My Tour of Santa Maria

The castle fenced in all the way around with a few select entrances lies only three blocks away from my house, yet I had never been inside the ominous gates. Only ever hearing about La Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria from Angelica and the students I live with who go there, the mystery was finally revealed to me today.

My friend Eric, who studies Civil Engineering there, took me on a tour today. Starting at the main staircase, that has a beautiful ocean view, we made our way up to the main building.

Once inside, I was awestruck by the beauty of the architecture, the landscaping, and the lack of street dogs and their droppings. It brought me back to my childhood and memories of Duke University. A little more modern, perhaps, but very similar...


(the main building of Santa Maria, from their website)


(the Allen Building at Duke University, from www.wikipedia.org)

There was also a rather bizarre disconnect for me. Santa Maria is so different from La Pontifical Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, where I study. Here, there was a campus with terraces, buildings all in one place, and a pool in the middle of one of the courtyards.

But it wasn't only the school setting that was different, the people were too. They seemed to be more preppy, more upper class. Maybe it was an illusion created by me and my vision of what the school 'seems to be.' But it did feel different.

In reality, Santa Maria is not much more expensive than other universities, but if there is a difference, it might stem from the fact that the students that go to school there are very serious about their studies and being successful.