Happy birthday Tasi.

Tasi fell asleep doing precalculus. The teacher wasn't mad- he encouraged me to take the picture.

This is the end result of his precalc nap- the Livestrong bracelet imprinted backwards on his face.

And this is Tasi and his sister Upu at my 18th birthday paintball party. They annihilated everyone.

I'm never going to forget how I felt the day Jordan called me and gave me the horrible news. April Fourth will forever be a day of recollection for me. All of your best friends came home from college the following weekend and we all attended your memorial service dressed in our Calcoholics shirts, and your dad gave me ten bucks to get you a new one. After the service we all went to Rock 'n Bowl in your honor, because you never let anything in life get you down. Our Calc Crew will never be broken; you'll always be there with us in spirit. We will continue celebrating your life.

We miss you.

Posted by joannl on April 7, 2008 at 3:54 p.m.
I am sorry. I was there and I tried to do what I could to help. I want the family to know that I held his hand and prayed for him. He was not alone. I have not forgotten his face since that day. I pray for him every day. I am truly sorry for the loss of your son.

Posted by kelseyluck on April 8, 2008 at 10:42 a.m.
First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to joannl for what you did there. I am so devastated to see Tasi go and I think what you did was very kind.
I transferred into North Mason HS in the middle of my sophomore year and immediately had a class with Tasi. It was there that we met and became acquaintances, and after several math classes we became good friends. I also had many classes with Upu and I loved seeing them together.
I have also met Zandra and Joss a couple times from working at Papa Murphys for almost two years and serving them pizza once in a while.
I just want to say that I am so deeply hurt for your loss. I returned to the high school Monday to be with the calculus class there, because I had calculus with all of them last year. In calculus last year we had a little crew of 8 or 10 people, including Upu and Tasi, that sat on one side of the room and we all always did things together... study groups, trips to the drive-in, we even had those CALCOHOLICS shirts made. We also did a secret santa thing as a class, and Tasi gave me the most interesting gifts: a paddle ball without the ball and string, a Calvin and Hobbes collection, and a mixture of bouncy balls. :)
I will miss Tasi so so much. My heart is so sad for the parents and especially Upu and Joss. I cannot imagine how you all are coping with this, as I am having a difficult time myself. I had an accident very similar to this one, and I agree that harsh conditions are at many times ignored in cases with teenagers, as I was also accused for major wrongdoing by the state patrol.
My thoughts are with everyone affected. I send hugs and my deepest deepest condolences. Tasi will be remembered as a great classmate and an incredible friend.

From: no-reply@kitsapsun.com
Subject: Message from joannl#267808 via Kitsap Sun
Date: April 8, 2008 11:11:22 AM PDT
To: heykelso@gmail.com

The user joannl sent the following message to you via Kitsap Sun:

==============================
Thank you for your email. I never had the pleasure of meeting either boy until that day however my step-son knew both. He told me that both boys are very nice. I, too, am a mother and could not leave this young man by himself. I just hope and pray that if something were to happen to any of my children that a stranger would do the same. God Bless you.....
==============================

From: no-reply@kitsapsun.com
Subject: Message from joannl#267808 via Kitsap Sun
Date: April 21, 2008 8:09:07 AM PDT
To: heykelso@gmail.com

The user joannl sent the following message to you via Kitsap Sun:

==============================
Thank you I appreciate the invite however I did not receive your email until this morning. The interesting thing is, I was on my way home from Silverdale and I saw the signs. So I felt a strong feeling that I should stop by and I did. The service was over however I did get a chance to talk with Tasi's parents and I feel so much better that I had a chance to tell them he was not alone. Thank you again
==============================

I cried so hard when I read what this woman had written, both in the comments section of the article and when she emailed me back. I sent her a long email thanking her for being so kindhearted and how important it was to me that you weren't alone.

Everyone misses you so much. You have always been another unique spirit to our group. I love you buddy. Thank you for touching my life.

Another article

It's going to be a little difficult to concentrate on homework today.

Broken hearted,
Kelsey

RIP Tasi Williamson
September 27, 1989 - April 4, 2008

I love Europeans

Last year at SU I lived in the "international house" - the dorm with most of the international students. In fact, my roommate was from Austria. So I've made lots of friends from all over the place. There were five or six French kids, a girl from Denmark, my roommate from Austria, another boy from Austria, several students from Japan, and a few others from China.

