Incredible Immersion Experience in Viña del Mar, Chile Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I had a wonderful educational experience while abroad. I attended la Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI) in Viña del Mar, which was a prestigious school comparable to Middlebury except that it was not liberal arts. I found the difficulty of the classes to be similar to that of those at Middlebury. Although the fact that all the courses were in Spanish made it a bit more difficult, I was lucky that my Spanish was at a high enough level that this was not really a challenge for me. Each semester I was there I faced a difficulty in one of my courses, but was overwhelmed by the support from the academic coordinator in Chile, Juan Pastene. Throughout both semesters we worked together to find solutions to problems that were truly out of my control, based on the academic system at UAI. I have always been a very studious person and the Middlebury program allowed me to pursue this at the level I had hoped to.

On-site administration of your program

So wonderful! The coordinators, Paulina Solis, Lindsay Auger, and Juan Pastene, were all such amazing people and so helpful. I really appreciate the support they provided us with and everything else that they did for us.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had the best host family! I love them so so much and I know that they will be part of my life forever. I feel that in part I got lucky, but another part was of course the ability of the coordinators in Chile to set me up with this family.

I got really lucky because my host family liked to cook a lot so we always had a variety of food. In general I'm not a big fan of Chilean cuisine so of course there were some meals that were not my favorite, but my host family always tried to cater to my likes as best as possible.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt completely integrated with the local culture. In part I believe this to be due to my decision to stay for a year and not return to the US at all during that time. But I also did not travel during my time abroad except for the trips with the Middlebury program and a couple weeks when my family came to visit me over vacation. Additionally, I arrived in Chile with a high level of Spanish and having already lived there in 2015 for three months (although in a different part of the country). I think the combination of all these factors and my flexibility during my time abroad allowed me to truly integrate myself in the culture.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had great interactions with the healthcare system in Chile. At the end of December I broke my ankle and had to go to the emergency room. I ended up with a cast for six weeks, of which the first three I had to use a wheel chair (after three weeks they gave me a new cast with a heel so I could start to walk on that leg some). My host mom was so wonderful and took me to all my appointments and with the rest of my host family looked after me the whole time I was recovering. The coordinators of the program also were ready to help me if I ever needed any more support. I was also lucky enough that my real mom had been planning on coming to visit me for three weeks only a few days after I had my accident, so she was around to care for me as well. I felt that the technology and proceedings of the local healthcare system were just as good as in the USA. I trusted all the doctors I saw completely and I believe that the recovery process would have been the same in the US. The main doctor who was treating me also spoke some English which was of course helpful as I'm not familiar with many medical terms in Spanish. Additionally the costs for treatment were cheaper than in the US. That being said through the Middlebury Program I had GeoBlue insurance which refunded completely all my medical costs. Besides breaking my ankle I got sick at the beginning of May and so my host mom took me to her doctor. This doctor also spoke English which again was helpful for describing symptoms. The doctor ended up writing me a prescription which I was able to fill in a pharmacy the same day. The cost of the prescription was refunded by GeoBlue. Overall, as unfortunate as breaking my ankle and getting sick were, I felt very lucky to have the healthcare that I did as well as the support from my host family and the Middlebury Program.

I felt very safe living in Viña del Mar and during my time in Valparaíso. That being said, I know that robbery is common in these areas, especially Valparaíso so I took precautions to make sure I stayed safe. I kept my purse over my body, avoided sketchy neighborhoods/areas, and frequently used Uber when I had to move around the city at night.

I had an amazing experience and I feel that the Middlebury program plays a key role in that. They prepared me extremely well for my time in Chile and provided me with endless support while I was abroad. I also loved the language pledge as that really helped me improve my Spanish.

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

Not sure if this question includes rent in which case it would be much harder. (Rent was about $600 each month.) But because food was included in rent it was definitely easy to spend less that $100 per week as long as you didn't spend a lot of money going out or shopping.

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

The Middlebury program has a language pledge which requires you to speak the target language at all times, including taking classes with locals in that language. The only exceptions are of course if family comes to visit who don't speak the language or if it's an emergency.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Local Students

• Language pledge/ supportive program
• The university I studied at, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI)
• My host family

• Cheaper rent for living with a host family
• I know some people had not great experiences with host families at first, so maybe that
• That's honestly all that I can think of