My name is Ainsley Cook and I am in my Junior year at CofC. I am a double major in Hospitality and Tourism Management and International Studies, with a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean. This semester I am studying abroad through the CofC program in Santiago de Chile. We will spend the whole semester living with host families and taking classes at la Universidad de Santiago de Chile. We will also be traveling as a group to Peru and visiting Macchu Picchu. I am very excited to start this new adventure!

I chose this program because I have a passion for the Spanish language, and I want to learn more about Latin American culture. Ever since I started learning Spanish in seventh grade, I’ve been fascinated by the language. I have had teachers from all over Latin America, and they would teach us about these countries as well. I always wanted to know more. I felt like we didn’t spend much time on Latin America in our social studies and history classes, so when I came to college, I sought out a program where I could learn more. One of the most important things I have learned about Chile so far is their complicated relationship with the United States. I believe we as a society should be more aware of our involvement in other countries and take more responsibility for the roles we have played in these countries. I hope to learn more about Chile’s political history while I am here and better understand how that influences Chilean and American lives.

The world is a big place, but we are all humans. I want to get to know more about what that means from other points of view. My goals for this trip are to hone my Spanish language skills and to learn something that changes the way I see the world. I have heard that Chilean Spanish is very fast and one of the hardest to understand, so if I can survive here, I think I can make it anywhere!