SIT Study Abroad: Chile: Cultural Identity, Social Justice

This program was very well-run. The faculty at the program site were amazing, kind, and caring. Almost all of the home stays were great fits for the students, and when anyone had a problem they could easily be moved. The best part of the program is the internship/independent study period. My internship was fantastic and important for making most of my Chilean friends.

I loved my time in Chile! The people I met definitely made the semester! The SIT staff was very friendly and supportive, and they did a great job assigning host families. I loved my host families both in Valparaiso and on the excursions. I felt very comfortable and got to know them very well despite the partial linguistic barrier. I also found many Chileans around my age to be really friendly, and I was able to make a few great friends who I still talk with every week. The group dynamics within the program weren't great, in part, because our homestays were so spread out that it encouraged cliques to form. The staff maybe could have done more to improve group dynamics especially during our first few days in Chile where we were all staying at a hotel together for orientation. I have mixed feelings about the program's academics. I appreciate that we weren't assigned much work, so we got to use our time outside of school to explore and spend time with our host families. I thought my Spanish class was interesting, and it helped me to learn Chilenismos and improve my grammar. The classes about cultural identity, social justice, and economics were disappointing though. They were taught by different guest lecturers every class, so there was no continuity or clear learning targets. Some of the classes/lecturers were great, but most were boring and didn't teach me much. The research methodologies class was a bit dry but did a good job of preparing us for our ISPs. I was not excited about doing an ISP as I don't like research, but ended up finding a topic I was excited about and got a lot out of it! The SIT staff did a great job supporting me through the ISP period, even as I traveled outside of Valparaiso for it. I loved Valpariso/Viña and Chile in general. The pace of life in Valpo/Viña (and its public transport) is a lot slower than where I'm from (MA), but once I got used to that I loved exploring the city (going to dance classes, bars, markets, ect.) I also went to visit friends in Santiago on the weekends and have touristy days with them. I also loved our excursion to the south. I loved getting to spend time outside in a rural area and go to family parties with my host family. Our trip to the north was kind of a wash since so many people got sick (largely due to the altitude). I would have loved to travel around Chile and the Southern Cone more, but we didn't have any breaks and weren't allowed to travel without the program. I didn't think the program's schedule, nor its policy that students can't travel on their own was made clear on the website which frustrated me.

I had a great time in Valparaiso! I was paired with the perfect host family, and we complemented each other well! I created a great relationship with my host mom and had the funniest host brothers. It was easy to find things to do on the weekends because they had an endless list of suggestions, and she was a pro since she had been hosting students for years. Valparaiso is such a beautiful city, and I say it is a realistic city to live in. Like all cities, certain areas are dangerous, but just be smart, and you'll be fine. The workload was never too overwhelming other than when I left things for the last minute, and there were many in-class field visits. The excursions were amazing, and you learn so much. I met the most amazing people in my program and was able to explore different parts of the city. I even got to go to Santiago. Through my internship I was able to experience such an amazing work culutre and learn of different social issues Chile has. The experience is what you make it!