Yellow

It's been a great run for the summer break, and I'm sad to say that this will be my last blog post, because as of Saturday night I'm back home in America! The past two months seemed to have both flown by and stood still at the same time, leaving me with so many memories and the possibility of the future. There's so much to process and share with all of my family and friends back home, and so much to reminisce over with friends from IES.

The past day and a half have been so surreal.

I remember the exact moment I decided to study abroad. I was sitting in my dorm room at school and looking through some photos of people traveling. As I sat there dreaming of the snow peaked mountain tops, the crystal clear rivers, the roaring sounds of waves crashing on a quiet desolate beach, my heart knew it was time to start planning. I knew that nothing was going to stand in the way of my chance to go explore an entirely new country.

Hey guys! It's Marley :) I am one of the 21 students luck enough to partake in an incredible semester abroad in Santiago, Chile. We've only been at it for a week but it feels like we've been here forever (in a great way). So far we have spent time with our host families, gotten a bit more oriented in the city, taken a few classes on Chilean culture and language, went to orientation at the university we will be enrolled in, and explored 2 cities outside of Santiago: Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.

Rabat! Our home-base city, despite a fair amount of travel. I am beginning to love it.

A few interesting places:

First of all, of course, the medina:

I've been back for about a week now and I already miss Sydney so much. I miss living with everyone,  going down to Anzac Parade to get food, walking around the city, going to Circular Quay, Bondi, Coogee, Manly, and just seeing all the amazing sights Sydney has to offer. Our last night was emotional to say the least. A few of us stayed up all night and then went to Pancakes on the Rocks at 4 in the morning. Despite being dropped off at the wrong place by the Uber, we managed to get there and had some awesome breakfast.

Walking through the muddy streets of Egoli, I try to avoid random patches of water in an attempt to protect my tennis shoes- clearly, I’m not properly dressed. Egoli, an informal settlement located in the outskirts of Cape Town is home to thousands of displaced individuals. We’re here for a couple of days to continue the Health I.D project intended to gather medical history of the residents.

Orange

"Orange is the happiest color." - Frank Sinatra