gnome, Norbert, who has been traveling the world with me since 2009. I’ve actually been taking pictures of Norbert with every student on this trip and hope to make a video compilation of the pictures. More pictures of the gnome to come.

In case it was missed before, the BEACH is tomorrow and it’s going to make the two hour bus ride worth it.

Great Food and Even Greater Edge Conditions (Day 3)

Salmon and Quinoa Aesthetic

Pampas grass

Papyrus

Diagonal walkways/borders of plant species cutting through the pond

No doubt the food here keeps getting better and better, especially when we ate at Mestizo Restaurant! I got the salmon and quinoa dish and it was the most perfectly cooked and aesthetically pleasing meal I had ever seen/tasted before. Muy Delicioso! After lunch my favorite part of the day was exploring the edge condition of Bicentenario Park. The water gardens were filled with numerous plantings, such as Pampas grass, Feather Reed Grass (Karl Foerster), and Papyrus. With some of the grasses reaching up to 10ft tall my views were limited, but the diagonal walkways reaching to the middle of the water garden, my interaction with the landscape changed. I was able to not feel enclosed by the vegetation and able to see the views that I couldn’t see when I was standing on the perimeter of the garden. The implementation of different programs within the water garden were also fascinating. Different sections of the garden contained an Egret and Flamingo sanctuary, Carp and Fish pond, and a section for marketing their decorative hedge designs. After the water garden, Bicentenario Park began to transition its landscape into more open spaces with less vegetation. Incorporating park like amenities, such as playgrounds and different jogging, biking, and walking trails. A drastic difference between the beginning of the park and the end of the park.

The sun sets on another day in Santiago

Beginning to watch the sun set

Currently I am on the 62nd floor, open roof, observatory deck of the Costanera Tower. After a long exhausting day of exploring all over Santiago, it is nice to finally sit and just observe. Our day started with a drive to the Benedictine Monastery, which was incredible and had amazing views.

Sketch of Benedictine Monastery

Benedictine Monastery in relation to landscape

Then we travelled to Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, which was equally amazing. I think I enjoyed the graduate school more, but both were incredible buildings with incredible views (although it was scary climbing the mountain in our huge coach bus).

Universidad Adolfo Ibañez

We rested with a huge and delicious lunch at Mestizo. I had Meat Ragout over gnocchi and tres leches cake for dessert. It was probably one of the best meals I have ever eaten. I was so full I don’t know how I ate it all.

Beef Ragout over gnocchi

Tres Leches was FANTASTIC

Then directly following the meal, we walked through Bicentenario Park, which was super lush and green. Santiago is a very Catholic country, and within the park we found a small chapel. I had no idea it was a chapel from the outside, but it was so peaceful inside. The tree really surprised me. Then we met the group and walked another 15 minutes to the Costanera Tower.

The landscape at Bicentenario Park was beautiful

IMG_3582-1mtx6qi

So, here I am, reflecting on my day as the sun goes down behind the mountains. I can’t believe we fit all of these things into this one day because it feels like that trip to the Monastery was forever ago. I still can’t believe I am in Chile, even South America. I honestly never thought I’d have the chance to come here and I am so happy to have this opportunity. The city is amazing, the weather is fantastic, the food and drinks are awesome, and the people are so friendly. I am loving Santiago.

After an hour and a half of waiting, the sun finally set, and it was so worth the wait.

Silent Cerritos Santa Lucia-3/12

Today, following our planned events, my friends and I went on a little expedition to Cerro Santa Lucia. We later found out that a majority of the Santiago group made this trek as well. The walk was surrounded by beautiful wildlife and a multitude of families spending quality time together. After our first set of statistics we met a man with his mother, they were visiting from Australia. They had just landed a few hours ago and we’re asking us if we knew of any cool touristy sights they should see. Naturally, we laughed at the fact that we’d only just began our explorations as well and then told them of the Moneda Cultural Center and the Plaza de Armas. The stairs were a treacherous experience as many of them were weathered and they all seemed to be different shapes and sizes. When we got about halfway up, to where we could see the castle, we stopped for a refreshing drink and took in the view, admired a beautiful waterfall/fountain, and then got a classic picture with the Santiago skyline and the mountains in the background. After our little breather we continued the climb up the hill, meeting more and more of our fellow travelers along the way. As we got to the top we caught sight of the beautiful view that was ahead. We entered the small, crowded crows nest area and I immediatelay took this photo.

