IES Abroad Santiago

If you really want to practice your Spanish, come to know a Spanish speaking culture that many don’t hear much about but is so rich in history and fabulous people, then I would recommend this program to you. Santiago de Chile is a fabulous place to be whether you are an outdoorsy kind of person or more of the city life, Santiago has it all. IES does a fabulous job of thinking through everything and are prepared for the good the back and the ugly. Being a part of their program, the onsite administration and teachers make you feel like you are their number one priority. They genuinely care about every person and want to make sure they have the greatest experience abroad. They will help you with anything and everything; if you are struggling with your host home, trying to find a class to take at the local university, maybe you want some travel suggestions (literally one woman on staff helped everyone call hostels/buses/you name it if we needed help). They go above and beyond and love welcoming you into their home. For me, I have danced ballet professionally in the states and wanted to make sure I could find a good company while I was abroad to keep up my dancing. One of the staff introduced me to a company and I actually had the opportunity to perform on a well known stage for a paying audience in CHILE! (That was a dream come true).
Looking at the academics, the courses are wonderful and they offer a nice variety. It was slightly hard to find specific courses for some people at the university, though this may have been due to the strikes at one of their partner universities making it unavailable for us to take classes there. I was able to take a ballroom class filled with 50+ Chileans and 3 “gringas” including myself (to Chileans anyone not from Chile can be considered a gringo/a). This was a great way for me to get to know many friends, I would highly recommend trying to find a dance class even if you don’t go to Chile because there is something about learning basic dance moves that is fun and breaks barriers allowing friendships to flourish. I got the opportunity to also be in an observations program which was honestly one of the main reasons I chose this entire program in the first place. It is just that, observations. This is very helpful for really any pre-health professional because you really get to dive into seeing how other health care systems work and actually see different facilities in another country. I will let you know, this is strictly observations, you are not allowed to take vitals or anything. But most health professional schools want you to have some type of observation hours so it is a win win.
I got the chance to study with fabulous people. I loved that IES was a program that pulled students from all over. I got the chance to go out on a limb, go to a country that I had never been to, with no one I knew, and had the time of my life. We had 19 people in our program and I loved the opportunity of getting to know every single one of them. There were a few from the same schools but otherwise we all were in the same boat and that to me was an experience I was looking for.
One last plug, specifically for the Fall semester in Chile. Though it is our (the US) “Fall” it is their Spring. EVERYTHING happens in Chile at this time, you get a “spring break”, there are Fondas which are basically Chile’s State Fair, and a few other holidays. The weather though cold in the beginning is lovely towards the middle and end. If all of this doesn’t convince you... then consider all of the amazing locations you can travel to while you are in Chile (Easter Island, Patagonia, San Pedro de Atacama to name a few). Or just take a look at the attached photos!

Before traveling to Santiago, Chile I was quite nervous about living in a foreign country for 5 months, but from the moment I stepped into my host family’s apartment, I knew it was going to be a great experience. The classes I took, the places I travelled, and the Chilean culture all made a truly unforgettable experience, but the people I met along the way helped Chile steal my heart. My host family, the IES staff, Chilean students at the university, and especially my fellow IES students helped me to learn, to grow, and most importantly, enjoy every moment of my time abroad.
The staff at IES made it clear from day one that they wanted our experience in Chile to be as fun, productive, and safe as possible. During the first week, they taught us everything we needed to know about Chilean culture, how to navigate the seemingly enormous city, and how to decode the very fast paced Chilean Spanish. The academic coordinator met with each student and helped us select the best classes for us, and the student coordinator had an answer for literally every question or problem we may have had. The staff and professors were always very supportive and helped guide us through every aspect of our journey abroad. I enjoyed all four of the classes I took abroad, my favorite being the Health Studies Clinical Observation program. In this program, we not only studied how the Chilean healthcare system works, but we also got to observe in a different healthcare setting each week!
My host mom could not have been more excited to welcome me, and all my friends, into her home. My host family very kindly included me in all their family activities: birthday parties, cookouts, holiday traditions, etc., and that truly made my experience one of a kind. I got to experience Chilean culture through a fun, loving, and hilarious family that made way too much delicious food. I knew I had formed meaningful relationships with all the members of my host family when they were all very sad to see me leave and my host grandmother begged me to come back to Chile soon. I keep in contact with my host aunts and cousins through Facebook, and my host mom and I still message each other quite frequently.
Santiago, Chile is a wonderful city with endless activities of all types. Within the city there are museums of all types, beautiful parks, cute cafes on every corner, lots of shopping, bars and dance clubs, etc. The Andes mountains lie just outside the city and the parks in the foothills of the Andes provide easy access opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, etc. An hour bus ride west of Santiago gets you to beautiful coastal towns like Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Chile is unique in that it offers literally every type of landscape and I highly recommend trying to see as many as possible. From desert, to beaches, to the frozen icebergs of southern Patagonia, and all the way out to Easter Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Chile has everything you could wish for. Some of my fondest memories abroad are traveling and exploring with other IES students!
If you still have a doubt about studying abroad in Chile after reading these reviews, know that you should go – immerse yourself in the Chilean culture, travel to all the different regions, and meet some truly incredible people. ¡Viva Chile!

I studied abroad in the wonderful Santiago, Chile for a full fall semester. One of the immediate differences you will notice are the seasons- they’re reversed from the northern hemisphere! That being said, my host mom paid extra attention when I first moved in to make sure I was warm enough at night and ate plenty of fruits so that I wouldn’t get sick from the sudden change in climate. And this was just one example of how cared for I felt in Santiago. The IES staff in Santiago also made me feel very cared for and looked after during my time there. From orientation where you learn everything from how to use public transportation to how to use Chilean slang, the IES staff members are there every step of the way to help you acclimate to the new culture and help you meet any unexpected challenges. Academically, I participated in the health studies program where I attended a class called “Spanish for Health Care Professionals” and observed health care professionals in a hospital setting. In class, we spent four months learning how to talk to people about nutrition, pain, and insurance as well as study vocabulary for different items that are found in a health care setting. During my four months, I never traveled outside of Chile, but I did travel to the northern region to see the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert, and get to backpack for 6 days in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine.

