"Tusen Takk, Chile."

Hello everyone!! It’s so bittersweet to be back from my trip, but I am psyched to tell you all about it. Since we’ve gotten back, it’s been so hard to get back into the swing of things! Spring break always seems to do that to me. Everything else seems so boring compared to traveling! But nevertheless, I’m back to English online, registering for my junior classes (crazy right?) and answering emails. But! To the good stuff. Last week was needless to say an amazing adventure. I’ve never been so independent in my life. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I did with our group. First of all, I traveled in a smaller group with my two friends Curtis and Stefanie. Because it was our “free travel” we got to choose our destination and did all out budgeting and planning ourselves. I was really proud of the trip we planned out and was so blessed to have every bit of our travels and transitions from location to location go smoothly.  It was a biiig, answered prayer. 

We started off by wishing our other girls goodbye Friday, which was so hard because they had chosen another location! We prayed over each other and mayyybe cried a little bit, but got excited as both of our adventures were about to unfold. Saturday we packed up, made our flight to Santiago and settled into our first hostel. It was a great day—especially because I LOVE flying. Our first night in the city we really didn’t do anything, just checked in, ate a delicious, giant Chilean burger and rested up for the next night. On Sunday I had booked us a bike tour with an excellent company there in the city who took us around on these cute green bikes on what was a tour of the city through the eyes of a local. So instead of a ton of historical or political stuff, we got to see a lot of the popular restaurants, markets, and sights of the typical Santiago day. It was so much fun, our guides were great and we met some wonderfully sweet people. That day we also enjoyed a nap in one of Santiago’s beautiful parks because the weather was so nice, roaming around the Museo de Bellas Artes, and that evening we climbed this terrible hill called San Cristobal to see this incredible sunset over the city, with the Andes in the distance. It was not my thing, haha, but it was definitely worth the view. The walk down was probably the worst part because we didn’t think about it getting dark, yikes, let’s just say I fell a couples times. But! We got deeeelicious frozen yogurt which I haven’t had since home. It was a really good first day.

The next morning we traveled by bus to another part of Chile to probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen called Vina del Mar. I was really proud of how well we did with finding our bus! Seriously, God was guiding each part of transitions. It was great. We chose Vina because that’s actually where the Harding Latin America Study Abroad program is located and Stef and Curtis are friends with one of the guys there- his name is Jay. So we got there Monday, met up with Jay who was a really nice guy, and enjoyed the day around town and at the beach. I finally got to put my toes in the Pacific Ocean and it was freezing but the beach seriously was incredible! We enjoyed the whole afternoon sitting, talking, watching the huge waves, and byyy the way- I started Harry Potter this week so of course it was the most perfect afternoon. That night we met the rest of the Harding group and instantly because friends! We only got to hang out with a portion of them, but we hit it off so well. We went to dinner with them and had awesome Mexican food, which I’ve missed dearly. They had guacamole! It was my favorite part I think. Then we went to their usual hang out spot called Bravs, which is this delicious ice cream place where you get the biggest serving for nothing, so of course I was in. I tried so many samples before I picked one, they cut me off, haha. Then Tuesday, while their group was in classes, Curt, Stef and I wandered around this great artisan market then we met up with them to head out to these huuuge sand dunes out on the coast. We bussed out there and spent about an hour hunting down something to slide down them on. Basically all that happened is we ended up just getting covered in sand, had nooo success, but had such a great time with each other trying to figure it out. After a long walk back to the beach, our group laid out on the warm sand the rest of the day and enjoyed getting to know each other even more. It was really nice to get to know the other girls and compares schools and everything else. I think it’s interesting to think about how different my life would be if I had chosen another college and it was cool to think that I would have made just as great of friends as those girls if I had. They were so sweet and the guys were great too! I loved our little group. Starvinnnggg after such an eventful day we headed back to town, had burgers at Bravs and of course got ice cream. Wednesday we enjoyed wandering around some again, and found this adorable store that reminded me exactly of IKEA, but even cuter.. they had to pull me out of there!  After their group got out of class we took a train out to the beautiful neighboring beach town called Valparaiso, got to see some amazing graffiti and enjoyed the view of the water. It was perfect. We wandered around some markets there and loved the brightly colored houses dotting the hilly landscape. This place was so beautiful!  We headed back to Vina, again super hungry, tried Chilean pizza (which now I’ve tried in every country I’ve been in, and let’s just say they’re all super different) and duuhhh, headed to Bravs! So if you’re counting I had frozen yogurt once, and ice cream three times. Let’s get real, is anyone surprised? Vina was probably my favorite part of the trip, duh because it was the beach, duh because there was fantastic ice cream, but a lot of it was the wonderful people I got to meet. That group was so much fun and I loved seeing how similar I was to girls who grew up in an entirely different part of the country and go to a completely different school. I love how God interlaced them into my study abroad experience and I really hope to keep up with them in the future.

