IES Abroad - Study Abroad in Chile

Studying abroad in Santiago, Chile was truly an amazing experience. I feel extremely privileged and humbled to have been able to travel and live in another country for four months. I lived with an incredible host family that gave me cultural lessons every night during Once while also reminding me of those universal family values that unite each and every one of us as human beings. I loved sandboarding in the Atacama Desert, hiking in Patagonia, and surfing in Pichilemu, but the thing I enjoyed most were the small moments with the various people I met in Chile. I met an amazing friend who worked in the IES building where I had my classes. Though I was still working on my Spanish, she was patient and so welcoming. We talked about our families, our pets, and our hopes and dreams. I also met my host-family's extended family who took me in like I was one of their own. We sat around all Saturday afternoon playing cards and I listened to old family memories and stories about the people and places they grew up with. Though I was in a country far from home, there was not much of a difference between the conversations at my dinner table in New Jersey and theirs that day in Val Paraíso. If anyone has the opportunity to study abroad in Santiago, I would 100% recommend. I was challenged in the best way possible in daring to make relationships with different people from all walks of life and it made me realize how communication can really open up a whole new world.

I loved my multi-location program! It gave me the opportunity to experience two cultures in the span of one semester, with a trip to Peru included. With its focus being on emerging economies, I really could apply my experience to my studies back in the US. It was fascinating to be able to compare the economies of Chile and Argentina with each other and the rest of South America. Class field studies tied all my knowledge together and gave me a better understanding of what I was learning about. With housing assignments being home stays in both cities (Santiago and Buenos Aires) I felt like I was better able to experience the culture since I was in each place for a shorter period of time. The staff were so accommodating and had the students' best interest in mind. Feel free to check out my IES Correspondent blog to learn more on what the program has to offer!

Learning about the history and the politics in each country, in addition to the economics of course, made learning about their financial state make so much more sense because we also learned the context. With lots of field trips and excursions as a part of the program, we learned a lot both inside and outside the classroom. The professors at IES in Buenos Aires and Santiago are some of the most intelligent and passionate professors I have ever had.

In Santiago, I was perhaps more ambitious than I realized when I decided to take 2 advanced courses at the local university. As difficult and stressful as it was at times, I immediately saw the benefits of enrolling through IES rather than a direct university enrollment. IES had strong staff members that were my support system when things were going downhill; they were encouraging and have so much experience with students so they always have a viable solution at hand. Chile made me not only a stronger academic student, but gave me opportunities to meet locals, live with an amazing host family and learn more culture, practice lots of Spanish (as the general public rarely speaks English), and see beautiful landscape (Atacama Desert, Patagonia, Chiloé island). No doubt, being a foreigner abroad even with a local IES support system still presented an emotional rollercoaster. But it is the frustrating situations I overcame, along with the high-flying fun times, that shaped my experience to make me an independent person who is now stronger and more appreciative of different cultures.

