---> They are back in NZ

'They' refers to the group from school that went to Santiago, Chile, over the last 4 weeks. The group returned yesterday. I didn't go.


If was funny though, because the reason I took Spanish was to go on this school trip to Chile. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I became interested in going on a student exchange. I went to an AFS meeting at the start of the year and was asked by the outbounds where I wanted to go, and my answer was Spain or Chile. They all told me to go to Chile! At that time I was unaware that my Spanish class wouldn't be given the oppurtunity to go to Chile - there was a Spanish class above us, and they were given priority, fair enough too. Because I get to go for (almost) a year!

Today, our Spanish lesson was just about Chile. We basically asked questions, and I asked about 75% of them - ranging from what the food was like there - "Pretty similar, but it depends on what family you live with" (the students were billeted out) - what the weather was like - "Hot" - what the students were like - "wore lots of makeup and were egotistical but really nice" (the exchange was with a wealthy private school) - and I asked what the boys were like - "very nice, they hold doors open for you and act like gentleman" - the toilets - "you have to put the toilet paper in a bin next to the toilet, and in the public toilets they have huge cracks in the doors." 

The girl from my class who went also commented on how friendly and welcoming the Chileans are. Her billet family invited her back to them any time, and even told her that she should study at a Chilean university! The group (8 girls from my school ~approx and 4 boys (two years younger than the girls, because none of the seniors could go) said they got along really well, and became like a family - the younger boys were like little brothers (initially they were worried about the maturity gap.) The last five days they were there, the girl said, everyone was crying and the airport was like a huge 'cry fest'. Nobody wanted to go home! She also said that now she feels like her body is here, but everything else is in Chile - her heart and soul. And that's after spending 4 weeks there!

After talking about the trip, several girls in my class who had dropped Spanish in favour of other subjects next year, decided that they would like to learn Spanish again, to go on the trip in two years. In two years, I'll be back from Chile and probably aching to go again! Gosh it makes me sad to think of that - I'll be taking Spanish again when I return, and the girls will all be going to the country that I will have exchanged to. It's so nice, everyone here is so supportive of my exchange, and I have lots of "Anita, you have to write ok?" My two good friends have also said that they don't want to see any pictures of me, so they can see how I change when I get back. So I'm not allowed to put pictures in the monthly letters that I am apparently going to be writing to them. 

Last night, I had a dream that I was already in Chile. . . I was in a little town in the south, called Copiapó (although that's in the north!) I was walking to school in the pitch black, and I also had to take a gondola (chairlift) to school for some reason. Then it skipped to when we were walking down this extraordinarily steep, but well-sealed road, with a steep drop on one side and a cliff on the other. It was raining, and I was stuck because it was too steep for me to walk down... So that was interesting. Once I pay the deposit, AFS will start looking for a host family. Getting a host family is like the most exciting thing for an outbound! I can't wait to find out where I'll be living. 

So now I'd better go.
Cheerio!


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