How to get through an election, Chilean style

First of all, the best Chilean way to get rid of that rock in your stomach that’s been there all day is to mix up a batch of white wine, chopped up strawberries, and sugar. Drink around four glasses of that, and you start to feel a bit more relaxed.

So began my election night at Ashley’s house. Ashley, inspired by Emily’s recipe, made salsa and guacamole and bought chips, and I made a Caesar salad with the package I cajoled my parents into bringing me on their trip. As close as we could get to the good American foods we were missing, with our new favorite Chilean beverage.

When holding an election party in a foreign land, you should under no circumstances be bipartisan. Election nights aren’t bipartisan; it’s totally against their nature. And when you’re missing the mother country as I was, you don’t want to face the possibility of fights over the best way to govern her.

Not unexpectedly, I wasn’t too pleased with the election results. I mean, come on, I’m an international politics major living abroad for a semester and therefore hearing every other day about another way in which the world now hates America because of Bush; I don’t think anyone should be too surprised that my eyes welled up a bit several times today.

I won’t go into any of my overly-exhausted commentary that I subjected my friends here to after the wine had worn off last night (we stayed up pretty much all night). Really, it seems the only question that remains is, any thoughts/comments on another semester abroad?