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By rmattiola

This last week was writing week. A week full of headaches and confusion and maybe even some tears if I’m being completely honest. My roommate told me the other day, “This is like finals but a month long instead of a week long”. Thank god for roommates.

This week I was finally able to listen to music while working since I’m no longer transcribing interviews. Often when I listen to music I get a little caught up in the beats or the lyrics and go on song investigation sprees. On one of these youtube browsing-npr podcast searching-consequence of sound-reading expeditions on Bon Iver’s new album, I found a press conference where he answered questions about song titles and lyric inspiration.

He described a soul-searching traveling experience that landed him on Greek islands, stranded and helpless. He started to sing a line to himself, “this might be over soon”. He recorded the verse one night and apparently didn’t make any more music until the next year. So he had this one verse to keep listening to over and over again. Eventually he said, a part of his voice sounded like he was saying 2, 2. This number 22 represented duality for him, and he eventually applied this concept of duality to the line “it might be over soon”. One could be saying, “Thank god, it might be over soon” or “Geez, I can’t believe it, how sad, it might be over soon”.

...continue reading "It might be over soon"

By rmattiola

It’s time to talk about this. I am perpetually congested here in the beautiful south. I returned from Puerto Saavedra to Temuco on Thursday to play field hockey. Once I arrived, I received a text telling me practice was cancelled due to “environmental emergency”. I asked, what does that mean? My friend explained that all the wood burning stoves and heaters in the towns and city produce so much smoke which gets trapped and can dangerously effect their health if they were to vigorously exercise outdoors for 2 hours. On the bus rides back during the evening, I noticed flumes of smoke hovering over the semi-suburban villages outside the city. I couldn’t help but think about Chile’s carbon footprint. Let’s start with excessive wood burning. Toss in acres and acres of cows—happy cows. Recall the constant tacos (traffic jams) throughout all the cities. Wrap it all up with the fact that recycling is essentially non-existent. Loads of plastic and glass get thrown in with food scraps. It’s infuriating. But remind yourself of the 20 or so wind turbines you saw in the desert to Atacama. And remind yourself that the people are just living the system put in place for them by their government. All this though is especially confusing when I listen to my indigenous interviewees teaching me about their strong connection to naturaleza, and how we are all born from mother earth. What’s even weirder is that plenty of people talk about climate change. Not only do they believe it, but they’re experiencing it. And yet they sit, subversive to their government that’s not mandating clean energy and providing extensive recycling services. I vowed to go back to the U.S. and live as environmentally clean as I can. I plan to go completely vegetarian again… nearly vegan due to my lactose intolerance. I plan to learn more than I already do about recycling and sorting. I’ll ride my bike around Coopersburg, like I did when I was a tween. I’ll eat local crops from my dad’s Co-op and the town farmer’s market. I’ll go out to all those rallies back in DC on the national mall, in front of the white house and congress building, and demand a transition to clean energy. If you know me, you’ve heard this before, so I’ll move on.

...continue reading "Wood Burning Stoves and Anthropological Woes"

When I decided I wanted to study abroad I knew right away that it would be South America, and either Chile or Argentina would have to be my destination. So once I settled on Chile and got comfortable in Santiago, I knew I wanted to take an opportunity to visit Argentina if I could. So when a good deal came up on a flight, me and three friends decided to just go for it. We stayed in an Airbnb and made a vague itinerary with any much packed into 3 days as possible.

I had been told that Argentina was very unique from other countries in Latin America and I wanted to test that for myself, so I made some observations to compare with my experiences in Chile!

  1. The Spanish - Chilean's have notoriously bad Spanish with a lot of slang words and a strong accent. Argentines also speak with a unique accent where they make the "ll" or "Y" sounds into almost a J. But generally I found it pretty easy to understand them.
  2.  The cities - Buenos Aires is by far more modern and European than Santiago. The streets are very wide, there are many monuments and statues and theres a lot of free wifi!
  3. Food - Neither country is very well known for their cuisine. But Chile boasts good seafood and wine while Argentina has pizza and Italian food (from its Italian immigrants) as well as great meat. Great might be an understatement since I had the best steak in the universe.
  4. Argentines tend to be taller and more European/Italian looking, take that as you will.
  5. Mood - Chileans are very down to earth, and welcoming of foreigners (since they are a very isolated country). On the other hand Argentines consider themselves to be better than the rest of Latin America and are not impressed by US citizens since they get so many tourists.
  6. Natural beauty - Santiago has is surrounded by the Andes mountain and have Buenos Aires beat no question - but I have been told the rest of Argentina is very naturally beautiful.
  7. Overall - In general both cities are super interesting, with rich histories and struggles. We were able to see amazing art and culture and eat some great food.

