14 - Transition

Well, if living the high life were my goal for this study abroad, I certainly picked the right destination. Vina/Valpo is prime Mediterranean coast town transplanted to the South Pacific, with some historical spice and Latin flavor mixed in to boot. It’s a larger city than I had imagined, famously built right into the rolling Andean hills so that everywhere you go there is a view out to the sea. Although I feel a little regret at being a complete wuss (ISA will also take you Amman, Jordan among other places), I think palm trees with white Christmas lights a la Ann Arbor will help me get over it pretty quick.

The living situation is a win all around. The family is very laid back, I have my own room, and best of all, it turns out pensiones are common student housing arrangements. There’s only one other international student who will be living here – the rest are local students. It’s going to be nice to right away meet people who know the area, have local friends, etc. And as an added bonus, nobody in the house speaks much English, so Spanish practice is all day. I was worried for a bit that I would get put in a house with a bunch of other new-to-Spanish Americans and an English speaking family – I wouldn’t have nearly as much time to practice. For now though, it’s just me here, as everybody else is still on break until March.

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On a separate note, I’m not sure where to take this blog from here. My travels are essentially done except for a Chile bucket list that I’ll work on and write about as they happen, slowly. I will keep writing here, even if nobody cares and nobody reads, because putting together formal-ish blog entries as opposed to scribbles in a journal has been both fun and a really good learning experience. But, if possible, I’d like to make it interesting for my few readers as well. If I spill my mind every once in a while on a variety of topics, would people care? For example, I could write opinions and observations right now on the turmoil Egypt, thoughts on business and reading (currently The World is Flat, long overdue), or what I predict to be a looming public health crisis in South America. Would you read any of it?

I guess that’s what a generic blog is, and I don’t know what else I would write about, so for now that’s what it will be. There’s a new blog born, incredibly, every seven seconds according to a source cited in The World is Flat (Technorati.com). Most of them are made by people like me and will probably talk about similar issues, but I’m alright with that. I’m not trying to be entrepreneurial here; I just want to keep writing. So that’s what it will be. Wednesday I’ll post about the situation in Egypt, after watching what happens tomorrow as Cairo tries to put on a million-man protest. Until then, briefly check out this incredible post:

http://matadornetwork.com/life/notes-on-not-being-in-egypt-as-it-all-kicks-off/