Manquehue

Well, it's been a solid two weeks since I've been in Chile. Let's look at what I have found to be different about this Southern Cone country than Richmond, Virginia (lowkey miss you, baby)

1. Money conversion: Chile uses the Chilean Peso for their currency. $674.22 pesos equals one USD. The dollar can be stretched further here when it comes to local food (el completo, empanadas). Most street vendors will only charge you one luca ($1,000 pesos, about $1.50 USD) for their goods. But when it comes to eating at a restaurant, the similarity with US prices begin to show. Beer costs a solid $4-$5, entrees going for about $10-$15. So it's not deathly expensive, and if you can work around eating out everyday and trying out one of the street vendors instead you can definitely see the strength of the USD over here.

2. The Metro: Fairly easy to use. Costs about $1 to use for each trip, but is free every other trip if you can get to your next metro stop within an hour of the first trip.

3. Stray dogs: In the United States (at least I would think) if someone were to see a stray dog galvanizing through their neighborhood they would call the authorities ASAP. Here there are dogs who occupy the same spot for months at a time. There are two dogs that sit and cool it outside of my building and have passerbys leave them berries. Also none of these dogs are skinny, at least the ones that I've seen. Which has led me to think that they are being fed pretty darn well.

4. Weed: It's legal and illegal at the same time. You can have up to 2 grams on your person as long as you're not smoking it. But that has not stopped la gente from indulging in the devil's lettuce. Students and individuals are smoking at local parks next to campus on the reg. Very interesting sight to see.

5. English: Obviously I am here to refine and make my Spanish speaking skills and comprehension the best that it can be in the 4 months that I am here. What's funny about that is when I am speaking in Spanish to employees in some places, let's say at the grocery store (because it happened to me there yesterday) they will reply back to me in English. I understand it's because they want to make their English better and see it as an opportunity para mejorarse la lingua. I also understand it's kinda obvious that I am not from here and might look/sound like a typical American extranjero.

6. PDA: Dawg... people are making out at every single corner, metro, bus stop, market, pool, you name it. We learned some lingo prior to classes beginning last week and one of the phrases was "comerse". "Comer" means "to eat" and when you add the "se" at the end it makes the verb reflexive. So when using that phrase it means that they are literally eating each other And from the looks of it, they are.

7. Dinner times: I literally just finished eating dinner 20 minutes ago. It's 13 minutes before 11pm.

These are just some things that I have picked up on in the couple weeks that I've been here. I've yet to be hit with the "culture shock" that my advisers and other professionals have told me that would be experiencing, but I am very excited to be subjected to that moment whenever it does happen!