A day at a UCAB student (Caracas, Venezuela)

11/11/2017, Caracas, Venezuela
THE HIDDEN BEAUTY BEHIND OUR WALLS
by golwen-arc

Every day goes at about the same. Wake up, make breakfast, eat it up, get dress (you don't shower because we dont have water on this side of the planet) and then, right before the sun goes up, we start our hour long journey to the University Campus.

-------- Waking up
Its 5:30 am. The walking starts always at the same pace. Long, fast and determined hustles to reach the subway station 4 blocks away. Scared of every motorcycle, because you remember that day the pointed a gun in your face to take away your cellphone. Scared of every car that stops near you, because you know friends whos lives has changed the second they knew the meaning of kidnapping. Scared of crossing the street, because at this hour, traffic lights are pretty decoration that hangs around the corners.

-------- Arriving at the Subway
Its 5:42 am. You pay an absurd amount of money for a ticket, 4 BsF (with minimun wage you can buy hundreds of thusands of tickets every month) and then get to the station. You stare at the train tracks. The first train arrives after 10 minutes, with no room for anyone to get in. The second arrives 8 minutes, still no room for anyone. After 4 trains, you finally get a small space between the door and the corridor full of people. The air conditioner its broken. Only 4 lightbulbs are working, between bad smells, asfixia and poor lightning you finally reach your destination.

-------- Arriving at the University
Its 6:47 am. You get off the train, walk the station, and finally reach the outside world again. Screaming its in order at any hour. At your right, a huge suburb (or as we called here, a "barrio"), houses one on top of another. No construction rules followed, no safety messures taken, the whole mountain covered with improvised roads and gravity challenging homes, with no water, no garbage recollection systems, and no law regulated power, the whole wiring its pulled from the streets. At your left, the highway, a brown river that once was crystal clear, and the university. The station its only half a block way. A pedestrian runway crosses the Guaire river and the highway, greeting you with this view:

-------- Welcome to the bubble
Its 6:58 am, and you are just on time for your first class on the day. There are no words that describes what it feels to enter in the campus after getting from such a chaotic environment. The two opposite side of my shattered Caracas. Your soul fills up with comfort that fuels up your motivation.

Its 9:00 am, you talk with your friends, discuss projects, homeworks, share experiences, enjoy your campus. Major country related topics are often avoided, no peace disruption is allowed. Your life passes through the buildings.

Its 10:23 am, you and your friends head over to the library for a study session until 12. You walk through the gardens, greet friends, and finally, you reach your destination, an architectonic beaty of glass, metal and concrete, that rises 5 floors up, builded upon donations and cooperations with enterprises of the private sector that belives in education as the key for the recovery of the Venezuela we once knew.

-------- Working hard
Its 12:23 pm, and you and your frieds eat the luch everyone brought from home. Buying food daily its not sustainable, with the entire minimum wage, you wouldn't be able to eat for even 3 days. You and your friends were granted with an scholarship that covers all the expenses, and our way of saying thanks its by working hard everyday. No rest its allowed in the game of graduating as fast as you can, taking as much extracredits you can, and participating in some extracurricular academic activity, such as models of united nations. After a quick lunch, back to studying at the library until 4:00 pm. How can you not find peace among this books?:

-------- Focus is key
Its 4:00 pm, you arrive at you last class of the day, getting ready for a 3 hour marathon on economics. We clarify as most questions as we can, and we seize every moment we have to ask doubts, to aquire knowledge, and to practice what we have learned. In the battle against sleepiness, active participation on the classroom its in order. The worst part about this class its the schedule, going home at night its not very advisable in our current situation.

-------- Breaking the bubble
Its 6:22 pm, and your teacher has released you earlier than usual. After the class its over, we head back to the pedestrians runway that crosses the guaire river, and we head back home. As we walk through the campus, silence and serenity surrounds us all. We say goodbye to our University, and we hope to see her again the next day, at the same hour, with similar routines. At the other side of the river, chaos, insecurity, worries and nonsense rules over the streets.

Its 8:00 pm, and you get home right on time to use the only hour you have allowed to use water. You shower, eat the dinner you mother made, finish some homeworks, and then you go to bed before 11:00 pm, setting the wake up alarm at 4:50 am.

-------- See you tomorrow UCAB, I already miss you. @golwen-arc