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Published: March 16th 2008
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Virginio Arias - "Dafne y Cloe" - 1888 - Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago I write you from within the trenches; I'm on the front lines in the battle of life.
My classes have started, and I'm finally finding a routine and settling in. I welcome the return of the
everyday struggle and, like at home, hope to carry it on like a true warrior.
As my blog entries slowly approach 1000 cumulative views, let me thank you once again. I want you all to know that recently, there have been many situations where I've taken videos or photos at the risk of looking ridiculously touristy in situations where it is absolutely vital for a foreign looking exchange student to fit in. Though at times I look distinctly "uncool," I lay my pride aside and think "Damnit, it's for the blog!"
Class: Starting class and finding a routine has been the focus these past two weeks. My first week was very confusing and frustrating at times. I got lost several times looking for my classes, and many of them were canceled the first week. The classes at
La PontÃficia Universidad Católica are very similar in a lot of ways to what I've experienced at home. One big difference is that none of the classes are
Campus San Joaquin
Decano Raul Deves School of Engineering curved...
they are all in square classrooms. I spent my first 2 weeks sitting in on various classes and have finally settled on an agreeable schedule. All of my classes require intense focus in order to understand my professors.
There is no interim period for Chilean students to decide majors, they must be elected immediately at the time of application.
There are also gym classes. I elected to take one in order to socialize with Chileans, get into a structured exercise routine, and beef up those dangerous pythons. Exercise is a critical part of my normal routine, and now that I've fallen into one, I feel much more at home.
I commute one hour both ways with 15 minutes of walking and 45 minutes on the subway.
Country/Culture: Beyond learning about Chilean culture, I've learned an incredible amount about those States I call home.
Much of it has come in the form of appreciation. I've learned that the United States has a comparatively strong infrastructure than most places in South America. This comparison can be seen in things like the visibility of police presence to the quality of public restrooms.
Bush and
The Crashing Sea
Pablo Neruda often references the sea in his poetry. I never really understood his inspiration that well until I visited his house! America's recent trends in foreign policy are widely disliked. The US is generally viewed as a very wealthy country. Barack Obama's recent success in the Democratic primaries is making front pages.
One thing that has appeared various times in my discussions with Chileans is the idea of the US as a 'paranoid' society (in reference to September 11th and homeland security).
Many Chileans themselves point to the increasing trend of 'Americanization' of Chilean culture. American pop-culture has been extremely pervasive here for a long time, this can be seen most readily in the film industry.
Smoking is very popular here.
Socioeconomic stratification is widely apparent, acknowledged, and discussed here. The idea of class distinction permeates social interaction. Distinctions are found in geographical locations, educational institutions, family names, and more. Almost every middle to high class family employs a house keeper.
I wondered why the concept of class distinction was seemingly more pronounced here than in the United States. I came to the conclusion that in the United States, socioeconomic classes are more geographically separated than they are here. Santiago contains 2/3's of the Chile's population. With less spacial separation, very rich people live next door
to very poor people and social stratification is readily visible.
Fruit eaten here is generally the same as what I find at home, and it is
extremely cheap here. Things like apples, plums, and peaches can be found at less than 50 cents a pound. Organic fruit is non-existent. Sadly, berries are still expensive. Luckily they DO have whole-grain bread! Though it is much less popular here, I am really glad I have been able to find whole-grain bread. Even though I'm very young at a mere 21 years of age, I have developed an ever increasing requirement of fiber in order to maintain smooth operation.
Men and women greet each other with kisses on the cheek.
That's all I have for now, I hope you've gained something from my cultural exchange.
Thursday, March 20th, I head to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Boyang
non-member comment
Thanks
Thanks for the photos on the campus. It has been a pleasure reading about the life over there, keep up the good photos!