One Month In, One Month Out

Today, November 14th, is an important day. It has been exactly one month since the protests started and our lives here turned upside down, but it is also one month from the day that I leave Chile. One month into protests, one month out from departure.

A quick update about the current situation here is in order. First of all, the city is trying to get most of the metro up and running, although most of the stations in the poorest sections of the city are still debilitated and I suspect they will be for months. Second, I have not had school. The last class I went to was on October 18th. It feels like so long ago but also like no time has passed. The best way to explain why we haven’t had school is this: the country has fundamentally changed in the last month. It isn’t necessarily because it is too dangerous – while that could be an argument – it pales in comparison to the mentality that people have about the movement right now. Chile has always had a robust protest culture, and this is no different. The university students don’t want to be in class, they want to be out on the streets, protesting and fighting for change and a better future.

I 100% respect this. I enjoyed my classes here a lot and I am sad that I don’t get to go anymore, but the protests are vastly more important. We have received directions from our professors on how to finish the semester via essays and reports submitted online, and that is that. I don’t think I will ever go back to campus, which is crazy to think about, but we have to adapt to the new circumstances of our time abroad.

Continuing with a Chile update, they have begun the long process to create a new constitution. The government hopes to set up a “constituent congress,” in which a group of legislators would decide on a new text “with participation from citizens,” and submit it for approval through a plebiscite. However, even though this is a win for Chileans, they are still demanding more direct popular involvement in the constitutional process, so we shall see where that goes.

I think that I will be ready to leave Chile on December 14 to go home and, but not ready to not come back (at least for a long time). By my calculations, I have a month left in the hemisphere (travels to Brazil, Peru and Patagonia National Park in the next few weeks) but less than a week left in Santiago itself. I honestly could not tell you if I would have been more or less prepared to leave had the last month of social upheaval not happened, and we will never know. I did register for my next semester’s classes this past week, so I am getting more and more excited for what is next!

That is about all I have for this little update! Stay tuned for more travel blogs in the coming weeks!

Love to all!

Cecilia