SIT Chile: Public Health, Traditional Medicine, and Community Empowerment

The most impactful part of my time was living with the host families. I grew extremely close with my host family, and hope to remain in contact with them for many years now. They made me feel right at home and supported during my best and most challenging times. Arica is a perfect town to study abroad for the warm and loving culture, the beautiful coast, diverse community, and it was the perfect size to become familiar with everything and everyone. While the social elements were definitely the dominant part of my experience, which was a learning experience in itself, especially with developing Spanish skills, the actual classes and assignments were extremely fulfilling. While difficult because of the Spanish integration, the program avoids any kind of busy work and always leans into experiential learning. You learn from local communities who oftentimes do not receive the attention or support that is deserved. This program will change how you define healthcare. If you want to go into healthcare, this program is essential.

I had a unique experience abroad in Chile as it was my first time ever leaving the United States. Being in such a new environment with people I didn't know was definitely scary, but ended up being an amazing experience. I had to learn how to be adaptable in a new home, with new friends, and in a completely different country. With these challenges, I also felt supported and comfortable due to the SIT staff and the new friends I made. Learning to rely on a different language was difficult, but learning from mistakes and using any opportunity to communicate in Spanish was extremely helpful. At times the academic aspect of the program felt a little unorganized, but seeing things firsthand made up for any missing pieces during lecture.

My experience was unique because there were political protests for over a month during my time in Chile. However, I found most staff members to be supportive of our wellbeing and receptive to any issues that came up. The trips to Temuco and Putre were very fun, as we were able to visit local health facilities, learn about traditional medicine practices, and have fun outings to hot springs and natural areas nearby. The homestay was a great experience as well, and I feel like I improved my Spanish the most by talking to my host parents at meal times and around the house. The academics were interesting, but not quite as hard as a traditional college semester in my experience. I had a good experience with my final project at the end of the semester as well, with a great advisor.

The most valuable aspect of my three months in Chile was the plethora of opportunities, both spontaneous and built into the program, to engage with the community surrounding us and learn eperientially. Through this program, I was able to attend innumerable community events and get to know the heart of the city and its people as part of our curriculum. I found this focus on experiential learning to be incredibly informative and it rounded out what we were learning in the classroom. This community focused learning model was capped off by an internship with a major global nonprofit that allowed for experiential learning every day for a month.

I certainly enjoyed my time in Chile and am grateful that I had to opportunity to go, but the program left a lot to be desired. My main complaint is that that the academics were very poor. The academic director changed a year ago so any reviews from before then don't accurately represent the current program. While the academics weren't hard, we were usually stuck in class until dark so we didn't have any time for anything else. Most days we passively listened to lectures all day with no opportunity to discuss, analyze, or synthesize what we were being told. Especially because everything was in Spanish, it would have been very helpful for comprehension to discuss the material. We voiced this to our academic director several times but nothing changed. I honestly don't think he has any idea what a discussion-based class looks like, let alone how to lead one. The "intensive medical Spanish" course usually consisted of playing games or walking around town, which was fun but didn't teach me any Spanish, especially medical Spanish. I honestly had more rigorous Spanish classes in high school. Finally, it was also hard to become part of the community, get any exercise, or explore the city because we were in class from about 9:00-1:00 and 3:00-7:00 every day and the schedules were always changing last minute. I had to go out of my way to make friends with some Chileans, and this proved to be the most rewarding/fun part of my whole experience. Again, I really did enjoy my time in Chile, but feel like SIT did not deliver the program that it promised and would encourage you to sign up for a different SIT trip.

I enjoyed the variety of experiences I had doing this program. We took several trips so we got to see a good portion of the country. The host families were all nice and wanted to help their students and have them be involved with family activities. It was difficult to adjust to all of the sudden changes at first, but the staff were all helpful at in country orientation. The academics weren't very rigorous, most likely because you are encouraged to do a lot of investigating on your own time and experiencing the culture beyond books. I would have liked a more detailed methods course that gave more practical examples, but the traditional medicine and public health courses were interesting, with a fair number of guest speakers. I loved the ISP (independent study project) period, as it allowed for the most freedom and you can investigate a specific topic that really interests you.

I had an amazing time studying abroad with this SIT program and it in many ways surpassed my expectations! The format of the the SIT programs provides for a unique learning experience in which the classes are integrated in your everyday life there with the homestays and with the excursions. It was nice that the difficulty of the courses was lower than was I was used to at school but they were also very engaging as what we learned in lecture was enhanced through the weekly visits to health clinics and with conversations with our host families and other locals.

The excursions are also a great component of the program. Not only did they help give us a comprehensive view of the public health system in Chile through studies of the main indigenous populations, but they also allowed us to explore different regions of the country. Along with a few other short trips that I managed to fit in on my own time, by the end I felt like I really had seen Chile.

The ISP was probably my favorite part of the trip! Although I was a bit worried about the whole process, it was an amazing learning experience and confirmed my passion to pursue a career in public health. For the ISP period, I lived in Valparaíso with another friend from the trip. It was a great opportunity to live independently and really immerse ourselves in the culture and explore a unique city. At the same time, I was able to gain hands-on experience with ethnographic research through my ISP project. I plan to continue my research during my senior year.

Overall, these few months were unforgettable! I loved the interactiveness of the public health and traditional medicine curriculum and the opportunity to conduct independent research. Above all, it was great exploring the beautiful country among such a friendly and lively population.

My semester abroad was an incredible experience. What I loved about SIT was the format of the program. It's split into three parts. The first month, you spend with your host family in Arica taking classes and adapting to being abroad (Spanish, new place, Chile in general). The second month, you travel with the group to two different indigenous villages and Santiago. This is the time when the group really gets the closest and you get to experience and see more of the country. The third month, my favorite, is the ISP period. You get to choose wherever you want to be in Chile, and whatever you want to do, with regards to Public Health, and have a month to carry out a research project. As a whole, the format allows you to get different aspects of an abroad experience, and change to a new aspect of life when you start to feel a bit antsy.

The Arica team is so supportive and feels like family. Arica is a small beach town that is the perfect place to begin the Chilean experience because people are extremely friendly and you have the beach right there!

SIT also attracts a really great group of people interested in having an all around study abroad experience. People all have really cool passions and want to experience all parts of Chile.