Sipo, I'm in Chile!

The first week of living in Chile is coming to its end. The view of sunrise over a city park that I used to have from my room in Madrid has now changed to a view of sunset over Pacific Ocean and two kisses on the cheek has reduced to only one. Almost everything that I used to know has been left behind for now and I’m little by little getting the grasp of the way of living here.

To start with, Chile is the long strip of land on the west coast of South America. The official language is Spanish (or better said Chilean) and the population is about 17 000 000 people. The city I’m living in, Antofagasta, is located in the second region of Chile which means that it’s closer to Peru and Bolivia than the capital of Chile, Santiago. There is a lot of mining industry in Antofagasta and – well – nothing else. Most of the area around is desert and mountains as you can see below.

Maybe many of the Europeans or at least Finns don’t know a lot about Chile but I bet that the knowledge is better than the Chileans have of Finland. First of all, the locals here don’t have a clue where Finland is located even though each and every one of them can praise the Finnish education system. Also, about 90 % of the Chileans who I’ve talked with, have thought that English is the official language in Finland and they sometimes almost start to debate with me when I tell that it’s not. Moreover, I have needed to convince quite many people of the fact that we are not living in eternal winter. Maybe Finland should finally start branding and marketing itself in order to stay on the world map.

Learning to live everyday life here has brought a lot of surprises and moments of confusion. First of all, I’m studying in a catholic university but still it didn’t even cross my mind (literally) that all the lecture halls would have a cross on their walls. Furthermore, there is no toilet paper even in the toilets of the university – which is by the way private and the students pay for studying there – not to even mention the possibility of locking the door. Not only the streets but also the school yard is full of wild dogs that sometimes get too chatty. I’ve also experienced my first time, when there is no possibility to have milk for the coffee when having a breakfast in a restaurant. The mail arrives to the slit of the gate and the garbage is left on the street – without a garbage can – to be picked up by the bin man if he makes it before the dogs.

To my experience so far, Chileans seem to be friendly but a bit more reserved than for example Mexicans. The country is not one of the best developed ones but it clearly is doing well in something because the unemployment rate is relatively low (less than 6%) and it’s rather safe to live here compared to the other countries around. However, Chileans seem to have a bit of a slimming diet syndrome since they are all the time telling excuses why the society isn’t doing better and how it’s not their fault that they have problems. One of the excuses I’ve heard a lot is that because they don’t have the Finnish education system they cannot develop. It might be through that the education system needs to be renewed but it should be developed to fit the local context with the local rules, I think. 

What is more, according to the locals, the security problems are caused only by the Colombians and Chile doesn’t have anything to do with that. However, I guess Chile is not an exception in this because all the states seem to have the tendency of blaming the immigrants in this issue, not for example the poor integration of the incoming people to the rest of the society. Sipo, Chile has gone through difficult times in recent history but I’d say that the biggest obstacle on the way of development is underestimating themselves and not believing that they can change things. In this sense the Finns and Chileans seem to be really similar. Nevertheless, Chile has potential but Chileans just don't seem to know that yet.

First impressions are just first impressions and probably I'll further develop my view of the country after digging in a bit deeper to the culture and society and other parts of Chile too. Anyway, I have a feeling that it’s gonna be a good last semester of my studies! There are a lot of new adventures waiting outside and the first one will be tomorrow when participating to The Color run... 

A lesson learned, thanks to Madrid.

One chapter of my life has come to its end and suddenly I find myself in Chile instead of Spain where I spent the past amazing seven months. Needless to say, I have been enjoying my life that much that updating my blog hasn’t happened too often… But don’t worry, I think this post is enough to summarize what I’ve been up to and most importantly what I’ve learned from life during the summer in Madrid. In the end, I apparently left a part of my heart in the city I hated so much in the beginning of this year.

The summer has consisted of working, travelling, laughing, crying, making new friends and so on. To put it short, living and loving. Still at the beginning of the year I didn’t have a clue that I would be living in Madrid this summer but now that I look back I can tell you that this short but even more meaningful era of my life definitely was something that was meant to happen before the next journeys.

These following points are something that I wanted to write down mostly for myself as advice for the future but I think it's also worth publishing them because these might make at least some of you readers to stop to think for a moment:

Work with something you love. Working at the embassy wasn’t always a dream come true but still it was always rewarding in one way or another. Waking up early in the morning after not being able to sleep in the sauna-like flat wasn’t always enjoyable but knowing that I’m going to be working with topics I'm interested in and with people I love working with it was never distressing to get out of the bed. To put it short, get a job that you are passionate about. Not next year, not next month, do it now. You spend at work half of the hours you're awake so do something that has a meaning to you. The working hours taking a huge proportion of your time, your satisfaction with your work will also affect your personal life and the others around you. Finding a job might not always be easy but you can do it since when you know what you want, you are able to defend yourself that well that any of the other candidates won't look even close as good as you in the eyes of the employer and thus they'll pick you. If there is no vacancy available that motivates you this much, seriously consider establishing your own company.

Start up the Fusion. One of the events I was privileged to participate through work.

Never ever give up with sports (may it be painting or singing or whatever to someone else). I’m not an athlete (yet) neither am I a huge fan of watching sports. Still, two of the most emotional and satisfying moments I had this summer are related to sports. First one was when watching the final match of La Liga, Real Madrid vs. Atlético. Of course, Real Madrid won and the emotions and the feeling of social cohesion among the fans after that is something that one cannot describe but, I know, all of you who have experienced something similar can understand me. The icing on the cake was going to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the celebration next day and seeing those 80 000 people being so passionate about the same thing. These moments show that even today people can be unite although the events around the world tell a different story. 

Another moment of lot of emotions and satisfaction was when attending the summer celebration at my gym and participating to the two hour spinning session. The instructors gave everything they could at times wearing afros and hippy glasses. There’s no better party than cycling 47 km on Friday evening accompanied by other determined people and a great DJ. At the latest, all the personal trainers and gym instructors who are able to motivate their clients to exceed themselves became the biggest heroes in my eyes.

Respect the people around you and don’t make the mistake of realizing their importance to you only when they aren’t around you anymore. Sometimes people pop in your life for only a moment but some stay longer. Every single one still makes a difference in your life. A smile that you receive from a random person in the morning might make you happier which may cause a chain reaction you being nicer to the others that day. Moreover, some people have the characteristics to make a more profound change in your life already in a short while not to even mention if they’ll walk along with you a bit longer, maybe even a lifetime. When starting my studies four years ago I was dreaming of a life in a big one family house, owning a cool but not so handy car and having the items I’ve always craved for. However, now all of this seems irrelevant and I’d rather live in a smaller cozy flat but most importantly surrounded by the people I love instead of the items I maybe could purchase one day. No matter how hard a situation you’d be going through with somebody or how much you’d want to get rid of a person you don’t like, one day you’ll realize that you have learned something necessary from that exact person. Even though you couldn’t stay with somebody for a long time you’ll at least have the memory always saved with you guiding what your next steps are. If life is favorable, you’ll meet again one day and continue from where you left last time.

When there’s a will there’s a way.