Running away

Warning: this blog post is going to be a rant. Because I am upset. Today we found out that PUC may be going on strike indefinitely following a one-day strike yesterday. PUC has decided to show their solidarity with the public system on the proposed education reform, and the students have already closed down Campus Oriente for the time being in protest. What does that mean for me? Well despite the reassurances of the authorities that we won’t need to be sent home (thank God), it does mean limited class availability and worst of all, no chileans in my classes. Since taking classes with Chileans was one of the things I was looking forward to most about coming here, finding that out was devastating to me. Especially since part of the reason I chose to go to PUC was the stability. I figured that with a private school, I could avoid all of the craziness going on in Chile right now. However, no such luck. And while I find the objectives of the student body admirable, I wonder sometimes if it is worth what they are costing everyone. Thousands of dollars in damages from the fires, students who will lose a year of class and whose scholarships won’t extend another year, exchange students who simply want a Chilean education. However, I guess the real person I should be angry at is Pinera and his government. You’d think that thousands of students marching, high schoolers not attending class, ungodly low approval ratings, and violent riots in the streets would be enough to motivate him to rectify the situation. Then again the Chilean citizens are the ones who elected him in the first place so…

In any event, I can’t cross that bridge until I get there. For now, I am going to classes as usual, and all of my professors have been showing up to teach in spite of the supposed strike. On the whole, my classes are just okay. I’m finally starting to get settled into a routine, but that means plenty of homework and sitting through some seriously monotonous lectures (why is it that in the first week, all professors feel the need to tell you a million things you already know?). Mostly I’ve been enjoying going to school for the social benefits. Eating lunch with friends in the sun is one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. I also got my student ID the other day, so I can start bulking up in the weight room as soon as I want to. That is, of course, if the weight room attendants don’t go on strike as well. Ugh.

Speaking of fitness, I have started running regularly again which makes me very happy. The weather here has been beautiful this week, so it’s hard not to be motivated to do something. I like to run on a particular loop close to my house that has a gorgeous view of the mountains for about a half mile. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go back to running in cold wintery Madison. It’ll definitely be a serious withdrawal.

On a social front, I went to a gathering for foreign students on Friday, and ran into Max, the Chilean studying at Madison for the next year, at the party. He and I ended up having an hour and a half long conversation along with his friend Gonzalo and a girl named Beth, who is from Minnesota but goes to Marquette. We all decided to get dinner on Sunday, and I must say I enjoyed chatting about the city and about Minnesota over some delicious sushi. Yum. Tomorrow, I am meeting up with Max and Gonzalo again for lunch, and I’m hoping Gonzalo can give me the scoop on the schedule of the La Catolica soccer games because I would love to go to at least a couple while I am here. I am going into sports fan withdrawal being away from Badger football. However, if he doesn’t watch it, I may be converted to Universidad de Chile’s team by another Max. We’ll have to see. Tomorrow night is another gathering for foreign students, so I think I’ll go to that and try to meet more fun extranjeros to sympathize with me over the state of this strike.

Otherwise, I am looking forward to my first excursion this weekend. My friends Brita, Tess, Nona, and Katie and I have decided to spend the long weekend in the northern dessert region of La Serena and Vicuña. It’s a seven hour bus ride up there, but it should be worth it to tour a Pisco factory, hike around the Valley, and do some amazing stargazing at a famous observatory. I’m pretty excited. We already have our hostels booked (my first time) and our tickets purchased, so all I have left to do now is pack. I’ll let you all know how it goes. And then next weekend it is off to Viña del Mar to welcome the long-awaited Jo Holub. Words cannot describe how excited I am for that.  

I think it also needs to be said that as I was contemplating this whole strike situation today and freaking out about the possibility of being sent back to the United States, it occurred to me how much I love it here. Santiago has already become my home, and I'm not ready to leave it yet. Even though I have already been here a month, the time has truly flown by, and I can tell I am going to miss it so much. Chile, you really have stolen my heart.