Traveling to surrounding countries is a very common thing that students who study abroad do. Before coming to Chile, I had a couple of countriesย that I wanted to visit during my time in South America. Of course, the desire is still alive, but traveling in South America costs a lot of money and I was oblivious to this before coming here. Because of this, I thought I would be very limited to the adventures I would be able to take because I don’t have the money needed to travel to a handful of countries for a decent amount of time, but I was wrong.
Thanks to all of the lovely human beings that I have met, I have found value in doing ordinary things while spending time with them. Partaking in these activities has made me gain an appreciation for my surroundings alongside made me realize that having a good study abroad experience is about just doing thingsย with new friends and not necessarily having to leave the country and spending a lot of money doing it. `That being said, here are some of the things I’ve enjoyed:
Hiking
Hiking is such a great way to spend a morning or an entire day during the weekend. I’ve gone hiking twice in the three weeks that I’ve been in Santiago and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t do it more back home. During the hikes, my friends and I sing songs, tell stories, and learn about each other’s lives. To put it simply, it’s honestly just a fun time. And a great thing about this is that a lot of the times it’s free! Sometimes there’s a fee to enter the park, but it tends to be very inexpensive and very worth it. This is a picture of my friends during one of our hikes:
Community Activities
Another thing you can do is follow pages on Facebook/Instagram and find activities happening in your community. For example, in Santiago, there are a lot of movies shown at parks as well as concerts that are open to the public. These activities are always advertised to the public, you just have to look for them.
Yesterday a couple of friends and I watched Greaseย in a park and it was a great time. I didn’t take any pictures there, but there was an abundance of people covering the lawn, enjoying the night and the movie, and it was just a nice environment to be in. The only thing we really had to buy was snacks! What a lovely thing it is when you only have to buy snacks to have a good time and enjoy a movie with friends.
Cooking/Potlucks
Overall, I feel like just staying in the city and being active has made me appreciate my environment a lot more because I get to know it better with each activity I do.
I hope this inspires you to get to know the city that you’re in. Even if you’re not studying abroad and you’re just reading this because you’re my friend who keeps up with me through these blogs. Go out and appreciate your surroundings! Go be adventurous!