Anyway, the Austrian boy, my good buddy Daniel, and I are having a chat right now about life and all the fun stuff in it. We always do. He and I used to run into each other in the dorm basement at around three in the morning during finals week and have hour-long conversations when we really meant to just say hi in passing and continue with our cramming.

Well, I told him about a recent discovery I made here while reading through my psychology book. I have discovered such a thing known as psycholinguistics. As you all know, I love psychology; I've always wanted to be a criminal profiler, which requires years of psychological study in order to know the next move of a wanted criminal before s/he actually commits it.

But as you also know, I am fascinated by language. That's why I'm in Chile in the first place. Some of my family members don't really understand why I'm "wasting" my time and money in a foreign country learning a common language (they "at the very least suggest something more in demand, such as Arabic or Russian or whatever that language is they speak in the Philippines..." you mean Tagalog?), when I should be buried in biology books and going to a public school (don't worry, I'm working on it Grandpa). So this idea of psycholinguistics fascinates the pants off of me.

Psycholinguistics is defined as "the study of relationships between linguistic behavior and psychological processes, including the process of language acquisition." In Layman's terms, it's the study of how language affects the development of the brain, including how one picks up a language and the rate of understanding of the language. How completely awesome does that sound?

Well, I googled psycholinguistics just to see where I could study such a thing. The first thing that came up was Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. This website then referred me to some great Master's programs with the Radboud University Nijgemen (also in the Netherlands). The one that interested me the most was the Research Master's in Cognitive Neuroscience specializing in Psycholinguistics. The cool thing about Radboud University Nijgemen is that they have housing for international students, and also these programs only cost between 6,000 and 16,000 Euros ($8,800-$23,400), which is considerably less than I paid for my tuition at SU last year. And if it's going to get me into an amazing, ever-evolving career that will always be in demand, it'll completely worth it.

Plus, studying something like psychology in another country makes so much more sense than at home. Sure, we don't know scientifically why Americans do things the way they do, but we do recognize American patterns and habits. I don't always recognize European habits (or Latin American ones, for that matter, which is why being here is so mentally intriguing), so I know that if this is what I want to get my Masters in, another country would be the most logical and beneficial choice for me.

Anyway, so Daniel and I were talking about how an international education is so beneficial (since he spent a year in Seattle he knows already what it has done for him as a person), and we sort of shifted into talking about how people in other countries view Americans, and finally landed on American politics. It's quite interesting; have a look:

Kelsey: Well I'm really going to make that school in the NL a goal of mine
Kelsey: it would bring me so many good opportunities both during the time of study and after
Daniel: yeah, you should, stay focused and i am sure you gonna make it
Daniel: you definitely gonna profit from going abroad and doing a masters program
Daniel: and if its really interesting you, the best you can do
Daniel: i always say have fun in what you are doing and dont force yourself to do sth you dont like bec that doesnt make sense
Kelsey: exactly
Kelsey: I only force myself to do things I don't like if I know they will pay off soon
Kelsey: For example, taking nine classes
Kelsey: It's suicide but I know in two months it'll be over and it will bring me a world of benefits
Daniel: nine?, i have 12 this quarter but our system is quite different
Daniel: how many credits do you get for nine
Kelsey: It's basically an entire year of studies
Daniel: no way
Kelsey: Yes, same number of credits
Kelsey: 45 quarter credits or 30 semester credits
Daniel: in two months, thats impossible, you are crazy
Daniel: thats a buttload of work
Kelsey: well I've already finished two months
Kelsey: hahahahaha buttload
Kelsey: yes, it is
Kelsey: I have about a million things due on Monday
Daniel: thats remarkable
Daniel: i take my hat off to you
Kelsey: haha
Kelsey: I'm doing what I can to make a desirable life for myself despite coming from a very poor family
Daniel: i know, its really impressive how you master it bec i know its very hard in the US with all the tuition fees and that stuff, without financial aid, life isnt easy especially in the US
Kelsey: Yeah
Kelsey: Yet everyone thinks the US is full of rich jerks
Kelsey: People here are shocked when I tell them what life is really like back home
Kelsey: People here have asked me if all the girls in the US are like the girls on MTV
Daniel: i know, and then really smart, intelligent people end up flipping burgers bec they cant afford anything and some retarded guys get scholarships bec they know how to throw and catch a football
Kelsey: You have discovered the secret of higher education
Kelsey: Good for you
Kelsey: It's depressing isn't it?
Daniel: haha, the secret of higher education, yes just look at G. Bush
Daniel: its very depressing and overall sad, very sad
Daniel: and if McCain gets to be the new president you should leave the country as soon as possible
Kelsey: No shit, right?
Kelsey: And if he dies, everyone should leave the country
Daniel: if he dies?
Kelsey: Because Sarah Palin is quite possibly THE dumbest bitch on the face of the planet that he could have picked for a VP
Daniel: uh, yes
Kelsey: The entire world is going to hell if she takes the throne
Daniel: hopefully not, but i am a bit scared about the southern states and their influence on the election
Kelsey: Why? Most of them want Obama
Daniel: sure, they all are very conservative
Kelsey: But many are also very pro-Black President
Daniel: what about Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Texas, maybe you are right but Texas, uhhhhhhh
Kelsey: Texas should succeed from the US
Kelsey: and become its own little nation
Kelsey: It can be the Liechtenstein of America
Kelsey: People won't really go there for enjoyment but might pass through it once in a while
Daniel: good idea, i would vote for you if you were to run in the elections
Daniel: i think many people are on the same wavelength

