This is a guest post written by Reilly Kilpatrick ’20 for her study abroad blog thechilebean.wordpress.com!
Settling In
Hello everyone! Apologies for the delayed update, I am simply having too much fun in Santiago! Since I last wrote, I have spent more time with my family, enjoyed lots of delicious food, started classes, and seen more of this incredible country.
As far as classes go, I am having a great time! I’m taking three classes taught in Spanish and two taught in English. The topics range from history, language, and culture, to politics. All of my teachers are incredible and very patient with communicating across the language barrier. However, (knock on wood) so far, I’ve fully understood the content of the Spanish lectures.
It’s a great feeling when you can nod along to a lecture about mining communities in the 19th century all in Spanish! I can already tell that my courses are going to benefit my Spanish just as much as my time at home. My “Contemporary Chile” teacher is 65, and he speaks English with a British accent because he was exiled to London for 10 years because of his opposition to the Pinochet dictatorship. His life is more exciting than you could even imagine. All I want to do is sit on a porch in a rocking chair with him and listen to him tell stories all day. In one of my Spanish classes, the goal is to familiarize us with Chile and Santiago while developing a better grasp on the language.
We already have a field trip planned to Vega, which is a huge market open in the mornings where we will see vendors from many different cultures including Peru, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. We’ll have the opportunity to purchase foods and bargain prices, and then later in the semester, we will cook a traditional Chilean dish. Learning here isn’t a chore; it’s an exciting adve
nture. I’m writing essays in Spanish and analyzing Chilean literature and learning about the resources and governments in Latin America as a whole. And while this has been a blast so far, I’m also knocking out a good chunk of my International Studies major. It’s terrific! For now I am just pretending that I’m not a Biology major as well! I’ll just pick that back up once I’ve returned to Charleston!
For more of this article and more on Reilly’s travels, visit her blog here!
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