Chile Changed My Life.

I could sit here and write to you all day about how beautiful Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are, how good the food is, how my Spanish competency skyrocketed from being in an area with an unorthodox dialect, how relevant and informative my classes were, how great the nightlife is, how many friends and connections (Chilean and otherwise) I made, how awesome my host family is and how I still keep in touch with them... there are so many things I could say, but we'd be here all day. I think the biggest factor is how I still miss it every day, 3.5 years after spending 5 months there. I think of how hard it was to leave, how I could've easily spent another semester or year there if it were at all feasible, how my host mom had to console me by reminding me that I wasn't losing anything by leaving, that I had gained a family. Although I got very close to my host family and they were the highlight of my experience, I think of all the confidence I gained, all the memories I made, how strange it was that I gained a second home. I really felt like home in Chile... so much so that when I was able to sneak back to Viña for a week a year after I left, I had the same feeling of warmth and comfort that I got when I traveled back to my small town in eastern Kentucky from my college town of Lexington. A lot of that is due to Chile itself, but ISA was instrumental in me being as impacted as I was by my experience abroad. From the choice in classes and excursions, helpfulness and know-how of a staff that was genuinely interested in each and every student, the ISA office that was right across the street from the Casa Central of PUCV, down to even just how the program was planned all gave me the freedom and agency to really see Chile for what it was, with nothing logistically or administratively for me to worry about. Chile is phenomenal, ISA is phenomenal, and I would pack my bags and head back right this second if I was given the chance. I wholeheartedly believe anyone and everyone can find something about Chile to fall in love with. Go.