Rotary Youth Exchange Student Update - Laura McNeill (Chile)

I am still here. I promise. I have failed miserably on the blogging side of things so far, although from now on I will try to do better. Well, I'm now more than halfway through my exchange. The first half was difficult, and many parts of it, while I'm glad I did experience them, I wouldn't want to repeat the ordeal. The problems, both big and small, caused by the misunderstandings between two languages, are now, finally, almost non-existent. While occasionally I don't understand slang, or a more complex word, the majority of what is said, I understand. The thing is, Chilean Spanish isn't Spanish. It is its own language, only somewhat related to the Spanish I learned in the U.S. Yes, they use most of the basic vocabulary I learned. But their conversations are filled with slang, invented words/verb tenses, and other vocab that only fellow Chileans understand. They often say that even other South Americans don't understand Chileans. Which I suppose is both good and bad for me. On the one hand, it's that much harder to learn, and on the other hand, when I understand 100% of what Chileans say, I'll understand ANY Spanish speaker.

Anyway, enough about that. As to my daily life, I'm still with my original host family. I don't think I will change, which is fine with me, as I have gotten to the point where I am comfortable and happy with this family, and would prefer to stay with them. It's summer here right now, and in the 90s every day. I don't complain, because I remember where I would be right now if not on this exchange, and I prefer 95 degrees to 25.

My host family and I are about to leave on a two week trip through the bottom half of Chile. We won't go as far as Patagonia, where the glaciers and such are, but we'll get pretty close. We will drive down the country, spending a couple nights in each town, camping. I'm very excited to see more of the country. Unfortunately, as soon as I get back, it's back to school. I like school, but I prefer summer. However, at the end of March, my host parents are taking me to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!!!!!!! That is the most exciting.... I CAN NOT wait.

Well, my host mom just told me she wants me to come with her to the local grocery store, so I'll have to close for now... but I SWEAR I will blog more. If there's anyone still reading, of course.