One Month in Chile

an engineering major's adventures abroad

The End of the Line

My study abroad trip has come to a close, and I am now back in the United States. I definitely feel sad to have left Chile. It was a blast, and I keep thinking of all the things I miss about it, or that I didn't have a chance to visit or experience. Some day, however, I will return. And with the trip now over, I can talk about what an awesome experience it was!
 
I've attached a few last photos from the last week or so in Chile.  

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This is a cool wall mural near La Sebastiana, Neruda's house in Valparaiso, and the last house of his we went to visit. The last one picture has nothing to do with the first three, I just thought it was hilarious. Apparently someone in Chile had an issue with American foreign policy...

 

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The view from La Sebastiana, or atleast from the bottom of the house. Its roughly in the shape of a tower, but when we got to the top, we couldn't see anything thanks to all the fog!

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We went to the beach the saturday before we left, and got in the water. It was really cold!

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And finally, Monday in Santiago during the Chile-Brazil soccer game. We watched half of it around the backside of La Moneda, the presidential palace, where they had a giant screen set up. Even that was a small crowd compared to La Plaza Italia, where usually 50000 or more people come out to celebrate the game. The armored car I took a picture of, I later found out it's called a "zorillo" (skunk) because the cops can fire gas out of ports on the side if a crowd gets too rowdy (which they almost always do during soccer games, apparently). And in case you weren't following the world cup happenings, Chile lost...

The classes I attended were alright, though the instructors definitely worked hard to keep them interesting. Thankfully they knew we were on summer vacation, and they didn't mind if we missed class to go on trips. Even so, if there were something I wish I'd done differently, it would have been to have planned in a few weeks at the end of the trip to see the far north or south of Chile. During the month I was there, I really only went around Valparaiso, Santiago, and Isla Negra. There's alot to see there, but it also would have been really cool to see different areas of the country.

Chile also has a very different atmosphere than the United States. Its different enough that I enjoyed just living there, while not different enough to be alienating for me. And while Vina del Mar isn't a big city by any stretch, its still very urban. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed living in a city where I could get around easily by a combination of walking and public transportation. Of course, it also helped that the city in question was right on the beach. Literally, I walked out the front door of my host family's house and I could see the Pacific. I miss being so close to the ocean!

On a bit of a side note, now that I'm back in the US, I feel much more comfortable in standing out. A natural side effect of having made a fool of myself in a foreign country for a month, I think!

That's pretty much it on my end. I wasn't really using my trip as an opportunity to network or find jobs and internships abroad, but looking back, I feel I could have, had that been a goal of mine for this trip. Personally, my goal was to try and immerse myself in Chilean culture and language. It didn't always work, but my Spanish has improved immensely, both in my ability to understand others and to be understood. Unfortunately, the month went by incredibly fast. Keep that in mind if you decide to do a summer study abroad session.

Que te vaya bien!

Foreign Culture... Why?

I briefly mentioned in an earlier post that foreign culture exposure is a good thing for science and engineering majors. I think its a topic that deserves a bit more explanation, since foreign culture typically isn't seen as an integral part of a science or technology degree.

Americans in general should be concious of the role their country plays in the word, and of the need for cooperation and understanding. This is necessary for the survival of the US as an international power. Science, technology, and engineering majors (STEMs) especially need to be aware of this. After all, we're never going to be able to outproduce other countries; innovation is where we will need to thrive. Indeed, this is where the US has always thrived, but that's diminishing, both due to the growth of developing countries around the world and stagnation in America. (This is the 2010 Science and Engineering Indicator report: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/)

I bring this up because we Americans have something beneficial to offer, working as partners with the rest of the world. This cooperation doesn't spontaneously arise. Foreign STEMs are always coming to the United States to study- and that says a lot about the role our country plays in the world- so even if you just study abroad for a summer, it's a chance to reciprocate the exchange process and foster new opportunities with other cultures.

