The Most Amazing 8 Weeks

I was one of the first interns to choose The Intern Group's (TIG) Santiago program so I arrived a bit skeptical, but the city exceeded any expectations I could have possibly had.

It is hard to describe Chile itself, there is something for everyone. Santiago is very metropolitan and doesn't reflect many other major cities in Latin America. It is surrounded by mountain ranges and just a short hour-or-so bus ride from the coastal cities! Everyone is extremely kind and I cannot name 1 instance I felt unsafe, even when making my way home from a later evening out.

TIG was really well organized! There were optional activities or excursions every Saturday which ended up being some of the best things we did! Some examples are vineyard tours and a day trip to Valparaiso!

We lived in a student accommodation building which worried me at first because I arrived with little-to-no Spanish but it ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the program; I met people from all over the world and my limited Spanish abilities really didn't matter. People are so kind and patient and either knew English or wanted to learn just as much as I wanted to pick up more Spanish!

One thing I will say is that the Spanish in Chile is very different from what I learned in school, it is faster, they use a lot of their own words and rarely pronounce s's. But Chileans are very understanding and aware that they need to slow it down a bit around any non-natives!

Pricing isn't much different from that of the United States. Chile's economy is doing really well so the Chilean Peso is stronger than other pesos, like the Mexican peso, for example.

Overall, this program was amazing and I would do it all over again if I could! My internship placement process was smooth and the company I ended up working for was fantastic- the goodbyes were very sad!!