Look at that ingenuity. He spent ten months in the US and look at everything he picked up from it.

Well my point is that I love how I can have friends from all over the world, but I love even more that I have international friends that understand a little bit of how the US works. It doesn't bother me that many people don't know because I can't expect them to, but it's just easier to have an intellectual conversation and also take in another culture at the same time. Does that make sense? For example, I can explain my educational situation back home with someone here, and I can try my best to relate it to how the education system works here, but there isn't much overlap, so I either leave the Chilean confused, or s/he just agrees and we move on to another conversation. With a student that studied in the US (or even with my friend Carlos, the Chilean that I met in Seattle), we can have a real discussion about the topic at hand and I can also take in feedback and analysis that originates from another cultural background. It's enriching; I cherish it.

Thanks Daniel for the good talk. I always love our insanely lengthy chats. I can't wait to see you again someday. And if I do happen to go to school in the Netherlands, you know I'll be able to visit you, at great length, for cheap, and more than once. :]

My buddies Aacer (Egypt) and Daniel (Austria)

Pondering the enigma of life, the universe, and everything,
Kelsey

(The answer is 42.)

Busy busy girl

It's going to be a long weekend.

On my To Do list:

Psychology:

• Read two chapters
• Post "Question of Understanding" composition in online forum, due Sunday
  
• Post responses to two separate QU compositions posted by classmates, due Sunday
• Take Week One exam over the two chapters read by 11:59pm Sunday
  

Asia Pacific:

• Read several new articles
• Skim through Powerpoints
• Write first monography (12-15 pages), due Monday

Processes of Internationalization:

• Read several new articles
• Skim through Powerpoints
• Study for first test, this Wednesday

Chilean Culture:

• Watch Machuca
• Read three short stories; highlight all the unknown vocabulary, translate it and record it in notebook, due Tuesday
  

20th Century Latin American History:

• Skim through Powerpoints

Written Spanish:

• Interview two people about the importance of the Chilean Independence Day and what takes place during on this holiday
• Write a composition about findings, due Monday
  

Greek and Latin Etymology:

• Memorize and practice writing Greek alphabet
• Search for 15 Greek words in an etymological dictionary
• Give a brief history on each word

Grammar:

• Nothing, yay

Physics:

• Nothing, yay

So, as you can see, I have a mountain of things to complete this weekend. The real problem is that tomorrow I'm going on an excursion with the program and will probably be gone the better part of the day. We're leaving at 7:45am, so I imagine we'll be getting back fairly late. That means I have a little bit of tonight, a little bit of tomorrow night and all of Saturday to get most of this done. Oh, and I want to start some sort of exercising regimen somewhere in there too.

So you might not hear from me for a while.

Prepared for battle,
Kelsey

A few observations

I haven't written for a while, and I know a lot of you are waiting to hear about my week-long backpacking trip, but I have eight classes here (and an extra one online from Olympic College back home), so I've been pretty busy. Also, I was busy having an awesome dieciocho (the 18th, Chile's Independence Day). But here is a little treat to hold you over until dinner time.

