¡Los primeros días en Arica!

Wow, what a week it has been!  By some miracle I actually made it to Arica with all my luggage, on time, with no delays or set backs.  It was a long, long two days of very little sleep but I can only be thankful that it went so well.  There was a bit of anxiety during my stopovers in Lima and Santiago during the processes of customs, re-checking bags, paying entrance fees, etc (I didn't want to do anything wrong!) but in retrospect it all went very smoothly.  Once I arrived in Santiago and found the right gate I ran into a bunch of the girls from my program (they suggested which final flight to take so we'd all end up in Arica at the same time) so we all started chatting a bit.  Before I knew it, I was in Arica!  Once we all found our baggage and walked out of the airport we saw our program director, Rossana, and the rest of the SIT team and were greeted with the warmest welcome imaginable!  Lots of abrazos and besitos all around.  It was a great way to step foot into the country for the first time.  After that we drove a few miles into the city and got the first look at the desert we all decided to spend the next semester in, and I have to say that I've never seen anything like it.  So barren and beautiful at the same time.  The stark contrast between the dry, arid, brown landscape and the pastel blue sky is incredible.

From there on we drove to our hotel which became our home for the week.  It's a very nice place, there's a catering service (which is where we've been eating all of our meals this week) and even an outdoor pool.  We had a little while to get situated in our rooms and started with orientation almost right away - learning about customs of the Chilean culture, the city, safety/security, our classes, the excursions we'll be taking, etc - and have slowly been continuing that throughout the week.  Not that anybody actually enjoys orientation, but it's a necessary thing.

On the afternoon of the second day a group of young Chileans (ages 17-21) came in to talk to us about Arica from their point of view (aka teenage/young adult culture, the best bars/clubs/restaurants, where to go shopping, etc) which was really, really great.  They were so helpful and excited to tell us about their city, and obviously were very relatable!  It was also interesting because it was our first time hearing young Chileans speak, which can be very, very difficult to understand.  The Chilean dialect is very relaxed; not all letters and syllables are distinctly pronounced (as they are in the "textbook Spanish" that we all learned in school) and there are many chilenismos, or Spanish words that are unique to Chile and Chilean culture.  I definitely didn't quite catch everything that they said, but they made us all really excited about the semester ahead of us.

"Free Education for All"

After the presentation by the jovenes we were able to watch one of the protest marches going past the hotel.  Chile as a country is going through a very important time right now - students and other citizens alike are actively protesting the education system.  Higher education in Chile has turned into a business, even public schools in the country are very, very expensive -- the cost of education in Chile is the second highest in the world, only next to the US.  Not only that, but the quality isn't there and resources for the students are highly unavailable.  The integrity of the education isn't there, people are more-so cranked out of universities as "degree holders" than as people who have received a high quality education.  It has now come to the point where not only professors and students are boycotting the universities, but many primary and secondary schools are closed as well -- in some places classes haven't gone on for 2 or 3 months because of the protests and strikes.  Wednesday and Thursday of this week have been a two-day strike in the capital, Santiago, against President Sebastian Pinera.   There, things are very intense and for a large part violent.  Here in Arica we watched a march that was equally passionate yet organized and peaceful.  Thousands and thousands of people marching down the street united to fight for their right to an affordable education - students, workers, children, adults, elderly, everybody alike.  It was an amazing thing to witness, and you can't help but compare their passion to the lack of fire in the majority of American citizens.

I have to run now, time to go meet my host siblings!  Two boys, Mateo (16) and Lukas (12).  I'll tell all about my host family and the rest of my week later tonight when I get back!

Chao,
Brittany