Mi familia!

Finally, I have amassed enough pictures of my family and my home to give you all a taste of my life here! I have been living here for a week and a half now with my mom, Ester, her spoiled dog, Sofie, and the always-disappearing Fito, my cousin. We live on one of the main streets in Arica (21 de mayo) but in the more residential area, not downtown. It's a very convenient spot to pick up the collectivos going downtown and also around lots of other "gringas" (what they call foreigners) houses, which is a plus!

My host mom, Ester, is married and has two children. Her husband, Gonzalo, works in another city about two hours away and his schedule is very busy (his only free day is Sunday). Sometimes, he only comes to Arica once a month but hopefully I will get to meet him soon because Ester has said several times that he wants to meet the new student living in their house. Her son is married and lives in Santiago. Her daughter in in college near San Francisco! And my cousin also lives here because our house is closer to the university than his parents' house ("closer" means by like a mile, and he actually isn't even in class now due to the strike so he's just been drifting around town doing whatever!).

My host mom has been really wonderful to me so far- she's moderately proficient in English which makes it fun to compare the two cultures. For example, if we're having a cabbage salad, she'll ask me what the English world for cabbage is, and vis versa! She's also amazing at speaking slow but also good at challenging me to keep working on my Spanish at home too. She makes cakes from our house for a living, and gets most of her business from the "panaderia" (bread/pastry store) her parents own in the center of town. Yes, that definitely means I benefit from that association- but thankfully, they make wheat bread so I've stuck to that instead of "manjar" pastries (Chile version of dulce de leche).

My mom preparing a cake

Mi perro, Sofie

My room

My room

Dining room

Kitchen

Living room

So that's the grand tour. I love having my own big space with a desk- it's made it so much easier to acclimate and adjust to the culture by having a spot where I can be alone and do homework, skype, and have some non-Spanish time. The hardest part of this experience so far has really been the complete Spanish immersion- but I know that will lessen as we continue to practice!

As always, email me! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

GW Volleyball is 6-0!!

As the title suggests, I again have good news for you all! This past weekend, our team swept UNC Wilmington, North Carolina Central, and Central Connecticut at our own GW Invitational. This makes our current record, 6-0. What is even more exciting is that this is the first time that has happened since the 2003 season (so quite a few years). Our team is super excited that we are undefeated, but we are striving not to be complacent for our recent success. We want to keep our streak alive! In order to do this, we have been working very hard in the gym and weight room (including today-Labor Day!). On this past Friday night, we had an excellent turnout in terms of fans, 596 to be exact, which (I think) is the biggest crowd that we have had for a home match since I began playing for GW 2 years ago! So, if you were at the game, or any of the games over the weekend, THANK YOU! Our team loves a big crowd so keep coming back, it is shaping up to be a tremendous season! Our next home game is Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7pm vs. Georgetown (the rescheduled finale for the DC Challenge).

As you can tell by all my recent posts, my life as of the last month has been dominated by volleyball, but now that school has begun, you can expect some about classes/ other life soon! Now, for a little taste of the action, I bring to you some pictures! My dad was nice enough to take some good action shots over the weekend while my family was here visiting (we are in the buff and blue jerseys, obviously). Enjoy:

the team, pre-game

my sister, Vickie (GW alum and past blogger), and me

roommates!

Sorry if this was picture overkill, but I had a hard time picking my favorites haha. oops.
p.s. next post: my finalized class schedule. (I promise!)

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

College Colors Day

I am happy to report that on Tuesday GW volleyball conquered Howard University quite easily (in 3 straight games). Now our record is 3-0 and tonight we seek to make it 4-0 at our own GW Invitational. Tonight we will face UNC Wilmington at 7pm in the Smith Center. What is even more exciting is that today is national College Colors Day and to promote it, the first 200 fans will receive GW writsbands and there will be lots of free food from places like Pinkberry and Kababji Grill! So wear your buff and blue today and come support GW athletics! It should be a great match. Tomorrow we play North Carolina Central at 12pm and Central Connecticut State at 7pm. Here is the facebook event for it if you want some more info: GW Volleyball vs. UNC-Wilmington. For those of you who can’t make it to any of the games, I will of course share the results sometime next week as well as some pictures!

photo courtesy of gwsports.com

As for my classes, I am still in the process of finalizing which ones I will be taking (typical of the first week of class), so once I have that done, I will post about that! Well I am off to class and then Kogan Plaza to promote tonight’s game with the GW hippo mascot. If you are on campus, come say hi!

Hail to the Buff and Blue!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Un día típico

The school days here are passing by relatively quickly. It's crazy to think I'm already gearing up for my first real weekend here in Arica, Chile. Luckily, my classes are located in the Universidad de Tarapaca building that's only 20 minutes away from my house, so I can walk there easily and I don't have to spend the 450 pesos (~1 dollar) each way for a collectivo (public taxi with a specific route that will pick up a bunch of people). There are 4 students who live within walking distance from me so I have had company on all my walks so far. The students here are still on strike so we are the only ones in the building but the Chilean government has just reached a "deal" (debatable if they even agreed to anything the students wanted) with the students will return to class September 5th.

UTA

Arica has been a really good culinary experience so far because the school day is divided into two, unlike Santiago or other bigger cities in Chile. We have Spanish class from 9-12 in the morning and then return home until classes resume from 3-5/5:30, when we usually have a public health seminar or a visit to a certain health center in town. During the break from 12-3, it is typical to return home to eat a big lunch with your host family and nap. Most business close down during this time anyway so there isn't much else to do besides come home!

The cooking has been really interesting and new- Chileans eat very differently than I normally do. An average day in my house (which also is not average all over Arica, because there are different customs in each family) consists of:

• Breakfast of tea, orange juice, toast with jam and butter
• Huge lunch of salad with quinoa in it, some type of homemade soup with croutons, and then pasta or chicken with potatoes or this amazing vegetable dish called charquicán which my mom makes with a little bit of ground beef (it resembles a pile of mashed potatoes and you eat it with whole grain rice)
• "Dinner" (which they call "té"= tea) of a slice of bread with avocado, cheese, or tomato and tea

Typical "dinner"- more like an evening snack

The delicious charquicán (not always the most attractive)

 I have yet to try the elusive Chilean street food- the classic completo, a jumbo hot dog covered in palta (small avocados from Chile), tomato, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise. I'll let you all know when I complete the feat of the completo :) The only place I've found them so far is the McDonalds downtown and I am not going to stoop to that level here... I can't support them in the U.S. and I definitely won't in Arica!

Completo italiano (one type among many!)

I realize now that this post is mainly about food... it happens... I hope all of you are eating well in DC, Portland, or wherever you are reading this from!

As always, questions are welcome! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

The Infamous "Org Fair" And the Deal

AND showcase was a success!

I hope if you're on campus you came out to see a tremendous night of performance alla GW, and for all the prospectives remember this night! All the groups were phenomenal, and I think we really gave freshmen a taste of what we're all about (the booths were crazy afterwards). If you're into showing FPP some love, here are some pictures and BA-DUM-BA! a video of our quite enthusiastic performance. Hope you all can do the time warp.

Freshmen and anyone particularly enthused by last night's performances, tonight's the Student Organization Fair, which I'm sure you've all heard about. So, what's up? Well, that's where you'll get a chance to talk to and meet all the student organizations here on campus. From the performance groups in showcase, to Greek life and cultural societies, GW has over 400 organizations for you to choose from. How do you pick what to dive into, you might ask? Well, can't pick until you know what they're about!

And here's the thing about getting involved on campus: that's what is going to make your experience here at GW. I have found my family within the student theatre community, where will yours be? Even if you've felt so far that it's been hard to adjust or make friends, slipping right into an activity you are passionate about will open the doorway to a whole circle of people who may end up being the heart and soul of your time at GW. I guarantee you, it's worth stopping by, so stop reading my ramblings and get involved!

Look for me at the FPP booth tonight, and of course, email me your life stories here: gmdepalo@gwmail.gwu.edu.

See you around campus,
Gina Michele

¿En serio? el nivel avanzado? Voy a tener problemas!!

Hi everyone!

It was only last Monday that I packed up my backpacking backpack (36 pounds hahaha) and my school backpack and traveled all the way south from Portland, Oregon, to Arica, Chile. One week into the program, I am already feeling very comfortable with the transportation system, the food, and the people. I will post about my host family soon once I have some pictures to show you all!

Today was our first day of class. Thankfully, as an SIT program, we are not attached to the university because they are on strike and no one is in class. I started with my Spanish oral exam in the morning and felt pretty good about it because I was able to understand the questions and respond without asking the teachers to repeat questions. I also took the reading aspect of the test very seriously and took notes on the sheet of paper before they asked me several questions about what I had read.

All public universities in Chile (pictured here is the Uni de Tarapaca) are on strike because they want free tuition- there are marches weekly and no one has been in school for 3 months!

I was really nervous before the exam, but it must have gone amazingly well I guess because they put me in the most advanced Spanish class here... which is not good news in my opinion. Since it has been a long time since I've taken a Spanish class at all (not since high school), I expected to be in the lowest level. I have a really hard time conjugating verbs and remembering vocabulary, but I am able to express myself without stuttering and falling over my own words. I am not sure whether they will be adjusting in the coming week, but I certainly hope I can keep up with the work.

Cathedral downtown

I surprisingly already have a lot of homework for the first day. This afternoon, we had our first "Field Study Seminar" class where we went over different types of research papers (qualitative vs quantitative, etc) which was a good review and good to learn it in Spanish since all my classes are in Spanish! For Friday, we have a 2 page paper due where we have to analyze an abstract from a paper and determine what type of research was done. We also have to take our idea for our independent study project and classify what type of research we hope to do, which will be a good start in trying to focus my ideas!

Hilarious that Blockbuster is pretty much out of business in the US so it comes to S. America

I have a bit of a headache from sitting in class... I am definitely not used to being bombarded with information in Spanish! I'm looking forward to the day when it just feels normal and I don't think twice about what's being thrown at me :) Questions? As always, marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

My Weekend (DC Challenge Results)

Hello again! I am here to report back on my volleyball team’s success this past weekend in the annual DC Challenge Tournament! On Friday night, we headed over to American University to play them in their home opener in front of 2,155 fans, which apparently, was the biggest collegiate volleyball crowd in DC history. GW prevailed winning 3 games to 1, despite the deafening crowd attempting to rattle us. The following morning, we took on George Mason, this time with a home court advantage. Again, we prevailed in 4 games and it feels wonderful to begin our games at GW with a win (and therefore begin our home winning streak for the season!). Because of the impending Hurricane Irene, our Saturday evening match, the highly anticipated one vs. Georgetown, was canceled. Actually, more like postponed but another date has yet to be chosen for the match. Once it is rescheduled, I will let you know because the more fans the better (especially at our home matches)!

Next, we play Howard tomorrow night (Tuesday, August 30) at 7pm at GW. For easy reference, here is a list of all our home matches:

Tuesday, Aug. 30 vs Howard 7pm

Friday, Sept. 2 vs. UNC Wilmington 7pm

Saturday, Sept. 3 vs. North Carolina Central 12pm

                       and vs. Central Connecticutt 7pm

Saturday Oct. 1 vs. Charlotte 7pm

Friday, Oct. 7 vs. Dayton 7pm

Sunday, Oct. 9 vs. Xavier 1pm

Friday, Oct. 14 vs. Fordham 7pm

Sunday, Oct. 16 vs. Rhode Island 1pm

Friday, Nov. 4 vs. SLU 7pm

Saturday, Nov. 5 vs. Duquesne 7pm

Since we are having so many home matches within one week (6), the rest of my family came out to visit and watch my games. They arrived this past Friday, are staying all week, and don’t depart until this coming Sunday. It is nice to have them here in DC for over an entire week (since I left home already almost a month ago), although I can’t spend all day with them because of classes and volleyball practices. It is especially nice to have my own cheering section at this week’s games.

Today also marked the first day of school! Thankfully, I only have one class on Mondays so today wasn’t too difficult to transition back into school mode. Tomorrow might be harder when I have 4 classes-ouch. I will discuss my class schedule in an upcoming post. That’s it for now, I should begin to prepare for my long day tomorrow.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Back to the books….and fun of course!!!!!

Hey readers! Your favorite Texan is back on campus and busy as ever. Today marks the first day of classes for the fall semester and after an earthquake following my landing and surviving the “hurricane,” it is a really gorgeous day here in the District.

I am very fortunate with my course schedule this semester because I start class every day at 11:10 so as a sophomore, NO MORE 8AM CLASSES!!!! All freshmen at almost any school will have them, but you will make it through and usually sophomore year on you can sleep in, but thank goodness I’m done. I do have classes five days a week, but with only one on Fridays and two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays its really not a bad schedule.

