Valparaiso puerto de mi amor

Hi.
I'm Jonathan. I was taking part in the adelante program from december 2013-May 2014.
I graduated from Uni in June of 2013. I'm half Chilean though I was born in the US and never had a chance to visit Chile and it's something I've always wanted to do.
I knew that I wanted to continue working in PR and advertising as it's something I became truly passionate about over the past 2 years. So after my interview with the program's director Kimberly she had just the right place in mind. She told me about my internship placement in Valparaiso with a small but hustling business incubator called Chrysalis. When I met the staff there in December I felt a vibe that would keep me motivated to get as much work done as possible.
The staff at Chrysalis are all young and most are post grads while some are still finishing their thesis as Uni for a student in Chile can take up to 7 years to complete.
I specialized in Audiovisual production. Which at the end of the day meant that I would be working with the businesses that had been incubated and make videos for them. From a simple 30 second product demo to a 5 minute video over a biomechanics product used by a bioengineering team named Infratec to detect the level of Parkinsons in a patient.
I loved the work environment and after I finished my classes at the International Center I decided to intern full time. True this limited my overall travel experiences in Chile but for me it was incredibly important that I begin to pump up my resume and portfolio. I don't regret going full time at my internship one bit, when you do something you enjoy the hours you spend in it shouldn't matter right?
At the end of my work I had become close friends with the office and I still keep in contact with them. Especially now that the world cup is going on!

Aside from the working aspect is the social aspect, everything not related to work. Viña del Mar is wonderful, the better beaches are further north going towards Reñaca and Concon. It's very easy to get between the cities in Valparaiso bay. 20 minute bus rides from central Viña and you're in the heart of Valpo or the coast of Concon. Traffic though can be a little crazy as it seems that everyone enjoys speeding..
The food everywhere is delicious. I never found a bad restaurant. The quality of the vegetables are top, the same goes for the seafood and meat (at least until you have an asado in Argentina...) but there are plenty of supermarkets and fairly cheap to buy good produce on the corners outside the supermarkets. New Years was amazing, spending it on the beach with friends and thousands of others who come from all over Chile and South America to enjoy one of the best firework shows in South America. It's memories like that that last a life time and I have plenty of those from Chile.
Remember how I said I'm half Chilean? Well guess what. I got to see an uncle and his family who I've never met before who live in Limache which is the last metro stop leaving Viña going towards Limache (duh!) and my time with my family there was precious as I learned and experienced a lot of what it feels like to be a part of a real Chilean family. Chileans are incredibly loving people and they will care for you if you treat them with respect and have an open heart and mind to their culture. I would recommend this program for anyone, especially because Chile is a growing nation and has a strong economy and it shows as there is construction nearly every kilometer in any direction haha. I love Chile and I hope you consider it too because it'll be an abroad experience like nothing you would expect.