Story Location: Chile
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Home Base: Host Families in Santiago
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The emotions that accompany the idea of living with a family that’s not your own during your time abroad fall in the gray area between exhilarating and absolutely terrifying. You’ll find yourself experiencing the whole spectrum of these emotions; both before your time abroad and during it. But students in Santiago have navigated this challenge,…
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How to Reset While Abroad
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As I passed the two-month marker of my semester abroad, I entered a rut: one that can only be described as complacency. I had become complacent with a schedule that did not leave me excited to leave my bed. I went to classes and paid very minimal attention, if any. I just went through the…
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The Chile Experience: Real vs. Tourist
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In the days leading up to my flight to Chile, I was full of nerves. Nerves were pulling me in to every which direction, to the point where I just didn’t know how to feel. This uncertainty was keeping me up at night scrolling through the web just trying to find something, that would tell…
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How My Experiences with Chilean Culture Changed Me
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Unpacking My Amazing Experience I’ve thought and reflected on my time studying abroad since returning from Valparaiso, Chile My experience was nothing but learning, experiencing, and understanding — IFSA provided me with so many opportunities to grow as an individual and also with the local community, which is something that I will carry with me for…
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Discovering My Sexual Identity Abroad
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First Impressions When I first met the people in my study abroad program I was excited to get to know them since we all came from different schools, states, and backgrounds. I was on the Valparaíso, Chile program where I attended Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. As I became closer to a smaller group of…
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Debunking the Myth: Go Abroad as an ROTC Cadet
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It can be daunting to spend an entire semester away from campus, especially as an Army ROTC cadet. We are expected to balance our normal academic curriculum with military science classes, weekend field trainings, and physical fitness all on top of a solid GPA, so it’s no surprise that some cadets shy away from Study…
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How I Learned to Speak Chilean
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What is the official language in Chile? Many sources would say Spanish, but that’s not entirely true.At least, the Spanish I learned in Chile was not the Spanish I was taught in the six years leading up to my trip. As I prepared for my study abroad experience, I knew that I still had room…
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Living With a Host Family | Love, Language, and Learning
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“Cabra chica, a comer!” My host mom endearingly called to me from the kitchen when it was meal time. I helped set up and the two of us, along with my host sister and dad, sat down for an evening meal called “once”. This is a particularly Chilean meal that resembles an extravagant tea time more…
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A Feminist in Chile
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Where to go? Being a woman, much of life is different for me and studying abroad is not an exception. From contemplating where to go, to actually studying there, there are extra considerations. As a strong feminist who is extremely critical of the United States’ gender issues I was intimidated about what study abroad would…
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Low Income Students Can Study Abroad Too
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When I was asked by my friends, family, and teachers if I wanted to study abroad, it was a no brainer. Of course I wanted to go away on a new adventure. But when it finally came down to actually going through the process and confirming my decision, reality struck. How was I going to…
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