| Majors: | International Affairs |
Language: | Spanish |
Study Abroad: | Spain |
Business Administration |
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Matt Reno ’06 traveling with |
Matthew Reno ’06
World Explorer
Santiago, Chile (currently!)
On a hot Sunday afternoon last December I was taking the metro home from La Vega, a shabby, open-air market in a distant neighborhood of Santiago. As I emerged from the subterraneo I could hear cars honking and people shouting with real spirit in their voices, very unlike most Chileans. In no time the plaza just a few blocks from our apartment was overrun with rioters overjoyed at the passing of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. Chileans were cheering, waving Soviet flags, exhibiting pictures of Salvador Allende and Che Guevara. Old women held up portraits of their sons who disappeared under Pinochet’s rule.
Later that day we were up the road near the military hospital and witnessed the very opposite reaction: mourning and silence for the passing of a great leader, who during his iron-fisted dictatorship, steered the country toward becoming the Latin American economic leader it is today. Chileans were fiercely passionate one way or the other, and on that afternoon I stood out as a gringo as never before.
No more than six months earlier, I was seated beside Professor Chris Reardon in a classroom filled with International Affairs students at UNH. As we blasted through decades of political history, Chile and Pinochet came up briefly. In our textbooks he is discussed favorably or negatively--but never both. In the classroom it is sometimes hard to see two sides of the argument. I never would have guessed that in a half year’s time, I would witness an important chapter in South American history. Regardless of what I thought about Augusto Pinochet, I was living history that December day when just months earlier I was reading it.
The moral of my story is that you can only read so much before you just have to experience it yourself. The lessons you learn in college can only prepare you for the experiences you will have after graduating. This isn’t to say you have to move to a foreign country after donning your cap and gown. Position yourself during college so that after they hand you your diploma, you are ready to open your eyes to new challenges and cultures, opportunities both in the U.S. and elsewhere. My experiences during junior year in Spain whet my appetite for travel and foreign culture. Living abroad taught me so much about myself, my country and the rest of the world. It was a pivotal point for me, and a key factor in driving me abroad again, to Chile, after graduation.
Consider visiting the Center for International Education. The staff and faculty will show you how you can live in another country for a semester, a summer or a year, and how it can be worked into your schedule to enable you to graduate in four years. I promise it will be a life-changing experience for you too.
