Studying abroad, it often seems like almost everyday something noteworthy happens. Whether it is something that you learn, something that you see or something that you experience.

After having lived in Santiago for three months, I have completely accepted the notion that, for the most part, the people living here have a cold demeanor and are generally standoffish at first. On the bus or the metro it is rare to have people smile at you or talk to you, as everyone just does their commute plugged into their phones. For the most part, people just mind their own business and go about their lives.
This is not unlike most cities, though. Usually, in association with the faster pace of life comes the brisk and brusque attitude that cities are infamous for. I thought that Santiago was the worst of them, all until an experience I had changed my life.

It was getting dark the other night and a friend and I were walking back to the metro from having dinner at an Indian place around the corner. During the summer, it was not uncommon to be dripped on by an air conditioner unit in the window of an apartment, so when we felt water drip on us we didn’t think anything of it at first. That was until the woman behind us started yelling at us. We turned around thinking that one of our backpacks were open or something was wrong with her. After a very confusing conversation in Spanish, we realized she was trying to tell us that the “water” we had felt drip on us was actually a bird in the tree above us pooping on us.

Instead of just ignoring this, like so many people in the city have a tendency to do, this woman and her husband got napkins from a nearby street vendor and helped us get the bird poop off. It was an overall gross experience, but it was a reminder that even though Santiago is a city, there are still nice and caring people here.

Another example of this can be seen on the metro and bus. Most the time, the public transportation is fairly crowded unless it is early in the morning of late at night. This means that most people end up standing, holding onto the rails and, at times, holding onto the people around them. The limited seats available are almost always taken, but no matter how full a bus or metro is, if a pregnant woman, anyone with young children or an elderly person gets on, people move to give them seats.

And it isn’t just once in awhile that this happens, it is all the time. I have never seen someone who looked like they were having trouble standing or could potentially have trouble standing have to stand for more than a second. Even on a packed metro, I have seen people work together to make sure a mother holding a baby or an elderly gentleman has a place to sit where they can safely make their commute. This might not be unique to Santiago, but it always strikes me how a city that can at times seem so cold, is so considerate.

Similar to these examples, when you go to the grocery store, the respect for the line is an interesting aspect. At some grocery stores in the city, people are vicious in their desire to check-out and leave the store, but at the grocery store near my house it is different. If someone needs to get out of line for any reason, whether it be to get something else off the shelf or put something back or virtually any reason, the rest of the line respects their position. One time I had gotten in line and realized I forgot to get some fruit. It took me two minutes to pick my fruit and when I came back and got in my old place in line people told me to move up to my old spot.

It is interesting how even though Santiago may have a reputation of being such a cold place with little consideration for other people, in reality there are many examples of concern and care in everyday life.

Before coming to Chile, everyone told me that when you are abroad the time will go by way faster than you realize. I brushed this off, saying that I am here for four whole months. There is no way that all that time will fly by…

Now, here I am with four more weeks of classes before I return to the United States with the sinking realization that time did fly by. What is important, though, is that I have had the time to do all the things I wanted to do.

When you Google the top things to do in Chile, Google generates a list. On this list, I have done seven out of the top nine things. Currently, I am spending seven days in Patagonia, hiking Torres del Paine (which is on the list). Throughout my time here I have had the opportunity to travel with much more ease than I can in the U.S. thanks to the extensive bus lines and the number of cheap campsites and hostels.

One of my favorite trips I have taken so far was to an area about an hour from Santiago called Cajon del Maipo. This area is known for its beauty, along with having two beautiful lakes and various hot springs to swim in. When I left for Cajon del Maipo on Mar. 31, I left with the intention of staying two nights, but after a huge thunderstorm started to develop the next day we ended up heading back early. We did get a chance to see one of the two lakes, which was formed by glaciers and was absolutely beautiful.

We had just finished eating our lunch by the lake when huge storm clouds started coming into the sky near where we were. We quickly found a ride back to the town to decide what to do. We ended up coming back to Santiago instead of camping and it’s a good thing we did. The storm that we saw coming into the area ended up causing landslides and flooding all over the region. Some of these landslides contaminated the water reserve that supplies the Santiago area, leaving Santiago without water for close to four days in some cases. Although there were some people who didn’t lose water, my host family lost it for three days.