Thursday we headed away from the beach (so sad for me), through Santiago, and grabbed a bus to start our long travel to the Andes. This required a bus from Vina to Santiago, two subways in the city, a bus from Santiago to a town called San Jose and a taxi the rest of the way to our isolated hostel in the Andes. Once we got there, first of all- stunned by the truly breathtaking view from our “refuigo” window, we just enjoyed our first afternoon snoozing in the warm sun and I read- of course. There we shared a room with four Norwegian students, which ended up being super interesting. They taught us about some of their funny cultural things and we compared the US and Norway. They also taught us how to count to one-ten, a thousand thanks ("tusen takk"- my favorite), goodnight, hey, and some other funny ones. They were so funny, and great. They hung out with us both days we were there, played cards with us, and ate supper together each night. In the Andes on Friday morning we had a great breakfast, and headed out for a wicked long hike. I don’t think anyone that knows me would believe all that I did that day, haha. Our group started at about 1946 m and climbed about another 1500 m, which I don’t even fully understand how I did, but it was a big accomplishment for me. Slowly but surely, we climbed up, saw the most insane views, and after 6 and half long hours, we made it back the refugio.  Filthy, super hungry, and exhausted we showered up that night, had a huge plate of spaghetti and I enjoyed the night reading and looking at the most amazing sky full of stars I’ve ever seen. I got to see the Milky Way and a shooting star! I already love looking at the stars, but that night I seriously felt like I was reading a love letter from God by giving me the most wonderful view, away from the lights, just me and Him out there. I felt like they were glowing bright, just for me. It’s super cheesy, I know, but I loved that night! 

The next morning, we enjoyed some last minute views of the mountain range, enjoyed breakfast, said goodbye to our new friends, and headed back for the long travel to Santiago in order to catch our flight back on Sunday. The rest of our time spent in Chile was just enjoying the movement of city life back in Santiago, visiting a few artisan markets, frozen yogurt again (we just had to), and this night we stayed in a different hostel- which I actually thought we were getting robbed in, haha, but don’t worry I was just freaking out for nothing. We didn’t do much of anything on Sunday, just enjoyed walking around, seeing the people, walked up another hill to see a different view of the city in the daytime, and got ice cream (one more time) at this famous Chilean ice cream shop. That afternoon, before we caught our flight, we sat in this great park for hours- people watching and reflecting over the week. We even got to watch a commercial being filmed! It was so funny, one minute we were just sitting there, eating our ice cream, and the next this makeshift set unfolded before us all of a sudden. Then that night we flew back to Montevideo and I saw the most beautiful sunset, over these incredible clouds, with the Andes in the distance. It was mesmerizing!! I was so glad to have a window seat. That night we got back and were so so excited to be reunited with the other girls! We all screamed and hugged each other and did what girls do, haha. It was so much fun and so fantastic to be greeted by my best friends and share all our fun stories.