The view from the top of Cerro Santa Lucia

 

Day 03 – Lush Landscapes

Bicentenario Park

Sketch of view at Benedictine Monastery

So I thought Day 2 had a lot of walking. Boy was I wrong. I felt like my feet were going to fall off at the end of day 3. Despite the insane amount of walking, I think this has been my favorite day so far. I absolutely loved the monastery. The views were spectacular, and I think that the placement of the monastery up in the mountains is what made that place so special and peaceful. Everything was well thought out – the position of the building to allow light to stream in in specific places, the landscape around the monastery, and the site location of the building. I really enjoyed sketching outside the monastery. There was a long row of jasmine plants lining the edge of the hill, so while I was sketching I was surrounded by a really delightful aroma. After going to the monastery and bicentenario park, I realized that I think I enjoy sketching landscapes more than structures, which I was very surprised at because I’ve always been more interested in buildings (hence the civil engineering major). So I was really caught off guard by this realization. But I think being here in Santiago has given me a new appreciation for landscape design, since I’ve seen how having good parks and landscapes within the city can shape the attitudes and lives of the local people. Overall it was a great day and I can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Bicentenario de la Infancia

Occupiable “gate/border”play area

After landing in Santiago, we did not waste time exploring the city. One of the main features of the city was its cerros. I was excited knowing that Bicentenario de la Infancia was one of the first places the group would visit because 1) I wanted to see a project by Alejandro Aravena and 2) I wanted to see a role the cerros played in Santiago.

In this case, the hill was turned into a park. I really appreciated how extraordinary this park was in incorporating the hill as a public space for families. The border along the bottom of the hill acted as an occupiable play area framed by orange beams. The ground of the play area had various slopes creating slides and tunnel spaces while representing the sloping hills of the city.

Another key feature I tried at the park were the slides. I rode the funicular up with a group and started at the longest slide. I was a little hesitant after finally seeing how steep the slide really was. But after Bryant tested it out and survived, I rode the slide down. As brilliant as I thought the slide along the vertical slope of the hill was, I felt that it was not as comfortable to ride. Maybe Bryant and I just weren’t as young as we used to be, but we both agreed that the final part of the slide where it began to level off hurt our tailbone. We also had to catch ourselves as we excelled off the slide.

Overall, I thought the park had amazing features that allowed various experiences to occur. Whether it was the unique slides, border, and rock fountains,  or the more usual seesaw and swings; it was clear that this park was being enjoyed by the community.

The Highlights of Day 2

Hola everyone! I hope that you are all having as much fun as I am so far! I am already in love with this beautiful country and it is only day 2! The landscape of Chile is so lush and vibrant and being able to see so much green makes me a happy camper. Today was amazing and was an experience I’ll never forget. The pre-Columbian museum that we visited put me in awe because I thought the content of the museum was very riveting (my favorite pieces were the huge wooden sculptures and the quipus, or the knotted cords that the Incans used to store data, in the basement of the museum) and the design of the interior was quite spectacular as well. I loved how Radic played with light (using both natural and artificial) in a very ingenious way to emphasize certain pieces in the museum and draw your attention towards them. I found it to be quite special and from the many museums that I have been to, I’ve never seen one play with light in such a successful way like that. The details and materiality of the interior were very cool as well. One of the other things that I loved doing today was traveling to Cerro Santa Lucia. I hope that everyone gets a chance to go at least once on this trip to there because it was so gorgeous! You were able to get a 360 view of the entire city and the vegetation and the old structural elements blended beautifully together…just please be careful when you walk up the steps, they are definitely not up to American code! I am so excited for tomorrow to see and try new things and I hope to keep making many more memories! Side Note: if you are not aware of this (the group of people I was with were not) please look closely at the moon…It’s upside down! :O

Esculturas Femeninas de Madera in the Museo Chileno de Arte Pre Colombino

Days 1-2

Days 1-2 (March 11-12):

Since the day we arrived to Santiago, we have been on the move!

