Settling in

The past couple of days have been really busy for me. I've visited the university that I'll be working at and met a lot of the teachers there. I also went to have a look at some possibilities for more permanent accommodation with one of the teachers from INACAP, the rooms weren't great at all... I decided not to go for any of them and to try to organise something by myself. Yesterday morning I had to sort out all my paperwork here, that meant going to the international police and the Registro Civil to sort out getting a Chilean identity card which I need to be able to get paid and other important things like that. In the afternoon I decided to go for a long walk around the city to explore as many different areas as I could. The main part of the city here is very urban, neatly organised and vibrant. There are loads of street performers out all through the day and lots of street sellers selling food, snacks, bit of clothing etc.

Tribunales, pretty central in the city. I think it's some kind of court.

I was surprised to stumble across a kind of shanty town on the outskirts on the city, it was in complete contrast to the high rise building in the centre of the city. This part was much closer to the big river that forms a boundary to one side of Concepción. I thought the Thames was pretty big but this river is absolutely enourmous!

The poorer area of town with the high rise buildings of the centre in the background

Concepción's enormous river, el Río Bio Bio

I also saw the memorial which was erected to commemorate those that died in the last severe earthquake here in 2010. There were over 500 deaths throughout the country and it was quite harrowing to say the least. One bit of graffiti on the memorial stood out to me, it read: "Te quiero mucho <3" (I love you a lot), whether it was supposed to be there a lot I thought it was quite appropriate. I was later told that the memorial was quite controversial in Concepción because it cost quite a lot to build, so not everyone agrees about its place in the city. 

Later in the day I had managed to arrange a viewing for some more accommodation, this place was a little more expensive but I was hoping it would be nicer. I was put in touch with someone who kindly offered to come with me in case I needed any help understanding what the landlord was saying. The room was quite small but much cleaner and in a sociable flat with lots of other students and a cat called Millie. I'm going to move in on the 8th August so I'll let you all know how it goes. Enzu, the guy that helped me with the viewing, and I then went out to a local bar. He works at the German school in Concepción and it was great to find someone to practice my German with so soon! He was talking about possibly learning to ski in a few weeks and that I was welcome to go too, I think it would be a good way to get into the outdoor sports lifestyle here.

I'm home?

My long journey is finally at an end! I'm now all settled in to my temporary accommodation in Concepción, a really nice apartment with a view of the river and the city which I will have for two weeks.

That 'random' search that happened at Heathrow did turn out to be a recurring theme... I got searched at every single opportunity there was and had to empty out my hand luggage on three separate occasions at security for random checks. Oh well it's all done now. The journey actually wasn't too bad, the flights were all quite comfortable and I even got a lesson in Chilean slang from one of the passengers I was sat with on my final flight. It was once I landed in Santiago that things became a little more confusing. Everybody here seems to know exactly where they're going so they just don't bother putting up signs properly, unfortunately for me this meant I had to ask somebody every 10 minutes to get directions to bus stations, coach terminals, taxi ranks and my apartment! Eventually I made it to my accommodation at around 5pm local time.

The Plaza de armas in the centre of the city

I met up with the previous language assistant who's role I'll be stepping into and she was kind enough to give me a tour of some of the city. I have to admit that when I arrived I wasn't that enamoured by Concepción but when I was taken to the heart of the city I really started to like the place. It's very lively here, there is live music on every corner and the local people are really friendly. Tomorrow I'm off to see the uni that I'll be working at and probably try to get some boring stuff like sorting phone contracts out of the way, A lady who I was speaking to on the coach said I should expect three things in my first week here: earthquake tremors, a student protest and a power cut, let's see how right she was...

Of I go!

The past few weeks have been really busy trying to sort out everything for my big trip. I've had to sort my visa (took a lot longer than I thought), vaccinations, travel details, health checks, packing and plenty more. It's kind of weird trying to plan what you need to take for a whole year of living abroad. It was obvious from the start that in having only one suitcase and a carry-on bag was going to be pretty tough to fit everything in. I had to prioritise things which I didn't think I could buy out in Chile or essentials from home i.e. some kayaking kit, my favourite clothes, laptop, paperwork, a few books etc. When I'd finished the case definitely weighed too much, but I was hoping that check-in would let it slide.

All packed and ready to go!

After a ridiculously early start (who even wants to be up at 5am!?!?) I arrived at T3 Heathrow ready to check in. There were a few hiccups along the way... The bag drop took ages because the system was confused about my visa situation, I got stopped for a random search at security and had to unpack everything and then got stopped again for another random search at the departure gate. I'm beginning to think this isn't so random and might be a recurring theme during my transits in the US, perhaps having "Mohamed" on your passport is not ideal when the world is at a high terror alert, it's sad really...

Anyway, I'm currently sat writing this at the departure gate just before I board my first plane for the start of a mammoth journey. 7hr30 flight to Boston, 2hr transit, 3hr flight to Atlanta, 5hr transit, 9hr30 flight to Santiago, 30min bus to coach terminal, 6hr coach to Concepción, ?hr car to final destination. I'm thinking stockpiling snacks might be a good plan! If all goes well I will be in Concepción in the evening tomorrow (local time) and will update you all then!