Tips for study abroad students!

I have been dreading the thought of writing my final, “Goodbye Chile” blog because when I write that, it will feel like this experience has actually come to an end. So to stall myself from writing my farewells, I have some advice for future exchange students.

First of all- you’re brave and will have the time of your life!

Second of all- I don’t want to end up writing huge paragraphs about what you should be ready for or do if situation A happened but if situation B happens do something else… and don’t get me started on situation C.

So:

1. Before you come, take some Spanish lessons or buy some Spanish workbooks to know the basics (or hopefully even more) before you come.

2. Do not have expectations, I repeat, do NOT have expectations.Ok, I realize this is a tad impossible for a human not to have any expectations but I guess I am trying to advise you to stay away from thinking too much about how you want your experience to go or how you think it will go because then you are just going to end up disappointed. Yes, there is a stereotype of a “typical exchange student” that makes tons of friends on the first day of school, that becomes fluent in just three months, that has the perfect family, never gets homesick, is the star of their futbol team (that wouldn’t happen because we are talking South America here) and a lot more perfectness. But this experience isnt about perfection, it’s about “humanness”. So try your hardest in school, practice your Spanish, make some friends, have a good relationship with your fam, and have fun!

3. Packing! For Chile, I advise you bring lots of layers as in the winter and at night it does get pretty chilly (haha, chilly Chile) here especially since houses do not have central heating. (Here families buy these amazing “stufas” that are my best friends right now in the winter months. My school also has them built into the wall in every classroom.) But on the other hand, in the summer, it is very hot and humid! Try to avoid super short shorts or revealing pieces of clothing… aim for comfort walking around the city,appropriate clothes, and looking cute shouldn’t be a top priority!

4. I highly, highly, HIGHLY encourage you to keep a blog. Whether it be a tumblr blog (not the app… use a computer so you can write a lot!) , Word Press, Weebly, Blog.com, any thing to document your stories!

5. Homesickness is a given. No matter how strong of a person you think you are, you are going to end up missing your mommy and daddy at some points. CIEE has people you can always talk (they give you email addresses and phone numbers to talk to people that will help counsel you). Also, you will have a local coordinator that lives in the same town as you. That person is like your life line… they help you whenever with homesickness, family problems, school trouble; they get you the correct documents to get in and out of the country, they are super friendly, and I think you should have a good relationship with them. (If you don’t, they won’t get you your VISA stamped then you won’t be able to leave the country. Haha, kidding.)

6. Culture shock is also a given. For me, a huge shock was not being able to drink the tap water for my first few weeks here. (There is a possibility you could get sick from the water. But after a couple of weeks of being in Chile, you can drink it and you will be totally fine. I would not worry about the water at all, it is just a precaution that most travelers take.) I can also guarantee that your house or apartment here will be smaller than your house back home. You will spend a lot time with your Chilean family… in one of my families, when it was cold, we would all eat dinner in the parents bed! It’s things like that that are so different from the United States that might surprise you.

7. Smile a lot! Smiling is friendly and being friendly makes friends. Like they say, “a smile is the same in every language.”

8. Don’t spend a lot of time in your room.

9. Say “Gracias” and “De nada”.

10. Vocab, vocab, vocab

11. Try every food that comes your way. (You can skip the cow intestine, though.)

12. Do not worry. Nothing good comes from worrying.

13. I can not stress enough how important is it to talk. Don’t be shy, don’t be afraid your Spanish isn’t good enough, just TALK.

My email address is: olivia.raymond97@gmail.com 

You can contact me to ask questions or just talk about experiences. I would love to help out any future exchange students!