How Stella’s (Getting) Her Groove Back-

As I tried to express in last week’s post, I had a wake up call. Under most circumstances, I’d consider myself quite a pro at confrontation. If not a pro, I’m certainly one to speak my mind, face the facts and move forward towards a solution (the Just Jayne gene maybe?). Anyways, the past few weeks I would consider to have been a test, a challenge to my ability to confront something unfamiliar, petrifying, yet thrilling, all the while maintaining an open and present mind. As I feel myself surfacing from the lonely and the foreign into a new wave of exhilaration and exploration, I begin to see clearly the undulating process/unfolding of this ‘abroad’ experience.

While I’m yet unable to reflect on the months to follow, I predict this semester to be one of emotional challenges, cyclically emerging, submerging, and emerging again and again. The wisdom gained from such challenges is paramount, in contrast to what I’ll learn inside Santiago’s classrooms. To tie back to my remark about confrontation, the fluctuation of feelings I discussed above, have been issues demanding confrontation. With hesitation at first, and now with confidence and motivation. This is not to say that the rest of my time here in Chile will be free of feeling lonely, overwhelmed, etc. On the contrary, I’m certain there will be more. However, I’m slowly figuring out, bit by bit, how those times when you are down, when you are scared, are very much a part of being in a foreign country, and probably part of life, not matter how lucky you are to have loved one’s by your side. How you learn to pull yourself away from such feelings is the real lesson, and thus far, has been one of the most valuable teaching I’ve received. And the best part, it’s self taught!…with a little help from my friends.

Alright, I hope all of the above made sense. I have a feeling I got to sounding a bit morbid, like I’m learning how to live with depression, or that life’s really a big pit of loneliness that you have to deal with sooner or later. On the contrary, I’ve had a tremendous past two weeks, the sweet fruits of the laborious process I attempted to reconstruct above.

To share with you a bit, I’ve begun taking better care of myself- strict exercise, better eating, no wine during the week etc. Much to my surprise, I’ve taken up Salsa; yes, I’m currently in a dance class, and it’s just fabulous. I enrolled with two new friends from my radio class, also exchange students, but from Spain, so I only speak Spanish with them. We have class Thursday and Friday at this youth community center in Providencia, my neighborhood. Grace nor elegance have never come easily to me, but hopefully I’ll adapt to the Latin groove at some point.

Last weekend I went off to Valparaíso to visit Cate, who actually lives in Viña del Mar, the neighboring beach town. Shout out to Cate’s blog if you wanna check out where she lives, what she’s up to: http://www.vinademoda.blogspot.com.

It was a short trip, only Saturday morning, until Sunday afternoon, but it was filled with juice. We met up with Amanda, studying in Valparaíso also, who is one of Cate’s friends from New York, who I’ve met multiple times before. She showed us to these fabulous sand dunes that overlooked the pacific ocean, where people were sand boarding as if they were snowboarders scaling the side of a snow covered mountain. The topography is startlingly similar to the California coastline, and it gave me a sense of home like I hadn’t felt since May when I was back in the bay. That night, Cate and I cooked her host family a big dinner. We made an arugula salad with sliced pears and walnuts, and it was clear that the concept of both fruit and lettuce in the same bowl was more than alien to these people. We certainly enjoyed ourselves nonetheless, and ended the night at a very bohemian joint, Café Journal, that is conveniently located down the hill from Cate’s house.

The next morning, we pried ourselves out of bed earlier than we would have liked, so that we’d have time to explore Valparaíso just a bit before I had to leave. If you’ve hear of Valparaíso, you’ve probably also heard it’s the Latin American twin sister of San Francisco. This statement is true to an extent, but Valpo has a rustic, gritty and artistic underbelly than San Francisco’s (thriving) economy repels. Imagine the steepest street you can think of in SF, and then imagine the pavement of that street is one of crack cobblestone, with holes so big that weeds and grass have begun to poke through. The walls that line the streets have eccentrically colored murals and the ancient Victorian style houses appear to be competing for both width and height. This is Valpo- a picturesque, vibrant piece of art, that people get to live in.

How cool…

It was instantly clear to me that if I were to live in Chile, Valparaíso would be my preference over Santiago. However, I’m loving the experience of a big city, I have the best family in the world, and Cate’s house is only a pleasant hour and forty-five minute bus ride away.

The Dune Ascent

Art shot...

Shadowed dare devils atop the mountain peak

Notice my haircut!

Acensor into the cerros (hills) of Valparaíso

Vista of the puerto

And it was good coffee too-