Faithfulness and Ebenezers

Back home I have a rock that sits on my bedside table. Written on it is the word “faithfulness.”  My rock’s role is to remind me of God’s faithfulness. Though I didn’t really intend this, that rock has become my Ebenezer.  In the Bible, an Ebenezer is a physical representation of God’s goodness to remind …

Yeah, I can do this

As I brought my luggage to the bus, where the other students were waiting, the mountains greeted me like an old friend. I thought, “yeah, I can do this.” A few minutes later, I panicked, the scene on the bus like a flashback to middle school. Where do I sit? Who looks friendly? Can I …

My Pluscuamperfectos: Si Hubiera… “If I Had…”

So one of the tenses a Spanish student will learn is called the Pluscuamperfecto which is as complicated as it sounds. The structure of this tense usually requires that the user use the past perfect tense in the first clause (I would have…) followed by a conditional perfect tense in the second clause (If I …

Chiloe Made Me Fall in Love with Nature

Before you begin reading, I invite you watch this video first. It better explains the title than what I have written below. I always say that a video speaks a million words. I must say that I have always appreciated nature but never was really enchanted as I was by it when I filmed this …

It’s Hard to Immerse and Why It’s Okay

Finding a home away from home has a two month struggle with little success but, despite them, I have gained much more perspective. The thought of “a home away from home” is one that my classmate and I have been mulling over on one of our themes for the documentary we are producing for our …

Are You Alive?

Hello Hope College y Queridos Lectores, Yes, I am alive. Sorry I haven’t gotten back to pretty much all of you, especially those close who have been awaiting updates from me. Undoubtedly, it has been a tumultuous and invigorating last 5 weeks since my arrival in late February. I arrived with doubts, fear, and much …

La Despedida

In the last few weeks, everything has finished up. All my classes are done now, and all that’s really left is to buy some presents for people back in the States and to say good-bye to the people I’ve met over this journey. I always really hate good-byes, and I think Peter Pan sums it …

Up for an Adventure

I am taking a class called Introduction to Mountaineering and this past weekend I had an amazing opportunity to go on the class field trip. It has been a challenging class, but also quite fun and clearly unlike anything I could take at Hope. And part of the fun was that the majority of my …

Travels in a Thin Country

I’ve had a great time in Chile. With things wrapping up a bit, I’m reflecting on all the things I’ve done. I have made a lot of decisions since I’ve been here, and not all of them have paid off in the end. So this is my advice to you. These are things I would …

A letter to the next Host Student

Dear student: ¡Felicitaciones! You got placed with the lovely Laura as your mama this semester. Here are some things that I hope will help you along on your journey with not only this family but also your study abroad experience: Mama is still pretty new to CIEE, so she doesn’t always understand things that go …