Feria del Mar
Yes, once again, you translated the title correctly. My school is very unique (and super duper cool) so we have these monthly festivals. Nut Harvest Day, Ocean Festival, Latin America Festival (every grade prepares a dance from a different Latin American country), and others. My best friend in Chile was joking that if I keep blogging about the schools festivals, everybody is going to think Encuentro, our school, is a "hippie" school. Haha, maybe I do go to a Chilean hippie school! But anyways, we had a day called Feria del Mar where each grade prepares a different seafood dish. Some parents came to help cook. Everyone went around to each grade's table to try the dish they prepared and enjoyed a presentation from the kindergartens. My grade made ceviche and other grades made pizza with seafood toppings, kebabs or lasgana. Everything was super delicious. I heard a ton of "que rico"s that day.
Next I want to say that I am so glad that the five of us exchange students from our program in Chile became so close immediately. We help each other through everything, we are always there to talk to one another, and it's the best and most relaxing feeling talking to someone who is going through pretty much the same experience as you. I am the only one still in Santiago because the rest were sent of to different towns throughout Chile but we have a group chat on Whatsapp that we use to talk. I highly recommend to anyone wanting to study abroad, that they are in touch with a former exchange student or a current one... but make sure to NEVER compare experiences because everyone's experience, situations and how they react to it is different... yet at the same time you are in the same boat. That might have not made sense since I just contradicted myself, but study abroad students will understand. Sally from Vermont and Nela from Germany came to Santiago to visit me and their Santiago host families. It was so great to see them!!!
In other news, making American pancakes (hotcakes), has become a frequent thing in my house and I am utterly okay with that. Also, I have plans with my previous family to go over to their house and have once (the afternoon meal) together. I am glad that I am staying in touch with my two other families in Chile because it feels like I have more of a connection with the people here and I know that when I am in Chile again, I will visit all THREE families.
I officially am Chilean! After a very long process, I finally got my student travel visa and my Chile identification card.
Chao!
Olivia la Chilena