FC Basel vs BSC Young Boys

Sundays in Mulhouse can be dull, as apart from McDonald’s, Starbucks, and a small Carrefour market in the centre of town, virtually everything is closed. I decided to look at the FC Basel fixture list and saw there was a home game against Young Boys, a team from from Bern. After the fun I had going to Everton de Viña games in Chile, I knew I had to make the most of my Sunday and get a ticket.

After I bought my ticket, which was an e-ticket in order to avoid the 10 CHF handling fee, I found out that FC Basel vs Young Boys was a highly anticipated encounter as FC Basel were second in the league with Young Boys eleven points clear at the top of the table. Despite Young Boys being knocked of the Champions League in the group stages this year, they beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus 2-1 and put up a stern fight against Manchester United at Old Trafford. It all made for a great match.

When I arrived at St Jakob-Park, the impressive home of FC Basel with a capacity of over 38,000, I immediately took advantage of something banned at football matches in Scotland and Chile, beer. In addition to this, the one thing that I noticed was that despite the availability of beer, there were far fewer fans visibly drunk than a match in Scotland or England. The beer is served in plastic tumblers and you have to remember to bring your cup back in order to get the 2 CHF pfand! (deposit)

Although I was sat in one of the side stands, I was close to the FC Basel ultras who put on quite a display, featuring balloons, banners, massive flags, flares and ticker tape. On the opposite side, the Young Boys fans also set off flares and displayed a wall of yellow scarves. The electric atmosphere definitely made up for the cold wet weather.

The game did not disappoint in the slightest. FC Basel started well going 1-0 in front of a corner that went in via a deflection from a Young Boys defender. However, Young Boys piled on the pressure, took advantage of some lax Basel defending and went 2-1 up just before half time, the first goal came from a cross whilst the second came from a free kick. The best goal of the game came in the second half when Basel talisman Noah Okafor thundered home from outside the box. Both sides had chances later on to win the game but the match ended 2-2.

One thing I also loved about the experience was that public transport to and from the stadium is free, a real bonus if you are a student! In addition to the free transport, special trams were put on so supporters could get home from the ground swiftly. I think the free transport is an excellent idea, maybe Hearts should consider bringing in a similar concept?

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of my first football game on the continent and hope to get to FC Basel’s next home game against FC Lugano, from the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.

Grüezi aus Basel!

One of the things that I love most about living in Mulhouse is the ability to travel to a plethora of different places within easy reach by train. Due to Mulhouse’s location on the border, as well as places in France, Germany and Switzerland are both easily accessible. Therefore I have made the most of this situation and went to Basel, Switzerland for the day.

The train to Basel from Mulhouse takes about 20 minutes and feels like a shuttle train. Although Basel is one of Switzerland’s biggest cities, it is smaller than both Edinburgh and Viña del Mar. This, however, means that the city is very walkable and the Altstadt (Old Town) and Marktplatz are within walking distance of the train station. The Rathaus (town hall) in Basel is a beautiful building, with historic paintings and murals on the walls. A busker is always present in the cloister and at one time, a cellist was playing The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns, one of my favourite pieces. Like all of Switzerland, prices in Basel are fairly expensive. The Marktplatz however is home to a number of stalls selling traditional Swiss food at reasonable prices. I ate a Baseler Wurst, a traditional sausage from the area, which was served with a slice of rye bread and hot mustard.

One funny moment happened when a lady heard me talking to my friend Danielle and came up to me in English and asked if I was American. I initally thought her accent was Swiss as her accent was not Anglophone and her granddaughter and her Dad were speaking in German to each other. I responded by saying, ‘Nein, Mein Freund ist Amerikaner aber Ich komme aus Schottland.’ (No, my friend is American but I’m from Scotland). The lady looked most perplexed and I was beginning to think I had said something odd. It turned out that she and her husband had come from Wisconsin, U.S.A. to visit their daughter and family who lived in Basel. Luckily, the lady’s daughter spoke German so was able to translate!

Basel is a very nice city and I hope to be back several times before I finish my placement, particularly as there is a Lindt shop in Basel!

Everton de Viña vs Palestino

Last weekend, I attended Everton de Viña’s final home game of the season and also my last football match before I leave Chile. With relegation still a threat for El Oro y Cielo, a win and three points was vital. This week, Everton welcomed Palestino, who the week before won the Copa de Chile, beating Audax Italiano 4-2 on aggregate.

