Casual Encounter: Matthew Tejeda Astaburuaga

He was born in Santiago, Chile, but he was raised by the internet.

Matthew Tejeda Astaburuaga, a senior computer science major, said the internet helped him learn the English he needed to succeed at Purdue.

“I was a teenager using the internet a lot, so I was already used to American culture,” he said last week. “Plus, I feel like there’s not as much of a culture shock in the Western world compared to the Eastern world, so the move wasn’t that big of a deal for me.”

Tejada Astaburuaga was sitting in front of the Engineering Fountain, staring at the water on a hot day.

“I’m just bored today,” he said. “I’m here taking summer classes with Ivy Tech, but there’s not much to do.”

Despite living in the United States for four years now, he hasn’t explored much outside of campus. He went on a trip to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s campus and visited Chicago when he arrived from Chile, but the majority of his time has been spent working on his degree.

“When I think Purdue, I think people taking math exams and freaking out,” he laughed. “Those are my Purdue memories.”

Tejeda Astaburuaga said one thing he does miss about Chile is the geography. Going from the mountain ranges of Santiago to the flat Great Plains was a shift for him.

“I also really miss the food,” he said. “We have a lot of ingredients over there that don’t really exist here.”

Overall, though, he said he prefers West Lafayette over Santiago.

“I think life is overall more fun here than it is there,” he said. “There’s good sides to both places, but I think I’d rather live here after I graduate.”

He isn’t totally sure what he wants to do after college. At the moment, he said he is in “senioritis” mode.

“After college I just want to pay off my student debts,” he said laughing. “I feel like we’re all in the same boat.”

The senioritis also lingers for his plans after college. Although he does like West Lafayette more than Chile, he says he isn’t sure whether he’ll stay in the United States after graduating.

“Right now I just want to make sure I graduate,” he said, laughing. “We’ll see what happens after that.”