A few things I have observed about Chile:

1. Chileans are awesome dancers. I love their dancing style.
2. Too many people here have rattails and mullets. It needs to be fixed.
3. Chileans with green eyes are SUPER hot.
4. Chile is one of the largest consumers of bread in the entire world.
5. I love reggaeton wayyyy more than rap. Rap is soooo shitty compared to reggaeton. Reggaeton actually has rhythm. You don't have to freak-dance to it to have fun.
6. I love manjar. It's a yummy spread made from milk. It's sort of similar to caramel. But it comes with everything: churros, ice cream bars, on bread, etc.
7. Chilean girls come off as being really catty, but the ones I've met so far have been super fun and really nice.
8. Chilean moms will forever try to make their kids comfortable and happy. Please refer down to the picture of me in bed with once.
9. My professors suck at answering emails.
10. A class without a powerpoint is a rarity.
11. In two of my classes, students who arrive late have to sit on the floor.
12. Oh, and arriving late to class is their style. Sometimes even up to forty minutes late.
13. I saw a young girl wearing a colegio (junior high / high school) uniform with a barbell piercing in her bottom lip. Like the two balls were on either side of the middle of her lip, with the bar inside her lip. It looked okay I guess, but she was young, and I couldn't imagine how awful it'd feel to have that done.
    
14. I'm learning Greek. Useless, but awesome.

Oh yeah, by the way, I added a class to my eight-class schedule (as aforementioned). I am now taking Psych 100, General Psychology, online from Olympic College. It's worth five credits, so if you add that to my 36 transferable credits that I'm taking here, I'm four credits short of an entire school year in one semester. How awesome is that? It'll be hard as hell, but I'll pull it off. I'm excited to start working towards my psychology degree, so that I can go to grad school and work towards doing forensic psychology (criminology) like I've always wanted to.

And that's about it for now. I have to get up early to study in a few hours for a huge exam later in my class called (hold your breath, it's long) Chile Se Integra al Mundo: Procesos de Internacionización (Chile Integrated into the World: Processes of Internationalization". Snore.

Already half asleep,
Kelsey

My purpose in Chile

I was talking to someone the other day about this subject, and I wanted to highlight it for all of you.

As this person read through my earlier blog entries and asked me some questions about what I have going on back in the States, he came to the conclusion that this decision of mine to come to Chile was going to be just another event in my life, that after I go back home my growth and later on my stay here will have been irrelevante, and I will just continue on with my life as it were.

I just want to clarify some things.

First of all, of course I miss my family, of course I miss my boyfriend, of course I miss Seattle and all of my friends there, of course I miss everything that I have ever known in my entire life that I don't really have or utilize here. But that does not mean I am not enjoying myself here, that I'm not learning, growing, falling in love with the environment, and finding my way around this foreign culture and language. Nor does it mean that I am spending all of my free time here wishing I was back home. Please don't think of it like that.

Of course as many of you know I have traveled to eleven countries and counting, but that does not mean that Chile is just one more of them, because it isn't. I would never consider Chile another notch in my belt, but rather almost like a second home to me, because really, that is what it has been. I now know after having lived in six or seven different places in the last four years what it means to move away and make a new life for myself, or rather, open a new and different chapter in my life.

Of course it gets easier every time, because I have less and less of a history in each place that I've been staying, and because I haven't gone very far, so there is always an opportunity to backtrack and visit old friends. But I know it is going to be emotionally impossible for me to leave Chile knowing that I may not come back for a really long time, that I may not reunite myself with my family here and with the wonderful friends I've met. I have one friend right now that is a neighbor of mine, and we go out on weekends and have a good time but we also just chat about life and the world and one time we just hung out at his house and watched some program about China on the television. I know I'm going to be spending a hell of a lot of time with him, especially because he lives so close, and I know it's going to be hard to say goodbye to him when I leave. I've never really had a special neighbor friend like that that I spent so much time with.

But I shouldn't be thinking of that right now. I should keep my mind on my goals here. My purpose in Chile is simple.

I want to speak Spanish. I am in love with this language, and it is frequently utilized back home. And with that, I must tell my gringo friends here: I did not fly six thousand miles to practice English. I want to speak in Spanish.

I want to get to know the Hispanic culture. That's why I didn't go to Spain. I've already come into close contact with the European culture twice. It's time now to continue my quest for cultural enrichment and an overall understanding of various parts of the world. I want to meet Chileans, talk about holidays, explore the city, acquaint myself with the nightlife and try all the food. My friend Pablo told me he couldn't figure out why I would come to here or why I would want to travel to a country with less money than the US. I told him that in all honesty, there aren't a whole lot of countries with more money than the US. And the ones that do have more money are the ones that I could never afford to live in. Besides, what do I care if Chile is rich or not? For me, a country's worth isn't measured by its highly equipped armadas or its success in socialism or even how many Bill Gates and Donald Trumps come from there. A country's worth to me is the culture and sentiment it can offer me. I can already see that this country basks in culture, and I haven't even been far outside of the fifth region.