...continue reading "Not Crying in Argentina"

By rmattiola

My first week in Temuco has flown by too quickly. I am conducting my independent research project here in the south, with the city of Temuco as my basepoint and the towns of Makewe, Puerto Saavedra and Nuevo Imperial as the study centers. The three SIT girls in Temuco are the first group to stay within the city. One girl opted for a cheap hostel as her monthly residence. Sarah and I took up an offer to stay with the family of our friendly bus driver from when we traveled the south a month ago. This is my fourth host family. Originally, I was hoping to rent an apartment on airbnb with the other girls in order to have the most independence and be able to cook for myself, but I figured if given the opportunity to speak more Spanish, I should take it. Also the bus driver, don Pepe was probably the nicest, coolest gentleman we’ve traveled with. I struck gold with this decision. The living situation is perfect. Sarah and I are staying in a gorgeous new apartment in the University district of Temuco. Our host mom, Cecilia, don Pepe’s sister, is a statistician and a math professor at 3 different universities (there are 5 all within a 10 minute drive of the apartment). She is obviously a successful woman, but clearly works hard for her success. I arrived Tuesday evening and did not meet her until Saturday morning. She leaves the apartment by 7am and does not return until of after 11pm. I awoke with a congested head Wednesday morning, and was asleep before 10:30pm the rest of the week. On Saturday I kicked the worst of the cold and was eager to meet Cecilia.

...continue reading "Temuco: Home away from Home"

By vgosalvez11

This has been a very busy, exciting and exhausting couple of days! I just got back from a weekend trip to Pucon! Pucón is a town in central Chile's Lake District, lying on Lake Villarrica next to the snow-capped Villarrica volcano. Pucon is an adventure tourism hub,  and is renowned for access to hiking trails, white-water rafting and kayaking as well as skiing and snowboarding, amazing natural hot springs and most importantly the trek to the top of the Villerrica Volcano!

Villarrica is the most active volcano in Chile, and top three most active in the world, with its more recent eruption being just a couple years ago in 2015. Trekking Villarrica is usually one of the major draws for backpackers and adventures who come to Pucon and even Chile in general. The trek to the crater / summit of Villarrica takes 4-6 hours of steep uphill climb and using an ice axe to break summit a frozen glacier with ice falling down around you. The climb is considered somewhat dangerous and tourists have been hurt or even killed in the task. So regulations have now changed requiring any non-expert hiker to hire a guide or tour company and shortening the amount of time allowed for the climb.

So being the inexperienced climbers that we are, we did some research (not enough) and booked the hike with a local tour company. On the night before our 6:30am start time I made the mistake of doing some more research into the difficulty of the hike and honestly I started to panic. Before coming to Chile, I have hiked maybe three times in my life and never in conditions like this. I like to work out and be adventurous but I am also very nervous about failure and this has sometimes kept me back from trying things which don't come naturally to me. (Also I just really hate the cold, so ice glacier did not sound too appealing).

...continue reading "Ain’t no volcano high enough"

By rmattiola

When I came back to Arica 2 weeks ago, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time, free of judgment, with eyes wide open. When I left over a month ago, I was tired of the depressed desert, eager to escape the sand and wind. But now, I’m beginning to feel like I don’t want to leave. Of course, at the end of the journey I am finally comfortable. Today I attended the last group meeting before we travel off to our independent investigation locations. Some of my friends are leaving today to hike the W in Patagonia before starting their project. I’m incredibly surprised they pulled it off. I’ll be even more surprised to hear their stories when we return together. I’m heading out tomorrow on a night bus to the town of San Pedro de Atacama, a desert oasis and geological haven. Also home to some of the largest telescopes/ satellites in the world called ALMA. I expect the sights in both the day and the night to be spectacular.

Today, and only today, did I realize that I made some incredible friends on this journey—without trying. I did not seek out friends; rather I allowed relationships to form organically, almost accidentally. Of course I am going to miss everyone over the next month, but I will be eagerly awaiting my reunion with Catherine, Madeline, Rosie and Minerva. Yes, the Rosie/ Rosie issue developed quite early on, so I decided to go exclusively by Rosalie during my time in Chile. Madeline and Rosie are funny Midwestern runners. Catherine is an upstate New York sweetheart with witty, dry sarcasm. Minerva is a sassy, tranquil, Mexican partier. All are great company one on one or together.

The trip to San Pedro was the most relaxing and exciting trip thus far. Well worth the time and money. I took in spectacular sights with 4 other girls, learned a surprisingly large amount of geographical and cultural information, and met tourists from all over the world. On our second day trip, we formed lovely and all too brief friendships with our tour guide, a 22 year old girl named Andrea from Santiago, and the other 5 tourists.

...continue reading "Vacationing but still Learning"

I did it. I can finally say I have experienced the full Chilean culture. Last Saturday, I came home from a night out at 5am, like a true joven chilena. It was the most fun I’ve had yet. The key is to not arrive at the discotec until 1am or even 1:30am when the DJ starts to play the good reggaeton and the dancing gets serious. After that, the hours fly by dancing and laughing with old and new friends. I would have been especially proud of myself if I made it home after my host brothers, but alas, they arrived raucously sometime after 6am from their own carretes (house parties).

