Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Amazing Summer- Definitely recommend! Past Review

By (University of South Carolina - Columbia) - abroad from 05/15/2019 to 07/12/2019 with

IES Abroad: Santiago - Summer Internship

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I really learned what kind of work environment I want to be in after I graduate and how much I value social interaction at work. I also learned how to navigate living in a household with little to no English, which improved my Spanish immensely. I also learned how to travel on a budget which was very important. Overall I thought the trip was worthwhile.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 2 weeks - 1 month

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?

* Food:

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

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

This program overall was affordable, and I think they did a good job planning cultural activities for us such as field trips and classes. Sometimes the seminar class could get a little dry, but I think improvements to that will come with time. The optional Spanish class was very useful, though, and I would definitely recommend taking it.

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)

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

  • Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • The amount of things there are to do and see in Santiago and around Chile
  • The Spanish class
  • The field trips that we took through IES
* What could be improved?
  • Efficiency for Internship placements
  • More interesting internship seminar
  • More free time/long weekends to travel
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I really should have taken out less cash and just depended on my credit card. I took out too much cash which left me on a very small budget which made things like plane trips a little bit difficult. A lot of cash was also spent to load my bus/metro card because most of those stations wouldn't take card.