My time in Chile is coming to an end.

It´s so weird. I remember during week two thinking, "goodness, I have six weeks left. Sooooo much time," and now all I can think of is how quickly it has passed by, as cliché as that sounds.

I´m ready to be home. I´ve had an excellent time full of lots of sporadic moments, but I can´t wait to get home to my family and WSU. That´s one of the things about traveling, I always feel good to come home. It´s amazing experience but I always come back feeling proud of where I come from.

My time here has been exhausting in a good way. I´ve accomplished learning more Spanish. I´ve had six articles published in a fairly prominent newspaper. I made a lot of great friends down here. I learned a lot about a culture that I knew nothing about when I arrived. More or less, I think I´ve accomplished everything I came here to do.

One of the hardest parts of going home is answering the question, "so how was it? Tell me ALL about your trip." Where do I even start with something like this? The big moments, like meeting President Bachelet or accidentally being cast as an extra in a Chilean movie? My very first salsa lesson or the time I tried my first completo? My decision to leave my host family? Sútbol? The internship? I can´t even pick out the most important bits to share, because they´re all so much a part of the experience as a whole.

Perhaps I can share my biggest lesson. I can never expect to understand a culture or another group of people without living in it. It´s so funny to think of all the stereotypes people have about cultures they don´t understand. I surely had them about Chile. I had my expectations... lots of latin music, hot men, long nights of dancing. And yeah, I got all of that. It lived up to my expectations. But there´s so much more to this part of the world. Their love of a good time, a good night out. The fight for more women´s rights. The way everyone gives out money to the people begging on the streets without judging their intentions or whether they´ll just use it to buy a pack of cigarettes. The countless numbers of songs and chants they have for soccer games. These and so many more that I could never finish listing.

A few entries back I promised a worst of/peeves of Chile list, so I´m fulfilling that responsibility with this entry.

1. Nescafé

The Lonely Planet guidebook thoroughly warned me of this problem, and for my first month in Chile I was thoroughly warned of the acidic, powdery mess that is Nestle´s version of coffee. During my first month in Chile, I wasn´t even aware that real coffee existed here until I stunbled across a restaurant with café cortado on the menu (apparently they had café cortados at restaurants I had frequented previously, I just couldn´t undertand the menu). Well, that was great. But the point is, Nescafé is the common version of coffee here and I cannot wait to get home and have the real version at my disposal.

2. PDA

It´s called "pinchando" between people who aren´t dating, "pololeando" between people who are... and it´s everywhere. There´s people making out on the bus, in the streets, on the elevator, at the dinner table... and if you go to the beach, it is EVERYWHERE. Frankly, it´s a little overwhelming. I feel bad for the single people in this country.

3. A lack of central heating

I know I´ve gone over this. But it´s really, really sad. Along with this is never having dry clothes. I hate putting on damp clothes when it´s freezing.

4. How every TV talk show has a table dancing/lap dancing segment

You know, this part is actually a little funny but really uncomfortable at the same time. Their versions of the Today Show and group talk shows always have these guest stars/porn stars who wear next to nothing, hop on the desk and do a little booty-shaking for like ten minutes. It´s so weird. I can´t figure it out.

5. The Reggaeton beat

All of the youth here are obsessed with reggaeton, and the rhythm is always that same, typical, pulsing, boring beat for every song. There´s really only so many ways you can dance to it.

6. Saying something in Spanish and receiving a reply in English

This happens so much. I want to be like, "yo, I´m trying to learn the language here. The least you can do is help me out a little." And I have to wonder, what if I spoke French, or German? I mean, I could come from any other Western-looking country and they would have no idea.

7. Anti-Bush sentiments

It´s not even so much the sentiments as being approached and harrassed at random about him. During my first three weeks here I was harrassed on five different occasions about Bush, four of which were by absolutely random people on the bus, or on the street with whom I didn´t initiate conversation. It´s really a matter of respect. I wouldn´t approach a Chilean student in the U.S. and say, "Pinochet blows. THAT was a bad choice" or anything along those lines, so I feel like the same respect is deserved on my part when I visit their country.

8. Not knowing who to trust

This is really a given with any travel situation, but it does become slightly exhausting at times. I feel like it also dampens my interactions with the people here.