Besides the expanded career opportunites afforded by simply knowing a foreign language, a study abroad trip can be used as an opportunity to network with foreign students, scientists, and engineers in the same field.

In the same vein, you can search for internship and job opportunities while you're abroad. Maybe the country you want to study in has an important site specific to your field of study. For example, say I'm an astronomy major. Chile has some very famous observatories. At the very least, it would be awesome for me to visit and meet with some of the astronomers working there. At the same time, I'd be forming professional contacts, which might result one day in a work opportunity. Worst case, I now know some new Chilean colleagues.

I already iterated in a previous post why working with other countries is so important for STEMs. Technology has become so expensive and involved that it's difficult for one country to do it alone. And as the Science and Engineering Indicator 2010 report shows, the technological capabilities of many developing countries are skyrocketing. We need to adapt to these facts to thrive in the remainder of the 21st century.

Santiago

This past weekend, we spent a day in Santiago. Its a huge city, so there´s still a lot to see!

My favorite part: Pablo Neruda´s house in Bella Vista, La Chascona (named for the unruly hair of his lover, and later 3rd wife). While the view from this house isn´t as amazing as the view from the house in Isla Negra, I definitely liked the overall design and architecture of La Chascona much better. It seems much cozier and livable than the other one I´ve toured so far.

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Another cool part of the city we saw was La Plaza de Armas. There was a ton of people there, and all sorts of street performers: comedians, mimes, even a gold statue guy (whatever they're supposed to be called).

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Unfortunately, the presidential palace, called La Moneda, was a bit underwhelming. I couldn´t find any of the pictures I took of it, so here´s a picture of the top of another cool building:
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Over halfway done...

Since my trip is over halfway finished now, I'll update everyone on some of the things I've been doing.

Last Saturday we went to one of the houses of the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. This one is in Isla Negra. The place was absolutely gorgeous; the view from the bedroom on the second story alone was to die for! We were joking that anyone could be an amazing poet if they had a view like that to inspire them every morning.

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One day my host mother took me to her family´s farm in the country, and on the metro ride back, these two guys pulled out instruments and started playing.

On weekdays, because there's class in the mornings and often the afternoon, we'll often hang out at night at a bar or club. The weekends are mainly when we'll go traveling, like to Isla Negra or Valparaìso. Ironically, Wednesday night is night for partying (though you can find plenty to do pretty much any night). For any Daddy Yankee haters out there, it seems like about half the songs they play in Discoteques are his. As my host sister put it, he's pretty much an idol here.

10 Reasons to Study Abroad

1. Learning a foreign language. Language classes are a drag; worse, they don't even work all that well. You can take classes in a foreign language all your life and never reach anything near fluency. Language classes are just too far removed from the actual language. Studying abroad certainly doesn't guarantee that you'll learn the language. It takes effort to go out and immerse yourself in the culture and language of whatever country you're in, as the natural tendency is to simply cloister up with other American students. Immersing yourself in a foreign language, while more difficult to do, pays dividends in the long run. For more information on language immersion, and particularly on setting up a language immersion environment, check out www.ajatt.com.

2. Financial aid. With scholarships such as the Gilman Scholarship, there's a very good chance that you can get a majority of your trip abroad paid for.  And if you study abroad during the summer, you're basically getting part of your vacation paid for. Um, don't put that on any scholarship applications though. I talked more about this in my second post.

3. Context change for your life. What's life like outside the Oklahoma? The United States? Maybe studying abroad will give you an enhanced appreciation for your home, or perhaps an appreciation for the richness of a foreign culture. A new country and environment can open up new ways of viewing and experiencing the world.

4. Increased flexibility and resiliency. The only way to improve is to practice, and those 2 skills can be improved like any other.

5. Exposure to a foreign culture. While typically not seen as very important for science majors, nowadays I think it is very important. Research and development especially is becoming very globalized as its costs rocket upward. Plus, its really fun to experience various aspects of a foreign culture, such as the food, music, history, etc.