On Saturday, we started by getting an orientation of the hotel and explored Providencia for lunch before heading to Cerro San Cristabal to see the Virgin Mary statue and the beautiful Santiago skyline.

When we visited San Cristabal, I was surprised by the variety of plant life present. I was originally expecting tropical plants but instead came across several deciduous trees and small desert-like shrubs along with the palm trees. The theme of the variety of plant life continued throughout the city, and was prominently apparent at the Plaza de Armas, which we visited on Day 2. Here there were several types of palms (short vs tall) and many other types of trees that I would have expected to see in North America scattered throughout the Square.

One last note I would like to make is about the sidewalks and roads here; they are predominantly made of brick which makes it hard to distinguish where the sidewalk ends and the road begins . . . so don’t be too mesmerized by the surroundings and keep an eye out for where you are walking!

Day 2

After a long flight and a tired day, I woke up a little bit late today. I just missed the breakfast but still meet on time.

In the morning, it is cold. However, walking for a while, I feel much better. We went to downtown by subway and visit the La Moneda Cultural Center. Although the main space of the center is not open today, I was attracted by the gift shop. There’re amounts of interesting souvenirs. After that, we headed to PreColumbian Museum. I saw some pretty artwork and choose one of my favorite doing a sketch.

In the afternoon, we began our assignment. We were supposed to analyze the Plaza de Armas. My group is well-organized. I did the part of transportation while some people did the plan and section. I probably figured out the mode of transportation, the location of traffic light, the speed limit and traffic volumn of each road. It was not easy because the weather  was extremely hot and the sunshine was dazzling. Besides, we also analyzed two sweet. I did a plan and section respectively. I feel satisfied for my drawing but it can still be improved in following days.

One more thing impressed me a lot. Before dinner, I went to a yogurt store which is just near the hotel. Initially, I worry about how to order because of the language. However, to my surprise, the seller speak English to me! He is so nice and the yogurt is also tasty. I strongly recommend to you guys!

 

The Hills have Rides

As someone who loves heights, I got a real kick out ofriding the cable car. Myself and the folks in my car started taking pictures as soon as we started moving, but quickly realized they only got better the higher we went. Pretty soon we were high enough to see the whole city. The view was incredible! It was also fun trying to wave at the people riding back down. Most waved back! But I think it was also good for us all to get a glimpse of the poorer side Santiago. On trips like these its easy to focus on the food and fun, but I think it’s very important for us to be aware of how a large portion of this population is living. You can tell a lot about a society by the way it handles its poor. What we would consider “poverty” in the states doesn’t even compare to here.

I sent my mom this picture and she was mad at me for riding something so high up.

Riding the funicular back down was also pretty cool. A car passed us on the way up and no one waved! It’s been a very exciting first few days, and I’m excited to see what we’ll learn next.

The Cerros are Alive with the Sound of Chile

View from Cerro San Cristobal

From the few moments on the plane before we landed to exploring the downtown area, the hills and mountains surrounding Santiago have had a constant presence on my trip so far.  Walking around in the city, I sometimes forget of the mountains that are so close by.  Even the Cerros seem like mountains compared to what we have at home.  On the first day we went to the top of Cerro San Cristobal by cable car.  This was the first big thing I got to experience in Santiago, and I did not know what to expect.  As the ride started, I was instantly blown away by the view.  The snow-capped mountains towering over the never-ending city left me speechless.  I didn’t realize how wide the city spanned—it was huge!  We got to explore the top of the hill and see the statue of the Virgin Mary.  It was a very surreal space.  We got to experience the hill in a new way when we left by taking a funicular.  I think I prefer the cable car.

