How's life over there? Well, different, but fun

So as I'm here for almost two weeks now there has been quite some points coming up in my mind, that are somewhat different here in Chile (yet it's not that much of a shock as exspected)

       Heating:

Something that just does not exist here are proper heating, how I know them from Germany or the Netherlands. Even though it can be really cold as well, especially at night, there are no central heating in the apartments. The only way to get yourself warm is using multiple blankets and/or one of these tiny portable heaters that burn you to death when sitting close, but don’t warm you when you sit further away. In the end I’m glad I knew this before and brought a hot water bottle. This is also something you learn to appreciate more once you're back I guess. Still I should complain, as winter here has been easy on us so far.

Health warning stickers on food:

People told me there is a bit of a health problem here in Chile, as a lot of food is either processed or even fried and people tend to get pretty fat. Therefore the government decided to have health stickers on processed food with “high in calories”, “high in sugar” and “ high in saturated fats“ to make people aware of what they are eating. To be honest, I guess this is a really good idea and also helps myself a bit (even though with most products it’s no surprise to find a “high in sugar” sticker on it - yes choclate I’m talking about you). 

     Palm trees and the Andes and breathtaking sunsets:

Something that people living here in Santiago (or Chile in general) probably don’t realize anymore: The skyline with the Andes (especially with good weather and little smok) framing the city and the one or other palmtree here and there make me feel like I’m on constant vacation for half a year here. Also there is like so many types of palmtrees, tall and thin, small and fat, “standard” ones, really lovely! In addition to this there is great sunrises and sunsets that just take your breath away and block your storage on your phone, as you can't stop making "just one more picture, because it got even better".

 

Cannot get enough of this!

Got a room with a view <3

      Metro experience 

(prices, rush hour, different prices):

Good luck, trying to fit in :P

Oh dear,  as my schedule from Uni is like having university at 8:00 almost every day I need to push myself into the metro during rush hour. Do you know the pictures from Japanese Metro workers with white gloves, that push people in? Well The exact same thing is happening here between 7:00-9:00 and 18:00-20:00 – perfect because I need like one hour to university. Luckily I’m not claustrophobic or anything, otherwise it would be kind of challenging arriving at destinations on time. Normally you wait one or two metros, until you’re the first to “enter” (rather push yourself in where there is no space anyways). But there are mornings where it seems to be impossible to fit in, especially at stations where you can switch lines, yet many people enter anyways and once the door closed you’re good to go. Wondering where to hold onto during the ride? You don’t, as there is no space for more people, there is also no space for you to fall anywhere ;) Summer will be fun, now it already feels like going to the sauna, because you wear a jacket but summer must be even better!!!

         University life:

My university in Maastricht is pretty good organized. Every new period you receive your timetable online, where you can daily check where and when you have classes. Here stuff went a bit different until now: it’s the first week of uni and we got our “horario” (timetable) Tuesday. 

 






Many courses were already full so we kinda needed to arrange ourselves with the leftovers of courses.. Classes here are pretty small and we don’t really have lectures bigger than 55 people. Psychology seems to be a rather small study over here. 

Again the Andes contouring the neighborhood of my university (Las Condes) beautifully

          
Catcalling (being blond in a country dominated by darker hair, skin and eyecolour):

3,50€ for 1,5l of wine? Soon I'll be a Somm :P

As I read a lot of exchange reports before going to Chile I was already expecting to get some more attention than my dark haired friends, but that it would be that much was not in my expectations. During the day in the metro, supermarket and all public situations in the city center there is no up to not much calling you “bonita” or making weird sounds. Yet on the local market here in my neighborhood it was kinda much, when I went there for the first time with Tatjana and Lara. Apparently they couldn’t handle so many blondes at one time :D But well, also today, hungover and without wearing any makeup you get a bit more attention than you’d like going to the market to get yourself some fruits to restore the damage the wine had done last night. (Fun fact here – everything is expensive here EXCEPT wine!! And it’s so good over here. Even crazier is to “share” a bottle of wine because they contain 1,5l over here :D)

         Plastic bags:

Recently in Europe they decided to make people pay for plastic bags, in order to help the environment. That is a really good idea and apparently is already helping, but when you see what’s going on here at the other side of the world you’d see that we are far ahead in that matter. Here in Chile you get all groceries packed by a student at the end of the cashier. The problem here is, that they don’t get paid and you’re supposed to give them some pesos for packing your stuff. That’s in such a way a problem for me, that I actually don’t want to get my stuff packed. I like to do it my way and with the bags I take with me from home. Still it seems like living here for half a year, it probably won’t be possible to make a way around that.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie