Hello everyone, I am Bianka and I do my EVS (or SVE at least if I am in a Spanish-speaking country) in the beautiful Valdivia for 6 month. I am here, exactly for 1 month, so here's my evaluation/feelings/experiences for my first month.
About the weather: It is in spring but I still try to understand the weather. Although now it is 15-20°C with mixed sunshine, rain, and high humidity so I never know how to dress up in the mornings. A little bit unpredictable. If you take a research, it is in very south of Chile, so every time when I tell that I am really waiting for the summer, because it is cold even for spring, people just smiling and aware me to be more patient. ( https://goo.gl/maps/xUm44xhaL812 )
Maybe the environment and the geography is very similar to tiny hometown in the countryside (the unpronounceable ‘Zalaszentgrót’) and because of globalisation the shops are alike to every shops. But after all I am is another continent, and the chilien (and a little german, because of the history of the town) vibe is everywhere.
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| Mehuín |
What I learnt about Chile in my first month:
- People are usually late. They arrive 10-30-40 minutes later from meetings and actually this is really annoys even the Chiliens and they are always complaining about this.
- Nobody knows where Hungary is. These are my typical questions what I have been asked:
Where is Hungary? Is it close to Italy? So in Hungary, people speaks only in English? The Hungarian language is something like German?
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| Bibi & Pacific Ocean |
But of course this is understandable that for them Europe means France, Italy, Spain, Portugal. But no Hungary :D.
- And those who heard of Hungary they ask about the immigration situation (what a fame haha) And since I am here in Chile I don't have a clear image and a lot of information about this field now, of course
- Very few people speaks in English. Not even the student from the university. They do not need English, it is understandable, here in Latin America. ( I am wodering now why is it so difficult to find opportunity to study Spanish in Hungary :D)
- For most of them every person who foreigner and has light skin/hair is just a gringo/a (White American)
- People speak chilien spanish, that means that they have specific words and pronunciation (polola, bacan, cachai…) So probably I can improve my spanish and chilien at the same time :D
- They are really really nice and cool people.They welcoming and saying goodbye to each other only with 1 kiss on the chick. It is does not matter how many people are in the room, or if you know each other or not.
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| Futrono, Lago Ranco |
In this month I had to chance to visit Mehuín, which is very tiny fishing village next to the Pacific Ocean. I also visited to Futrono, where there is the Lago Ranco (Ranco Lake).
I really enjoying my time here. People are really nice and helpful. Valdivia belongs to the Los Ríos Regions, which is really big and beautiful, and has many faces to discover during these month.
If you want to see my first month evaluation in Spanish > VAMOS
Hasta luego, besos desde Valdivia
To be continued…
Bianka
