A year of summer: my spring semester in Chile. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I thought that my track courses in the language intensive part were very well planned and organized. My teacher was competent and very knowledgeable. I felt very comfortable asking for help and/pr clarification. My cinema class was good except for the fact that some of the movies didn't have subtitles and that made comprehension really hard. The class discussions helped. My women in latin america class was a painful experience. I arrived in Chile with fairly intermediate Spanish and I think that this class was far too hard. the teacher constantly used words that barely any person understood as well as texts that were long and very challenging. Her teaching style was disastrous to my ability to understand because she constantly went off on tangents and was in general not organized at all. The latin american dance class was such a blast and I would suggest it to everyone! It was an easy and extremely fun A. Probably my favorite class, sadly only once a week though.

On-site administration of your program

I didn't interact all that much with the administrators of the program. They did a good job planning activities and the Southern Chile Trip in which I participated.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I thought that my housing was extremely well situated in the city to allow me to travel fairly easily. I had access to both subway and bus. my family while not entirely comfortable with my presence made a dedicated effort to make me comfortable. I had all of the food and space that I needed but getting to know the family members was a challenge. This is an individual experience and I was their first student so I think in the future the students who live there will have a similar if not better experience.

Chile's food is surprisingly bland! If spicy food was a concern before going worry not. They are far more likely too put mayonnaise on your food then to put hot chili peppers. The street food was cheap and plentiful but one must be careful not to buy from sketchy people. As always caution and common sense are important. In general I still miss the empenadas al orno. The fruit was plentiful and very big and sweet. In my host family there was always fruit to eat and vegetables but not much meat.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I don't feel like I learned what it is to be Chilean. I was friends with mostly americans because of the opposite nature of the school schedule there. By the time I was meeting Chileans and had opportunities to hang out I felt like I had very little time left in Chile. If you go to Santiago in the spring be prepared to seek out Chilean friends. One of my biggest regrets is not realizing that sooner.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had a pretty sever sinus infection when I was in Santiago. I talked with the assistant and she helped me make an appointment. I had some health insurance but frankly the time and postage cost about the same as what I was going to get back. I paid about 50 dollars for the appointment and then maybe around 20 for medicine. The doctor was friendly but not very patient with my accent. In retrospect I might have looked up translations of my symptoms beforehand. However, it all worked out for the best and I got better fairly quickly after that.

Santiago is a very friendly city. If you stay in the northern parts of the city then I would say that it is just as safe a somewhere like Boston. The subway is very clean and fast but during rush hour people are packed in really tight so caution is advised. I think that theft is the biggest problem. Common sense and caution are all that is needed to avoid all but the most extreme issues. Don't let someone sit really close to you if there is plenty of other spaces and keep your wallet and valuable in a place you an keep track of but that is not too obvious. All in all I felt safe walking around during the day and only slightly wary at night. The buses and subways run less and less the later it gets so this is something to be aware of.

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

Chile is more expensive then some other countries that are less developed. As I was in a large city it was more expensive. Luckily I had dinner and breakfast provided to me.

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

If one wants to speak Spanish it is easily achieved however, the same goes for English. Spanish was spoken in most of my classes and in my house. I feel like for the program and the timing they tried to promote Spanish speaking very well. However, at the lower level I thought that the language component was not pushed nearly enough.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• class variety
• location
• cost

• isolation from native students
• timing
• length

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer