Living as a Chilean, both tricky and fun Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The program was definitely rigorous, both with the intensity of the language/cultural immersion and with the amount of work but sometimes it didn't feel like the assignments were the most educational. There was a lot of work, but we didn't necessarily receive credit and it didn't always feel helpful for the learning experience. It ended up just being a lot of busy work.

On-site administration of your program

They all had good intentions, but it was a bit unorganized. I think this might be more the Chilean way though rather than a big program. The one big problem was travel, or lack thereof. Before leaving I was specifically told we would take a few big trips to other parts of the country. Past semesters had also taken big trips - to Patagonia or Los Lagos or Atacama - so it was expected we would take trips too. When we got there, it was announced that we would only take a few local excursions. As a Wellesley student, we took one trip to Chiloe but this was not open to the rest of the students. So what happened to the money that we were to use on bigger trips? I was also told Wellesley had paid money to the program to fund the travel costs of our trips. I don't know the details, but from what I heard it seems this was more than what it cost to go to Chiloe. This was highly difficult for me because it meant I couldn't see some important parts of the country. I had been told some travel would be funded and then it wasn't. And it wasn't talked about or addressed. The directors just had a tone of, "Oh, we just decided not to travel this semester." What?? I was told we would take at least two big trips...I don't have money to fund these trips on my own. What happened to the money set aside for this??

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Not particularly satisfied with housing through the program. First, the application process before going abroad was extremely confusing and not particularly straightforward. Before leaving, it was not clear that I needed to choose my housing from the list. I did eventually figure this out, but it was shortly before leaving which gave a lot of unnecessary stress. Furthermore, because the whole website was written in Spanish and the prices were in Chilean peso instead of dollar. But this was confusing due to the fact that Chilean peso uses the same dollar sign and commas and periods in numbers are reversed in Spanish (e.g., online, a house said it cost $300.000 per month. This did not mean 300 american dollars, but rather 300,000 Chilean peso, which is roughly 500 American dollars.) This ended up being a fairly confusing point and most students were unaware of how much housing would cost. The options for families were also limited. My first house was with a young couple who didn't have children. My room was extremely small without the basic necessities - I had no desk, no dresser, and only 3 hangers in the closet. Furthermore, the house was an Air B and B, which set the tone of merely being someone living in the house paying money. The family was nice, but I think they didn't understand what it meant to be a host family. When I changed houses, the program was somewhat helpful but there were not a lot of options and I ended up finding my family on my own. In general, I think the program has good intentions, but could be slightly more assertive in ensuring that they family follows the guidelines of the program (providing appropriate and necessary furniture...) and that the program does more interactive activities with the family so that the family understands what is expected of them and understands that being a host family is different from having a room rented by a student. The rent we pay, in comparison to other rentals in the area is extremely high. This is justifiable if the family is being an active, engaged family, but not if it is merely a room rental. The high rent price also means that the families who want students might be more inclined to lie or make themselves more attractive even if they don't actually want a student. Lastly, the students paid the family directly, rather than the program paying for it. This is technically difficult because students do not have direct transfer, checks, etc. so it's difficult just to pay, Furthermore, students can only take out 200,000 pesos at a time, which means to pay 300,000 pesos, a student must go to the bank twice and forces them to walk around with unnecessary sums of cash which is dangerous. Furthermore, in the house it sets the tone that we are paying to live there, not living there as a family member, which contrasts the idea of being part of the family. This could be easily dealt with if the program pays for the housing, rather than the student. Through all this complaining, I do want to emphasize that my first family was very nice, they were just not properly prepared for the situation and probably were not the best at being a host family. My second family was fantastic and I hope the program continues to use them even though they were not part of the program before.

The food in Chile is not particularly healthy, but in both my families I had healthful food. My first family did not keep much food around which made it tricky when I missed meals because there was nothing to eat, but my second family always had food and I was welcome to eat what I wanted, when I wanted.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

LOVED this aspect of the program! I lived like a Chilean, learned Chilean, and did most things with Chileans. I loved the fact that we took classes at the local university and got to spend time with Chileans. And my ability to speak and understand Spanish improved immensely!

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The program was not particularly helpful. I had an emergency one night and needed to go to the emergency room. I called the health care director, and although she was very sweet and friendly, she was not particularly helpful. My parents were not home so I had to find a friend to drive me, which was awkward and uncomfortable. The hostpital was also at least 20 minutes away, no where near my house or even in VIna where I lived. In the hospital, it was difficult to verbalize my problem and there was no one there to help. It was also not clear how much it would cost or how I would pay. It did not end up being terribly expensive, but the insurance forms were unclear and written in English so the doctors did not understand them or fill them out correctly. It was definitely immersion. But I think one of the problems is that the director of health is very Chilean, and therefore doesn't understand American expectations. While I think this si good for many parts of the program, I think for healthcare it is important that there is someone available to help translate and help clarify paying and other important details.

I would not say Valparaiso is the safest of cities, but we were given plenty of guidance on how to stay safe - avoid being targeted or robbed - and I never had any problems. I felt very safe for my entire trip.

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

Because we paid for housing, food was covered. So long as I went back home to eat, I could live on my budget, around $500 per month. But because this rent was so high, it meant I didn't eat out a lot or try restaurants. This was not terrible, but it would have been nice to somehow separate food and housing or have some sort of eat out budget so students can eat at restaurants. This was the only part of the culture I feel like I didn't fully experience because I only ate at home rather than at different cultural restaurants.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

I spoke Spanish 95% of the time and our group was very good at following the language agreement, which was really great!

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Local Students

• classes with chileans in a chilean university
• language pledge and encouragement of friendships with Chileans
• my host family

• more travel, especially to further areas
• housing options, paying for housing, clearer directions before departure regarding housing
• more organization, less busy work, an actual class rather than just the notebook.

The Avid Adventurer