Willamette World News

I’ll begin with a brief introduction. My name is Paulina Scapigliata Ludwig Torreblanca Reyes Rojas Re… And the list goes on. But to keep this short and sweet, I’ll resign to just Paulina for now. Although some of you probably know me as Candice from Iowa but that’s a whole other (drunken) story. I hail […]

When I have to think about the most memorable moment in the United States, the first thing that comes to mind, is obviously, my wedding day, which is by far the most memorable moment in my life. Nevertheless for the purpose of this article I believe I need something a little bit more mundane, like […]

The first animal that comes to my mind when I think of Oregon is not a beaver, but a squirrel. In Chile we have many types of rodents, some friendly looking like the Coipo (a type of beaver) and others not so friendly, including something that could have perfectly have inspired the R.O.U.S. from Princess […]

Just like in other Latin-American countries, beans and corn are part of the regular diet of Chileans. We have different ways to prepare them, and we also use different names. Beans are called “porotos” and corn is called “choclo.” We mostly use two types of corn, the small, yellowish kind that you can find at […]

Thinking about sports at this moment seemed to be a bit trite, considering that Chile is just starting to recover from the tragic events of last week. In case you had not heard, on February 27th there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Concepción (the second largest population in the country). Considering that context, talking […]

Valentine’s Day in Chile is not much different from what you see in the United States. You still see teddy bears, flowers and chocolates. However, because of certain cultural differences, there are a few things that make Valentine’s Day unique in Chile. The main thing that is different is that Valentine’s Day is almost exclusively […]

I can’t really say that I did a lot of traveling this last winter break, especially because I was more concerned with a few things that were far more important to me at the moment (like applying to graduate school!). I did have plans to go to Victoria (Canada), but I only went as far […]

On December 13 of this year, a new presidential election will be held in Chile. There are both many differences and similarities between the electoral system in Chile and the US, and these are a few of them:

There are a great number of scary stories and legends in Chile, from the desert in the north to the Patagonia in the south. Most of the stories are from pre-Colombian times, and there are only a few that involve more contemporary people and events. But if you’re interested in the supernatural in Chile, Chiloé […]

Independence Day in Chile is celebrated on September 18, and people usually take a whole week to celebrate and spend time with their love ones. But I already wrote about Independence Day in my first post at Willamette World News. Now, I will refer to a different date, October 5, which is the day that […]

Hello! I’m Pablo and I am from Chile. I was born in the beautiful city of Valparaiso (on UNESCO’s World Heritage list since 2003), one of the main ports of the Pacific during the 19th century. I graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso with majors in History and Education and minors in Geography […]

For 200 years Chilean women have fought a lot to have a place in the society outside of their houses. They have not only asked for political rights, but also to have possibilities of study after high school and the chance to become professionals. At the beginning of last century, the concepts of woman and […]

Valentine’s Day is called “Día de los Enamorados” in Chile- that means “day of the lovers”… a few years ago we didn’t celebrate it and it is an American day that we adapted in our own way through the Media. The Chilean way to celebrate this is only for couples, you go out with your […]

The term culture shock describes the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally […]

Christmas is celebrated in many ways across the varied landscapes and diverse families in Chile.

Just a few years ago that Chilean people started celebrating Halloween. This is not a special date for us; only the children go out and nock on the doors around theirs neighborhoods asking for some candy.

Inflation is the principal economic issue that Chile has to face up to at this moment and the development of the worldwide financial crisis has increased Chilean and international uncertainty towards the future.

Hi all, I’m Monica Diaz from Chile and I will be at Willamette for this year working as a language assistant for the Spanish department.

Right now there is a dispute going on between Chile and Peru. But it is not a political or social issue they are arguing about. It is all about a drink. A drink? you might ask. Why would they fight about something like that. Well the issue is, that it is considered as a national […]

Maybe you don’t have any idea about this! But the current President of Chile is a Woman! Her name is Michelle Bachelet. Forbes magazine ranked her as the 27th in the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, she is the only Latin Women on it. She is the most powerful woman […]

My name is Karen Cresp and I am one of the Spanish Language Teaching Assistants for this year. I’m from Viña del Mar, Chile. I was born on the Patagonia, in Punta Arenas the most southern city in the world! It is a cold city but has great views with lots of ice and penguins. […]

Pinochet’s health tested before trial On Tuesday, former dictator Augusto Pinochet underwent a series of court-ordered medical tests to determine whether he can stand trial on human rights charges. Mr. Pinochet remained for two and half hours at the downtown Catholic University Hospital . No details were available on the exams. The top court last […]

President Ricardo Lagos The President of Chile is both the chief of state and the head of government. Currently, the President is elected by popular vote to serve for a period of six years, without immediate reelection. However, changes to the Constitution, enacted on Agust 26, 2005, reduced the President’s mandate to four years starting […]

Hola a todos. My name is Marlene Molina. I am the Spanish language Assistant this year. I am 28 and I teach English in a farming school in Chile. This wonderful country is long and narrow; it borders Peru and Bolivia in the north and Argentina in the east. But I am not going to […]

The history of women in Chile combines the leading role and the social action with the discrimination and invisibility. Active from the Colonial age in the humanitarian task, by the end of the last century women entered the university (1877), graduating like the first professionals of Latin America. More than fifty years of fight were […]