The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Kyle Adams

SANTIAGO, Chile - We stood at the base of the volcano in our snow gear, staring at each other through goggles. The guides said the climb was risky with rain on the horizon and the clouds as they were. It was up to us.

Shuffling around the rocky ground, we stared at the sky and swore under our breath. We piled back into the small bus and took the slow, shaky ride back down into the town of Pucoacuten. Instead of volcano-climbing, we went rafting in the driving rain, in class four rapids. At the end of the river, after changing out of our wetsuits, we were served Pisco Sours - the drink of choice in Chile, where I am living until mid-July with 16 other Syracuse University students, pioneering one of SU's new study abroad locations.

The Santiago de Chile program is SU's first abroad center in South America, a continent known superficially for its supermodels. But under that beautifully tanned skin lies a long history of revolution and unrest, a history undeniably tangled with that of the U.S.

"The United States has a huge debt with Latin America," said Mauricio Paredes, director of the program and professor of the contemporary issues seminar, referring to a long history of often-covert intervention in Latin American affairs. "And you have to come here to learn about it."

This being the first attempt at the program, there have of course, been glitches: having to be fingerprinted in the Miami International Airport for Chilean immigration on our way to Chile instead of months prior; nearly being detained in the Santiago airport while trying to fly to Argentina; spending 12 action-packed hours in the Lima airport in Peru; being stuffed into cabs without money or direction and hoping for the best.

It was while in a cab that Dave Good, an electrical engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology and the only non-SU student on the trip, made a comment that's stuck with me this trip: "Things could go horribly wrong at any moment."

So far, they have not. We are halfway through our six months here, now settled, with the most of the frenzy behind us.

The city of Santiago sits surrounded by mountains near the center of this long country. The Andes rise to the east, white-capped and smaller cerros (hills) to the north and west. A polluted haze rests almost always over the metropolis, and often the mountains are barely visible, if at all. It is a bustling modern capital, with all the comforts of any U.S. metropolis.

Except for the comfort of speaking English. In fact, we can barely speak Spanish here. Chileans often say things like, "we speak horrible Spanish, but perfect Chilean."

Guide books call it the hardest Spanish in the world, challenging even to native speakers. It's fast and low and full of modismos - slang and contractions. I bought a Chilean slang dictionary, which contains 21 expressions for "to have sexual intercourse," many of which refer to livestock.

Track I: The Andean Experience

The program is organized into two options: Track I and Track II. Track I students spend the first month of the trip (starting in early January), in Cuenca, Ecuador, taking intensive Spanish classes. Track II students (there are only four) join the group in Santiago in early February.

I chose the Track I option, along with 12 other SU students (and Good) because we wanted to develop our Spanish and experience the Andean culture before living in Chile. We lived with host families, as we do now in Santiago. Since Ecuador is poorer than Chile, the lodgings were more modest, and the families tended to be more conservative.

My host father, the shoemaker, questioned me nearly daily about the geography of New York state. In trying to explain glaciers to him, not knowing the word in Spanish, I described giant sheets of ice cream moving across the land, apparently also not knowing the word for ice. He was very confused.

"The family situation was ideal," said George Williams, a sophomore broadcast journalism and international relations major and Daily Orange staff writer, who spent Carnaval with his family in the country. He participated in the most traditional of Carnaval activities: making a disgusting mess of one another with water, flour, condiments and anything else at hand.

"I was putting dulce de leche in my 65-year-old mother's hair," he said. "We spent the night dancing. I think that's why a lot of people came to Latin America - to get that experience with your family and the culture."

Cuenca, a city of 400,000, felt like a small, intimate town. We had a regular bar that served the strongest Cuba Libres (rum and Cokes) you'll find for a dollar. We took salsa dancing classes and went out every Wednesday night - salsa night - to the same salsa club, La Mesa.

But it wasn't all play. Track I students had the option of taking either an intensive Spanish course (SPA 201 taught in four weeks) or a service learning class at CEDEI (Centros de Estudios Interamericanos) in Cuenca. I, like many of the Track I students, was told that my Spanish level was beyond the class, and the service learning class would be more beneficial by immersing me in the culture.

"But as we all know, that class was a joke," Williams said.

