The past week in Chile was jam-packed with new experiences, learning lessons, and memories for me—almost as filled as the metro was on Thursday night! So many meaningful cultural and personal moments together created my amazing time in Chile that I would like to reflect on as many as I can.
First and foremost, the Chilean architecture was the whole purpose for this study abroad opportunity and it did not disappoint. I really appreciated the variety of architectural styles we visited from the simple intersecting cube design of the Benedictine Monastery to the very elegant, classical, symmetrical La Moneda Palace facade. This trip taught me to stop and stare, think, question, analyze and ponder the architecture rather than just snap a thousand pictures because it looked cool and move on like I used to do on vacations. Even from just one semester of architecture courses, I realized that I am much more aware of how architecture functions and feels as I move through it from a student’s perspective rather than just look at its aesthetic appeal as most tourists do.
Sketching was a major component of the experience and the deeper understandings I gained about the sites we visited. Sketching was an educational tool for me both in continuously learning, adjusting, and trying out techniques along the way and in the natural way sketching made me pay more attention to details I otherwise would have missed. Often times my diagrams made me pay more attention to materiality, light, and structure which for me are architectural traits that I had to be present with to truly appreciate. My sketchbook became filled with more notes than I would have anticipated because I really found it meaningful to write down personal feelings or opinions that just came naturally from studying my surroundings.
Language and food were incredibly influential cultural aspects of my Chilean experience. These were both areas that I was nervous or hesitant about being uncomfortable with at the start. As a classmate said before the trip, “We need to become comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable,” I still was not ecstatic to seek out uncomfortableness. But then on the first day I found myself ordering, in very broken Spanish, a sandwich I had no clue what would be on it and ended up loving it. My confidence in just speaking naturally rather than perfectly and trying foods open mindedly grew each day. I actually enjoyed using Spanish to help classmates order ice cream or ask a vendor “Cuanto cuesta?”. I even accidentally answered in Spanish when someone asked me where I was from in perfect English at the fish market. I discovered I love empanadas and all types of flavored jugos and even was ok with peeling off the heads (with eyes!) and tails of all my shrimp at my last meal—something I never would have done before in the U.S.!
A moment that really captured my perspectives as a traveler and American was when I was able to observe the daily lives of the university students relaxing in the shade or staring at us or just heading to class at PUC and Adolfo Ibanez campuses. I was constantly pondering whether we were more similar or more different than them than I had initially expected and finally decided all that mattered was this balance of both. Similarities unite us and differences make us unique both as people, cultures, and countries. Similarities in landscapes and architecture allowed for me to connect and relate to my understanding of the architecture I experience daily here at home while differences allowed me to critique and admire the way design can so easily and influential adapt and fluctuate to surroundings. Overall, this first time studying abroad and in particular studying architecture abroad was an eye-opening journey that I can not wait to experience again in the future!