Shitty food, Awesome hiking Past Review
By Elias Guerra (Middlebury College) - abroad from 07/20/2016 to 12/20/2016 with
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Valdivia
My internships were also really interesting/intense/mind-numbing-but-still-useful. I did one with CONAF and one with Conservacion Marina.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The classes were okay. I found that the professors there were not nearly as committed as professors here at Middlebury. Not crazy about the classes at the UACh. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Really good! Great help! Everything went really smooth |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Food sucked balls. Everything else was kind of lame. |
| * Food: |
Chilean gastronomy is shit |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
My host friend/mentor Ricardo was totally awesome. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
no problems |
| * Safety: |
no problems |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I would make sure I got another housing situation and I would want to make my own food. The hiking was unbelievably awesome. I hiked with with this kid from Belgium who was really into the local biology. Really easy to get around there and so beautiful. |
Finances
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* 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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 30 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Travel cheaply when possible. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Fluent |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Hispanic literature |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 10+ |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Just talk with people. Do NOT watch tv in English. Watch TV is Spanish. Narcos on Netflix is really good. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| 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? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | My step-mom is Chilean. I now know that she is a good cook, it's just the cuisine she cooks that is awful. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Chemical Oceanography (oceanografia quimica) |
| Course Department: | Marine biology |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | |
| Comments: | This class was a lot but one of the most interesting. He expects you to learn a lot of technical stuff but also a lot of big picture understanding as well. Great professor. Made studying for the class simple (but still challenging). |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Marine ecology (Ecologia marina) |
| Course Department: | Marine biology |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | |
| Comments: | This was the most interesting class! The labs were very fun. The professor was kind of intense and the material was really interesting. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Genetics in Fishing (Genetica en pesquerias) |
| Course Department: | Marine Biology |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | |
| Comments: | Pretty easy class. Pretty dry. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Ecophysiology & Photobiology of Seaweed (Ecofisiologia y fotobiologia de algas marinas) |
| Course Department: | Marine Biology |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | |
| Comments: | Super dry. Not really interesting. The lab was really cool though. Got to do experiments with seaweed. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
