By Andrea Vega Troncoso, CASA Chile Spring 2019 (Brown University ’20)
El Valle de la Luna en San Pedro de Atacama
Leaving Brown for a semester was not something I always had in mind. I had left my home and most of my family in the Dominican Republic to come study at Brown. To my parents, I was already far away—abroad. Pero little did I know how much I needed some space from Brown. Space to grow, away from home but also away from the US and the Brown bubble. As much as I love the classes I’ve taken at Brown, the folks I’ve met and the work we have done together, it’s easy to get burnt out. This is particularly true for students who are already far from home, who work on top of studying, who are already abroad, who dedicate their time to student groups and organizing community at Brown. Often times, I had the idea that study abroad wasn’t really made for me or people like me. Que fue hecho pa’ los gringos que quieren ir a europa o latinoamerica “to find themselves” or something like that. Pero, for anyone who is reading this and has felt similarly, I want you to know: studying abroad is for you. No estoy diciendo que se les va a hacer súper facil ni que la experiencia always went smoothly for me, but it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made during my time in college.
Trekking en la Patagonia Chilena, dentro del Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales en la Región de los Lagos
When I knew I wanted to go abroad, I knew I wanted to go to Latin America. Dominicans and Chileans could not be more different, despite the countries both being considered Latin American. This is why I chose Chile. Being Latinx and Dominican in Chile has made the experience a bit more difficult, but it has also made it more enriching, more complex and layered, and, honestly, it has been such a privilege to study abroad here. In the D.R. and at Brown, I had a U.S.-centric and Euro-centric education.
In my classes at la Universidad de Chile, it’s been the exact opposite. In my history course, “Raza, clase y género en autoras afrodescendientes e indígenas,” I’ve had the opportunity to read works by Maya-K’iche’, Mapuche and Aymara women and women from Bolivia, the D.R., México and Chile, aprendiendo sobre el feminismo decolonial, antiracista, tercermundista centrado en epistemologías, teorias e historia latinoamericana. I’ve been able to learn for the first time from a curriculum truly centered on Latin America.
En Chile, también he podido viajar a lugares que siempre soñaba con ir y hasta lugares que nunca pensaba que llegaría. He visto alerces milenarios, the sunset en el Valle de la Luna, los lagos de la Patagonia. Santiago también es una ciudad con tanto que hacer. From the free art museums to the film festivals, no hay un fin de semana que tenga poco que hacer. In Chile, I’ve been able to make a small home and find community. I’ve grown a lot and learned about the complexities of what we call Latin America and my own identity as a Dominican woman. La latinidad un concepto que se me ha deconstruido un poco, pero que también se me ha reforzado en otros momentos. Aprender desde latinoamérica ha sido una experiencia hermosa, aunque aveces dolorosa, filled with healing and growth y, más que nada, mucha reflexión.