No más tarea! - by Caroline McCurdy, CE Adviser in Chile

I'm done!!!!

Well, now that graduation is over (sans tripping on stage!), I have left the thriving metropolis that is Waco for the browner pastures of West Texas. Whereas most of my friends are currently soaking in some summer sun, I am buried in a mountain of LSAT books. In my life that is currently being darkened by Logic Games, my July trip to Chile seems to be the only bright spot. Buying my plane ticket last week only served to make me even more excited… especially since I got such a sweet deal from FlyForGood.com!

Now that I’m not in a Spanish class everyday like I was at good ole’ Baylor, I’m forcing myself to watch Telemundo/Galavisión etc. every night to keep my ear trained to Spanish (so that I don’t sound like an idiot once I get to Chile.) So far the commercials have been the best part of this exercise; I highly recommend that everyone take at least 15 minutes to watch a Spanish-speaking TV station just to see how entertaining the commercials are. For example, what I thought was just an innocent advertisement for pots and pans turned out to be the story of a lackluster marriage that could only be saved by a scandalous makeover of the wife and a new desire to cook seductive food… using her new pots and pans. Better than a telenovela. Oh, how I love Latin culture :-)

Since I’ve been so inundated with LSAT madness I haven’t taken too many steps to prepare for Chile except a few things here and there. For graduation I was lovingly gifted with a new computer (thanks family!!) and am soooo excited to take it to Chile with me. My last computer was a 4-year old dinosaur that weighed about 10 lbs… not the easiest to travel with. This one is a sassy little black thing that only takes up minimal room – all the better to go through airport security with! Also, I’m planning to allot some graduation gift money towards a new digital camera so that I can post some excellent pictures for you guys to enjoy.

I just received my “Culture Kit” in the mail from Cultural Embrace. It’s filled with really great information about living in another culture; it even includes how to deal with the inevitable effects of culture shock. When I was living in Spain I remember having a few very intense moments of culture shock. A few times I would venture down to the movie theatre that showed American movies with subtitles. Another time, I had a very low moment and ended up sitting by myself in the corner of a Burger King savoring the beauty of an order of fries and chicken strips while getting some funny looks from the locals. As depressing as that sounds, it helped immensely.

Well, unfortunately I have to get back to my LSAT for Dummies book since I only have about one more week to improve my score by an unrealistic amount. I’m convinced that there is a special place in infierno for standardized tests. Until next time, here’s the philosophical question of the day:

When you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?

-Caroline
Advisor Abroad in Chile