Overall, the three of us had an incredible adventure, saw some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen, and I felt God’s protective hand over us the entire the week. Even though I was sad to be away from my other friends for the week, Stef and I had such a great time getting to know each other more deeply and bonded so much! I also appreciated the opportunity for some much needed quiet time and reflection, away from the bigger group and loved how God revealed himself to me through the beauty of his creation and in a dozen other ways. We learned a lot about how to travel (the do’s and don’ts and the things they don’t tell you), about the adventures of hostel life and meeting strangers, and just how HUGE our world is really. We covered so much ground last week and barely touched all that Chile is when you really look at a map. We experienced great food, friends, and made memories that will, as the saying goes, last me for the rest of my life. I kept catching myself thinking how I’ll be able to say, “When I was 19… I climbed the Andes” or whatever other adventurous things I surprised myself with. It’s funny that one of the reasons I said I wanted to do the Latin America program versus Europe was because I figured its more likely for me to travel over there one day than come to South America so I should do this now, while I had the chance, and now that I’ve been here, my list of places I want to go in the world and places I want to see has doubled. Now that I’ve had a taste of this beautiful continent, I have no doubt that I will be back here one day to see all the other incredible places I’ve heard about since arriving. The tricky thing about studying abroad is it creates this since of urgency to hurry up and go see the rest of the world. Thing should be interesting when I settle back into Allen, Texas- lets just say that. It really was a great adventure and I’m so appreciative for all I experienced and all I learned.

Since getting back, we are already counting the days for the next trip coming up on April 8^th to Brazil with everyone and are trying our best to stay focused on all of our pointless classes. I am continuing to absolutely love the girls I’m living with and actually just today, after registering for my classes for the fall, helped make a chart of when each of us are in class so we can coordinate schedules and have lunch or whatever else together. With my classes set, housing situation for the fall finalized, and a strange feeling that this semester is quickly coming to an end, I’m so happy just to take every hour of this experience for what it’s worth. I know the end is coming up fast with only 6 weeks left, but I have come to love where I’m at, and am thrilled to see whatever else God has to show and teach me in my remaining time. I love that He’s torn me down so much this semester, only to build me back up now to see my growth up until this point. He has gifted me with so much insight into my character and where I want to go with my faith, He has answered a long awaited prayer in giving me these beyond amazing friends to grow with and enjoy, and most of all He has revealed so much of Himself to me this semester that it’s created this deep hunger within me for more and more of Him. I feel like I’m at this turning point in my life as I face the last few months of being a teen (CRAZYYY) and am so excited to wake up each morning and choose to follow and pursue the Creator of the universe who delights in my prayers and is thrilled to watch me attempt to serve Him. Call it some kind of study abroad high, or whatever else it may be, but I am genuinely glad to be where I am and ask that you continue to pray for me as I finish out my time here and God finishes His work in me during this specific season of my life. I hope to come back to all of you a brighter, more beautiful version of Hailey, who continues on this long and exciting path of growth and as an advocate of the Kingdom on into the summer and fall, and as many days as God will give me to serve Him.

Well now I feel like I’m just rambling, so I’ll wrap up. First of all, thank you once again for following me this semester, or more like for walking with me this semester as I record it. I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy sharing it. Second, thank you for the continued love and prayers. I’m such a relational person and you don’t know how much it means to me to feel all your support and encouragement while I’m away. And last, I love you all and appreciate the relationships I have with you more than I can express.

I love you and will be seeing you sooner than you think!!!

Hailey.

Prayers Please!

I fly out today for Chile until next Sunday for my spring break! Please be praying for me and the other two I'm traveling with for safety and that we have an amazing adventure together!

I love love you all!


Hailey

"you leave home, you move on, and you do the best you can"

Hi, hello!