Although this weekend was serious fun, this week is serious business. I have been working furiously to complete written assignments, group essays, project proposals and Spanish exams. At the same time I am planning trips to San Pedro de Atacama and Pucón, finding housing and transportation in the Temuco region, and communicating with advisors and other contacts to set up interviews and observations. Oh and I selected courses for next semester and confirmed a summer subletter for life back in DC.

This is a busy, yet exciting time. The “classroom” based portion of the program has ended and the independent research project portion has begun. Although it is still in the process of development, I can explain what I hope I will be investigating. I am interested in the adaptation and modernization of traditional treatments.

...continue reading "Dancing Away my Responsibilities"

By rmattiola

Our trip to Santiago seemed a bit like an obligatory stop at a tourist destination. Nonetheless, we acquired more important information regarding public health and traditional cultures. The two most educational aspects of this week were our visit to the Panamerican World Health Organization and a community ruka (traditional hut) in a highly indigenous section of Santiago called La Pintana. Our group was fortunate enough to have been the first of SIT to have this small conference with the Panamerican World Health Organization.

The information was pertinent and well organized, but I’d like to focus this blog on the observations and information gained from our visit to the urban ruka. Unfortunately, for some reason I struggled to understand a large part of the lectures in the ruka. I felt frustrated and disappointed to know that I was missing out on very important material. Regardless, I feel responsible to share the little information I gathered. It is necessary to share these experiences in order to help make the Mapuche voice heard.

There is an obvious clash between the Mapuche and the government. It seems some are even resistant to the laws and organizations put in place to improve their situation. Our director in Makewe (a community outside Temuco) seemed disguisted with PESPI, the government organization that focuses on the health of indigenous people. This well-spoken, intelligent, calm, professional Mapuche leader crinkled his nose and crossed his pointer fingers in the form of an X when he heard we would be lectured from a PESPI leader.

...continue reading "Urban resistance"

Very exciting update here in Chile!! Just last night I got to experience my first ever earthquake!! Since arriving here there have been a couple of small tremors but nothing worth writing home about. Until on Saturday night the 22nd of April there was a 6.2 quake with an epicenter in Valparaiso. 6.2 would generally be considered a pretty serious earthquake.

The scale for measuring earthquake (The Richter Scale) classifies them 1-10 and each number illustrates exponential worsening. 6-7 level is considered to be a strong quake. However, in Chile they say that this scale is very different. Chile is one for the most earthquake prone countries in the world and the location of the largest quake on record, a 9.5, in Valdivia, Chile in 1960. Chileans will proudly tell you that well in order places anything over a 5 point earthquake is something to talk about, here you need to hit at least 7 to make it on anyone’s radar.

The reason that Chilean’s have their own scale is how prepared they are in this country for earthquake. Since the devastating quake in Valparaiso in the 1800s hundreds when much of the city was leveled the Chileans have focused on building more sustainable structures. They are very careful with construction to build with materials that flexible rather than rigid allowing the buildings to sway rather than break. This is a very impressive engineering feat and it was been enacted very effectively throughout the country, especially considering that Chile is not considered fully developed.

But Chileans have not only focused on good construction but on educating their citizens, after the earth quake of 2010 about 500 deaths were reports, and while that number is significantly smaller than it would have been in a country which was less prepared it was in great part due to a lack of education. Many people by the beaches did not know to expect the possibility of a tsunami and thus stayed out by the ocean as it receded and were killed when the wave came in. Since there was has been a significant focus on education and in the most recent over 8 point quake in 2011, there were only 11 deaths total. A truly impressive number.

...continue reading "What's Shaking in Chile"

I have a confession. Study abroad is not all pretty views and happy times. Superficially, it can seem like a photo under the Eiffel tower with a picnic blanket splayed of wine and strawberries. In reality though, there are days when we all question what we’re doing here. Those feelings are exasperated by unfortunate situations like 3 week-long traveler’s diarrhea, colds from freezing weather and kitchen smoke, and bed bugs.

Yes, I have experienced my fill of each of these unfortunate conditions. I think it is important to share this “dark side” of study abroad not to scare anyone away from the experience, but to highlight reality. Our social media world is often all too positive. This false reality sets unreachable standards, contributing to disappointment and mental insecurities. I feel that my experience is very real. The reality is, I go to the bathroom expecting there to not be toilet paper or soap—even in the health centers. When someone tells me, “yes, there is wifi” I expect the connection to be shaky at best, and nearly impossible to work with.

The truth is, it is difficult to travel for a month with 23 other compañeros constantly by your side. I envy moments like this, sitting in a café, thinking, writing, and sipping house [tea] on my own. I admit all these negativities in order overcome them and emphasize the positive aspects. Although all these undesirable traits exist, everyday I am grateful for the landscape, the culture, the people, the new knowledge and the overall beauty radiating from all forms of life. Now that I have acknowledged the bad and the ugly, we can go on to the plentiful good. Perhaps this can be a new addition to my weekly blogs—highs and lows.

...continue reading "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"