When I first arrived in Chile, I was excited to learn all about the culture: what music people listened to, the food they ate, and the transportation they used. Since Chile is in South America, which is a less common travel destination compared to Europe or Asia, I expected the culture to be very different and not like anything I had seen before. I knew a little bit about Chile’s historical Spanish influence, so I imagined that it might have some similarities to other places I’ve been that have had Spanish influence.
Right after landing in the Santiago airport and walking into baggage claim, the first song I heard playing over the loudspeakers was Truth Hurts by Lizzo; I felt like I was right back in the United States! When we made it out of the airport and began our drive to the hotel, I was surprised by how full the streets were with cars. When I visited family in the Philippines a few years back, there were some cars, but the roads were dominated by motorcycles and scooters, so I was surprised how similar Chile was to the United States in terms of car adoption.
A big difference from the United States was the metro system. One of the few places with a well-established metro system in the United States is New York City, so that was my baseline of comparison for Santiago’s metro. I again was surprised by how clean, well-designed, and safe Santiago’s metro felt. Unlike the subway in New York, the metro in Santiago had trains that came nearly every minute, connections between the train cars allowing the crowds to more easily disperse, and the metro didn’t smell!
Overall, the city was much larger population-wise, had a much more robust transit system, and resembled the United States a lot more than I was expecting. There was a feeling of acceptance and tolerance within the city which was very refreshing. Santiago was a great city to visit, and it would be great to maybe someday live there for some time in the future.
Swanson School of Engineering 