Day 12

This morning was a bit different than the rest because we were able to meet with the students of the nursing program at the Catholic University. The group we met with was a part of the student organization for the nursing program and it was very fun to be able to talk with them because it was a more conversational situation than the past presentations have been. While we were talking with them Jaime and Carrie were in a different room talking with Lillian about the plans for the following week in Villarrica. With the nursing students we had very casual conversations about the healthcare systems in both of our countries as well as lighter conversations about college, etc. During this time we were also able to sit in on some presentations made by nursing students on community projects that they had recently completed. These presentations were in Spanish, so I did not understand all of what they were saying but I know that some of the topics were about treating others respect, and caring and keeping of pets. The community projects were completed by nursing students in elementary schools around the community, and so many of the students who were a part of the project had come from school to watch, which was fun, especially since the presentations were skits, and slide shows with pictures and music. Eventually Jaime and Carrie came to gather us and we went back in to the classroom we had been in to have our final lecture of the week. The lecture was by Angela Castellano on medicine within the Mapuche tribes, which was good considering we are leaving for Villarrica on Monday and that is where the majority of the Mapuche population is. Unfortunately this presentation was very long and hard to follow since Jaime did not do a very good job translating for us. We were all glad when the presentation was over, especially since we had the rest of the afternoon off. When we got back I took and nap, yay! That evening we all hopped on the bus and went to Jaime brother, Gabriel’s, house. He is a doctor in a local hospital and wow he had a nice house. When we got there we were greeted with an array of appetizers from chips, crackers, cheese, and pineapple to wine and empanadas. Man oh man the empanadas were delicious! And the red wine was Gabriel’s label! It was a great night… we had so much fun talking with each other in a less academic setting and we also created a dance floor, which was a blast. Once it was time to leave Juan drove us to where most of the group got out to go to a club. Taylor, Sam, Alex J, Emily and I decided that we wanted to head back to the hotel instead because we were very tired. I am definitely glad that we did because we had to get up very early the next morning to go to our last parallel activity.