View from Cerro Santa Lucia

Today we got the chance to explore another Cerro in the city, Cerro Santa Lucia.  There was no easy way to the top of this hill like Cerro San Cristobal, but at least it was slightly shorter (even though it didn’t feel that way).  We were hot, exhausted, and dehydrated, but a little shop halfway up the hill gave us motivation with cold water and ice cream.  It was a long climb with scary steps, but it was so worth it.  There was an old fort on top of the hill and so many cool spaces along the way.  At the top was a small space, and the people were packed in.  There was a man playing a guitar and a 360 degree view of the city.  I don’t think my time there could have gotten any better.  On the way down we saw more beautiful buildings painted yellow with fountains.  Cerro Santa Lucia was beautiful and I wish we had more time to explore.  There were so many winding paths and the atmosphere was incredibly relaxing.

My first two days have been great here, and I am excited to keep exploring and see what else this city has to offer.

 

Arrivals-Day 1

I survived the first two flights of my life and even managed to get a little bit of sleep in the process. I then somehow mustered the strength to get through customs, out to the bus, and on the way to the Hotel Diego de Velazquez to drop everything off and take the trip from there. Then we were off to the beginnings of our adventure in Chile!

The highlight of this day was our trip to Parque de la Infancia. I made my way through the water balls and began my journey of solitude to the top. I took the long route that winds around the hill to the top of the slides. The journey left me with a wonderful view and some much time to myself after the cramped quarters on the plane. About halfway through the path there is a small playground that reminds you of the ones in elementary school, but completely devoid of children. This path gave a great contrast to the city life happening within vision. The height and distance was just great enough to drown out the noises of the bustling city below, allowing the more natural sights to creep their way into your senses. I stopped at the top and enjoyed the breeze and snapped a few photos, my favorite of which exemplifying the harsh contrast between the city life and the park.

The city from the top part of the infant park

 

 

Day2 in Santiago

The first highlight for today is the breakfast in hotel is awesome！ I really like the fruits in here and I never eat any melon sweeter than that. And the other thing that I am impressed is the metro.
It is not brand new but it remind me the subway in Bejing. They look so similar that I felt I was in China. The plane de armas crowed. Lots of people in the plaza. It is well designed with lots of trees so it felt comfortable when we seat under the canopies. The fountain in the middle in nice but there are lots of weird things happened there. Children played in the water. Pigeons and dogs took shower in there. Horses drank water. And a man washed his hair. The plaza makes me feel a little bit nervous because there was a group of people speaking loudly and I don’t understand Spanish and I cannot figure out what were they talking. It makes me feel more unsafe. But when we leave the plaza about two blocks away, the world felt back to safe. One more thing to mention, there are lots of dogs on streets and they are so cute!

 

 

Catching up- Day 1

Mote from Cerro San Cristobal

We survived the ten hour flight and made it to Santiago a little sleep deprived but ready to take the day on. After a quick orientation at our hotel, we hopped on the nicest charter bus I’ve ever seen and headed off for Cerro San Cristobal, an extension of the Andes that reaches into the heart off the city. We took a cable car to the top of the hill and had a great view along the way. At the summit, a short walk brought us to a terraced garden with steps leading up to a large statue of Mary and a great panoramic view of the city below. After walking around a little bit, I discovered a small stand selling a drink called Mote con Huisantes, which was a drink of tea, peaches, and wheat. I would never call myself a trend setter, but once I had one, it seemed that everyone else followed suit.

We took a funicular back down the hill and boarded back onto the bus and headed to Park de la Infancia, a children’s park designed by ELEMENTAL. While it was designed for kids, the water spheres and entire hillside full of slides were easily among the most fun things I have encountered in a park. We wrapped up the day at a restaurant called Mamut, which we kindly referred to as Chilean TGI Fridays, but it was a fun time spent with friends nonetheless.

 

Costanera sunset

from the tallest skyscraper in South America, a beautiful sunset reflecting off the Andes and just over Cerro San Cristobal-Aimee