My Experience of Moving to Chile, South America

in #travel7 years ago (edited)

What is it like moving to a foreign country?

It can be a little scary, especially with a language barrier between you and everybody around you. There is lots of adjusting to do as the culture is very different and the people have interesting daily customs.

Let me tell you though... it is the most exciting, and invigorating experience.
Especially when you get to live in places where mountains surround you everywhere you go!

@gringalicious and I, down at Lago Ranco beach! I took bicycle rides every day to this beach because I lived so close to it.

Moving to Chile, I soon learned that if I wanted to buy food, do business, make a new friend, ask for directions, or get a haircut, I needed to learn to speak the language pretty fast.

Otherwise buying a sandwich was going to turn into a comedy show. Lol.

Learning a second language though has been extremely beneficial and has widened my horizons.

It's funny because in Chile, they have this "Siesta" time where everybody in town closes their shops and takes a nap.
Imagine how it was for me and my family when we drove an hour or so out to town, only to find out stores were closed and everybody was taking a nap! Lol.

They also love to eat their dinner very late at night. There were nights when we got invited to dinner and we started eating at 11 PM.

If you're wondering what kind of food Chileans eat, their signature food is empenadas. They also eat a lot of hotdogs loaded with mayo and tomatoes on it, and lots of them avocados.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved there, was how close families were. They always had dinner together, they visited each other daily if not lived together.

These photos here were taken in our back yard!

Lago Ranco.

So this is just a little bit of my experience of living in Chile. Now that I am back in the states, I sure do miss the scenery.. and am looking forward to visiting again!

Okay my peoples, I must go and eat a second cookie now.

Thanks so much for reading

Nos vemos mis amigos!

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Nice story and pics!
i love the backyard-one ;)

And the Napthing..well, everyone should do that^^

Oh thank you :)

Yeah you're right about the naptime.. the world would be a better place if people took more naps! Hahah

Those pictures are just breathtaking. I think this is the place for my next cycling trip :)
Me encantaron las fotos. Muchas gracias

Ooh, I hope its an amazing experience for you when you go cycling there!

Me alegra que te gusto mi amigo :)

Super well written, I loved reading your thoughts. You were amazing in how dedicated you were in learning another language, I am still very impressed. Beautiful photos! I hope that second cookies was good?

Aww, that makes me happy!

And I might have had a spoon of nutella instead...

It happens

Wooow amazing pics and content I visited chile one and your definitely right about the families being close! I up voted and followed i'm new to steeemit but if you get the chance please check my blog out I think you will enjoy it thanks!

Thanks so much! Sure I'll check it out my friend

Very amazing. I like it

Thank you @aamaksal :)

You are welcome my friend . if there is time do not forget the support in my post also yes

Did you know you can win SBD by participating in "FIVE WORD STORIES" challenge?!

You can read about the challenge HERE and participate by submitting your story in the comments section of the challenge entries which you can find HERE. You will have the chance to win SBD in this challenge.

I'd be happy to see you around my friend!
Happy Steeming!
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Awesome post and great pictures! ☺ I guess Chile would be a good country for me because I like taking a nap in the afternoon as well 😉

Lol! Youd fit right in.
Thank you for the comment :)

I loved our adventures in Chile together @fullofhope! Thanks for sharing this with the community.

We're gonna have plenty more in other countries too :P

you have taken those pictures in your backyard? this is amazing!!! I´m totally stunned.

I´m sooooooo looking forward to your next posts

warm regards

Ohh thank you so much! I'm really happy you enjoyed them this much.

Happy night to you my friend!

oh, I definately do enjoy those pictures - esepcially the one at the beach with great coloring of the sky... that is just mind-blowing!

It looks so nice out there!

The beach was the best hehe

Thanks

Living aboard changes your perspective and makes you adapt, if you want to immerse in the culture. We're glad you had the chance to live aboard and experience these things like siestas and midnight dinners.
Would you like to live aboard again and if so, where?
Great post by the way 😉

Yes exactly, you're forced to adapt but then you learn how to survive foreign things in the future :)

I am going to travel to Europe again this year! Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks so much for the comment!