Long time no see! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I sure did and I got some great sun! This weekend I enjoyed one of our two free travel weekends where we get Friday off and can choose to get out of the city.. so I did! It was fantastic. I got a group small group together, we booked a hostel, bought bus tickets and headed out early Saturday morning. Friday we decided to stay in town, enjoy a free cooked lunch from our cook and have a relaxing movie night. SO the next day five of us packed up and endured a 5 hour bus ride. We had a billion stops and I wasn’t convinced we were ever going to get to Punta del Diablo! But lo and behold, we arrived, stopped and asked for directions to our hostel, checked in and the weekend of sun and relaxing began. We really didn’t do much- just laid out on their clean, isolated beach in the hippie beach-town, and after a while we headed back to the hostel to clean up. This was my first true hostel experience in South America and I loved it! Everyone at this particular hostel were so friendly and helpful- most of them from the States or Europe themselves, and the place itself was humble and perfect for just a night. Kind of rugged and simple, our rooms had bunk-beds, a hanging light, and a floor fan.. that’s it! It was perfect. When we were getting ready to go find some dinner, we met our other roommates which were a young couple from New Zealand (who are called “Kiwis”), and an Australian guy who was in his early twenties who had been traveling the world alone since he was 18. All of them were so nice and interesting! We first though the Kiwis were Australian, mistaking their accents, but when we met the Australian, he quickly laughed at us and corrected our little error. They explained to us the difference in their accents and we all laughed, so fascinated by these travelers who had been all over the world. Oh! and irony of ironies, the Kiwis said, oh we've been to Texas.. Dallas actually. So Leigh and I, one of the girls I'm traveling with who is from Plano, excited asked oh where specifically? and they said Allen! What??? They stayed there with some friends for a while- the only place in Texas they have been. What a small world.. I love that kind of thing! I had to conceal how amazed I was as I asked if they liked it because I didn't want to overwhelm them, haha.

That night we wandered back into town to find some fish tacos! We didn’t find them, but I did enjoy these delicious chicken tacos that were so fresh, they reminded me of the States! It was great. The Australian guy, Andrew, actually came with us and we had the best time asking him all about his travels, hearing his interpretations of Americans and on and on. It was a great night! We really didn’t do anything, just enjoyed the quiet night life there and headed back to the hostel to sit on the porch at the hostel to visit some more. I slept so well that night after a long day of travel! The next morning we had a simple breakfast of bread and fruit (typical Uruguayans) and headed back to the beach for a few hours. We got some great sun, cleaned up and before we knew it, it was time to check out and catch our bus to the city. I had the most peaceful bus ride back, so proud of myself for planning this little trip and when we arrived back at Casa, the girls and I had a wonderful reunion! We had only been apart a little over 24 hours but we giggled and screamed as if it had been days. I loved it! I also came back to my room to find the most wonderful surprise; my parents had sent a care package with some parents of one of the girls here who came to visit for the week AND my long-awaited package from the Rachui/Bridges family! It was fantastic! Thrilled, I opened them up and beamed over all the love that overflowed from the packages. It was like Christmas! I felt so spoiled and immediately began enjoying and sharing the different treats I had received. It was just the best weekend.

As we approach the half way mark here I feel the time already passing quickly. The girls and I have already had to cut each other off when one of us starts talking about how sad it will be when we have to go our separate ways at the airport, but also excitedly await the fall where we will get to continue in our new found friendships as JUNIORS! It really was a wonderful weekend and was so great especially to get out of the city for some fresh air and sun. Something I reflected on a lot this weekend is a part of Psalm 139 that I read one day at the end of last week. This is one of my favorite passages and on this particular day I had remembered that right before I had come home from Christmas break I had been basically obsessed with it for a good two or three weeks because of the great promises it holds on God knowing you intimately, loving you deeply, and his profound faithfulness. I picked up my bible to read through it last week again and something new struck me this time. The end of the passage reads, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139:23-24) What caught my attention this time was that I had meditated over this passage so much, asking God to do these things, and I didn’t fully realize all that I was asking for. But nevertheless, that is what God is doing here, now months later. He is slowly, but surely, showing me this semester the things in me that offend him and leading me away from those things and instead towards the better path- the path of everlasting life. I’m just continually amazed by His faithfulness! What I picture is, God doing in me what happens He does to a muscle when you lift weights, not that I do, haha, but! when you work that muscle, you break it down and then it builds back up even stronger. Right? Isn’t that how it works? I then came home to find an email from my sister with a passage from Hebrews (Hebrews 12:5-11 NLT) and my thoughts were confirmed even more! I’ve been really humbled lately as I really unfold how, here I am, this blooming 19 year old, so naïve, constantly analyzing, questioning and worrying, who is always, always wrestling with God trying to piece things together and make sense of His promises and He just smiles down and says, good job, Hailey and loves me more than I could ever grasp. I’m such a mess, and yet He beams over my slightest baby step! It’s like when a four year old figures out something new, that to you is so normal and so obvious and you just smile at them, thinking how cute they are and say, yeah, great job sweetheart. You got it! How funny is that. I feel honored though, that God has allowed me to separate from what I use as crutches back home, especially since I lean so heavily on people that I love, has shoved me in a place and a house where I had to start fresh and form relationships, and is allowing me to “endure this divine discipline” as I discover so much about the world, myself, and most of all Him. It’s not all fun, and it’s definitely not all easy, but I know and can even feel that changes He is making in me that will last me the rest of my life- just like everyone said would happen in coming here. So as I continue my time here, I earnestly continue to try and live a life worthy of the calling I have received and am running full force ahead towards the ultimate Giver of Good for all that He is and all that He promises.