Coming back home from the trip early was lucky, allowing us to miss the storm and the flooding associated with it. The trip as a whole was still a success. We got to see a beautiful area of the country and we had stories that we can tell for years.

Even when it seems like I am just going to have a laid back weekend in the city, there is always something new to explore. Whether its an area of town that I haven’t been to before or a tourist attraction that appeals to people from outside the area, it is always an adventure.
Part of studying abroad in another country is making the most of your time here. Even though I am only here for a limited amount of time, as long as I am constantly doing new things and making the most of my time, it will be a success. It’s not the amount of time spent here, but the quality of the time that counts.

Before coming to Santiago, I was vaguely aware that the Andes ran through Chile, but I did not realize how much of an impact this had on the outdoor sports scene. Because of the Andes, Chile has many well-known hikes, one of the most well-known being Torres del Paine in Patagonia.

There are two general options of what to do when you go to Torres del Paine. You can hike one of two different hikes, or, if you don’t want to hike and camp, you can take any number of day trips out of Puerto Natales.

With hiking, there are two common paths to take, the “O” circuit and the “W” route. The W route is far more popular, simply because it can be done in four to six days, while the O circuit usually takes eight days.

For my spring break, I am doing the W route, spending five days and four nights hiking the path in Torres del Paine National Park. Tons of effort goes into planning the trip — and the amount of effort required has become even greater in recent years. In the past, you could go to the park, pay your entry fee and camp at whatever site you got to without making reservations in advance. Now, the park requires you to make reservations at the campsites ahead of time, requiring you to decide exactly how many miles you want to do each day.

Another fact that influences the amount of preparation required is the availability of the campsites. Since Torres del Paine is in Patagonia, which is a part of Southern Chile, the winters there are brutal. In the winter, the average temperature at Torres is between 27 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit, while in the summer the average temperature is around 52 degrees Fahrenheit. The hardest element to deal with is the rain and the snow, which often come with large amounts of wind. Even during the summer, when the weather is warm, Torres del Paine receives a significant amount of rain.

Since the seasons are reversed here in Chile, we just started fall and the temperatures are cooling off. As such, the hiking season is coming to an end at Torres del Paine. This means that many of the campsites may be completely booked, causing you to have to change your plan about how much you are going to hike each day. When we booked our sites, two of the ones we wanted to stay at were completely full. Because of this, we had to change it so that one of our hikes is shorter than it was supposed to be, but as a result, the other is significantly longer.  This is just one thing you have to consider when planning for Torres.

Another factor you have to plan for is simply getting to the park. Southern Chile is a lake and river region, where much of the land is hard to access due to the rivers and lakes, making some areas more desolate than the rest of the country. Due to this, in order to access the park, most people fly from Santiago to Punta Arena —, which is south of the park — and then take a bus ride to Puerto Natales. It is recommended that you spend that night at a hostel in Puerto Natales before taking the boat into the actual park to begin your hiking. After completing the W route, you have to take a boat back to Puerto Natales in order to take the bus to the airport and the plane back to Santiago.

When it’s all said and done, there is a lot that goes into this hike besides the actual hiking and camping. There is a lot of planning that has to happen ahead of time, as well as transportation to get to the park. When it’s all said and done, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful places in Chile and possibly the world.

On Friday and Saturday, the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams traveled to Boston to compete in the America East Championships. Both teams took an eighth place finish, with the women scoring 42 points and the men scoring 41.

The women’s team was led by fourth-year Grace MacLean, who won the indoor pentathlon. MacLean placed fourth in the shot put (10.03 m), second in the long jump (5.43 m), first in the high jump (1.75 m), first in the 60-meter hurdles (8.84) and third in the 800-meter run (2:30.32) for a final performance of first place with 3,760 points. Fellow Black Bears fourth-year Alexa Frame, first-year Skyler Cook and first-year Alexis Cook also placed in 10th, 13th and 14th respectively in the indoor pentathlon.

Overall the Black Bears placed well in the field events, taking second place in the high jump, fourth place in the long jump, fourth and fifth place in the weight throw, sixth place in the shot put, seventh in the pole vault and ninth in triple jump. MacLean placed second in the high jump event with the same height of 1.75 that she got in the pentathlon.