Europe! Wow, when are you going and for how long? Our list would depend on the season. Yet, we still made a list of places. We have many suggested cities like: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Rome (and maybe a few other towns in Italy - lots to see and eat there!), Barcelona and Lisbon. There's actually so much more, take a flight on the way there or back from America via Iceland. Slightly expensive country, but very beautiful!
Ah! There is also Dublin and Edinburgh as great cities to visit.
Luckily, in Europe, its quite easy to move around - cheap flights if you can get them early and off-peak as well as look up at inter-railing around Europe. We will do a post in the future about our inter-railing trip last year.

This is super helpful, thank you soo much. These places are incredible recommendations, and they are now on my travel list!
I am not quite sure for how long, but I am thinking of Italy first.
I am also really into oceans and cliffs.. I would love to go somewhere that has most beautiful cliffs or something. Ill be waiting for your future post about your inter-railing trip! Again, thank you for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

nice photos, accompanied by beautiful women scenery

Aw, thanks my friend

Scenery looks amazing @fullofhope

Happy to hear that :)

How lucky are the mountains to have such a gifted photographer capture them. Beautiful.

Sweet comment, thank you :)

How long did you live in Chile @fullofhope? I am also a traveler and I dream about visiting Chile! Happy Friday!!

I lived in Chile 4 years!

Well, I hope you get to achieve those dreams :)

Nice post and beautiful photos! Thank You!

I appreciate that :)

Hi Girl.. it is very interesting your history.. especially for those who want to have experiences like that .. sharing experiences is very helpful..

I'm happy to hear that. Thanks so much for reading my post!

I really like this post. It's very important to learn, to know about certain cultures and customs. Chile is a whole party, I think it's a very nice place. I'm glad that it was also for you.
About the language problem,
speed, fluidity. I like that this was not a barrier for you to enjoy and open Chile

Aw I'm happy to hear this. Thank you so much for reading my post and commenting :)

I assume you've been there by your comment.. how long did you get to stay?

Now that you're back in the states, are you having reverse culture shock? The first time I moved out of the states was Costa Rica. I remember being crazy depressed for almost an entire year after coming back.

That lake looks beautiful... especially in the last picture! And whaaat? How did you get the sky so pink/red! Ahhh it's beautiful!!

Weird that Chile has such a late dinner time. So does Spain. Yet Central America was totally normal dinner times, and so was Peru and Colombia.

Interesting...I had no idea. I end up eating two dinner because I'm SO hungry by 11 pm!

Wow, what a comment! Thank you! haha

No I am not culture shock.. Ive kinda moved around my whole life I like it :)
But I understand being depressed after moving to a foreign country at first.

The sky is like that because it was a sunset! Half the sky was stormy and half was sunset, and it was like a once in a life time view, I probably wont ever see a sunset like that again. Lol.

I agree with you.. I most definitely ate more than 1 dinner.

Que bonitas fotos. Espero mudarme a chile lo antes posible, tengo bastante amigos allá. La situación actual de venezuela es un poco difícil. Saludos

Oo gracias por el comentario!
Yo igual espero vivir alla de nuevo jaja, pero mas en el futuro. Ahora me quedo en los estados unidos! Donde en Chile quieres mudarte?

Tengo a varios amigos unos en santiago, otros en las condes. Lo importante es tratar de salir de acá mientras mejoran las cosas. Saludos

Love this :) Your words remind me of when I moved to Japan after I graduated college. It's a crazy experience getting used to a different culture. It's not just the language and the scenery, but the daily life itself that takes time.

Coming back is super hard, depending on how long you live there. Your whole world is flipped upside down and you need to reacclimatize yourself to what is now foreign...even though it's where you're from. Strange but good times :)

Thank you, I'm happy to hear that from you :)

Your story is very interesting to me as well.. It's unique. Do you have plans to live abroad in another place again?

Yes, I'd love to live abroad again. Hopefully through my work I'll be able to get out again. :) Something about immersing yourself so fully in a different place that I really love.

beauty and on such a wonderful background. Well done.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'd love to visit Chile one day.

Thanks so much for commenting on it!
It is worthy of going :)