The atmosphere in the stadium was electric and there was a high turnout. For the teams coming out, everyone in the stand I was in had to hold up cards which when looking at it from the other side, would appear as blue and yellow stripes. The Everton de Viña Barra Brava, Los del Cerro was in full voice, with usual songs, chants, banners, umbrellas, drums and trumpets, combined with fireworks and ticker-tape.

Everton de Viña dominated the game from start to finish. They got on the scoreboard early when after seven minutes, Patricio Rubio smashed the ball from the edge of the box past the goalkeeper and into the left side of the net. Everton were initially given a penalty for a handball but just before it was due to be taken, the penalty was waived on the advice of the fourth official, to the fury of the home fans.

However just before halftime, Everton de Viña were given a penalty for a handball in the box. On look at the replay, it was a harsh decision but the penalty decision stood and Cristián Suárez slotted it home to make the score 2-0 at the break. By this point, the atmosphere inside the Estadio Sausalito was positive and Los Del Cerro were in party mode.

Palestino began the second-half fired up and looking to get back into the game. However, their momentum collapsed when after 47 minutes, when Diego Orellana added Everton de Viña’s third. From that point onwards, El Oro y Cielo dominated the game and had numerous chances to add a fourth. Palestino’s evening was summed up when winger Cesár Cortés was shown a straight red card for a strike to the face on Everton de Viña’s Sebastián Leyton. When the final whistle blew, the home fans were delighted as Everton de Viña are all but safe and set to play next season in the Primera División.

The game was my final game watching Everton de Viña and I have really enjoyed going to the games and following their season. In a week which has definitely not been the finest for South American football, the final game did not disappoint and I will remember going to watch Everton de Viña for a very long time.

Isla Negra, Eugenics Debate and Strikes

At a loose end one weekend, the three of us decided to complete the trio of Pablo Neruda’s houses by visiting his favourite house in Isla Negra. The house is located in a town which shares the same name and is very popular with tourists, particularly from other parts of Chile and is located about an hour and a half away from Valparaíso.

The house was all on one floor, but very spread out and spacious. The best part about Neruda’s house however was the amazing view out over the ocean, beaches and waves crashing on the rocks. When we arrived at the house, we were greeted by a Spanish speaking guide who when we said we were from Scotland, she responded in perfect English. It later transpired that she was an Australian who after a gap year in Chile had decided to return and call the country home. After visiting the house, we later went to eat some of the area’s amazing seafood, before taking the bus back to Valpo.

One of my hardest subjects or ‘ramos’ in Chile is Lengua Española (Spanish Language). Although it is for native speakers, I take it due to the fact that I believe it will be very useful for the fourth-year dissertation, as some of it will be written in Spanish. Our most recent assessment was a debate on Eugenics, also known as Human Genetic Modification. I was slightly worried when I heard the topic as I did not know much about it, even in English! However, we were split into groups for the task and the Chileans in my group were all very helpful. The debate was slightly different to debates in Scotland. as each team has two or three people arguing their case and the others are either rebutting the opposing side’s arguments. Each team also has a moderator who introduces and summarises the main points of each side of the debate. I was one of the people arguing against Eugenics, however we had to prepare both sides of the debate as we only found out on the day whether we were for or against the motion. Our team did well and we got a 5.6 (roughly equivalent to a B/B+).

Before we set off for Chile, one of the lecturers who is very familiar with Chile said that strikes and student protests were very commonplace. Until now, we had not had any strikes and classes went on as normal. However as a result of conflict between the native Mapuche and security forces, the students voted to go on two separate strikes which has led to the cancellation of classes!

Birthday and Everton de Viña vs Antofagasta

On the 28th of October 2018, I celebrated my 20th birthday, my first celebrated outside Scotland. However, it was certainly one that I will remember for a long time.

For my birthday, I went with Holly and Charlotte to the Everton de Viña del Mar match vs Antofagasta, a team from the north of Chile. Everton de Viña are at risk or relegation this season whilst Antofagasta our competing for a spot in next year’s Copa Libertadores. (South American version of the Champions League) Therefore, everyone was in no doubt that this was going to be a hard match el Oro y Cielo. After long lines and numerous security checks, we finally got to our seats. Although slightly cloudy, it was 20 degrees Celsius and no rain was in sight- very different from compared to Scotland!

Right from the start, Antofagasta’s prowess showed when Venezuelan star striker Eduard Bello capitalised on a goalkeeping error to put the visitors 1-0 ahead. However, things to a romantic twist as during his goal celebration, he ran up to the stand and proposed to his girlfriend!