I want to broaden myself as a person, as an American. I know many people here in Chile are offended when we refer to ourselves as Americans, but please don't feel like we are excluding you from all of America, or that we think we are superior. The fact is, we don't have a word for estadounidense in English. For that reason and that reason only, we refer to ourselves as Americans (because the English equivalent to estadounidense would be something like United Statesan, and it just doesn't work. It's basically for the same reason that you refer to us as gringos, it's shorter, it sounds better). But either way, I want to be able to see the world and know that the US really isn't the best place on Earth; it's not superior, it's far younger and has less history than many other countries, and is undeniably not the most intelligent of world entities. And the only way for one to truly be able to admit to oneself all of these things and know that it is true is by experiencing the different ways of life somewhere else, and for more than a mere three weeks.

I want to study. I am not here for vacation. Of course I want all of the aforementioned things, but I want to be enriched intellectually as well. This is incredibly important to me. And for the record, when Seattle University says that it strives to enrich the person as a whole through diversity and all that, it's lying. It may want that, but it could never in a hundred years do that, especially not by doubling tuition during what could be close to an economic recession. All it's doing is eliminating the lower class, causing substantial problems for the middle class and filling its classrooms with freshmen that are either so rich they've never had to do any kind of work a day in their lives or that are dumb enough to take out forty thousand dollars in student loans. If you want real enrichment and development as a person, travel. I'm serious.

That is my purpose in Chile, to enrich myself as an individual, to learn things that can't be taught in textbooks, to understand the world as a whole, and to have a good time doing all of the above. That is why I am here; that is precisely why I chose Chile. And I am falling in love with this country.

Life is not about finding oneself, it is about creating oneself.

Love,
Kelsey

Are you crazy?

Check this out.


That would be my schedule. In case you can't tell, I have a grand total of eight classes. That's 24 semester credits, or 36 quarter credits. There are 45 credits in a year (at a quarter school). I'm doing this because it costs me the same no matter how many classes I take, because I'm a little bit behind in my schooling due to financial constraints, and because I want to immerse myself into these interesting classes with Chileans. I want to speak a significant amount of Spanish before I leave, and I want to be able to be on track when I get home.

My schedule:
Lunes (Monday)
11:45-13:15 : Español Escrito (Intermedio) (Written Spanish, Intermediate)
45 minute break for lunch at the ISA house
14:00-15:30 : Etimología Griega y Latina (Greek & Latin Etymology) with Chileans
15:40-17:10 : Asia Pacífico (Pacific Asia) with Chileans
17:20-18:50 : Gramática para Extranjeros (Avanzada) (Grammar for Foreigners, Advanced)

Martes (Tuesday)
14:00-15:30 : Español Comunicacional y Cultura Chilena (Avanzada) (Communicational Spanish and Chilean Culture, Advanced)
17:20-18:50 : Taller de Ortofonía y Fonética del Español (Spanish Orthophonics & Phonetics Workshop)

Miércoles (Wednesday)
11:45-13:15 : Español Escrito (Intermedio) (Written Spanish, Intermediate)
45 minute break for lunch at the ISA office
14:00-15:30 : Español Comunicacional y Cultura Chilena (Avanzada) (Communicational Spanish and Chilean Cultura, Advanced)
15:40-17:10 : Chile Se Integra al Mundo: Procesos de Internacionalización (Chile Integrated into the World: Processes of Internationalization) with Chileans
17:20-18:50 : Gramática para Extranjeros (Avanzada) (Grammar for Foreigners)

Jueves (Thursday)
8:15-9:45 : Física y Humor (Physics and Humor) with Chileans
4 hour break for sleeping at my house (because what else could I do with that time?)
14:00-15:30 : Español Comunicacional y Cultura Chilena (Avanzada) (Communicational Spanish and Chilean Cultura, Advanced)
17:20-18:50 : Taller de Ortofonía y Fonética del Español (Spanish Orthophonics & Phonetics Workshop)

Viernes (Friday)
Nothing! Yay!

I'm going to explain what the specific benefits are to taking eight classes here (or basically, what problems that helps me solve) in the next entry. Because it's complicated, and I'm too tired to talk about it right now.

Just truckin' along,
Kelsey