I Never Want to Leave Santiago: A Realization I Had

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After spending a week out of the city, I realized how attached I am to it. Last week was spring break, and as you know, I spent the week in the south of Chile. I noticed that this week I felt some sort of satisfaction by being in the city. When I landed in Santiago, I was so elated to be back. It wasnโ€™t that I wasnโ€™t happy to have been in The south, I felt like I had arrived home after a long trip. Do youย know that feeling?

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This feeling also came with a sudden appreciation for things I hadnโ€™t noticed before. Such as, having three host siblings (I donโ€™t think Iโ€™ve talked about my host siblings that much, if at all, but I have three host siblings. A pair of young fraternal twins [boy and girl] and a baby girl). As soon as I walked through the door on that Sunday afternoon, everyone was looking in my direction and screamed in excitement: โ€œJESSICA!!!โ€ They were having lunch out on the patio and told me to join them. This made me overwhelmingly joyous. I guess in that moment I didnโ€™t realize how at home they had made me feel. I havenโ€™t been homesick much at all since Iโ€™ve been in Santiago and I realized that I had never acknowledged that a lot of it had to do with the fact that my host family has made me feel very comfortable during my time here.

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After lunch was over, I headed to my room, showered from my trip, and I started to paint. I used to paint back in the states and had just recently gotten the materials to pain here. While I was in Patagonia, I decided that I would paint one of the views I saw there.ย 

I began to paint Lake Nordenskjold and this is what I have so far:ย 

 

A painting I started of Lake Nordenskjold in Torres del Paine National Park. Please donโ€™t judge my painting harshly because Iโ€™m sensitive and I paint as a form of meditation, not because I think I paint good. Also, Iโ€™m not even close to finished, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. (Iโ€™ll share the finished product with you sometime).

 

While painting this, I just felt so happy and comfortable. I looked out the window and realized I had such a nicely placed room. I can see the backyard to the apartment complex, which is comprised of a pool and a small garden. During the day I can hear the children from the building playing outside, sometimes I can hear parents just chatting, and a sound I can always count on is the sound of cars driving by. I know a lot of people would find this bothersome, especially at night; however, I love the sound. I love being able to hear that there is still life even in the middle of the night. Somehow, itโ€™s comforting and I know Iโ€™ll miss this when I leave Santiago.ย 

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The next day when classes resumed, I was so happy. Usually, bus and metro rides donโ€™t seem too great, but for some reason, I realized I loved them both. I love that it takes me around 45 minutes to get to school because I always have time to read. Itโ€™s perfect for me to carry out a hobby I tend to push to the side when Iโ€™m in school. I was also thrilled to see my group of friends whom I hadnโ€™t seen in a week. It was a really long week and I was so used to seeing everyone every single day that a week without them felt like an eternity, but the time apart made our reunion much more wonderful. I just loved being able to have friends in this beautiful city. Not only friends though, but I was also excited to see my professors and hang around campus with all of my friends.

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I just love this city and all of the experiences Iโ€™ve had in it. I really wonder how Iโ€™ll handle being back home in the states. I have a theory that Iโ€™m not going to recover from reverse-culture shock until after the summer is over, but I guess weโ€™ll see.ย 

 

Thank you for reading my blog, Iโ€™ll talk to you next week!

 

Xo,

J

Jessica Ramos

*FEA Access Partner Scholarship (USAC: University Studies Abroad Consortium) <i>Hello in your host country language</i>: Hola <i> University</i>: California State University, Sacramento <i>Expected graduation year</i>: 2021 <i>Destination</i>: Santiago, Chile <i>Program Provider</i>: USAC: University Studies Abroad Consortium <i>Major / Minor</i>: English and History <i>Demographic background</i>: First-generation, Latina, LGBTQ <i>Future career aspirations</i>: Chicanx/Latin American Literature Professor <i>Top 3 goals for study abroad</i>: To improve my linguistic relativity in Spanish; To gain a sense of self-sufficiency; To learn more about Latin American literature in the context of it's corresponding historical period.