Week 1: Five Months is Not Enough

Semana numero uno of the Santiago experience has been spectacular. I absolutely love it here, from my home stay to my university (which is way nicer than AU) to the city I've been exploring everyday. My day begins with a walk-bus-metro-walk routine commute to Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) for orientation at 9am. After Spanish vocab, movies, and impromptu slang lessons, this ends at 1:30 and from there we go out and explore the city! So far I have visited La Plaza de Armas, La Moneda, Cerro Santa Lucia, Los Dominicos, Parque Bustamente, various famous neighborhoods like Lastarria, Paris y Londres, and Bella Vista. The DC equivalents are the Mall, the White House, the sculpture garden, U street, and Dupont, mas o menos. Honestly, I came into this program not knowing everything Santiago had to offer; at first I was worried I would run out of things to do... now I'm convinced 5+ months isn't enough time to do anything!

Santiago is beautiful, and two things really set it above DC and other American cities for me: the parks and the public transportation.The impressive accessibility to empanadas is a close third. Everywhere you turn there are green spaces with cafes, fountains, trees- the works. I live right by a beautiful park with a rose garden, and within five minutes of two others. And Chileans really take advantage of these areas- it's a really relaxing, tranquil scene to live in. As for public transportation, let's just say that the DC metro WMATA will never compare to TransSantiago. The whole metro network here is fast, reliable, cheap, and-- best of all-- clean. SO CLEAN. I don't think I can ever pay for the privledge of descending into the rat-infested dungeon that is the Washington metro ever again. Even the buses, though a little beat up around here, are much more timely and frequent. Pull yourself into the century, DC, I'm embarrassed to admit you are our capital city.



                       Cerro San Lucia                             Palacio de la Moneda                       Los Dominicos

Of course, despite all of the lovely greenery and speedy trains, Santiago has a dark side too. As of yet, I have not had a lot of experience with the staggering inequality and poverty of the country. But the facts remain: according to World Bank, Chile has one of the highest gini coefficients in the world. In other words, Chile is an incredibly unequal society in terms of income distribution, where the rich are VERY rich and the poor are VERY poor. I have heard a lot about it but have yet to see more than glimpses of the veritable shantytown within and around Santiago. However, our program stuck us on a bus tour that took us to Vitacurra and other posh neighborhoods in the mountains surrounding the city. The comparison was stark, but I need more exposure to the situation and to people on both sides to more fully understand the situation. Studying this and my related interests in domestic economic policy and in the education reform protests here in Chile are my true academic goals this semester. Alt Break and SIS would be so proud.... I'm a little embarrased to be such an SIS kid right now.

Speaking of goals, I've come up with a few for myself during these months abroad. First, I'm committed to learning Spanish. If I come back and I'm not nearly fluent, I'm really going to punch myself. Hard. Second, I want to become as Chilean as a gringa can- I want to live the Chilean lifestyle (minus some bread). Third, I want to learn all the lessons Chile can teach me, academically and personally. My time spent in El Salvador and Honduras taught me so much, and I know that Chile will be even more impactful as long as I am open to everything and committed to using what I learn in life and professionally. Lastly, I want have the time of my LIFE. I want to take advantage of every opportunity- going out, meeting new people, traveling to some of the most amazing places on earth, everything! With my sophomore year essentially wasted (except for AEPhi, the best decision I ever made in college) this is an amazing opportunity for me to grow and become the person I want to be. I am very happy with my life now and here in Chile I am absolutely celebrating that!

Tongoy was the first of such celebrations. This weekend, all the AU kids took the 5 hour bus trip to this beachside town north of Santiago. We came at the invitation of Carolina's, a girl in our program, uncle who owns a small resort there and spent the weekend lounging by the Pacific, climbing the Cerro Virgen for a beautiful sea view, and eating the best empanadas in Chile (so far). I am both proud and ashamed to claim the champion status for empanada eating; I had 8 in a weekend, the most of the 61 consumed in total by our non-judgemental group. It was truly a bonding experience. Here's to many more in beautiful South America!

The fiestas and lessons will continue this weekend in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, and in the future (dates TBA)  in Patagonia, Easter Island and the Atacama desert in Chile, in Mendoza and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru. Maybe even a Colombia or a Uruguay trip too, if I don't run out of scholarship money! I am so excited for this semester... of course I miss Liz and Neeti, my wonderful roommates, and of course AEPhi, my other AU friends, and my family (I didn't forget you, Mom!) but I'm not going to lie- living in South America is exactly what I want right now. There is nothing else I'd rather do than live here, learn here, and write really long blog posts about it. Ciao!

Check back next time for details on Chile being the number 1 and number 2 consumer of mayonnaise and bread, respectively, my fascinating experience with machismo culture (aka Chileans reacting to white girls), and the fame of my last name here in Chile.