Chile Study Abroad Reflection || Katelyn Turner
Studying abroad in Chile was a life changing experience: such a cliché, I know. As someone who
detests clichés, as well as those moments during the first day of a new semester when people
ramble about how awesome their time in [insert country here] was, please acknowledge the
significance in the fact that this is the only way I can convey what this program meant to me.
And even then, it doesn’t fully get the job done. Being fully immersed in Chilean culture, history
and communities allowed myself and every other Maryland student to view the importance of
our education from a completely new and exciting perspective. This experience was much more
than an opportunity to learn about things that happened in the past. It was more than ‘just a trip’;
by taking advantage of the connections this program has forged over its 12-year history, I
realized that we were actually able to make a real impact, whether it’d be through our interaction
with the school children in Valparaiso, or with the broadened perspective we’d be taking back
home with us.
The personal growth you’ll undertake in just a three-week period is tremendous, and is partially
due to the difference in pace between there and back home, which becomes strikingly noticeable
in just the first few days. Partaking in a completely new opportunity in which you’re constantly
surrounded by new people, places, sounds, food, and art really forces you to reflect upon your
own life, your strengths and what got you to where you are today, and especially how you wish
to move forward. Instead of feeling as though you’re overwhelmed with constant assignments
and deadlines, you’ll find that the workload actually complements this very personal experience
of self-reflexivity by allowing you to internalize the course material and understand it in relation
to your own life experiences and the history you’ve been taught so far. Without a doubt, you will
walk away from this experience feeling as though you’ve learned more in three weeks about the
world than you have in your entire collegiate career.
You’ll come to realize that your favorite moments in Chile were often times the most silent:
gazing at the beautiful stretch of water visible from your bedroom window in Valparaiso, taking
note of how the water mystically blends into the sky; looking around at the other students on the
trip during dinner and feeling lucky that you’re with such an amazing group; closing your eyes
(as typically directed by Johnna) in order to process your thoughts or complex emotions after
learning about the women who made the arpilleras, or visiting a former torture center, or simply
needing time to think a little deeper about something else you’ve learned; watching the students
of Colegio Pablo Neruda walk away with their parents at the end of the day and knowing that
you’re at least somewhat responsible for the smile on their faces; walking around town and being
fully consumed by the images of the performance you saw earlier that day by the Mapuche, and
then being shocked that that was in the same day; looking up from the snowy side of Volcan
Rucapillán to see the smoke waft from its crater and realizing that you’re actually climbing an
active volcano – and that you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do when your overprotective
mom who cried at the airport when you left for Santiago sees your Facebook post about it later
that night.
When you arrive back to Maryland, you’ll realize that the home-sickness Johnna and Vivianne
warned you about before leaving is real. And then you’ll realize that you just called Chile home.
Despite how cliché I began and am about to end this reflection, I hope the invaluable nature of
this program was clearly portrayed. Maybe I even convinced you to see for yourself if all that
was mentioned was true.