Internships in Chile - Adelante Abroad

I did a 4-month program with Adelante at a small software development company in Viña del Mar. Learning new coding languages while still getting used to Chilean Spanish was really hard at first, but everyone in the office was super patient with me. Of course there were some awkward moments where I couldn’t understand what they were asking me or telling me to type, but we all laughed through them together. I now feel confident that I can work in software in any Spanish-speaking country.

The Adelante program coordinator in Viña del Mar, Pamela, is incredibly nice and supportive. About halfway through my internship I felt really stressed with my progress at work, and when I told Pamela she was immediately ready to talk it through with me and adjust my role. That ended up not being necessary since I talked my fears through with a coworker, but nonetheless I felt like Pamela was really in my corner.

Viña del Mar itself felt almost like a perfect city to me. Super walkable, filled with shops and restaurants, right on the ocean, and an overall relaxed way of life. Viña and Valparaiso were great locations for learning about Chilean culture, especially compared to fast-paced Santiago. Everyone I met in Viña was kind and welcoming, from the enthusiastic teachers in my dance classes to the ice cream shop employee who memorized my order. If you’re looking to have an awesome experience abroad, I can’t recommend this program enough.

The internship abroad working for a non-profit organization in Valparaiso, Chile was an incredible experience. The Director, Pamela, was responsive and helpful if you have any questions regarding any concerns while you are abroad, changes to your homestay, and travel suggestions. However, I did not like taking the Spanish courses in Chile, coming in as a graduate Spanish major, because I thought it was not worth my time, for example, learning the greetings and grammar. The professors were great, but I would have changed this if I had the chance to start over and started early with the internship. On the other hand, I liked the part about learning Chilean Spanish, the names of their food, and their culture. I thought it was helpful compared to grammar in Spanish. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Chile. I loved my time there!

This trip was easily one of the most beautiful and impactful experiences I have ever had in my life. The supervisor of my social work internship was extremely gentle, and she was very excited to teach me everything about the area on the rights pertaining to old people.
My internship was hard at times precisely because I had to deal with cases of mistreatment, but even that was educative because I learned about the joys, struggles, and history of the people of a different country. Few things in life can compete with that experience, so if you have the opportunity to travel abroad, take it because you will not regret it.

Interning abroad with Adelante was the experience of a lifetime. I interned as a mechanical engineering student at a creative coworking lab called Makerspace where I got to collaborate on innovative projects using 3D printers, laser cutters, and other cool tools with my coworkers in the lab. I also had the wonderful experience of leading a workshop in Spanish on 3D design in SolidWorks. My coworkers were extremely welcoming and made a strong effort to help me navigate Chilean culture and traveling as well as spending time with me outside of work! I learned a lot with their help and improved my Spanish exponentially, even though Chilean Spanish is quite strange. COVID definitely had a negative impact on the experience, as it made travel difficult and made half of my time at the internship virtual. Also, there were very few participants in the program, so it was a struggle to find friends to do things with. Nonetheless, the experience was overall very rewarding, and I highly recommend this program.

I did the medical internship in Viña del Mar, Chile. First of all, it is a beautiful city to live in, with lots to do and with Valparaiso just a 20 minute metro/bus ride away. The location of the house is perfect and in a safe place, just a few blocks from the beach and about a 30 second walk from a supermarket. I lived with other Adelante candidates and got along with all of them exceptionally well. The staff at the language school are welcoming, and my classes really helped me get accustomed to living in my new city. I learned about the unique spanish spoken in Chile, and my professor also took me out of the classroom to explore Viña as well as Valparaíso and learn about their history and culture. In order to meet new people, I recommend going to language exchanges in Viña or Valparaíso - these can be found through MeetUp online, and it's a great way to meet natives and practice spanish! Living in a new city with no familiar faces and a language barrier can be daunting, so these really helped me at first! When I started my internship at a local physical therapy (kinesiology) office, it was challenging of course due to the new environment and the language. Within a few weeks, however, I was effectively communicating with patients, leading several patient sessions, and carrying out physiotherapy. My spanish improved dramatically and I also learned technical vocabulary that will help me in my future career. The employees were great teachers and always made sure I understood what was happening, the patient's affliction, and what techniques they were using and why.
The last month of my stay, there was political unrest in Chile but Adelante staff made sure we stayed safe, and maintained communication with us. I would not change anything about my experience in Chile, as it helped me grow as a person and greatly increased my skills and confidence in Spanish. The people in Chile are very welcoming and kind, even though Chilean spanish can be hard to understand at first! I've come to love Chile so much and I will definitely be coming back! I could't recommend this Adelante program more.