Second-year Ariel Clachar took fourth place in the long jump, with a jump of 5.61 meters, just 0.24 behind the first-place finisher. Fellow Black Bear third-year Tia Jackson placed 16th in this event with a jump of 4.70 meters.

In the weight throw fourth-year Rachel Bergeron placed fourth with a throw of 16.11 meters and fourth-year Ashley Donohoe placed fifth with a throw of 15.40 meters. Bergeron also placed sixth in the shot put with a throw of 12.52 meters, while Donohoe placed 10th with a throw of 11.74 meters.

In the pole vault, second-year Taylor Lenentine took seventh place with a jump of 3.35 meters, followed by second-year Olivia Wallace with a jump of 3.05 meters. Second-year Lucia Guarnieri placed ninth in the triple jump with a jump of 11.21 meters.

On the track the Black Bears had other noteworthy performances in the 200-meter dash, the 4 by 400-meter relay and the 1-mile.

In the 200-meter dash finals, second-year Lauren Magnuson placed seventh with a time of 24.98. Albany’s third-year Stephanie Osuji placed first with a winning time of 24.19. Magnuson went on to run in the 4 by 400-meter relay, in which the Maine team placed sixth out of eight teams. A team of fourth-year Teal Jackson, Magnuson, first-year Brittany Torchia and third-year Alexis Dietrich finished with a time of 3:56.93.

In the 1-mile, Maine had three runners compete. First-year Alison Wyman came in 11th with a time of 5:17.78, fourth-year Tiana Bibb came in 13th 5:24.35 and second-year Haley Lawrence came in 16th with a time of 5:30.14.

Overall Black Bears placed eighth out of the nine teams with 42 points. University of Albany placed first with 212 points.

On the men’s side, the Black Bears had athletes place in the top 10 places all throughout the events.

On the track, fourth-year Jacob Johns placed second in the 1-mile run with a time of 4:15.04, less than a second behind the first place finisher from Binghamton University. Fourth-year Levi Frye came in 18th in the event with a time of 4:24.80.

Redshirt fourth-year Jesse Orach came in fourth in the 3,000 meter run with 8:25.82. Fourth-year Justin Tracy and second-year Jacob Terry also competed for the Black Bears, coming in ninth and 34th respectively. Orach also competed in the 5,000-meter run, placing fifth with a time of 14:39.25, followed by third-year Joshua Horne with a time of 14:53.61 in eighth place.

In the 60-meter dash, third-year Mozai Nelson placed seventh in the finals with a time of 7.07 seconds. The first place finisher, fourth-year Jon Alkins, from Binghamton came in with a time of 6.85 seconds.

The Black Bears also placed well in the 4 by 400 meter relay, coming in sixth out of nine. A team of third-year Joseph Slattery, third-year Elijah Yeboah, third-year Jake Osborn and third-year Garrett Johnson came in with a time of 3:19.91.

The Black Bears also performed well on the field claiming top 10 performances in four events.

In the shot put, third-year Jeremy Frantz came in fifth with a throw of 15.59 meters. Third-year Isaiah Brooks came in seventh with a throw of 15.01 meters, third-year Thomas Murray placed 10th with a distance of 14.41 meters and third-year Adam Lufkin placed 13th with a distance of 13.96 meters.

First-year Troy Davis placed seventh in the high jump with a jump of 1.99 meters. In the weight throw, fourth-year Shane Corbett placed sixth with a throw of 16.30 meters. Brooks came in 11th with a distance of 15.08 meters. Murray came in 16th with a distance on 14.62, followed by first-year Jacob Stanko in 18th with a distance of 12.26 meters.

In the Heptathlon, two Black Bears competed coming in sixth and seventh. Third-year Andrew Toothaker came in sixth with 4,622 points while third-year Garrett Johnson came in seventh with 4,485 points.

The men’s team came in eighth out of nine teams overall with 41 points. University of Albany placed first with 205 points.

The next event for the Black Bears is the ECAC Championships on March 4-5 in Boston.