I’m sorry if I repeat myself a lot in these blogs, but I do love that I can be transparent to you all and appreciate you reading through the great things God is allowing me to experience here. I hope you enjoy hearing about it all as much as I enjoy sharing it with you! I’m just so delighted that God had given me such a wonderful support group back there, and I appreciate it now more than ever. Know that I am praying for you all each morning and love you for all that you are and all that you do in my life.

Chau Chau,

Hailey

"Don't Cry For Me, Argentina.."

Well hello there! 

            I’m sorry it’s been such a long time since I posted. I’ve been so overwhelmingly busy finishing up my Christianity in Culture class final and studying for this major exam over the Romantic writers since we got home from Buenos Aires. About that… it was awesome! As much as I love the beach, this trip was equally fun to our Rocha weekend- if not more. I don’t feel like I’ll ever be the type of person to actually want to live in the city, but to visit, Buenos Aires was amazing. On the way there, we drove to a beach town in Uruguay on the coast called Colonia. We spent the afternoon walking around this quiet, quaint little beach town looking at all the shops, enjoying iced coffee and ice cream. It was hot, but beautiful and we got some great pictures! Then we took the ferry, or the Buquebus, hahah.. I laugh every time, from Colonia to Buenos Aires. I got my Argentine passport stamp finally! I was so excited and was smiling so big as I passed through immigration that I looked back to find these two guys making fun of me. I quickly shot them a look, but you know what? Who cares! It was a great feeling. The ferry ride was so fun, sitting with the girls, watching a Ricky Martin concert, eating cookies.. I loved it. We finally got to Buenos Aires and we were all jazzed. We stayed at this wonderful hotel named Bauen Suites and guess what… they had air conditioning! The hotel really wasn’t anything luxurious, but our room was spacious, cool, had great showers and a nice view of the street! We had so much fun. We went out to eat some nights, but mostly went to this nearby grocery store and snaked on cookies, fresh fruit, crackers, and cheese. It was great. Plus! The hotel had a deeeeelicious breakfast. The thing about South American breakfast is it’s basically a bunch of desserts, breads, and fruit. I should have taken a picture of it because it’s every sweet eaters dream! The first day they took us around Buenos Aires on a tour with this wonderful guide. She was so sweet and really loved her city. It was really inspiring and all of their history is really interesting. She took us to the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, the Government Building where important figures like Evita have spoken, and to this beautiful little part of the city called La Boca. This was my favorite area we saw and I will definitely go back one day. It’s a beautiful, lively area where all the buildings are painted bright blues, yellow, pinks, and greens. It’s awesome! I would have taken more pictures, but I thought we were going back the next day. That’s definitely one of the biggest lessons I’m learning about traveling- to take every opportunity you get, WHEN you have it, because it may not pan out like you counted on.  We also got to go to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. We got to spend a few hours roaming around this awesome museum which exhibited European and Latin American art. It was fantastic and really peaceful for me to wander around by myself in reflection for a while. I never knew I liked art museums so much before.

