Hola amigos! Since my classes just started on August 1st and I am going to be on campus a lot, I thought I’d show you guys where I am going to be studying at for the next four months. In Santiago, Pontificia Unversidad Catolica de Chile (or PUC) has four campuses: Casa Central, Lo Contador Campus, Oriente Campus, and San Joaquin Campus (the one I will be at). Students go to a certain campus based on the type of classes they are taking. I am not exactly sure how the classes are divided into each campus, but I know that Oriente Campus is where the Humanities and Arts program is held and so far San Joaquin has seem to hold mostly classes in the sciences, education, and history. I am taking three political science courses (Chilean Foreign Policy, Chilean Politics, and Modern Revolutions in Latin America) and one philosophy course (Hegel).
This campus is huge and filled with tons of student activity in everyone corner. The students here do not stress themselves out at all. After almost every class I feel like I have to go to the library and start working on all the stuff I was assigned, but they use their free time in between classes to relax, socialize and have fun. The library is almost a ghost town because everyone spends their time outside. I remember waiting for a class to start and saying to classmate that I feel like the students here have so much time on their hands because every time I go outside there are large groups students outside sitting in a circle on the grass and chatting, playing ping pong, playing Foosball, tight-rope walking, dancing, sleeping on the grass, etc. My classmate, who is also from the United States, said that maybe here the students do not pressure themselves so much on work. In the United States we have this mindset that if we are not working or being productive we are wasting our time and over here the students do not see it like that at all. They value their free time by being free from care and enjoying themselves.