We started our first full day off in Chile with a breakfast in our hotel. Beforehand I had no real idea of what to expect. From what people had said I assumed that it would be a lot of food that we have never seen before, but it was very simple and was all food that we have in the U.S. such as cereal, yogurt, fruit, and rolls. From there we caught the bus to La Universidad Técnica Santa Maria. The city buses here are a lot smaller than those in the United States and tend to go fast at times when they probably shouldn’t. The bus let us off right at the University which is on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. We first took a tour of the school which was nice because it gave us an opportunity to see it. The school itself is very pretty. I love the landscaping with all the palm trees and flowers and of course how it has an ocean front view.
It was clear that Santa Maria provides a very good education, as their curriculum seems to be extensive. For instance, mechanical engineers start out by learning the operations portion of their area, and then as they progress they take classes in the administrative side. They have labs for the engineers with many machines in them where they learn to build things as part of their classes. The students all seem very knowledgeable as well. On top of that many of their tracks are six years in length which is very different from the universities in the states. It was weird to be mixed with 23 and 24 year olds on a college campus because in America we begin to work at that age. At the universities here they have a much larger age range than what we are used to. Another major difference is the fact that none of the colleges in Chile have dorms. To me living in the dorms is a major part of being in college and is what makes the experience. It’s hard to picture all of these students driving here everyday. It’s funny though because I think to them the concept of dorms seems weird yet it is so normal to us.
After our tour we had a lecture on Chilean culture at the university led by José who was very engaging in his lecture. He brought up some really good points that really got us thinking. One thing he pointed out was that when you think about it, there are many similarities between what has happened in United State’s history and Chilean history. One thing that really got me thinking was when he said how they do not like that we call ourselves Americans. To them, they consider everyone who lives in South America and North America Americans, not just those who live in the United States. I guess they see it as selfish of us. As a result, they refer to us as United Statsians. At first I was annoyed by this thinking “Of course we are Americans, we are the United States of America.” However, the more I thought about it I began to understand. I always assumed we could be called Americans because with Canada it is Canadians and with Mexico it is Mexicans, hence that leaves us to be Americans. However, I never once thought about South America. This was something I found really interesting to think about. It was definitely a different angle that I don’t think we have ever really considered.
After our lecture we had lunch in the cafeteria which was nothing like Market Central in the least bit. Instead it was comparable to the cafeterias in our high schools. After lunch we headed out on a tour of Valparaiso. It was great to be able to go through the city and see all the different parts of it. Before coming here I had no idea that Valparaiso was a big port city. The city itself is very beautiful.
Later in the night we had a salsa class which was very interesting. As Americans we don’t really dance, particularly in this kind of way. I’m actually kind of jealous that they grow up dancing and are able to do it so well. You could say we were definitely thrown into their culture in that hour dance session. It was very fun though and I wish we had signature dances that we were good at in the United States. Just from spending time with the students in this one day I could tell that they are a very fun society who knows how to have a good time. I feel as though the social lives of the Chilean students in high school and college are quite different from ours. I can’t wait to experience more aspects of their culture as the week goes on.
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