a month?

Have I actually been here in Chile for a month already? 

First of all, oops skipped a week with this blog thing, sorry not sorry, probably gonna skip even more in the future. My brain just simply does not work. Also there's so much more I feel like I should tell about but my brain is just overlapping right now (it has been like this for too long lol I should do something about it) so I can't really form sentences that would make sense oops. I also want to get this out as soon as I can so I'll just probably leave it here. Maybe some day we're gonna hear about everything else as well. But for now you'll gonna have to settle with this. Enjoy (or don't, I don't really know)

A month?? Feels like it's been maybe like a week or something. I never really believed it, when ex-exchange students told that a year is actually a quite short amount of time and you don't necessarily have the time to do everything you want. But now that it has been a month already, I feel like I'm starting to get it. I already feel like I might run out of time here, even though my stay here is about a month and a half longer than most of the other exchange student's. (as in my program is 11,5 months and the average is about 10 months) Regardless of that, this month has been very fun but also quite different and weird from what I've gotten used to. During this month I have learned many new skills and habits and stuff but I have also had to re-learn some things. For example, how to ask what is your name in Spanish. (laugh all you want I'm laughing at myself as well I learned that shit quite a long time ago and still make mistakes with it lol)

My Spanish is evolving every day. I can understand pretty well and I've learned to lowkey draw conclusions about words which I don't know, from the other words in the sentence. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, as in it leads to a lot of misunderstandings but who said I was smart? The Spanish classes AFS and the volunteers at San Fernando College are organising for us exchange students aren't helping a lot (at least not me) but they have definitely been one of the funniest parts of my weeks here so I'm not complaining. It's fun. And full of unnecessary English. When we're supposed to talk in Spanish. oops.
From my perspective, the point I'm in right now with my Spanish, is the point where having studied Spanish back home becomes a burden rather than an advantage. I try to think about the correct form and tenses in the sentences. As in my focus is in the little unimportant details and I'm not trying to explain my thoughts in a way I know how to. For the first two weeks I was quite afraid to use my Spanish. I would always just say sí or no to everything (jokes on me I still do tho) and not challenge myself enough, fearing the mistakes I would make. At some point something clicked in my head and I realised I can't learn a language by avoiding using it. This does not mean that if somebody asks me something I will start telling the story of my life, but that I at least try to make full sentences out of my answers rather than just one or two words. (this also doesn't mean that I succeed every time)
Making mistakes is an unavoidable and somehow also an essential part of learning a language, don't be afraid of making them. I really wish I would've realised that even a bit sooner.

Talking about languages.. Let's see if my brain is a complete grilled vegetable in a couple of months, since I feel like I'm slowly starting to un-learn every single language I have ever learned even the slightest bit of. (I'm also guessing that sentence made no sense? there you have some proof) This text Arin sent to our group chat (see photo) is absolutely priceless. And a 100% true. Just saying that if you ask me something don't necessarily expect an answer that makes sense.

School isn't going any better than in the beginning, I still don't understand anything, but most of the time I copy whatever things they are writing to the board, and I can understand some certain words which are almost the same in English. My sister made me some exercises to do to help with my Spanish, and I've been doing those when I have nothing else to do in classes. I haven't finished even half of them but I'm getting there, learning Spanish on the way. (Cata I know you are reading this, thank you. I really appreciate that you did those for me)
The only subject where I can actually understand and/or do anything is English. On those classes we usually just watch some videos or read some texts and the teacher asks questions about them. If we have some group projects or other stuff that they might need help correcting with, the teacher wants me to work as an "assistant teacher" with him. Nobody ever comes to ask me anything though so I just keep doing nothing. Other subject in which I should be good at, or at least understand something of, is maths. Buuuuut unfortunately Finnish school system is a jerk at this point since it doesn't teach second grade equations until high school (joo moi junnu tääl) so there's pretty much no hope for me to understand anything about those either. The teacher did explain them to me though (in Spanish) and I understood his explanations but couldn't solve them myself. Absolute greatness. (suoraan lyhyeen matikkaan oisko?)


Chile and the people here still keep surprising me every day, but I wouldn't want it any other way. The month I have spent here has been quite challenging but amazing. So far I haven't really experienced any kind of homesickness, but frustration with Spanish is present pretty much all the time. Regardless, Thank you for all of these opportunities I have been given already, I can't wait to see what else does Chile and this year have to offer for me :)

Not shining with the posts anymore, couldn't survive even a month of weekly posts. I'll have to see what and when I'm gonna write here next, if there's something you (yes exactly you!!) want to hear about just tell me and I'll make it happen.

Until next time.. whenever that is

Saara