I was an English-teaching intern in Viña Del Mar, Chile for a month. The city was an amazing and beautiful place to be and I felt quite safe. It was relatively expensive to live during the month I was there as my roommate and I had to provide our own food and transportation. However, the work that we were during was great. I had never taught English before until this internship, and I learned a lot about myself; how well I work in a position of authority, and my planning skills. The program had a lack of guidelines on what we were supposed to be teaching, and although that was a challenge, it provided us with the opportunity to create an entirely new lesson plan that catered to the needs of the students. We taught four amazing adults who were eager to learn from us and it felt great! I’d encourage future interns to take as many weekend outings as they can in Chile. The city has so many amazing activities and sights that will keep you busy in between your working hours. The only downside of the program was that I had to find my own transportation back to the airport at the end of the program which was expensive and difficult to navigate. But my experience in teaching in Chile outweighed any cons that arose!

Fue una experiencia linda! La gente es muy acogedora y conocí muchos lugares. Me hubiera gustado poder contactar a la persona con la que iba a vivir antes para poder planificar mejor los viajes. Todo fue 10/10, el equipo del international center está atento de ayudarnos siempre. Hay muchos viajes cortos que se pueden hacer por el fin de semana. Uno de los lugares que más nos gustó fue el embalse Puclaro donde pueden hacer kitesurf. Dentro de Viña, no dejen de conocer Reñaca, Concon (playa la boca y las dunas), el jardín botánico es PRECIOSO, conocer los palacios, tomar un helado en Mo o Coletti y salir a correr por la avenida Perú. Además, en cuanto al trabajo, aprendí mil cosas nuevas, formas de trabajar en Chile distintas a mi país.
Me voy de Chile con los mejores recuerdos!

One of the unique aspects of this program is its location in Vina/Valpo, most programs tend to be in Santiago and I liked being outside of a big city because it allowed me really try and immerse myself into the culture and gave me the opportunity to speak and practice my Spanish. There are a lot of college students in this area and it’s close enough and inexpensive to get to Santiago.

It’s a flexible program and you really have to be very independent because there’s not a lot of administrative support. We basically had to figure everything out on our own. However as a girl traveling alone I really liked that Vina feels safe.

I really enjoyed my internship a lot although they never really gave me real work to do. In terms of getting actual experience I really didn’t feel like I did as much as I wanted to. My internship was in Valparaiso, which was nice because I was able to get to know both cities and everyone I worked with was great. They were also really flexible which is convenient if you’re coming to Chile to travel.

I personally didn’t like being forced to take Spanish lessons for three weeks; it was annoying to have to spend three hours doing grammar everyday especially because I’m a fluent native speaker. Learning a bit about the culture and slang was really useful especially once I got to my internship (but I probably could have learned on my own).

The housing placement was good, I had my own room, it was super central, and a five-minute walk to the beach but it’s poorly run. It’s not very well taken care of (filthy and falling apart) and the last month of my stay was considerably better but it took two months of insisting that things on my part to get to that point. The staff at the international center is nice but honestly I felt like I had to constantly bug them to get info that I wanted or needed, they don’t particularly go out of their way to help you. They’ll do it but only because you insist, which was really frustrating at times.

However despite any of these problems, the program does live up to what it promises.