Before traveling to Santiago, Chile I was quite nervous about living in a foreign country for 5 months, but from the moment I stepped into my host family’s apartment, I knew it was going to be a great experience. The classes I took, the places I travelled, and the Chilean culture all made a truly unforgettable experience, but the people I met along the way helped Chile steal my heart. My host family, the IES staff, Chilean students at the university, and especially my fellow IES students helped me to learn, to grow, and most importantly, enjoy every moment of my time abroad. The staff at IES made it clear from day one that they wanted our experience in Chile to be as fun, productive, and safe as possible. During the first week, they taught us everything we needed to know about Chilean culture, how to navigate the seemingly enormous city, and how to decode the very fast paced Chilean Spanish. The academic coordinator met with each student and helped us select the best classes for us, and the student coordinator had an answer for literally every question or problem we may have had. The staff and professors were always very supportive and helped guide us through every aspect of our journey abroad. I enjoyed all four of the classes I took abroad, my favorite being the Health Studies Clinical Observation program. In this program, we not only studied how the Chilean healthcare system works, but we also got to observe in a different healthcare setting each week! My host mom could not have been more excited to welcome me, and all my friends, into her home. My host family very kindly included me in all their family activities: birthday parties, cookouts, holiday traditions, etc., and that truly made my experience one of a kind. I got to experience Chilean culture through a fun, loving, and hilarious family that made way too much delicious food. I knew I had formed meaningful relationships with all the members of my host family when they were all very sad to see me leave and my host grandmother begged me to come back to Chile soon. I keep in contact with my host aunts and cousins through Facebook, and my host mom and I still message each other quite frequently. Santiago, Chile is a wonderful city with endless activities of all types. Within the city there are museums of all types, beautiful parks, cute cafes on every corner, lots of shopping, bars and dance clubs, etc. The Andes mountains lie just outside the city and the parks in the foothills of the Andes provide easy access opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, etc. An hour bus ride west of Santiago gets you to beautiful coastal towns like Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Chile is unique in that it offers literally every type of landscape and I highly recommend trying to see as many as possible. From desert, to beaches, to the frozen icebergs of southern Patagonia, and all the way out to Easter Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Chile has everything you could wish for. Some of my fondest memories abroad are traveling and exploring with other IES students! If you still have a doubt about studying abroad in Chile after reading these reviews, know that you should go – immerse yourself in the Chilean culture, travel to all the different regions, and meet some truly incredible people. ¡Viva Chile!

This fall, I went to Santiago through the IES Semester in Santiago program and had the absolute pleasure of meeting some of the most wonderful people in the world. Many study abroad programs have similar draws—small classes, hands-on learning, fantastic teachers, cultural integration, etc—and don’t get me wrong, my program definitely had all of those. However, one thing that really set the program apart was the type of student on the program, the staff at the study abroad center in Santiago, and the host families. All the students on my program got along fabulously, which was honestly pretty strange. I went abroad in high school on a different program, and there were clashes within the program, as happens when many very different people spend a lot of time together. However, in Santiago, we literally all got along well—there was no exclusion, no cattiness, nothing. The group was comprised of very smart and interesting students, who were laid-back in attitude and all of whom enjoyed nature, and for whatever reason, this made us incredibly cohesive. I can’t stress enough how bizarrely lovely and inclusive it was. Our cohesion was probably due in part to the incredible staff at IES, who were intentional about teambuilding and introductions from the start. The five women who work at the center were some of the most loving, kind, compassionate, funny and warm people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet. Not only were they good at the administrative aspects of their jobs, they cared for me and the other students like their own children. I had bronchitis for about a month (immunodeficiency, whaddup), and they worked tirelessly with me to coordinate makeup work and tests while also firmly and lovingly demanding I go take a nap and give myself a break. They are amazing. Again, I can’t stress this enough. One of the women who works at the center is responsible for housing placements, and she does an incredible job. Each homestay is hand-picked by her, and she is careful and thorough with her reasoning. You get to fill out a form in which you indicate what your desired outcome in a homestay is—whether that’s to be integrated into the family, to spend a bit of time with them, or to have it more as a place to sleep and eat rather than a family setting—and she matches you with people who have similar desires. This eliminates a lot of awkwardness around being unsure on expectations. I wanted to be part of the family, and I ended up in a house where I would spend hours talking to my host mom about life philosophy and experience. She is my second mom (even now she texts me asking if I’m sleeping enough. That’s mom love for ya). On my program, I navigated a big city after living in rural college towns my whole life. I formed loving and warm bonds with people I never would’ve met otherwise. I explored and grew and learned and laughed and cried and ate too many empanadas, and IES Santiago gave me the space for that. Go. You won’t regret it.

Study abroad is a personal experience that impacts everyone in different ways. The staff at IES abroad Santiago understand this and supports each student with social, academic, traveling, cultural-immersion, and host-family issues every step of the way. And Chile is a wonderful country with inviting people, breathe taking nature, and so much love to make any one feel at home. When my parents dropped me off at the airport and I waved goodbye as I walked through security, I realized it was real and I was leaving to another country half way across the world on my own. I took a deep breath and plunged into the experience of a lifetime, one that would change me for the better and impact me for the rest of my life. I planted roots in South America and they run deep. Chile taught me to be patient with others and with myself, to communicate about everything always because you can never be too informed, to try new things and to get back up when you don't do as planned, to ask for help and in return, help others, to get lost and find your way home, to struggle and overcome obstacles, to learn, to love, and to grow. A part of Chile will forever be in my heart and I hope one day, it can be in yours too.

Studying abroad in Santiago with IES was by far the greatest thing I could have done with a semester of my college career. I was able to solidify so much of what I want to do with my life and I don't believe that I could have done that without this experience. I was able to make lifelong friends, better my language skills, realize my passion for environmental policy, and really build a home away from home. I am planning on returning to work and live for a while after I graduate from college, there is just so much more of my beautiful Chile that I want to see and experience. I really do believe that without the help and guidance IES provided us my experience would not have been the same. They placed me with the most incredible host family, ensured that the classes I was taking both at IES and at the local university were what I needed for my area of study, and they helped us adapt to Chile in a brad sense as well as giving us the tools to navigate the culture on our own. I have attached a few photos of places that we got to travel and people I am now ever so lucky and grateful to call my friends.

My decision to study abroad is one I will neither regret nor forget as it provided me the opportunity to grow academically and personally. Immersing myself in a new country enriched my global understanding; however, as much as I learned about Chilean people, history and culture, I learned more about myself. As I waited at the Minneapolis airport for my thirteen hour flight to Santiago, a range of emotions swept over me: from excited to frightened, to homesick to exhilarated.Before embarking on my IES Study in Chile, I had never left the United States. I worried about how I could communicate with my host family and others. I had doubts about how I would manage all my classes and assignments in Spanish. I worried my GPA would take a irrecoverable hit or that I would be need to spend so much time studying I would miss the opportunities to explore the country. All these concerns plagued me during my flight, but the moment I saw the IES group at the Santiago airport, I was at ease. The program and its staff provided resources, answers, orientation and ongoing support before, during, and after my trip. Beyond addressing students’ expected nerves commencing a study abroad program, the IES staff also helped me build confidence, acclimate to the country, and encourage me to embrace the uncomfortable by stepping outside my comfort zone. I had ideas and expectations of what I thought my time aboard would be, but once I allowed myself to succumb to the adventure, I was able to learn the lessons I needed to learn. My mom wrote this Joseph Campbell quote on a card and packed in my luggage. Its meaning was unclear until I re-read it on my way home: “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Letting go of preconceived ideas and uncertainties allowed me the experience of a lifetime. IES study abroad will immerse you in self-discovery that challenges you to find and rise above your potential. It will broaden your cultural understanding, develop your role as a global citizen, strengthen your relationships interests and values, prepare you with new problem-solving skills, encourage independence, and leave you wishing you could do it all again.

I studied abroad in Santiago, Chile during the spring semester. Being the only student from my university on this program, I was incredibly nervous going into the experience. However, the decision to study abroad with the Santiago program was the best decision I made. My program included 21 students from various universities across the nation, allowing me to meet people I would not have met otherwise. They were all welcoming and kind and created a wonderful foundation for me throughout the semester. The professors and program director at IES: Santiago were wonderful. They were willing to listen and help solve any problems that came up. I learned a lot during the semester and my Spanish improved greatly. Between the new experiences in a foreign country and travelling, I was kept busy and involved. After returning to the US, I would not trade this study abroad experience for anything.

I had an incredible time in Santiago! The IES Staff from the Director all the way down to the teachers, custodial staff, and families were incredibly welcoming ad always willing to go above and beyond to help me when I needed something. Chile is surprisingly beautiful, there was somewhere new to explore every single day and I still have more on my list that I hope to return and discover! I know that I have an amazing second family in Santiago and I can't wait to visit them! I recommend this program 100%!