The location of Santiago is unlike anything I've ever seen. It's a cosmopolitan city between mountains with so much to see and do- whether you want to hike or go to a museum, eat Peruvian, Thai, or traditional Chilean food, spend a day in the park or

be a real Santiaguino and venture to the markets- everything is accessible through public transportation. Just an hour and a half from the Pacific coast where you can relax on the beach or explore the grungy and colorful Valparaíso, it feels as though whatever you could want is within reach. I loved Santiago as a city and Chile as a country. As long as the U.S. is wide, the varying landscapes were unlike anything I had ever seen. From glaciers to deserts, Chile has it all. The IES program that I participated in gave me the opportunity to not just experience this beautiful place, but make the most out of my time there in each and every sphere of my life. I had the time and encouragement to travel and get to know not just the city, but the region. It was so fun traveling to different countries and learning their dialects of Spanish as I learned the language. I was challenged in my academic courses, from understanding the political and social role of the arts in Latin America to the radical traditions that define the nation today. I went into my study abroad experience knowing next to nothing about Chile and Latin America, and leaving with a true connection to the region that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Besides the hard skills that I developed through my critical courses and hands-on internship experience, I also developed a higher social awareness, deepened my sense of empathy, and left with a level of confidence I didn't know I could have. This program is great for people who are adventurous and curious, who want to learn and be challenged, and have a less traditional study abroad experience. I chose this program because I didn't want to go to Europe and I wanted to learn Spanish. I know a lot of people go to Europe because it's easy to travel around, but I was lucky to travel around a lot- around Chile, in Peru, and to Argentina twice- for comparable if not less expense. The things I saw were unlike any Roman cathedral or Grecian cave, but they put me in awe at the world we live in. Hiking through Valley de la Luna in the driest desert in the world made me feel like I was hiking through an episode of Planet Earth and the cities of Buenos Aires and Lima are equally as astonishing as Santiago.