ISA in Santiago taught me a lot, but not without challenges Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

In my experience, a lot of the professors in the program had very low standards for students. I almost always do very good work (whether home or abroad) so I always got good grades, but there were a few times I turned in work that I would have been embarrassed to turn in if I was still in the states (I would have given myself a C or lower) that got solid As. That said, if you take the initiative to learn and do well, you certainly can. There's plenty to take from the classes, but don't expect to get a ton of professorial feedback automatically in every class. I went abroad to learn Spanish and about a new culture, not to have an easy semester or party four months of my life away, so if you want to do the same, take the "hard" classes, --meaning classes that have more substance (like Haitian-Dominican Relations), rather than electives (like Folklore)-- do your best, and you'll be fine.

On-site administration of your program

Jonathan and Eliesset (our program directors) were awesome! They were super friendly and warm; they planned interesting trips that were fun, although we mostly went to tourist-y stuff. When we went on trips and did other activities, they were very well-planned and important details were communicated clearly and in a timely manner. They tried to figure out what we wanted to do/what we were interested in and do that. They were also super helpful about editing papers and assignments for grammar.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My host family was excellent. I lived with a 60-ish year-old couple. They had daughters who were both grown, but lived nearby. The other student they housed and I were treated like daughters. We went on a few weekend trips with our family and had dinners on Sunday with their daughters, sons-in-law and granddaughter. We also went to other family functions: a bridal shower, birthday parties. Our host mom tried to keep food she knew we liked in the house. When my flight was scheduled outside of the time that ISA transportation was provided, my host dad took me to the airport, about 20 minutes outside the city. I was totally blessed to have such a wonderful experience, which seemed to be fairly unique among the students I studied with.

A lot of my satisfaction with the food was because my host family provided really wonderful options, but there are a lot of really great restaurants in Santiago. Don't be afraid to try the ethnic food there. We got some really amazing sushi and other Asian fusion stuff. I didn't go out a ton, but there's certainly a lot of great restaurants to try. There was an internet cafe, Square One, really close to the University and my house that had really delicious American food and tasty drinks.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Make a trip to Santo Cerro, on the way to La Vega. I went with my host family and again when my boyfriend came to visit. There's a gorgeous old church and amazing view of the valley at the top of this hill. You can also buy these little corn crackers and cookies that are signature to this area. If you get to Santo Domingo, explore the Old City, just walk a couple of blocks in any direction of the main touristy area and find some quieter streets. There wasn't a "bad" or unsafe part that I found and there's some amazing architecture. We took fun trips with ISA to La Romana, Jarabacoa, Samana, and Santo Domingo. Sosua was my favorite beach and it's only a two hour bus ride from Santiago so we visited often. If you get a chance to make it to Dajabon (on the border with Haiti) for the market on a Monday or Friday, that's a really cool experience and Puerto Plata and Cabarete are also worth visiting.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The areas where students live in Santiago are super safe. I walked around after dark in my neighborhood and never felt at all nervous. I felt over-prepared and over-cautioned before the program. When I got there I realized that living in a foreign city is just like living in an American city; use your common sense and you'll be fine. I didn't use any healthcare at all. If did get some vaccines before the trip (Typhoid is the only one I would get if I was going again), but there were students who didn't get any and didn't have any issues. I was prescribed Malarone for malaria, but didn't take it at all and didn't have any issues though we visited areas that potentially have malaria.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

All of the people I ended up making friends with (and spending the majority of my free time with, the people in my program, were American and we all spoke English with each other. There were some Dominicans who spoke English very well, a very few fellow University students or people who worked with tourists. Mostly, though, we had to use Spanish to get around, to buy things, to ask for directions, and of course, to speak with professors and our program directors. I had a really good relationship with my host family so I spoke with them a lot. There were a lot of things I loved about the ISA Program in Santiago, but one thing they didn't do terribly well was to facilitate conversation/friend-making with Dominicans. I'll admit that I could have reached out better, but ISA wasn't terribly supportive in the way of setting up conversation partners or forcing us to have real conversations with Dominican students. This aspect may have changed though; I think my semester was the first semester they tried to set up conversation partners and it just didn't go as well as they'd hoped.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family