A beautiful yet very challenging experience. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I had one amazing class, reviewed below. Otherwise, my classes were very poor academic quality and two of them went on strike for the majority of the semester. I had very little academic support and felt very much alone with the huge burden of finishing course work on my own in order to receive credit; one of my professors would never answer my emails so I consistently felt alone and sort of helpless.

On-site administration of your program

Wonderful admin- Juan, Lindsay, and Paulina are kind, responsive, and supportive people.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had a very negative experience with my first host family, it was a very bad match. However, the onsite staff helped me move to another location and supported me. Unfortunately, the second host family was also a negative experience. Having previously lived in Costa Rica with a wonderful host family, I must say that I was highly disappointed by this aspect of my study abroad experience in Chile. However, I will say that other students in my program had wonderful host families- this stuff really does come down to luck sometimes and does not reflect on my actual program.

Food was a key issue- I am a vegetarian and was placed in a family of meat eaters who did not understand that I do not eat meat and it became a huge point of tension as I tried to respectfully bring in my own food to eat sometimes, since I could not eat what was provided. Eventually I had to move.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt pretty integrated- I found an acroyoga community filled with kind, inclusive, and friendly people and made great friends through that. It was difficult to make friends through school because I had classes on 3 different far apart campuses and also 2 of my classes went on strike for the majority of the semester.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I got a very bad asthma exacerbation at the very end of the semester. I was able to go to clinics in Chile to get treatment- my program assisted me by offering to accompany me to appointments and urgent care. In that sense, health care was good. However, the quality of treatment I received was not great. I felt my health issues were not taken seriously. In the end, I had to return to the USA 2 weeks early and miss my end traveling in order to receive care. Again, this is not indicative of lack of quality of my program, just of the health care I received.

I felt very safe. I lived in Viña del Mar and always felt safe walking alone, even at night. In Valparaíso I would just be careful not to have your phone out in the street or to look at maps- it isn't quite as safe there, especially at night.

I was not sure which to pick, yes or no. If I were to do it all over again, I would maybe choose my same program in a different country. My host family experiences and academic experiences were very poor overall. However, my program really encouraged language improvement and I feel that that made it all worth it in the end.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Vi'a del mar is expensive. My rating includes room and board. I spent 600 per month on room and board. Which was supposed to include all food but I supplemented a lot of my own fruits and veggies so it was a bit more expensive.

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

This part of the program was incredible. The program really encouraged me and the others to only speak in Spanish; in fact, this is a part of the program's language pledge. I was pleased by this part of my experience. I improved a ton.

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• Local Students

• Language pledge
• Faculty

• Academics
• Host family matching

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer