Chile

Santiago, Chile-
My first solo trip! (Well, I was with a study abroad group, so I guess not). The summer after my freshman year of college, summer of 2014 I decided to go to Chile. I debating doing a full semester abroad and going somewhere in Europe, but to be completely honest I didn’t know if I wanted to give up a whole semester of my already short 4 years of college. Looking back on it now, may have thought more about a full semester, but anyways! I found out about study abroad programs during the summers. Only 1-2 months rather then the 4-5 months if you were to go an entire semester. This was perfect for me as one of my first travel experiences. I was a psychology major so I started to narrow down programs that had psychology classes. I was emailed about an opportunity to go to Santiago, Chile with a professor from a small college in Colorado who taught psychology and was recruiting some of his previous students to join.

I jumped on the opportunity and joined the professor and 10 of his students from Colorado, as well as about 10 other students from various universities! I met up with most of the other students at a layover on our way to Santiago. Once we arrived we got to meet our host families. Living with a host family was an amazing opportunity! I strongly suggest everyone trying to do this if they truly want to learn the culture, I went grocery shopping, did household chores, and everything else a “normal” South American family would do. My host family was so welcoming and even though they did not speak one word of English and I spoke barley any Spanish, we became so close.

To be continued.. (sorry again)