Category: Latin America

Submitted by Adamari Rodriguez on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Argentina sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

After having so many excursions and tours my study abroad group was surprised when we were taken to a villa in the countryside of Argentina. I have never seen a villa before except for Hispanic soap operas. We were surprised because of the extent of the property. Instead of going through a walking or bus tour like we have been doing, the coordinators allowed us to explore the villa for ourselves and to participate in the activities that the people from this area undertake. At the villa, we had the opportunity to witness gauchos or cowboys who gave us a demonstration. These gauchos are not really concerned with the latest technology, instead they cared for the horses and casually rode them. In the United States, there are horses and horseback riding, but this was different, these people use the horse as means of transportation.

In addition, we saw a demonstration of Zamba dancing. The dancers came out in very exotic costumes and had very intricate footwork. The technique was clearly visible through these extensive costumes and they often took turns dancing, having the female go first followed by the male and then as couple. It was interesting to see this dancing because I personally feel like there is not that much partner dancing in the States and the kind I have seen is not as sensual as this couple was. Overall, it was very neat to see the difference between the people in the countryside of Argentina and the urbanized Buenos Aires. I had the opportunity to see Argentinean culture through the dancing and gaucho demonstrations. I have never seen real cowboys before, but I am glad that I did because the gauchos looked so happy and content with each other, their horses, and nature.

Submitted by Jessie Eastburn on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Chile sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

When I arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Everywhere I looked there was another geological wonder. Active volcanoes and mountains as far as the eye could see. The day I arrived in Puerto Montt, I hiked up Volcano Osorno. The rocks I have only ever seen in laboratory classes were suddenly beneath my feet and multiplied by the millions. Reaching the summit, I turned around to view the most spectacular view I have ever witnessed. Lakes and streams, trees and grass, flowers and boulders, volcanoes and mountains. In that moment, I inhaled the freshest air that I have ever breathed and listened to a peaceful silence I fear I will never hear again. I have never been more in my element than I was among nature and new friends on Volcano Osorno.

 

 

Submitted by Sara Bixler on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Argentina sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

This past weekend, we took a trip to Iguazú Falls, which is located in the northern part of the country. This region is much different from Buenos Aires (where we are staying). Buenos Aires is a well-populated, urban city, while Iguazú Falls is a small town that is surrounded by a tropical forest. The area was originally inhabited by a tribe of indigenous people known as the Guaraní. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit a Guaraní village, and I found their way of life particularly interesting. Despite the fact that the area is now a tourist attraction, mainly because of the incredible waterfalls, these people continue to live largely as their ancestors did. Their homes are small huts that are made of materials found within the forest, and they provide their own food by growing crops and catching animals in traps they create from raw materials as well. Even though it was blazing hot here, I found this trip really interesting and I really enjoyed meeting the people from the tribe and visiting the village. It was a nice change of pace after spending the week in a busy city. The picture I have chosen to include is not of the village, it’s of the waterfalls, because I think the falls are too incredible not to include.

Submitted by Alyssa Santiago on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Chile sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

My first week in Chile has been nothing short of memorable. There is so much to see here and so much to do. I live in a little, cute home with a host mom that is absolutely amazing. She has taken my roommate and I in like we are one of her own and spoils us with delicious food, fruitful laughs, and anything else that we may need. The university is a two minute walk from our house and our neighborhood is filled with so many delicious restaurants, convenience stores, the metro, and so much more. Santiago is like the convenience and abundance of New York City, but also the beautiful views and mountains of the countryside. Everything is so much cheaper here that when I left lunch the other day at a local restaurant, I felt I was stealing. Tips are always included and are 10% and Ubers are never more than $5.

Each district of the city has something special to offer, but there is one in particular that has gone through a drastic change in the last few months. Plaza Italia was once a luscious green area bursting with life, but has turned to a graveyard of lost hope for the Chilean people. Protesters have run rampant throughout the plaza setting any greenery on fire and spray painting the whole city in slurs and aggressive acronyms against the cops. The cement of the streets have been broken off and thrown at store windows to further express their rage. But why are they so mad? They want change. They want understanding. They want equality. Chilean people work hard and are constantly inflicted with rising metro prices, sexism, deceasing amounts of social welfare systems, deteriorating education systems, and large socioeconomic gaps. These people want to be heard and feel their president is not doing them justice and sending cops to shoot people in the eyes leaving them blind, suffocate them with tear gas, and use extensive force to silence their voices. Chile fairly recently escaped a dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and people fear their fate is heading in the same direction. Chile is a fruitful country with diverse climates, food, and nationalities like the USA, but the Chilean people have been unable to live to their full potential. I am so lucky to be able to embark on this journey and experience this life everyday but I am also so lucky to be an American.

 

Submitted by Caroline Sullivan on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Chile sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

The aspect of my Chile LLCU program that I cherish the most is living with my host family.  I’m currently taking SPAN475 and SPAN307, and living with a host family who speaks mostly Spanish is helping my language skills improve immensely.  At first, I didn’t know what to expect about living with a host family and not being able to speak in English while at home.  Anticipating the fact that I would be pushed out of my comfort zone and having to speak another language most of the time made me anxious.  However, looking back on my anxiety now, I had little to be worried about considering my host parents are some of the most caring and understanding people I have ever met.

My host mother always thinks of what we need to be prepared for throughout the day before a thought even crosses our mind.  Our dinner and breakfasts that we enjoy together are always filled with laughter while we learn more conversational Spanish and work together to understand each other.  I couldn’t imagine experiencing this study abroad program without living with our host family. I am constantly challenged to improve my Spanish by forming connections, making jokes, telling stories, and relating on personal levels to my host family during every second that I am home.  Our host parents also teach us so much about true Chilean culture. We bring back knowledge from the classroom and our host families explain the events that we learn about in even more detailed ways and give their own perspectives about them.  I am so thankful for my host parents and this experience studying Spanish abroad in Chile… it is truly one of a kind.

 

Submitted by David Haynes on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

The first week in Panama was a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. I chose this program because I wanted to improve my Spanish, and it already feels a lot better. I have spoken more Spanish in the first seven days than I have in the first seven years of learning the language! It actually feels very strange to write this in English. It has also been some of the hardest seven days, too. Using only Spanish 24/7 is a bit exhausting for my brain, but it’s the only way I will improve.

I came here a little worried about walking through the streets of the city alone and having my phone stolen or something along these lines (partly because my phone was stolen in Madrid a couple of years ago).  However, I found that this city is very safe and the people are incredibly kind. My favorite thing to do so far has been to walk the narrow streets of Casco Viejo and find random strangers to talk to. This may sound a little crazy, but I have had incredible conversations with all sorts of people and they have all been extremely kind. I have spoken to people from Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, France, Israel, and of course, Panama. In fact, I have far too many stories from the first week to put in a single blog post.

Apart from talking to strangers on the street, today, we started our service learning at Las Aldeas SOS, an international organization dedicated to providing a loving and steady home to children who do not have one. My activity is swimming, so today I played with the little kids in the pool for a couple of hours. I have learned (from my trip to Morocco, too) that one does not need to know a language in order to play. I barely understood most of the little kids, but I had a blast and I think they did, as well.

I have come to believe that the world is a lot safer than people think and that people are a lot  kinder than we think, too. Many people, including myself, tend to look at people from another country with at least an ounce of fear or apprehension. But the more people I meet, the more I realize that we are all pretty much the same. Extremely different, yes, but also the same.

Submitted by Carly Liberatore on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Chile sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

After spending one week here in Santiago, I have begun adjusting to some differences in the food culture here compared to the United States. The breakfast provided by my host family usually consists of a sandwich with chicken, tomatoes, and lettuce along with some sort of sweet bread or cookies which is quite different from my normal breakfast of cereal, eggs, or oatmeal. Lunch is pretty normal, but for my host parents, this is their biggest meal of the day. My host parents rarely eat dinner with us, but will cook a large meal for us around 8:00 pm since they know we are used to eating a big dinner. I have also learned that it is important to speak up if you do not eat certain foods so as to not offend your host parents who are cooking for you!

Submitted by Mariapia Scotto Di Carlo on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Argentina sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

A place that we went to on my study abroad program that by far stood out to me was La Boca in Argentina. It’s been one of my favorite places! La Boca is a place filled with super colorful houses. This place meant a lot to me because I am Italian and one of my favorite places in Italy is La Corricella in Procida, which is famous for being an island filled with colorful houses so it held so much sentimental value and to me it was really cool to compare that with La Boca, which I’ve never seen before. La Boca also has a narrow walkway called El Caminito. Within El Caminito, there is an opportunity to buy dulce de leche and alfajores cookies, which are 2 alfajores cookies with dulce de leche in the middle. While alfajores are famous and can be found in many areas around Argentina, La Boca was actually the first place I tried this yummy dessert. It was so delicious and amazing to try something so authentic and intertwined with the culture. Also while at La Boca, we were able to see the Boca Juniors stadium nicknamed “La Bombonera”. This was really cool to me because I love soccer so a chance at seeing the stadium was incredible. Finally, something else from La Boca that meant so much to me was the street art. I personally love graffiti and the street art sold in the streets and they were so reflective of the beautiful and colorful town La Boca truly was. There were even people dancing tango in the streets, as it is where tango was born! Being able to see such an authentic and famous dance occur in its place of origin was insane and left me wanting to return to La Boca!

Submitted by Gabrielle Dilone on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Argentina sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

I am writing this reflection as I have just come back from my weekend getaway to Iguazu in Argentina. Personally, one of the reasons I applied to this study abroad was because there was the opportunity to see one of the seven wonders of nature in the world: Iguazu Falls (Cataratas del Iguazú). I have always been someone who enjoys nature, hiking, and traveling to see how powerful nature can be on our planet and being able to see Iguazu in person was on my bucket list. There is truly no picture that can capture what I saw with my own eyes. The falls were so powerful that you stood in the Garganta del Diablo (the devil’s throat) and you were baptized by the mist and sparkles of water coming from so many feet below. Walking a mile back to catch the train in the middle of the rain forest, I couldn’t help myself from reflecting back on everything that was surrounding me. I just got to see the biggest waterfall in the world and while I am soaked walking back, I am seeing coatis (South American Racoons), catfish in the river because of how clear it is, and all the little butterflies that kept on landing on me. I will never be able to explain how much that feeling felt so lively, but it truly was one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my 21 years of living and I truly hope to feel that again soon.

Submitted by Chloe Hundley on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

This past week in Panama has been one of the best weeks of my life! I have already learned so much about this country’s culture and history that I didn’t know before and I am improving my Spanish every day by speaking with local people. I was so nervous to come here at first because I have never left the country before, but my host family has been so accommodating and I am experiencing so many unique things.

After a day of getting settled in, we went to a beach called Praia to have lunch as a group and do some sight-seeing on the way. It was a great opportunity to practice our Spanish with each other and prepared us for the next day, when we went to Casco Antiguo and had to ask local people for help finding things during a scavenger hunt. Although I still struggle, especially with understanding what other people are saying when they speak fast, my Spanish has gotten better every day because of how much I use it here. My host mother and sister are both trying to learn English, so it is interesting to give each other advice on how to learn the languages better. A lot more people in Panama are learning English than I expected; almost every Uber driver that I’ve had has talked about how they went to Canada or the United States to study English. Talking to Panamanians, especially my host family, has been my favorite part of this experience so far because I have so much to learn about this country.

On Saturday, we all took a bus to Las Tablas for a festival and I have truly never seen anything like it before. All of the women and young girls wore hand-sewn dresses, elegant jewelry, and beautiful make-up and danced down the street while we got to watch, try local foods, and shop around for things similar to what they were wearing. All of the men wore traditional Panama hats and danced in the street as well. Another holiday we were here for was the 9^th of January, which commemorates the many lives that were lost over the battle between the United States and Panama for control of the Panama Canal. There were no classes that day and no one had to work because it has such a strong impact on the country’s history.

Besides these trips, I have also had the opportunity to go to various beaches, Panamá Viejo, and the national park. All of the beaches are beautiful and completely different from the Delaware beaches that I normally go to. They all have palm trees and other tropical aspects, but are surrounded by mountains and have a distant view of the city’s skyline. Panamá Viejo was incredible as well because we got to see the ruins from the original capital of Panama and go to a museum about the origins of Panama. I have already gained so much from this experience and can’t wait to learn even more in the next few weeks!