Being a country that has higher stakes in soccer than American football, I expected the sports scene to be different here in Chile, but one thing that surprised me was the atmosphere at the games among spectators. The attitude toward sports in general here is very different from back in the U.S. One of my friends went to a soccer game and met some Chileans who told him that, “In the States they [games] are a giant party, but here they are war.” From my experience, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s a war, but it is definitely a much more intense attitude than in the U.S., which you can see even from the venue.

In the U.S., whenever you go to a professional sporting event, there are usually vendors walking around the stands and refreshment stands where you can buy food, drinks or alcoholic beverages. Here they don’t have that. They have a few vendors walking around selling soft drinks and a couple snack foods, but there is no refreshment counter. They also don’t serve alcohol at the games. The fact that they don’t sell alcohol at the games here is part of what makes it seem like less of “giant party” and more of a war. Even though they don’t sell it in the actual arena, many people go out to a bar or restaurant after the game to celebrate their team’s victory and have a good time with their friends.

It’s also the spectators’ attitude at the games. In the U.S., you go to a game to have fun and watch your team with your buddies. Here, you go in support of your team and participation in the cheers is required. When I went to a soccer game, the group of people that I went with didn’t know the cheers and for a little while, we were seen as outsiders in the section we were in. Eventually, we figured the cheers out well enough to participate in them, but we still weren’t wearing the team’s jerseys, making us stand out in the sea of blue and red.

The police presence at the games also suggests that things could easily get out of hand if a game went sour. There were police everywhere you turned, ushering people out of the arena after the game and there were groups of them at the exits. On our walk home, we saw many police vehicles parked around the arena, some of which looked similar to tanks or jail buses in case things got too crazy.

Fights have been known to break out and there are certain games that we are advised against going to because of the strength of the rivalry and the possibility for violence to break out. People here take their sports seriously, making the atmosphere surrounding them much more serious.

That being said, going to a soccer game here is something you have to experience for yourself to understand. Having gone to one game makes me want to go to another game even more; not necessarily to have a really fun time, but to watch another game and be able to appreciate the athleticism on the field and the support displayed in the stands.

The way that education is approached at the university level here in Chile is much different from that of the University of Maine. The program that I am in is hosted through the Universidad Andres Bello, which is a Chilean university, but the classes I am in are taught just for students from the United States. This being said, the teachers are all Chilean and all but one of my classes are taught completely in Spanish.

At UMaine, my typical week of classes has a significant amount of reading and homework assignments that are due either online or in class. Here in Chile, that is not nearly the case. A couple of my classes will assign a section of reading or research to do every week, but for the most part you learn everything you need to know in the actual classroom. This makes the attendance policy much more strict to ensure that you are getting what is required from the task.

The majority of my classes here have grades dependent on the midterm exam, the final, a couple papers throughout the semester and attendance. Being abroad, this is a much more convenient way of schooling; I’m taking 18 credits and it seems like this is one of my easiest semesters in terms of schoolwork. The lack thereof allows me to go and do things after class and on the weekends without worrying about all the work I have waiting for me. The main requirement is that I do not miss class and I write the essays by the time they are due.

Coming into the experience, I was highly concerned about having classes taught in Spanish, knowing that my level of Spanish was not as great as it should be. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that from the first day I had enough understanding to get the gist of what they were saying. The first couple of days, I struggled to understand some of my professors who have strong Chilean accents, but after having been in the class for a week or two, I got used to it. Now, after almost two months of classes, I understand almost every word said in class.

One cool thing about this experience studying abroad is that it gave me the opportunity to take classes that I never would have taken otherwise. This semester I am enrolled in a Latin American theater class, a class on technology and international relations in Latin America, a class on the indigenous groups in southern Chile and a class about Latin American culture, on top of my Spanish grammar classes. All my classes are taught by native Spanish speakers who are from Chile or another nearby country. Most of the teachers speak a little bit of English, but for the most part it is not used in class (with the exception of my one class that is taught in English).

It is not like that for everyone, though. One of the things that is unique about the program I am enrolled in is that not only do we have students from all over the U.S. enrolled in it, but we also have people with all levels of Spanish. There are people who are learning Spanish for the first time and a couple people who are of Latin American descent and have been speaking it since they were born. The diversity of the group allows you to practice with people of all levels and learn from each other. Even people in lower levels of Spanish will often learn a word that the rest of us do not know.

