<p>I am looking into spending my fall 2014 semester in Santiago, Chile. It seems like it would be an amazing experience, but I just want to hear some input from anyone who studied abroad in Chile or a similar country, or who knows anyone who did.
I am a pre-med Spanish major. I have a specific program in mind, but I can't remember exactly what it's called at the moment (I want to say IES?). I would take a Spanish language class, a Spanish for medical professionals class, and then some service learning and internship classes related to public health and medicine. I would also like to do some volunteering in a clinic or hospital.
Here are my questions:
Where did you stay? Did you do a home stay? Did you feel safe most of the time?
Is the Spanish very different from what we learn in Spanish class in the US? Is the accent hard to understand? And did you feel like your Spanish improved a lot from living in a Spanish country?
Do they eat a lot of spicy food? Is it possible to not starve if I don't like spicy food?
How expensive was cost of living, like eating out and occasional shopping trips and stuff?
What is the medical care like? I ask this both as a pre-med student and a prospective (hopefully not) patient, if anything should go wrong while I am there.
It is easy to travel to other South American countries from Chile? (Also could I go to Antarctica? haha I'm serious though).
What is the weather like?
What are the people like? How do they feel about Americans, in general? What is the political and economic situation in Chile right now? I am pretty sure it's a relatively stable country, correct?</p>
<p>Thanks :D</p>