My name is Annie Perkins and I’m a double major in Spanish and Communication with a minor in Business Administration. I’m a Junior at Cofc and the study abroad program I chose was the College of Charleston Chile study abroad program with the Spanish department. I chose this program firstly because it included classes that I need to take for my major, but also because I wanted to visit South America because I had never been before. It’s convenient to go on a study abroad trip with the Cofc than affiliate because all the people on my trip go to Cofc too so itll be easy to stay in touch after we get back. A lot of people usually learn Spanish in Spain, but I wanted to take a less traditional route to learn the language. Some of my goals for myself during these next 3 months are to do the best that I can in my classes, to improve my Spanish, and to travel as much as possible. I want to work on not procrastinating that way I can travel on the weekends to explore South America since it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to study in another country. To prepare for this trip I talked to my best friend who studied abroad in Argentina last semester, so she has told me a lot about South America. I also talked to a girl in my sorority who went on this same program the semester before to see what advice she had as well as people at the Center for International Education who had traveled to Chile. I feel prepared but also super nervous to go since we are living with host families and I’m not fluent in Spanish. I also am nervous to leave my family for 3 months, but they’re very excited me and I’m grateful for this opportunity.