This fall, I went to Santiago through the IES Semester in Santiago program and had the absolute pleasure of meeting some of the most wonderful people in the world. Many study abroad programs have similar draws—small classes, hands-on learning, fantastic teachers, cultural integration, etc—and don’t get me wrong, my program definitely had all of those. However, one thing that really set the program apart was the type of student on the program, the staff at the study abroad center in Santiago, and the host families. All the students on my program got along fabulously, which was honestly pretty strange. I went abroad in high school on a different program, and there were clashes within the program, as happens when many very different people spend a lot of time together. However, in Santiago, we literally all got along well—there was no exclusion, no cattiness, nothing. The group was comprised of very smart and interesting students, who were laid-back in attitude and all of whom enjoyed nature, and for whatever reason, this made us incredibly cohesive. I can’t stress enough how bizarrely lovely and inclusive it was.
Our cohesion was probably due in part to the incredible staff at IES, who were intentional about teambuilding and introductions from the start. The five women who work at the center were some of the most loving, kind, compassionate, funny and warm people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet. Not only were they good at the administrative aspects of their jobs, they cared for me and the other students like their own children. I had bronchitis for about a month (immunodeficiency, whaddup), and they worked tirelessly with me to coordinate makeup work and tests while also firmly and lovingly demanding I go take a nap and give myself a break. They are amazing. Again, I can’t stress this enough.
One of the women who works at the center is responsible for housing placements, and she does an incredible job. Each homestay is hand-picked by her, and she is careful and thorough with her reasoning. You get to fill out a form in which you indicate what your desired outcome in a homestay is—whether that’s to be integrated into the family, to spend a bit of time with them, or to have it more as a place to sleep and eat rather than a family setting—and she matches you with people who have similar desires. This eliminates a lot of awkwardness around being unsure on expectations. I wanted to be part of the family, and I ended up in a house where I would spend hours talking to my host mom about life philosophy and experience. She is my second mom (even now she texts me asking if I’m sleeping enough. That’s mom love for ya).
On my program, I navigated a big city after living in rural college towns my whole life. I formed loving and warm bonds with people I never would’ve met otherwise. I explored and grew and learned and laughed and cried and ate too many empanadas, and IES Santiago gave me the space for that. Go. You won’t regret it.

When I first decided to study abroad, little did I know how much this experience would change my life. All I knew is that it would push me far my comfort zone and that it would enhance my life for the better. As I embarked on this journey, I was beyond ecstatic to fully immerse myself into new cultures, perspectives and a thrill for an adventure into the unknown. My program specifically was the right one for me because it included travels to 3 different countries in South America (Brazil, Peru, & Chile) and the courses related to my degree of Business Administration. I also liked the fact that I would be living in South America, the roots of where my family is from. I entered this journey with no expectations just a curiosity. I wanted to learn about these emerging economies and how I can a run business internationally. Thankfully this was all possible and a great achievement for my future. My highlight to this journey was the moment when we got to the top of Machu Picchu. I felt spiritually connected and a weight was lifted. The IES Abroad centers in Rio and Santiago are strategically located in a nice and safe area. From the moment I got there, they were with me every step of the way, I felt I could easily talk to someone from each center. They were very helpful and made our journey one to remember. Being the pioneers for this program made it even more exciting. Our group particularly connected very well and we became a close family. At the end of this experience, I gained a global perspective in business, a deeper understanding of myself, created remarkable memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

Study abroad is a personal experience that impacts everyone in different ways. The staff at IES abroad Santiago understand this and supports each student with social, academic, traveling, cultural-immersion, and host-family issues every step of the way. And Chile is a wonderful country with inviting people, breathe taking nature, and so much love to make any one feel at home.

When my parents dropped me off at the airport and I waived goodbye as I walked through security, I realized it was real and I was leaving to another country half way across the world on my own. I took a deep breath and plunged into the experience of a lifetime, one that would change me for the better and impact me for the rest of my life. I planted roots in South America and they run deep. Chile taught me to be patient with others and with myself, to communicate about everything always because you can never be too informed, to try new things and to get back up when you don't do as planned, to ask for help and in return, help others, to get lost and find your way home, to struggle and overcome obstacles, to learn, to love, and to grow. A part of Chile will forever be in my heart and I hope one day, it can be in yours too.

I spent two semesters in Santiago, Chile. I honestly had a rough start with culture shock, but I changed host families and built a relationship with my host mom -a relationship I hope will last the rest of my life. I made friends within IES Abroad and with Chileans; I already miss them all!
Chile is the ideal place to study abroad, because it has the best of everything. I got to live in all the conveniences of a modern city, but could travel to the Andes mountains, the Pacific beaches, the driest desert in the world, islands, volcanoes, and of course, Patagonia.
I honestly believe that Chile is way underrated as a tourist destination. There is so much to see, do, and discover there.

This program helped me achieve my overall goal of being able to communicate in Spanish on a higher level. The homestay experience really helped me better my speaking and listening abilities. They say that if you can understand Chilean Spanish, you can understand any Spanish. The administrators are extremely friendly and helpful in every way possible. You can go to them for anything you need - they are there if you need a hug while you are experiencing culture shock or homesickness and can help you if you are struggling in any of your classes. Also, one of the Spanish teachers has been awarded as the best IES professor out of all of the IES programs in the world! So academics are great.