Just living in a different country is a learning experience, so having these classes where we learn even more about Latin America while learning more Spanish is what is allowing me to get the most out of this adventure.

If you have never experienced a soccer game abroad, it is an experience to be remembered. Here in Santiago, Chile, the two big soccer teams are Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile. Colo Colo is usually considered the best team that Chile has, but Universidad de Chile is a close second. I went to a game last week at the Universidad de Chile stadium, with Universidad de Chile against Deportes Temuco.

Unlike university teams in the United States, Universidad de Chile is a professional team and the players do not have to attend the university to be eligible. Many of the players are also players on Chile’s national team, but the exact number varies by the year.

Universidad de Chile has won one South American cup in 2011, one Chile Supercup in 2015, five Chile Cups and 11 premier division championships. Most would say Colo Colo is their biggest rival. Each year the two teams have a face off, that is considered the most dangerous game to attend. This year’s game will be held on April 9 at Universidad de Chile’s field. In Chile, there is also a huge rivalry between Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica.

The two schools themselves represent the divide between the upper and middle class. Universidad Catolica, a private university, is often viewed as a school for the wealthy, while Universidad de Chile is a public school and typically thought of as more accessible for most people. This rivalry between the two schools also transfers to the rivalry between the teams. They also play each other every year and while it is not as dangerous as the game against Colo Colo, it is still an intense soccer game. This year’s game is scheduled for April 30 and will be at Universidad Catolica’s stadium.

The game that I attended was not a huge rivalry game. It was a Saturday night game where Universidad de Chile played against the team from Temuco, which is a city south of Santiago. Universidad de Chile won the game 1-0, but it was still a good football game. Both teams were moving the ball and making good plays.

Even though the score reflects a shutout game, Temuco had many shots on goal that could have resulted in goals.

It wasn’t just the athleticism on the field that made the game so exciting. It was the enthusiasm that the fans had for the game.

The best way to describe the atmosphere was as though it was the student section of a University of Maine men’s hockey game, but instead of only being that one section, it was the entire stadium. All the fans were invested in the game, singing songs and chants the entire time, changing based on what was happening on the field. There were songs encouraging Universidad de Chile to keep playing hard, there were songs when they were winning, there were even songs for when there were only a couple minutes left and they were still in the lead. When they won, the excitement was through the roof.

Almost everyone in the stadium was wearing a Universidad de Chile jersey. Even though they were all different jerseys, it made the stadium look as though it was just a sea of blue and red jerseys. My friends and I stuck out like sore thumbs not knowing any of the cheers and not wearing the blue and red jerseys. We weren’t isolated for this, though. The people sitting around us tried to teach us the cheers and tell us about what was happening. At one point I didn’t understand one of the chants and the man behind me leaned forward to explain it all to me.

Having never been to a professional soccer game, I had no idea what to expect. This game was more than I expected it to be, but in a good way. The excitement and love for the game was contagious, adding to the action happening on the field.

Cities in general have always seemed to me to have the greatest number of athletically-minded folks. This could be due to the high price of food, or the fact that it’s necessary to walk in order to get everywhere, but the same definitely holds true for Santiago. In Santiago, though, it could be for very different reasons. Santiago and the surrounding area is an exercise friendly city, giving its residents endless possibilities of ways to exercise and stay active.