We complained, and SU listened. From now on Track I will offer a 300-level Spanish course in place of the service learning course, with the option of a full-time internship for fluent speakers, according to Sue Shane, director of programs at SU Abroad.

CEDEI, where the classes were hosted, is an intimate learning center where the founder (and proud anarchist), Steve Wille, often lectures personally about the economic and political situations in South America. He offers a refreshing and engaging perspective of the United States and its role in the world. Not a flattering perspective but probably an accurate one.

"He's a citizen of the world," said Lewis Wheelwright, a senior international relations major, who has been in Cuenca taking classes at CEDEI since the fall semester. "A very critical thinker. He doesn't accept what's given to him - almost to a fault."

While practicing our Spanish in Ecuador, we also got our first taste of the Latin American culture. Unfortunately for the girls, this included the machismo.

"I've never heard so many catcalls in my life," said Kylee DeCoste, a junior Spanish major. "I felt like I had to cover my body up and down."

The catcalls, or piropos, have been ubiquitous in every country we've been in, but Assistant Director in Santiago Isable Yévenes said they are more about the men reinforcing their own masculinity than anything else. "It's their problem," she said, and as long as it's only verbal, the girls should ignore them and continue walking.

Wanderlust

The next phase of the program, after a tough goodbye to Cuenca, was the field seminar. We arrived first in Santiago, left our heavy luggage, then flew to Buenos Aires and Montevideo - the respective capitals of Argentina and Uruguay. We spent about four days in each, maintaining a rigorous schedule of tours and lectures about the politics, history and culture of the southern cone. It was educational, but many students felt they missed an opportunity to really experience the cities.

"That was honestly the most disappointing thing so far," said Alejandra Arenas, a senior in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. "I feel like I really didn't get to see anything (in Buenos Aires)."

Most of us came to South America in the spirit of adventure and exploration. That spirit has pushed us repeatedly out of Santiago, to explore the mountains that make up 80 percent of this country's topography, and also the lakes, rivers, volcanoes and sea. But that spirit can make class time, no matter how valuable, also torturous.

"You come here to learn to be patient," Yévenes said. "To try new things, to do new things, to develop a sense of humor - to learn to laugh at yourself."

Many of students here had already traveled to Europe and were looking for a new experience and a chance to learn Spanish. Some had family ties to the area and some, like me, were called at the last minute and offered $6,000 grants to switch from the Madrid program. But all of us were willing to be guinea pigs - or pioneers, as we prefer to think of it.

Que Sera, Sera Mejor (What Will Be, Will Be Better)

The Chile directors, Paredes and Yévenes, who both have extensive experience working with abroad programs, are already considering the student's feedback and working to improve the program for next semester, including changes to the field seminar.

"(Mauricio Paredes) was hired because of his…very relevant academic work/teaching experience and his calm, caring personality," said Daeya M. Malboeuf, associate director of marketing and communications for SU Abroad, in an e-mail.

"Mauricio - the majority of my phone calls are from him," Williams said. "I can't say enough about the people that are in charge. They've been…increíbles."

Paredes, who was a political prisoner during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, will teach a course on human rights in the southern cone next semester instead of the general contemporary issues seminar he is teaching now.

He also plans a major change to the academic structure of the program: to work with Universidad Catolica and Universidad de Chile, where students are taking classes this semester.

"That will improve the quality of this program toward the sky," Parades said.

He proposed the involvement of Universidad Catolica from the start, but when he was hired, SU had already made agreements with Universidad de Chile that couldn't be changed.

"Some of the designs were not very good, so that was a huge, huge problem," Paredes said, pointing to cultural differences between the academic systems as a major stumbling block. Chilean classes tend to be more disorganized, especially in the first few weeks, than U.S. classes.

Eighteen of the 38 approved Universidad de Chile courses ended up cancelled or in conflict with the required Spanish classes.

"But everything is getting better," he said.

Getting better thanks in large part to our constant complaining. "I feel very sorry for you guys, really," Paredes said. The fall group, now estimated to be about 15 to 20 students, will benefit from these changes, not us.

"We are planning to be the best program in Santiago - academic program," said Yévenes.

I only say, future students: you owe us a drink - and make it a Pisco Sour.

Kyle Adams is a junior magazine journalism and anthropology major currently studying abroad in South America. He can be reached at kyadams@syr.edu.

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