Everton de Viña later drew level 1-1 from a superb free-kick leaving the keeper frozen and later went 2-1 in front. However, they failed to hang on until the half-time whistle when Eduard Bello scored a fantastic skillful goal to make the score 2-2 at the half.

Everton de Viña were by far the better team, with more possession, passes and shots on target. However, they wasted quite a few chances and it looked progressively more likely that the match would end a 2-2 draw. Despite this, their relentless pressure soon paid off and Óscar Salinas scored the winner in 83rd minute, causing the Estadio Sausalito to erupt and Los del Cerro (Everton de Viña’s Barra Brava/Ultras) to bring out a massive banner that covered the entire end. The match ended 3-2 and Everton de Viña got an important but well-deserved three points.

After the match, the three of us headed back into the centre of Viña del Mar for the post-match pint before our meal at one of Viña’s Peruvian restaurants. It was a lovely meal and it was washed down with a Pisco Sour and an Inca Kola, one of my favourite soft drinks. What I did not realise however was that Holly and Charlotte had bought me a surprise birthday cake and given it to the restaurant before the match, which was very kind of them!

I had a great birthday and hope to get to the last Everton de Viña home game against Palestino at the end of November.

Mi Buenos Aires Querido

For the last weekend of September, my classmates Holly, Charlotte and I took a plane across the to the other side of the Andes to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We arrived in Buenos Aires in the evening after a turbulent flight. The thunder and lightning reminded me of the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when the Order of the Phoenix were transporting Harry to the Burrow. Once we arrived at Ezeiza Airport, we took a taxi to our hostel which was located in the Palermo District of Buenos Aires. The hostel was nice and was more like as all the rooms were privates and breakfast was free. After we arrived, we went to a bar and restaurant in Palermo where I pint of beer was an amazing $70 Argentinean Pesos (£1.50/$2.00 USD)!

The next morning we were woken up by one of the heaviest storms I have ever seen in my life. It was a humid day with thunder and lightning and the rain bouncing off the pavements. Our first trip of the day was to the ticket office to buy our tickets to the Argentina vs New Zealand rugby match. After drying off, we then went to the Evita Museum where we learned about the life of former Argentinean President Eva Perón.

Later, we took a trip on the metro to the El Ateneo, the biggest bookshop in the world. As well as the sheer number of books, the architecture in the building was grand as the building was once a theatre. Some of the artwork on the ceiling resembled that of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Before going to the rugby match, we went for a pizza at one of Buenos Aires’ many pizzerias. Pizza in Buenos Aires has a very good reputation as a result of high Italian immigration to Argentina and to this day the majority of Argentineans have at least one Italian ancestor. After enjoying the pizza went to a 45- minute bus trip to Liniers to watch the rugby.

The next morning we went a tour round some of the main sights in Buenos Aires. Thanks to the amazing public transport and SUBE cards that you can use between people, we were able to see quite a few things in one day. Our first port of call was the Sunday market at San Telmo, which had various articles such as souvenirs, antiques and sports merchandise. Afterwards, we took the metro to the La Boca, a colourful neighbourhood decorated with murals and home of Boca Juniors, one of the most successful South American football teams with ex-players including Diego Maradona. We witnessed first hand the religiosity of Argentinean football when due to Boca Juniors playing at home, the whole neighbourhood went into shut-down so everyone could attend the match at La Bombonera.

We then went to Plaza de Mayo which lies next to La Casa Rosada, the residence of the President of Argentina. The square is often a flashpoint where demonstrations take place and crowds also gather to listen to the president.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant to try some local Argentinean steaks. At the restaurant we went to, we got a discount as we arrived early and if promised to vacate the table by eight o’clock. However, we had to wait a while for the food to come out so as a result, the staff made up for the delay by allowing us to stay for as long as we liked and by giving us free champagne and lollipops! The steaks and wine we had were amazing and the steaks were an enormous 700g!

Going to Buenos Aires was an amazing experience and it was such a fascinating and charming city. I will definitely add it to the list of places to return to in the future. I even picked up the Argentinean accent I liked it so much!

Argentina vs New Zealand- 2018 Rugby Championship

For many years whilst living in Scotland, I have seen many Rugby Championship matches on television and I have also been to a very high number of Scotland home internationals in both the Six Nations and November Test series. However, I managed to get tickets to watch Argentina play New Zealand in Buenos Aires.

The game comes with what has been a very interesting Rugby Championship. Argentina have won two games, one of which was a victory over Australia in the Gold Coast in their previous match whilst New Zealand came into the match having just lost to South Africa in Wellington, breaking a 22-game winning streak. The situation made for an exciting encounter between two top-class sides.