            From this point on, we got free reign of the city and didn’t have any other set plans. It was great! I promise I walked from one side of Buenos Aires to the other. We saw everything! We were hailing taxis, right and left, jumping on the subway, taking the buses. I was so proud of us. We navigated ourselves all over eating empanadas, browsing through antique stores, doing some shopping, walking through the street markets and enjoying all the atmosphere of the lively city. I felt such an energy and really safe considering how many characters we passed on the streets! We alllllso got to go to Starbucks! It was delightful. Each one of us girls got a different dessert, ordered our drinks, found a spot outside in front of this big window overlooking the city, and had a field day. I wish someone could have filmed the scene as we excitedly tasted and shared each dessert and enjoyed a small taste of the United States. Oh and on Sunday we got to go to church there! The congregation we met was so sweet, inviting, and I really got a lot of the class I went to (it was in English). They also sang a lot of the songs we sing back home, only in Spanish, which was really entertaining and comforting even to hear the same tunes, in another language, so far from home. And after church we found Chinese food!! It was preeeeetty rough, but surprisingly delicious, especially after not having it for so long. What I would give for some Pad Thai right now.. I crave Asian food all the time here! Anyways, so after church we had another day of roaming and a great night of simple groceries and fun with the girls. I love our group so much, and I know that it’s them that is making this semester great. On our last day, we had our wonderful breakfast, went out to buy some souvenir tshirts and went to a famous, hundred year old café in the city named Café Tortini. Some people got food and coffee, but of course, I splurged and got this giant, wonderful slice of chocolate cake called La Africana. Now, I won’t bore you with the details of each layer of that delicious slice of heaven, even though I wouldn’t mind reliving it, but let’s just say it was incredible and totally worth the race around the city trying to find it and then having to power walk twelve blocks to make it to the hotel before the bus arrived. We drove out of Buenos Aires to the ferry station soo exhausted, but supremely satisfied. The ferry ride back was a blast too. This time it was a Madonna concert playing on board!

            I seriously made so many wonderful memories from this trip. It was a long weekend, but the group and I absolutely loved visiting Buenos Aires. The girls and I continue to grow closer and closer, and we have suuuch a great time laughing together and finding out each others’ quirks.  The best part of this trip, even though I loved the city and all the site I got see, is when I sat back a few times and just listened to my friends laughing, visiting, and loving on one another. I love how God brought each of us here to learn from each other and be a little family for each other while we’re away from our homes. It was just such a great five days!

            Since then, like I said, I’ve been really busy with homework for all my classes- which has proved to be more work than I would even do in Abilene, and exploring more of the culture here. Last weekend we went out to dinner and got to see a Tango show and went out for ice cream. Then last night we got to go to my first authentic futbol game! It was absolutely wild. The favorite team around here, Peñarol, played Ecuador and won! All the team songs, fireworks in the stadium, whistling, and cheering were exactly what I imagined it would be. The pride these people have in their team blows Allen High School football out of the water. It did take me back to high school a little bit though. It was thrilling and the players were soo talented. I really enjoyed it and hope we can go to another game this semester.

            Overall, I’ve been doing well. There’s a lot of ups and downs with the group and within myself with the stress level rising as we start getting things ready for the fall. There was one point last week where we were all sitting together on our laptops, each working on scholarship applications, schedules, and housing stuff, where we looked and up and said, we’ve got to get out! It’s a lot to think about being this far from everything and knowing how much responsibility you have still even if we’re not actually in the United States. It makes it hard to be fully present sometimes, but it’s also good for us to learn how to balance it all. I sure am looking forward to the year I have ahead of me though!

            And that’s really all I have! All of us are enjoying our time here, enjoying our group and looking forward to the coming adventures we have. This weekend a few of us are getting out of town to go to another beach down called Punta del Diablo so I’m looking forward to that rest and relaxation. Then we have another week of classes, and then I head out to Chile next weekend for Spring Break! Do you hear that? I get another stamp on my passport! I’m very excited. This semester is already flying by and honestly I’m torn because I love the experiences I’m having here, but I sure am homesick sometimes. I know that I’ll be back in Allen taking summer classes before I know it so we’ve all committed to using the rest of the time we have here to exploring this city as much as we explored B.A. and really getting the most out of this experience.

            Well, I hope you enjoyed my story and I hope to have many more adventures to share! I miss you all very much, appreciate you keeping up with me, and ask that you continue to be praying for our group here.  As we feel the growing pains God is allowing us to experience here, I pray that God is shaping us and changing us in ways that will affect the rest of our lives. I’m excited for that and so curious to see how the rest of this semester pans out!

I love you!

 

Hailey