Aneya: Seasons in the Southern Hemisphere

Let's hope our apartment never looks like this.

Obviously Lauren and I knew that, moving to Chile, we'd be in the Southern Hemisphere, and the seasons would be reversed. I've been to Australia multiple times, so I've experienced this firsthand. The craziest weather in Sydney was on Christmas day. It was so hot, we spent it at the beach! On New Year's Eve I was in a tiny little dress, walking along the Sydney Harbour with thousands of others in bikinis and shorts. It was surreal. Now, I never actually lived in Australia, and as I've come to realize living in a new country is a completely different experience that visiting.

We got to Chile at the end of January, on possibly the hottest day of the year. It was scorching, Lauren and I were sweating profusely under our layers of clothing, coming from rainy, cold L.A. That in-itself was a shock. The heat was humid, like in New York, and our hostel had no air-conditioning and was unbelievably loud. We were officially in hell. Of course, things got better. We moved into our lovely apartment, the weather (sort of) cooled down. And yet. For months, it remained so hot that taking a leisurely stroll resulted in a need for shade and a glass of water. I was kind of liking it though. Lauren and I are both Southern California girls, and we love sunshine. The nights started getting cooler and then suddenly, one day, everything changed.

I understood that we were supposed to be getting into "fall". The leaves were falling from the trees, the colors were changing. And it yet, the weather seemed to go from extremely hot to downright freezing. Suddenly, we were closing our windows, pulling out the blankets, trying desperately to get our heaters to work. The change was so drastic, and so sudden, neither of us were prepared. I'd brought with me probably 10 dresses and 4 sweaters, (what can I say? I like to be prepared for any occasion) and I was getting sick of wearing the same thing every day. So we both had to go shopping, for winter wear (a welcome activity, for me anyway).

Lauren and I are both cry babies when it comes to the cold. You'll see us now, curled up in a blanket, cup of tea and book in hand, not wanting to move an inch, savoring the warmth. And it's not even that cold! Actually, we can't tell how cold it is, because everything is in Celsius, and therefore sounds even worse than it is. "It's gonna be 9 degrees tomorrow!" Lauren informs me. "9?! What does that mean?!" (It in fact means around 48 degrees Fahrenheit, not that bad. But still cold!).

Our apartment seems to be way colder than outside, for some reason. We're both quite worried, because apparently this is nothing. It's gonna get colder. Way colder. And we are so not prepared. Lauren especially has been freaking out, saying things such as "I can't live like this!" and "I'm gonna die!" I keep telling her, "We have to adapt! It will all be fine, we'll get used to it." Here's hoping we survive the winter, and that we do indeed, get used to it. Because I get the feeling we'll go into hibernation otherwise.