After taking the45-minutes bus journey from Palermo in centre of Buenos Aires to the outskirts on the west of the city, we arrived at the Estadio José Amalfitani, home of Vélez Sarsfield. one of Buenos Aires’ many football teams. After a slightly chaotic entrance to the ground, we made it into the stadium and we were amazed by the atmosphere and the sheer number of fans that had turned out. It was reported that the match had been sold out, even after 2,000 extra tickets were put on sale in the run-up to the match. After the singing of the national anthems and the haka, the match got underway.

Argentina played very good attacking rugby and played a similar style game to that of previous weeks, passing the ball across the width of the pitch. However, Argentina struggled with the set pieces and gave away try-scoring opportunities because of this. They also struggled defensively and missed quite a few tackles, allowing New Zealand to gain territory quickly. I do however feel that Argentina’s main issue was the number of unforced errors. They often gave away knock-ons and turnovers when they were in try-scoring positions. One example of which was a penalty in the second half when Argentina were on New Zealand’s 5 metre and fly-half Nicolas Sanchez bizarrely chose to play a cross-field kick intended for Moroni when running the ball or a scrum would have been a much better option from that position.

New Zealand played very well in the first half particularly. They soaked up quite a bit of phases but played an outstanding passing game, creating frequent overlaps allow them to tear through the Argentine defense with relative ease. New Zealand are known to be a very streetwise it was very apparent throughout the game. Although Sonny-Bill Williams was sent to the sin bin for repeated infringements in the first-half, New Zealand assumed that if they stopped Argentina both legally and illegally from scoring a try, they would eventually make mistakes, which they did. Beauden Barrett was solid between the sticks and slotted over all of his kicks, something which he has often struggled with in previous matches.

The match finished Argentina 17 New Zealand 35, but Los Pumas can take a lot of pride from the match and can hopefully build on it for their final match against Australia in Salta. New Zealand on the other hand have won their third Rugby Championship title in a row and will play South Africa away in the final round.

As someone from the Northern Hemipshere, it was an amazing experience and one of the best games of rugby I have ever attended. The quality of rugby was outstanding and the atmosphere was amazing. The matchday experience will definitely be one of the highlights of my time in South America.

¡Felices Fiestas Patrias!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the lack of uploading recently! I have been super busy with tests and sorting out documentation.

All over Chile, celebrations for Fiestas Patrias are officially underway. Fiestas Patrias is when Chile celebrates its independence from Spain in 1810. Although festivities begin one or two weeks in advance, the two main days of the holiday being the 18th and 19th of September. The 18th commemorates Chile’s proclamation of independence whilst the 19th commemorates Chile’s Armed Forces. It is widely viewed as the biggest holiday in Chile and many Chileans travel back home to be with friends and family. Homes and businesses are usually decorated in red, white and blue and by law must have a Chilean flag visible outside, with fines in place for those who do not. However, this law is often not enforced.

A common place for Chilean’s to spend time during Fiestas Patrias is at La Fonda, outdoor venues where Chileans relax and enjoy local music, food and drink and Cueca. Cueca is the national dance of Chile which involves women dressing up in traditional flowery dresses and men wearing boots, ponchos and wide-brim hats. The couples do not have physical contact with one another, but instead wave a white handkerchief or rag. I got to experience Cueca at La Fonda organised by the university on the Friday. Despite the dances being very different, it reminded me of Country Dancing in Scotland.

During Fiestas Patrias and at Fondas, Chileans generally consume local food and beverages. The most common foods include empanadas, completos (Chilean hot dogs) and meat on skewers known as ‘Anticuchos’. In terms of drink, Chileans drink beer and wine, but also spirits, most notably Pisco, a spirit drink made from distilling fermented grape juice. It is most commonly mixed with Coca-Cola, together known as a ‘Piscola’. The most infamous drink however is known as a ‘Terremoto’, Spanish for earthquake. Terremotos are made from Pipeño, a type of low-grade wine, grenadine, fernet and pineapple ice cream. They are notoriously strong and are not for the faint hearted nor the fast drinker. They are so popular that McDonalds has brought out a Terremoto-flavoured sundae for Fiestas Patrias.

However aside from Terremoto the drink, I have also been experiencing a few literal terremotos. In Chile, tremours happen frequently and although the can seem frightenening at first, it is part of everyday life as Chile lies right next to a fault line and is part of the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’. Since arriving in Chile, I have experienced four tremours, one of which happened during a class at university. However no one stopped what they were doing and laughed about it afterwards.

