Snow in Santiago

Emerged from the metro and this was my view!

In one week I went from wearing flip flops to seeing Santiago's first snow in years. It is safe to say that it is impossible to predict the weather here. City snow is something that I haven't experienced before and it's so pretty! All the roofs and patches of grass are dusted with a layer of snow and, even though I was freezing, it put a smile on my face. The sudden temperature drop did make things a little slippery though. It had been raining, so all the shallow puddles froze over and made parts of the sidewalk somewhat of a ice skating rink. At first it was fun to kind of slide in some places, until I got carried away and had to catch myself on phone pole while my umbrella crashed into a stop sign. Embarrassing.

I was totally warm

My school is still on strike and today being Thursday, apparently the official demonstration day, there was another big march. I finally participated! I feel like it's only right to embrace this part of Chilean culture while I'm here. They have been going on for about two months now and I wasn't going to let my time here pass without participating in at least one and apparently you can't get deported that easily, stupid rumors). SO MANY PEOPLE! I cannot get over how many people showed up. It was legit pouring and there were still thousands of people marching to support the movement. Students of all ages, grandmas, parents, little kids on their parents shoulders, it was a cool thing to experience, no one let the rain stop them. There was some great music too, bonus! The drums, oh the drums, I just love the beats they create. We marched down La Alameda, the main street through downtown, freezing our asses off until I couldn't take the cold/wet anymore and took the metro back home. School and classes are still really up and down. Each campus is experiencing different levels of protest. Campus Oriente for example, is in complete paro and it's difficult to even get onto the campus grounds. San Joaquin, where I have all my classes, is kind of all over the place, with some facultads protesting and others not. Basically all foreign students have to show up to classes and if the professor decides to come, then we have class.

The entrance to the Campus Oriente of La Catolica

For example, I had class in a cafeteria on Tuesday. It was...intimate. The professors are standing in solidarity with the students by not using the classrooms of the facultads that are en paro. If there is a plus side in all this, it's that I'm getting to know my professors! There is a lot of email communication and when we do have class, it's such a small number of students that it almost feels like one-on-one time with the prof. No one really knows what is going to happen with this entire situation and there is a lot of ambiguity involved for foreigners. This is a very momentous time for Chile and I'm pretty stoked to be experiencing it. I was really worried for a while about what was going to happen in terms of my credit and such, but now I'm just taking it day by day. Stressing about it, is not going to make the situation clearer. So screw it, I'm just gonna enjoy this experience for what it is, a once in a lifetime experience. After all, not many people can say "Yeah, I was studying in Chile when the students decided to reform the entire education system."

Even with all this going on, I am still finding time to explore more parts of the city. Parque Mahuida is a great escape from the city, even though it technically resides within the city limits. It's a great place for a hike to rise above the smog and get in touch with some nature. Not to mention it's gorgeous and green! It's cheap to gain entrance to the park (basically 50 cents) and easy to access via bus. Another discovery was the Bilbioteca Nacional (National Library). Right across the street from my friend Hannah's apartment sits this awesome and free attraction. To start the architecture is freaking gorgeous! Obsessed. They also have exposition type things that change every two months. When I went they had two different displays. One was on Pudahuel, a poorer neighborhood of Santiago, which gave the history of the region and had a ton of interesting photographs of the area. The other was a display of black and white portraits of famous Chileans done by Luis Poiro. Awesome! They had some really old school cameras on display too, loved it and it was free! There is still so much more to explore in this city and I'm thankful that I have so much time to discover it. 

Parque Mahuida, lookin up.

Biblioteca Nacional