Why I came to Chile

Replying to a previous post by my friend Abby (and what seems a to be a popular topic among the gringas in Chile right now) is why I came to Chile..or in my case came back.  Well this story starts around 2000 or my junior year of high school when my family hosted an exchange student from Chile, J.  For as long as I remember, I have always LOVED Spanish and was considering doing a year of foreign exchange in Latin America.  My mom poured through a bunch of student applications and eventually we decided on a chilean, J.  The year that he spent with us was great, he really fit into my family.  When I got to the second semester of my junior year, my father was laid off from his job and we couldn't afford to pay for a program abroad for a summer, and J said it would be more beneficial for me to do a year. So J asked his parents if I could spend my summer with them and they agreed.

So in July 2001, I boarded a plane to Chile.  When I got here, I was literally welcomed into his family with open arms.  J's ENTIRE family was at the airport-mom, dad, brother, sister, cousins aunts and uncles.  We went to Viña and I fell in love with the city instantly.  A few days later we went up north to Copiapo where his immediate family lived and that's where I spend the rest of my time there.  I went to school everyday with him and sister, and their classmates were amazingly nice to me.  Oddly enough, even though I was only there for five weeks, my Spanish actually improved!  When it came time to leave, I didn't want to go home.

When I started my senior year, all I could think of was going back to Chile.  I decided that I wasn't really ready to start college the following fall, and doing a gap year would be a good idea.  And of course I wanted to go back to Chile.  J's family even said I could stay with them again.  But the foreign exchange program (AFS) didn't have an "18+" program for me, so I went to Costa Rica instead.

When I started college in the fall of 2003 (majoring in Latin American Studies and Spanish) I knew I wanted to to study in Chile for a semester.  My university (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) didn't have a program in Chile and so I signed up for a summer program in Mexico and continued to look at other programs and eventually found one in Valparaiso.  I set up a meeting with my academic advisor who was excited for me to go to Chile to go over the program and course equivalencies.  Then I went to talk to Financial Aid...and that's where I got shot down.  They type of aid I had was not applicable to non-UWEC study abroad.  So I decided to go with the university's program to Valladolid, Spain and spent a wonderful semester there.

But something was STILL pulling me back to Chile.  In my last semester (fall 2006) I started weighing my options after college.  All my friends were moving to the Twin Cities area, and while it sounded quite nice, I couldn't help but yearn to go abroad again...and this time it would HAVE to be Chile.  I found a program online that places native speakers at schools in Chile and applied.  I soon moved back home to live with my parents (oh joy!) until I was secured a placement.  I finally got one in late June 2007...to go in July.  So I quit my job, packed my bags and came back to Chile!

The following year had its ups and downs, but it was a great experience (I reconnected with J and his family).  The only thing that wasn't was my job.  I was at a HORRENDOUS school teaching 1-6 grade English.  By the second semester, I had had enough.  I hemmed a hawed over my options but eventually decided to go home.  Right after I decided to go home, things started to develop between this chileno I had been crushing on, M.  What started as a good-bye fling soon turned into something else and I started to have regrets about going home.  But we said good-bye and I went home in May 2008.

M and I kept in touch and I realized I really did have strong feelings for him.  I though with time they would wear off and for a while we fell out of contact.  Then I started missing Chile.  Terribly.  And That's when I decided I had to come back.  Again.  I looked for institutes online and applied to a few before taking a job at one of them.  I was set to come back in September 2008.  I e-mailed M and he was really stoked about it.  He started talking about how we could finally be together, that he wanted me to meet his family and even offered for me to stay with him until I found a place to live in Santiago.  

We saw each other as soon as I got back.  He came to visit me in the hostel and we went out for some wine.  Within a short amount of time, he commented on my weight (I had gained a few pounds) and a little while later he said something about his ex calling him...and I knew what that meant.  After that I got a few texts from him and a phone call, but that was it.  He dropped me just like that.  It took a while for me to get over it and eventually I met someone else...who turned out to be even worse (that's an entirely different entry).

As far as the second part about how long I'm going to stay here, I'm not entirely sure.  I love Chile but there are things that I don't like (the smog, transantiago) and despite my experiences with the men, I'm not running to a plane..or the border.  But I guess there's still some little part of me that's hopeful when it comes to love...but who know what will happen!