The city itself has many parks, which are always full of people doing different workouts with all sorts of equipment. It is common to walk by a park and see people with dumbbells, medicine balls or any portable gym equipment. In Providencia, the comuna that I live in, there is a road that closes down for part of the day on Sunday so that people can go and walk, run, bike or do whatever they want with the closed road. There is also a biking and running path all the way down one of the main roads that even has lights for after it gets dark.
There are also places throughout the city where you can rent bikes and return them to any of the other locations throughout the city. The system is similar to Citi bikes in New York City. Many people use them for transportation to get to places, but there are also many people who use them to workout or go for a leisurely bike ride.
It isn’t just within the city limits that there are opportunities to exercise. Santiago’s geographic location puts it near the Andes mountain range as well as other smaller mountains nearby. It would be completely possible to find a different hike to do every weekend here for a long time. They are of different levels of difficulty depending on whether you are a novice hiker or a seasoned vet. There are many stores where you can buy or rent equipment to assist you with hiking around the area.
A few weeks ago, I got to experience another aspect of staying active here in Santiago. I got the opportunity to attend my host father’s basketball game here in Chile. The league he plays in has an age requirement that you have to be older that 30 and for most of his team, they met this limit by a significant amount. A few weeks ago, the team went to participate in a tournament in the northern part of the country, where they will play teams from all over the country and hopefully take away a win. The previous year, the team he is currently on won, so although they were aiming for that again, they were happy just to place.
Watching the game reminds me of watching Little League games. The players are so into the sport, joking around with each other, arguing with the referee, playing the sport for the love of the game, not just because they have to or because they are making money. They are actually paying money to play this sport that they love. And after the intensity of the game, the two teams can shake hands and go get a drink together, laugh about the game and maybe talk a little crap about who will win the next game.
There are many leagues similar to this where the athletes participate with the purpose of staying active and having the opportunity to play a sport they love. I am sure many of these opportunities are present in many cities and towns throughout the world, but one of the first things that I noticed coming to Santiago was how you could tell everyone was active here by the sheer number of opportunities this city has for someone to stay active. Walking everywhere is a workout in itself but here there are so many more opportunities to stay active that there is a good fit for virtually everyone.

Two weekends ago, as part of the program in Chile, we took a day trip to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. These two cities are on the coast of the country, about an hour-and-a-half away from Santiago. Our first stop was a man-made sand dune on the coast of Concon. The dune was created when officials did not want to deal with sand coming into their city, so they piled it all up to try to get rid of it. It was quite a hike to get to the top, but it was completely worth the view.

After visiting the sand dune, we went to Vina del Mar to go to the beach and get food. The beaches there are super nice, but because Chile is on the Pacific coast the water was too cold to spend a lot of time in. Surprisingly Vina del Mar was the one place here where I have heard a significant amount of English being spoken. They had many restaurants featuring burgers, which I haven’t seen much in Santiago.

After Vina del Mar, we went to Valparaiso, which is a city that many people compare to San Francisco. It has the same hills, architecture and atmosphere as San Francisco, so at times while we were there it felt just like we were back in the United States. There we got to walk around and look at some of the street art that is all over the city. Unlike the graffiti in Santiago, the graffiti, or street art, in Valparaiso is actually beautiful and meaningful. There was so much that it was hard to know what to look at as we walked around the city. We finished the day with a boat ride around the harbor.

The port at Valparaiso is super important to Chile and all of Latin America’s economy as it is one of the largest ports in the area. The harbor was full of fishing boats, shipping boats and some Chilean Navy boats.

After the tour of the harbor the day ended for some people, but there were 13 of us who rented a six-person Airbnb together. The first problem with this was that the location that was on the website was not where the actual Airbnb was. We ended up being picked up by the homeowner and driven about five minutes to where the house actually was. The next problem was that the house that supposedly had six beds actually had three beds and two couches. Somehow we all fit into the house and had a great weekend.

Vina del Mar and Valparaiso are known for their great seafood. One of the nights we were there, we went to a seafood restaurant. Personally, I don’t eat seafood, but the food that everyone else ate looked delicious. Ceviche was one of the dishes that was particularly popular.

Although Vina del Mar and Valparaiso are primarily known for their beaches, they are also great cultural hubs. Pablo Neruda, a famous Chilean poet and political activist, has one of his houses in Valparaiso. There are also many old elevators or “funiculars” that are on the sides of hills and give the city a different feel. They are basically just boxcars that will transport you up the side of a hill. These seem a little sketchy at first glance, but after riding in one, I realized that they seem pretty stable and make exploring the city even more exciting.

Another great thing about Vina del Mar and Valparaiso that was particularly nice is that since they are on the coast they were cooler than the city had been. At night, I was comfortable wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt, which was much different from the 90+ degree temperatures that we have been having in Santiago lately.

All in all, it was a great adventure to the coast that gave me an idea of what other parts of Chile there are outside of the metropolitan area of Santiago.