Chile Po' Past Review
By Julie C (HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS., University of Florida) for
USAC Chile: Santiago - Spanish Language, Latin American Cultures, Journalism, and International Studies
I just want to go abroad again! Chile was a very comfortable place to live for a student who doesn't want to be too third world but still wants to live in Latin America. I feel like studying in Chile made me more confident, experienced and street savvy, but I don't feel like it changed my life in a major way.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was easy. My teachers were great though and really cared about us! I felt like I learned more from my Track 2 Spanish teacher with USAC than any other Spanish teacher I've had in high school or college. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They were very helpful and did anything they could to help me adjust. The group was a little larger than I would have liked (around 50). They usually sent us activities going on around the city that week that we could go to and kept us informed about other important things. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived a 45 minute commute from school. We took the metro from our houses in the suburbs to the campus downtown. My family was very nice to me and helped me with anything I needed. Sometimes I felt like they didn't want to talk to me and I was just kind of there (maybe it was because of the slight language barrier). What made my house the most comfortable was that I lived with 2 kids (ages 8 months and 5 years) so I could just play with them and talk with them without the pressures of having good grammar like when I spoke with my host parents. |
| * Food: |
My family fed me fine, but the food in Chile in general is pretty tame. Pasta, hot dogs, mayonaise, bread... I was surprised by the blandness of the food selection throughout the country. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
A group of Chilean students was really friendly and always invited us to go out! But if it weren't for them, it would have been difficult to break into a local clique of Chileans. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
There was an 8.8 earthquake while I was there, which was quite a safety issue. The staff and our host families did their best to make sure that we knew what to do during aftershocks and other geological events after that. Chile is a really safe country overall though! I felt comfortable walking through my neighborhood alone at night from the bus stop! |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I needed to speak Spanish all the time with my host family and getting around town. Not very many locals spoke English. In classes and on excursions we were always with other Americans though, so we didn't speak much Spanish during the day when we were together. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If I went through it all again, I would have tried to get the language pre-requisites to be able to exchange/direct enroll and be in classes with local Chileans. I didn't have enough Spanish credits, so I did USAC because I could take some classes in English. |
