After eight weeks in Santiago, I am finally back home. It has only been a couple days since I came back and I haven’t fully adjusted to my more relaxed time at home. It was weird waking up this morning after the Sun came up and it being really warm outside. I wish I had a better transition (spring) into the hot weather than being thrown into summer after it SNOWED in Santiago on Saturday.
Anyway, these past eight weeks have been great and I have learned a lot about myself and Santiago while away. I will definitely take the skills that I learned from my internship and apply them to future internships and jobs. I’m extremely satisfied because my internship in Chile at Asexma solidified that I want to work with social media in the future.
In addition to my internship, my Chilean family was the best part of my experience abroad. Most people will say their host families are the best but mine will always win. I miss my family so much already. They opened their home to me and I felt like I was a part of their family. I will remember the times we spent together forever. Thank goodness for technology because we can still keep in touch even when we are more than 4,000 miles away.
It has only been a few days, but I am experiencing some form of culture shock or something. I think because my routine drastically changed, I’m being affected more by that than the ways and customs of America. It’s a little overwhelming being able to understand everyone who is talking and not having to translate in your head to English and then formulate your response in Spanish. I have found myself thinking in Spanish and English and every so often a phrase will just come out in Spanish. For example, my mom and I were driving and the light was green and no one was moving so I yelled, “¡Hay un luz verde!” or, “There is a green light!” This will probably end up being a very common experience.
Although it has only been a few days since being home, I know my experience has impacted me in ways I can’t articulate right now. I look forward to coming back to Bloomington in order to see how my experience affected me as a student!
Thanks for reading!
