10 Students from Te Piringa – Faculty of Law had the opportunity to travel and learn in Chile in 2018 as part of the Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Latin America. We look back at some highlights of their experience.

Read Part One here

by Kajol Thanki and Thilini Karunaratne

¡Hola!

Our first week in Santiago was amazing! After a 12-hour flight, we arrived in the capital of Chile, as ten eager, but extremely tired students. Despite most of us having no fluency in Spanish, we made our way through customs and eventually to our accommodation. The following day, we had an exciting visit to Santa Lucía Hill. Some of us decided to walk our way to the top, while the rest took the cable cars. At the top, the view was breathtaking! The snow-capped, foggy Andes mountains served as a beautiful backdrop to the city as a whole and it was definitely worth the steep climb or ride up!

Our next stop was the port city of Valparaíso! This is where we will be residing for the rest of our tenure in Chile! On Monday morning, we set off to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), which would be our host university for the next four weeks! We were warmly welcomed by the Director of Law, Professor Manuel Nuñez and other staff from the International Office. After an initial briefing on what was to follow during our stay, we were pleasantly surprised by a cocktail they had arranged for us! This was a great time to mingle with faculty staff and at the end, we were even presented with a special PUCV jumper and scarf each.

That afternoon, we eagerly set off on a “Walking Tour of Valparaíso”. This comprised of us walking through the colourful hills of Valparaíso and admiring the diverse, bright and vibrant street art that famously adorns the walls of the city. These street arts represent Chilean history and culture and showcase the extremely talented nature of Chilean artists. We finished the day with a boat cruise around the port of Valparaíso and had the pleasure of seeing two sleeping sea lions soaking in the afternoon sun (who would not budge despite our efforts to wake them up!)

On Tuesday, we began the first of our series of daily Spanish lessons, which were followed by a fascinating array of law lectures throughout the week, including Latin American Public Law, Environmental Protection, and Law and the Free Press – to name a few!

Friday was yet another day on an excursion, with our first visit being Casa de Isla Negra (the Museum of Pablo Neruda). The Museum is one of the famous poet’s three houses and is located on the picturesque seaside of Isla Negra. The house itself was unlike anything we had ever seen before and truly reflected Pablo Neruda’s love for the sea. Its very architecture was designed to mimic the inside of a ship at sea, with large windows strategically placed throughout the house to take full advantage of the magnificent coastal views. Each room was carefully decorated with unique gifts the poet had received or souvenirs he had hand-picked throughout his own travels, all of which had undoubtedly, inspired his writing. Our next venture was to Viña Casa Del Bosque, a boutique winery in Casablanca Valley. We were guided around the stunning estate by an enthusiastic Frenchman who explained the process of wine-making, from grape to bottle, and were finally rewarded with tastings of some of their award-winning Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah! This marked the end of our first week in Chile.