Felices Fiestas Patrias to all those celebrating!

A Weekend in Santiago

Last weekend, four of us went to Santiago for the weekend, taking the bus from Viña del Mar and coming back on the Sunday.

The day started early at 08:30 when we all met at Viña del Mar Bus Terminal and set off for Santiago. The bus took a little longer than expected, taking two hours instead of the projected hour and a half, we slept most of the way. After taking an erratically driven taxi from the bus station in Central Santiago, we arrived at Cerro San Cristobal for some fantastic views of the city. We took the cable car up the hill and took the funicular railway back down, both offering different views of the city. Once up the hill, we realised just how vast and expansive Santiago is, with the city stretching to as far as the eye could see. At the top of the hill, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary with a chapel inside, which reminded me of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

After taking the funicular back down, we arrived at our hostel which was very nice as we had our own private room with two bunks beds, the room looking like the set for an Ikea advert. I was on the top bunk however, which did not have boards at the side to stop you falling off so I was very thankful there was not an earthquake during the night! Arguably the best thing about the room was that there was heating, a rare occurence in Chilean accommodation.

After checking in at our hostel, we went to a market to eat some seafood. After an injury sustained by one of our group due to an uncovered manhole, we decided to return to the hostel and enjoy our free bottle of wine on the terrace at the hostel. However on the way back to our hostel, we had to dodge a slightly awkward situation when in the middle of one Santiago pedestrianised shopping streets, an elderly woman threw a chair at a man in the street.

The next morning, we set off and went to Pablo Neruda’s Santiago residence, La Chascona. It was a little different to his house in Valpo, with the house in Santiago being more spacious and with more places to enjoy the nice weather. However, I preferred his house in Valpo as the house in Santiago did not offer any good views like his house in Valpo which overlooks the sea.

Our next port of call was the Human Rights Museum in Santiago. The museum told the story of the 1973 Chilean Coup d’État and the crimes committed by Pinochet’s regime up until its collapse in 1990. The most harrowing part of the entire museum was on the top floor, where all the faces of the victims of the regime on the wall, making you realise that the victims of the regime weren’t just numbers, but real people.

Before taking the bus back to Viña, we decided to go to a seafood restaurant near the Museum which was recommended to us by one of our taxi drivers. The restaurant was by far one of the most bizarre, yet wonderful, restaurants I have ever been to in my life. The entire restaurant had a maritime/naval theme, with decorations including naval memorabilia from Chile and around the world to a whale’s skeleton on the ceiling and the waiters dressed in naval uniforms. The food was some of the best seafood I have ever tasted and it was a great way to round off a successful trip to the capital.

Palín

This week we had our first practical class for Mapuche Games, which took place on the university pitch in Viña del Mar. There, we were introduced to the game of Palín.

Palín is one of the games played by the Mapuche in order to settle disputes between tribes. It is widely regarded as one of the pillars of Mapuche culture and much of the terminology used in class is in Mapudungun, the language of the Mapuche. The sport is similar to hockey and shinty and is played with a stick called a ‘weño’ and a ball called a ‘palí’. Teams normally consist of about fifteen players each side and both teams try to take the palí to the other end in order to score a ‘tripay’. The pitch is rectangular and is called a ‘palíwe’.

Unlike most sports such as hockey and shinty, in palín, players begin the match facing each other horizontally in a line across the pitch. A player’s opposite number is called ‘kon’ and they are supposed to be mindful of their opposite number’s family. The game begins when the two captains (always the players in the middle of the line) come out and touch palís four times to the count of ‘kiñe, epu, güla, meli’ (one, two, three, four in Mapudungun) and compete for the palí, much like a bully-off in hockey or a face-off in ice hockey.

Due to the small size of the university pitch, the number of players on each team was seven and we had to take turns to play as the class is quite large. The game could be quite competitive and games frequently turned into a maul of players all swinging their weños trying to get the palí. Due to some of the viciousness, I believe it would be banned in the UK due to health and safety reasons! I was in a team of seven alongside Holly and Charlotte, my classmates from Heriot-Watt. We played very well as a team and eventually won our game 2-0.

The lesson was a fantastic introduction to the game of Palín and I look forward to our next class next Tuesday with the great excitment. We all said to each other at the end that it was like nothing we have ever done before and that it was great to try something new and learn about a completely new culture.

Mari Mari!

(Photo credits go to Holly)