Nos Vemos

Under 2 hours left in Chile.

I had hoped to write a nice summary post before I left, but I don't know if I'm in a position to make a quality assessment of my stay in Chile. That will come with time. But one thing that has been on my mind these past final weeks have been Chileans themselves and the effort they put into their lives. To say that Chile has had a tumultuous history would be a clear understatement. From the very beginning of its history, Chile has always had internal conflict from tensions with its indigenous peoples (which has boiled over once again this past week) to independence-era clashes between criollos and peninsulares. The best example, though, is of the 1973 military coup of Salvador Allende's socialist government. To be brief, after 3 years of rising tension, the Chilean military bombed the presidential palace with the president (Allende) inside on September 11, 1973, in order to "save the country." That, in effect, began an 18 year long dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, who did indeed better the overall economic condition of Chile but at huge social cost. Some were perfectly fine with the events and new situation, but others (who dissented) were tortured, killed, or "disappeared." In all, Chilean society was fragmented and stratified. And yet, since 1991, when the shift back to democracy was allowed, Chile has mended itself considerably. It still has a long way to go to full reconciliation and healing while simultaneously addressing a host of other issues. A difficult task. But I do get a sense that the country and its citizens are committed to that process. And that commitment and effort to move forward are things to be respected.

The dictatorship's first attempt to cover up its actions at La Moneda

It is hard to imagine that eight weeks have gone by. I have certainly experienced a lot. But in the end, I barely covered half the country! Thus, I feel that a reunion between Chile and myself is in high order :) When that will happen and for how long? Pues. Nos vemos.

Time to fly...

Examenes?

No Northwestern sponsored, academic program would be complete without exams. Thus, with one week left, I find myself in the thick of finals. Luckily, they aren't as stress inducing as the ones I take three times a year. Needless to say, the past two weeks have been busy and have included many a long night (I've actually come closer to pulling an all-nighter here than I ever have at Northwestern).

Yesterday, I had my final presentation for my research project. Even though I knew exactly what I wanted to say and felt great about the way my project went, I still found myself nervous and stuttering throughout it. But it went well. Like I said in an earlier post, I, along with another Northwestern student, have been working on the flu epidemic here in Chile. Our initial objective was to examine how the Chilean epidemic has transpired by constructing and analyzing epidemic curves and infection rates. But the more we talked with my PI, the more it seemed like our project should be about the strategy used by Chile to manage the epidemic. We still ended up using epidemic curves, and we still carried out our plan to search through a Chilean newspaper (El Mercurio) to find more information. But what we were looking at was primarily what type of information was being presented, how it was being presented, whether it was accurate, consistent, accessible, and what the relationship/partnership between the media and the government was like. In essence, while the project was epidemiology-minded, it was very much based in cultural sociology and anthropology. Certainly not my forte but still very interesting. Our final paper ended up being 18 pages. Not too shabby for roughly 5 weeks of work.

I've also had final presentations and exams for Spanish, which have been more on the frustrating end of the spectrum. I do feel like my Spanish has improved overall, certainly not to the degree that I wish it has, but improved nonetheless. But whether I've consistently had the capacity to demonstrate that improvement at the appropriate is a whole different story. The past seven weeks have only confirmed that any sort of language learning must, from now on, come by way of talking with Spanish-speakers in the States (maybe I should get a Spanish-speaking polola...yes?) or living in a Spanish-speaking country and among its citizens (a great reason to return to South America :) ). Taking formal classes will be of secondary importance.

I think the past couple weeks have been harder not only because of finals and their preparation but also because after finaling adjusting to life here it's now time to prep for home/the next adventure. Last night it really hit me for the first time that my stay here in Chile is coming to an end, and thinking about that has certainly been a mixed bag of emotions.

Santiago a la noche

La Moneda (the Presidential Palace)

Buying food at the end of the workday

The National Cathedral

A Chilean Patten

To Whom It May Concern:

A weight room has been found.

It's certainly no Patten Gym (it's got too many windows and, thus, too much natural light), but it's still a place to get jacked. The only problems are its fickle hours of operation and my dismal attendance record. But for the those few times that those problems were non-factors, some serious iron was pumped...well, enough for me to earn the reputation as "the gringo who power cleans so much that the room goes eerily quiet" (which, in actuality, isn't a whole lot).

Regardless though, I've been missing (and been in need of) my favorite weight room/basement and, of course, the people who regularly put in time and effort there with me.