Beyond the first week of class, all of my student activities are really kicking off too here on campus. Yesterday was band practice before the Student Performance Showcase tonight in Lisner Auditorium to show new freshman all the amazing performance groups and ensambles GW has to offer.

Secondly, StAR (Student Admissions Representatives) will begin giving tours this week to all of the perspective undergraduates who come and visit GW. I will be giving a tour every week at 3 so hope I see you there and get to meet you at some point during the semester.

I hope all my fellow bloggers are having a good start of the year too and to all you perspective students, keep up the hard work in the classroom and stay involved in your school so you can come join us on Foggy Bottom. Best wishes to all and more blogs to come! As always, feel more than happy to e-mail me about anything and everything.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Back on Campus.

Hello, all!

Well, I am FINALLY back home here at good old GW and I'm blogging now from my UNBELIEVABLE suite in the lovely sophomore dorm West End. Once I get around to uploading the pictures from my iPhone, I will post so you can see the wonderful place I now get to call home. :)

As you may imagine, the first few days here on campus have been very choatic. With the hurricane drama, I ended up coming down to the district on Friday and unloading everything during a beautiful summer day. The sensation of being back on campus, walking around the streets again and re-remembering the nooks and crannies and shortcuts, is truly indescribable. But unfortunately, I haven't just been able to sit back and adore being back, I've been unbelievably busy!

As part of this year's Forbidden Planet Production (my theatre company)'s board, I was asked to participate in a number for Welcome Week Showcase. I remember my own experience at Showcase last year on the first Monday of Welcome Week, seeing all the performance groups strut their stuff for the first time. I think that was the moment I realized I couldn't not be part of student theatre here. Hopefully, we'll have the same effect on the new freshmen, as we've been working hard to impress. Despite Irene's wrath we had two hours-long rehearsals, but it is truly worth it to be back with the company and performing again. We've put together a really tremendous re-vamped and 80's themed Time Warp, so PLEASE come on down to Lisner tomorrow at 7 and check us out (we're in the second act!)

Outside of rehearsal, there is also a board meeting tonight, I have been fighting endlessly with GW1X since I do terribly with both technology and change and now they are combined, and we've been checking out the new eateries. With the addition of the new Square 54 hotspot, we have gained Circa, Sweet Green and Roti here on campus, all of which have been fabulous. And lucky for me, they're right across the street! Whole Foods is slated to open September 6, and I am a bit too excited to be able to grab groceries directly across the street from me. Despite how busy it is here, things could not be better in my great new dorm with my tremendous roommates and being back at my favorite place. We could not have a better setup here.

How are your first few days going? Talk to me at gmdepalo@gwmail.gwu.edu. Classes begin tomorrow, and I have a lot in store for the next few days. Can't wait to bring you all along for the ride!

See you on campus,
Gina Michele

Una semana de orientación

Orientation this past week in Arica, Chile was a surprisingly boring process. I am quite fortunate to have already made a close friend and get closer to other girls on the program (23 girls, 1 boy- it always seems this way in public health). Hotel El Paso was relatively nice as a place to stay for the orientation due to its location, we were able to walk 5 minutes into downtown in order to explore the city a little more without having to learn the bus system immediately. My only complaint was that all they ever served for dessert, at lunch and at dinner (way too much food to begin with), was some sort of fruity custard/mousse that had way too much sugar and weird fruity taste to eat.

 So far, Arica seems like a much different town than I expected. I came here thinking Arica was a far more developed city, with a commercial downtown and relatively well off neighborhoods. I did not expect what I saw when driving in from the airport- identically built shacks for lower income families built up the dusty hillside, roadside shacks to buy cell phone minutes and candy, and a transportation system with taxis, collectivos (shared taxis that have a route), and micros (buses).

Me with El Cristo on top of El Morro! (huge rock overlooking the city/ocean)

Leah, Eileen, Emily, Jen, y Stacey

The view from "El Morro"

We are just now getting ready to go and move in with our host families. Everyone is really excited to finally get out of the hotel and find out where they'll be living from now until November 1. In order to welcome us, our host families all gave Rossana (SIT Program Director) presents to give us before we met them. My family gave me a nice warm hat and a pencil pouch made out of leather from the region. Some people received more interesting presents, including Aleya from Tulane who received a "guardian angel"... see below! Hilarious.

Aleya and her ceramic angel

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys are enjoying reading about my adventure and feel free to email me at marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu :)

- Marisa