Middlebury program in Santiago November 07, 2023

By (Economics, Middlebury College) - abroad from 02/27/2023 to 07/15/2023 with

Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Santiago

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Getting to know a family in a different country is a great experience that was enough to make the program worth it. Being open to meeting total strangers is also a valuable skill/lesson.

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Host families can be hit or miss, but mine was great

* Food:

Living with a host family can be more difficult if you have dietary restrictions/preferences. My family loved to cook and I am not a picky eater, but others had different experiences.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

n/a

* Safety:

The city is safe but petty theft is common (5/22 program members had their phone stolen)

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Lots of independence and opportunity to explore Santiago and the rest of Chile. Having a good host family was huge, though, and that is not a guarantee - if you are open to new and potentially difficult experiences living in someone else’s home, you will be fine.

Finances

* 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)

Santiago is an expensive city, but there you do not need to spend much if you are eating most meals with your host-family.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Host-family
  • Food
  • Independence
* What could be improved?
  • too much homeowork
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Bring an old phone if possible

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Compared economic experiences

Course Department: Economics
Instructor: José Díaz
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Fast-paced but the course load is manageable and the grading is fair
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Anthropology and Foregin Affairs

Course Department: Anthropology
Instructor: Juan Eduardo Eguiguren Guzmán
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: The professor had an interesting background but the class was pretty boring and uninformative - easy class though and we got to visit a UN building in the city
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Innovation and Climate Change

Course Department: Economics / Environmental studies
Instructor: Carlos Marinetti
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Fast-paced course with in-class quizzes and tests, but they are not that hard and the content is very relevant and interesting
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Intro to Public Policy

Course Department: Political Science
Instructor: Loreto Cox and Martín Ordóñez
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: The lectures were OK and the topics were interesting, but the tests were unnecessarily specific - testing memorization instead of content understanding.
Credit Transfer Issues: