Former LBTV staff member and 2014 Legacy grad is in Chile as an exchange student. Here’s an update from his blog. http://www.reallyinchile.com/
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So yesterday marked one month since my arrival. Everything is going smooth but I figured I should probably fill everyone in on what life is like for me here in Chile. The next few entries are going to be about various subjects such as school, family, culture, etc. The following entry is about colegio.
No, I’m not in college. “Colegio” is Spanish for “high school”. It’s super difficult to explain to the Chileans that college and universities are pretty much the same back in the states. Anyway, I fit in very well with the culture and my classmates here at Inmaculada Concepción de San Bernardo. If you don’t know what an immaculate conception is, ask your mom or dad. Anyway, the school is a catholic school that, contrary to stereotypes, isn’t all that strict. There is a lot of disorder during class which makes it difficult to understand and hear at times. I wear a uniform to school that consists of a white polo, grey pants, black shoes, and a navy blue jacket for the cold days. My first day of school, we were allowed to wear “ropa de calles”, which translates to street clothes. My first thought was that we couldn’t possibly be dressing up like hobos but apparently “ropa de calles” means everyday clothes. My classmates are super friendly towards me and extremely good at talking. When you meet someone new, you better have at least 15-20 minutes of things to talk about prepared in Spanish because there’s no such thing as socially awkward people here in Chile. Well, yes there are, but the socially awkward people here are the crazy homeless people talking to themselves.
My schedule is extremely weird and is different every day of the week. You can choose a course path when you start high school, either humanities (where the electives are social studies and language classes) or mathematics (where the electives are math and science courses). Everyone still has math, science, language/grammar, and social studies, but depending on your path, you have more classes of one subject than the others. School starts at 8:00 A.M. and ends at 2:30 P.M.
| Period | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Advisory | Psychology | Elective Math | Biology | P.E. |
| 2 | Advisory | Psychology | Elective Math | Biology | P.E. |
| 20 Min Break | |||||
| 3 | History of Chile | Chemistry | Elective Physics | Language/Grammar | Music |
| 4 | History of Chile | Chemistry | Language/Grammar | Language/Grammar | Music |
| 10 Min Break | |||||
| 5 | Math | History | Math | English | Physics |
| 6 | Elective Physics | History | Psychology | Elective Chemistry | Physics |
| 5 Min Break | |||||
| 7 | Elective Physics | Religion | English | Elective Chemistry | Math |
| 8 | Elective Physics | Religion | English | Elective Chemistry | Math |
To be honest, I’m not quite sure if that is correct or not, but you get the general idea.
Please let comment below with any questions or suggestions for future posts. I NEED FEEDBACK!!!! Also, please share on your social media. There are buttons located below. It would be greatly appreciated! Thank you everyone for your support on my yearlong adventure here in South America.
Chao!
