Semana de la Carrera

So I want to write about something the university does that is awesome. Here, there are different "carrerras" which are basically like our majors, but there aren't nearly as many because the university here is very small, and they are much more general. They could be more comparable to the separate schools inside our universities. Anyway, each carrerra has one week of the semester that is their "Semana de la Carrerra." They have activities all during the week, competitions of all sorts, and the professors back off and give them a break from classes, it's all sorts of fun. What's even more fun, is being an exchange student, because we don't really belong to a certain carrerra, so they all want us to participate in the activities for all of the carrerras. There are always sports tournaments, the teams are divided between the years of the students in the carrerra, and everyone gets into it. Each year is a certain color, so there are people walking around campus in the specifically colored jerseys all week. There is lots of school spirit, unity within the carrerras, and also unity between the classmates of each year in the carrerra.


We were invited to the grand opening party for the carrerra Commercial Engineering, we went and were surprised at how many people came out (I was even more surprised to see a few of my professors there too, given it was in a discotheque). There is a king and queen for each year, and there are competitions to see which year is crowned THE king and queen. A few of the competitions definitely demonstrated our cultural differences, like basically a striptease onstage by the girls. That was thankfully at the end because we left when that started. But everything else was really fun, lots of school spirit and everything. This week, it's the Law students turn, so to kick it off there was a costume party on Monday on campus. We left at 3 in the morning and everyone else was still dancing like crazy! Chileans party til all hours of the morning, something we've had to accustom ourselves to. Each year put on a skit, the year with the most people in costumes won a contest, there was a dancing contest, etc. They have competitions of soccer, volleyball, rugby, and tug of war during the day. Also, parties planned in clubs around the city Tues, Thurs, and Fri nights! It's insane. These people know how to have a good time. This week is also the week of Biologia Marina, and as I have a class in that carrerra, all of my classmates have made sure I come to all the activities. Like a party tonight on campus with tournaments also, sports and "taca-taca" or foosball. Foosball is so big here, it's really random. Also, we take a camping trip. Everyone pays like 5 bucks, and we jump on a micro bus and head to Valle, the national hot spot for camping. There are asados, (basically the Chilean equivalent to our BBQ), we play in the pool all day, have games and competitions, play soccer, and stay up all night with a bonfire and dancing. It's a reward for the students, they work hard all through the year and make the most of this one break they get. This time they have with all of their classmates to have fun instead of study.


So that's what "Semana de la Carrerra" is all about! I definitely wouldn't mind starting this tradition at ISU! It's a chance for everyone to have fun and bond with your classmates.