So it's been 6 months...
I’m sitting here in a creaky wooden chair in one of my favorite coffee shops in the charming neighborhood of Barrio Lastarria in Santiago. January’s summer breeze is floating in lazily from the open door. I’m enveloped by a humming marriage of fellow patrons’ Chilean Spanish and British-accented English. I’m picking apart the remains of a bagel that they loaded with salmon, but really skimped on the cream cheese. And I’m reflecting on my first 6 months of Chile. Living abroad in Santiago has not been glamorous, and don’t believe anyone who tells you it is. What you see on social media is a curated second in a day filled with 86,399 other seconds (source: Google) of sore feet, under-caffeination, over-priced restaurant lunches, lack of air-conditioning, homesickness, loneliness, insecurity, and more miserable things I can’t think of right now. Without a doubt, this has been the most emotionally and mentally challenging 6 months of my life. It’s...