Scared(?)

For this first time in all of my abroad experiences, today I was scared.

We didn’t have another aftershock or blackout (like last night, all throughout the country for over 3 hours).

I went to a new campus and a new class, all by myself today. No other foreigners. Got lost. Arrive late. Found classroom, door was locked. Asked several people many times where to go, what to do. Finally found classroom only to discover the class was postponed, so then waited for a half hour in a small room with only the professor and TA. When class finally started, I didn’t know what was going on since I missed the first week. Then I was asked a question in front of the small class of Chileans and didn’t know the answer, and thus was super embarrassed. 

All of this is silly first-day stuff that I haven’t dealt with since first day of high school. It’s really nothing to be scared of. But being completely alone in a new country, the sensation of feeling lost and not understanding or being understood, is indeed frightening. I am not saying I can relate exactly to immigrants through this simple experience, but in a way I can image how difficult it must to be to move to a brand new country. Now I know that immigrating takes such courage, and why ex-pats from any country group together so closely abroad. It is just simply a matter of being scared. And understandably so. Plus it doesn't help that a lot of the people in the new country are sometimes scared of you as a foreigner.

I really probably shouldn't complain about being lost on this campus though, it is the most beautiful place I've ever gone to study. It is the arts campus for La Católica is absolutely picturesque. Think The Secret Garden + Hogwarts (including the hidden tunnels and rooms) + Virgin Mary statues: 

 Definitely more photos of Campus Orientes to come.