Middlebury - C.V. Starr Schools Abroad

I studied in Santiago with Middlebury in Chile, where I was fully immersed in urban Chilean culture while fostering lasting relationships within my program and having the freedom to explore interests, academic and professional alike. The curriculum was the best kind of challenging that pushed me to develop my personal agency, and my Spanish skills absolutely skyrocketed over the course of the semester. I absolutely loved the city of Santiago and its culture; the friendships I made with my cultural mentor, my host family, and the other Midd students were so special. Chile is truly such a welcoming and beautiful country, and I will be forever grateful for the way I was able to fully appreciate it and allow it to shape me and my worldview through immersion.

In my junior year, I had the opportunity to spend my fall semester studying in Tokyo with Middlebury College. Since I tested into the J5 level Japanese language class, I had the opportunity to take two classes with local students taught entirely in Japanese, challenging myself to not only comprehend lectures at a high language level but also communicate with my peers at a college level. Even though the campus was an hour away from Tokyo's center, the convenient public transportation made it very easy to go out into the city with friends. We even made outside of the prefecture to Saitama, Osaka, Tottori and more on breaks and weekends, exploring Japan while we could. I found that, through this program, we had a lot of space to immerse ourselves in Japan's vibrant and diverse culture and become a part of the city ourselves. Additionally, the program put an emphasis on sustainable development, which taught me how to be more environmentally aware and live sustainably. This instilled positive habits into my lifestyle, which I find myself still enforcing today even though I have returned to my home country. Overall, Middlebury's program gave me an amazing space to advance my Japanese language skills while exploring Tokyo as a city.

Kaohsiung is an artsy, digestible city, one that is filled with history and was a joy to explore every day. The teachers, director, Taiwanese peers and roommates, and other study abroad students laid the framework for the program, while Taiwan's vibrant culture and natural environment filled in the rest of my experience. Under the language pledge, I was able to make progress in my conversational and formal Mandarin skills. I took classes that challenged me intellectually, but were still a lot of fun, learning the most in my one-on-one tutorial, where I got to delve deep into a topic of my choice. I chose modern Chinese and Taiwanese literature as part of my preliminary research for my senior thesis, and learned more in one semester than I could ever have on my own. Aside from academics, I also spent plenty of time exploring Kaohsiung, the rest of Taiwan, and was even able to utilize some weekends and breaks in traveling internationally within Asia. Despite living in the city, we also spent a substantial amount of time interacting with nature. Our school campus was surrounded by both mountain and beach, and Taiwan as a whole has no shortage of natural scenery to take in. Sprawling rice fields, Formosan monkey colonies gathered on trees, fog descending on the mountain in the early morning: these images of Taiwan have been truly unforgettable. The highlight of my time in Taiwan was of course the food. I ate a variety of Taiwanese dishes (even stinky tofu!), had a wide variety of desserts (108 cups of bubble tea...), and laughed with friends over meals every day. If I had the chance to study in Taiwan again, I would take it in a heartbeat. Studying abroad with Middlebury C.V. Starr Schools Abroad in Kaohsiung was one of the best decisions I have made in my life!