Orient Yourself in Beautiful Olmue

Rachel and I took a cab back to the airport to meet our IFSA group with the loveliest of drivers who taught us about Chilean relationships--you really never know when you're going to learn some valuable cultural information. Once we got all of our luggage out of the cab, we watched as it was loaded onto a cart by a friendly, older Chilean airport worker. A note on airport safety--never let your luggage be loaded onto a cart and taken by anyone, even friendly, older Chilean gentlemen, because it’s very easy for anyone to dress up like a Chilean airport employee and wander off with your luggage. Luckily, this particular old man was legitimate, but spoke so quickly and with an accent so strong that there was no way we could understand him. However, by this time we had mastered the “smile and nod” technique and after twenty minutes of arguing, met up with our group.

Orientation was set in the beautiful, quiet mountain town of Olmué in the foothills, or cordillera, of the Andes, and like I told my host family in my first successful Chilean joke: there were probably more stray dogs than people. Don’t get me wrong, Olmué is gorgeous, but it is quiet. Perhaps a good choice for a group of nearly twenty college age students excited to have passed the drinking age in a foreign country…Nonetheless, what Olmue lacked in nightlife, it absolutely made up for in scenery:

Thought we were going on a casual bike ride through the town, and accidentally ended up mountain biking--It happens, I guess

Go Stephen Go!

Throughout the week we sat through a number of information sessions on taking classes, living with Chilean families, daily schedules and customs, and learning how to speak like a Chilean (see the El Diccionario tab). We also took a Spanish exam, which was my first indication that I had forgotten the majority of the basic grammar concepts, and went through a Spanish interview with our future Spanish professor, which made me realize that I can stumble through a basic conversation—small victories! Let me speak a bit on my personal favorite session, Security and Safety:

Let it be known that this particular information session occurred on Day 2 of orientation, translated to Day 3 of my stay in Chile. I’d call this a fantastic way to start off my five months. A full hour on all of the terrible things that could possibly go wrong during your time in Chile: robbery, sexual harassment, battery, kidnapping, murder, should I keep going? Before you go up in arms about how dangerous this country is, it should be known that these things are no different than city dangers in the U.S of A—it’s just that in Chile, I happen to have a giant flag on my head, that some refer to as my hair, to inform people that I’m not from around here. However, there were some quality tips to take away: Don’t ever leave anything unattended. Just because you’re in a Starbucks, it does not mean that the guy who looks like a Chilean hipster in the corner isn’t going to steal your laptop. Don’t loop your purse on the back of a chair—if it’s a big bag, set it on the ground and put your leg through the handles, and if it’s smaller, keep it around your body. Don’t carry around too much cash (~$20), and don’t be the annoying American talking about how much money you have, especially around Redbanks (ATMs). It’s always worth the extra money to take the most secure form of transportation home—i.e. taxis or colectivos—especially at night. Don’t be so paranoid that you never leave your house, but just be careful. It’s not too terribly difficult.

After four fantastic days in Olmué, we set off on the hour bus ride to Viña del Mar to meet our host families!

P.S. Yes, it's true, in a couple of weeks I will start my job making postcards for the town of Olmué with catchy phrases like the title of this post