Partying it up in Santiago

Last night, our guide took us to a party in someone´s apartment. We met up with some of the people we had seen earlier and their girlfriends. The party was pretty different from a party in America. For one, everyone stayed seated almost the entire time. Also, instead of there being food to grab and eat, someone would pass around a bowl of chips or some other food and everyone would take a little and pass it on. At some point, one of our Chilean friends tried to teach us how to play a game known as Liar´s Dice in English. Later on, one of the Chileans busted out a picture of Pinochet and we toasted to him. This was followed by discussion about whether Salvador Allende killed himself or was killed by Pinochet´s men. All the Chileans agreed that Pinochet was a good dude. I found this alarming, but didn´t want to bring up a differing view concerning politics. Eventually, we staggered home.

Today, we slept for a while and then went to someone´s apartment to watch Chile play Brazil in soccer. We had some barbecue including Chile´s version of a hot dog. The Chileans seemed to be holding out for while, but the game quickly turned ugly and the team lost three to nothing. We left and headed to the supermarket to buy some towels and school supplies and then returned to the school.

Tomorrow we are going to be inprocessed into our company and do all the necessary administrative stuff that comes with that.

At Last...

...I am in Chile. Our flight left around 2200 from Atlanta and we finally arrived in Santiago at around 8. There was no inflight entertainment, but the guy next to me gave up his window seat and thus I was able to catch a few Zs. We eventually made it through customs and met up with a cadet and an officer from the military academy. They gave us a ride to the school while explaining what was going to be happening for the next couple of days. After getting assigned to our rooms (not with other Americans), we relaxed for a bit and then headed down to lunch, which consisted of a generous portion of noodles and meatsauce. After that, we walked to the mall, which is fairly close to campus (take notes, West Point) and bought some of the stuff that I had forgotten to bring along. I also managed to get more minutes put on my cell phone (at the pharmacy, for some reason). We ate dinner at McDonalds, where I almost managed to order in Spanish without messing up. Now we´re just relaxing and are soon going to head to a party.

So far, today has been a little bit worriesome when I take into consideration how little Spanish I´ve been able to understand today. Hopefully, I´ll get used to listening to people talk in Spanish, and I´ll get used to the Chilean dialect. It´s only the first day of a six month experience, after all.

Sitting in the airport II

This time I am in Atlanta airport, as I have been for the last 8 hours. I flew out of Stewart at 7:00 am after catching a 4:00 am van to the airport. My fellow traveler and cadet, Antonio Diaz, and I have been walking around the airport aimlessly, stopping to eat, talking about how we can't understand the Spanish announcements over the PA, watching the United States get knocked out of the World Cup, and discussing what we've heard about Chile. Personally, I've heard some of the following things:

-I am supposedly going to lose all kinds of weight because Chileans do not eat large meals.
-The Chileans are a very proud people and also very big on making fun of people. I expect to be hazed into fluency basically.
-I've heard that the Chileans party like it's their job, so that's always a good thing.
-Their dialect of Spanish is very hard to understand and they speak very fast.

Over the next ~6 months I will evaluate the truth of these assumptions. I think as long as I don't get into a knife fight, I'll survive.

Sitting in the airport

So, here I find myself once again, sitting in the New Orleans Airport, about to head back to West Point. This time feels different though, probably because I am not returning to West Point for the start of another semester or for training, but rather I am heading back to begin a six month semester abroad at the Chilean version of West Point. I am going to increase my fluency in Spanish, which I have been studying for the last two years, and also to become immersed in the culture of South America.

Since spring break of last year, I have been afforded the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica and Ecuador. I have also been able to escort cadets from the military academy of Ecuador and the air force academy of Colombia. My plane is about to board, so I will finish this later. Adios!