Surviving an earthquake and a broken computer

So I’m back on the blog again. My official excuse is that my computer broke down and I had to wait two and a half months to get it fixed.

Here I got the full experience of typical Chilean service. In August my computer blacked out so I took it to a PC fixing place. They told me that it would take around 20 days (weekends not included – of course) to fix it and that it would cost about 20,000 Chilean pesos (= 42 USD/32 euros/242 Danish kroner). That sounded reasonable and they told me that they would contact me later on. Almost 1 month went by before an employee with the thickest Chilean accent ever called me speaking in a very computer-nerdy lingo. Eventually I had to hang up because I didn’t understand anything. I sent them an e-mail and after “only” 3 weeks I got a reply. They told me that the hard disk had to be changed and that it would cost me 68,000 Chilean pesos. FUN! But I told them to go ahead with the reparation. After 2 week without any reply I “kindly” reminded them which suddenly made them faster. So I’ve learned that if you don’t want to wait forever for service in Chile, you just have to be the insisting (borderline annoying) customer. That was just my computer, but the slow service is EVERYWHERE in Chile. If I’m not in a hurry it is okay, but sometimes it drives me crazy – like waiting 15 minutes at the post office when there’s only one person in front of me and the woman behind the counter takes her time so well that she answers a personal call on her cell phone. 

So that was the official excuse. The unofficial one might be that keeping a blog updated is harder than I initially thought. So I’ve been a bit lazy… But at least I’ve had a good time while I been “gone”. 

Last week, Julie, I, Thibault and his friend went horseback riding in Ritoque on the beach and in the woods for about 4 hours with a tourist company called Ritoque Expeditions. When I was 5, a horse kicked me in the back, so I have always been afraid of horses. But I pulled myself together and the guide was good at controlling my horse so I slowly got used to it. After 3 hours I even dared to gallop a bit – just a bit! It was an amazing tour even though it was cold that day. I’m planning bringing my parents on this tour so at that time I hope to be braver and gallop even more.

Brave me doing a "Nixon" on a horse

Landscape on the trip

On the beach

Just before we left to go to Ritoque, we experienced our first REAL earthquake. We had just gone out of the apartment and were standing in the hallway when it began. We could see the whole building moving from the 15^th floor! The most freaky thing ever! I just grabbed on to Julie and began screaming – completely forgetting all the advices about finding a door frame to stand under. It lasted only about 30 seconds, but it felt much longer. Nothing happened to the building and when we got out on the street, people were acting like nothing had happened. Just another day in Chile with a 5.7 earthquake hahaha! But Julie and I were on such a high afterwards! We had experienced a real earthquake and “survived”!

This last month I have been getting to know Valparaíso better – two times I been the guide for other people, so now I feel well prepared for when my parents come to visit. Melissa, Sini, her boyfriend and I went one day on a 30 minute boat trip the harbor and saw sea lions. Each time I go there I fall more in love with the city and discover new wall paintings with the result that about 80 % of my Facebook album “Valparaíso” is pictures of walls.

Yesterday it was back to school again after the long weekend. I really enjoy my human resources class, “Fundamentos de personas y organizaciones” even though it’s late in the afternoon. It is a lot of theory (all in Spanish), but the teacher switches it up by making sex jokes or making us participate, for example we did a personality test yesterday which was a lot of fun and actually scarily accurate.  Even though I still haven’t gotten used to the Chilean university system (frequent test, mandatory attendance) I have learned to relax concerning grades. My university, CBS, can’t transfer UAI’s grades so I just need to pass my classes. Back home I would be striving to get the highest grade, but here everything above the grade 4 is “a waste of work and time” – or at least that is what I’m trying to tell myself so I can learn to relax more. 

Due to my stupid and expensive computer I had to cancel my trip to Buenos Aires. While I was writing this, the computer actually just blacked out! WTF! So it is not doing so well at all! I just have to stick it out until I get back home and then I’ll buy a new one. I still hope to go to Buenos Aires later on in the year, but my number one priority is buying my flight to Cusco so I can see Machu Picchu which I plan to do after the exams in December but before Christmas, which I’ll celebrate with Nick and friends in Santiago!

While I was “gone” I went to San Pedro de Atacama and Bolivia with friends, but that was so amazing that I’ll write about that in my next blog post : )

Until next time!

Besos

Mette