6. The students you study with. On one hand, you get to meet other like minded students from your school, the US, and around the world. Then you also get to party with the native students there. Speaking of which...

7. The parties. This really depends on where you go, but based on my experience here in Chile, Americans do NOT know how to party. Plus, the drinking age is almost guaranteed to be much lower abroad.

8. Experience different lifestyles. Before coming to Chile, I'd never really lived in an urban environment before. Norman Oklahoma, for instance, is very suburban, and I'd lived in the country for most of my life. So for me, this trip has been a great opportunity to see how I enjoy city life.

9. General education courses. Face it, most of them are really boring, so why not get them out of the way while studying abroad?

10. You get to be a kid again! At least, when in a language-immersion study abroad program.  Being unable to independently do the routine errands you do all the time in the US is definitely a humbling experience. Its truly a lot of fun, however, if you let yourself be a kid again and just make mistakes! Remember, unless you do something truly stupid, you'll be leaving everything behind once you go back home. This metaphor becomes literal if you live with a host family, like me. Then you basically are treated like a kid (though with the freedom of an adult): you get fed, you get things explained to you very simply, your family takes you around the city, etc.

Studying Abroad? Why Not an Internship?

Why should a science, technology or engineering major (STEM) study abroad, instead of taking an internship somewhere? Its a question I've been asked before, and its definitely a good one.

I don't think I need to explain why internships are so valuable. Especially with the job situation the way it is, we STEMs need any experience that we can get that can set us apart from each other. Along with the poor shape of the economy, study abroad just doesn't seem like a good option for most science students.

Depending on a students personal goals and interests, however, a study abroad trip can be incredibly fruitful. For example, I'm currently learning Spanish, so studying abroad in Chile was a pretty natural choice. Even if your goal isn't necessarily to become fluent in a language, or if you just like traveling and want to experience life outside the US, studying abroad offers lots of advantages.

For example, going abroad early in your academic career, before you're competitive for any internships, is an awesome way to knock out some general education credits. During summer study abroad sessions, the instructors know the students are mainly there for the overall experience, so the classes are very laid back. And atleast with the program I'm doing, the courses are pass/fail.
 
And while a study abroad session doesn´t look as good on a resume as an internship, it still says a lot about you. In order to study abroad, you need to have (or develop somewhere along the way) a degree of independence, self sufficiency, and worldliness, among other qualities. Its much easier to succeed in familiar surroundings, in an environment you've been exposed to your whole life... but do you have the skills and abilities to succeed in a completely foreign situation, using an unfamiliar language?

A study abroad experience will help demonstrate the ability to thrive in unfamiliar situations, which is certainly a quality employers look for. After all, most of what we learn in college is ground that has already been tread. Experiences such as internships and study abroad trips develop that ability to function in unfamiliar situations, though they do so in different ways.

Whereas an internship gives you experience working with unfamiliar material, where you can't necessarily find an answer in the back of a textbook, a study abroad voyage gives the experience of working in completely foreign and unknown surroundings. And with the world of technology and science becoming increasingly global and internationally cooperative, studying abroad in conjunction with traditional internship opportunities will give you a strong advantage in whatever career you pursue.

Don't rule out studying abroad because you think you need to spend every summer participating in internships. The financial support is there, so don't let preconceived notions of what science, technology, and engineering majors should do keep you from studying abroad. If it is something that interests you, study abroad can be a valuable component to your education, and a whole lot of fun to boot.

¡Pasalo bien!

Location, Location... & Money

Having just arrived in Chile two days ago, I'll wait to talk about my experiences in-country. So that really just leaves my study abroad preparations to discuss. Be warned, the material isn't going to be terribly interesting. That stuff will come soon, I promise!

First of all; scholarships. No money, no trip, simple as that. So as to not get behind in my curriculum, I chose to study abroad during the summer. Summer scholarships for studying abroad are pretty few in number, but there are a couple good ones I was able to take advantage of. If you're a National Merit Scholar, you automatically get $1500 to study abroad. And who wants to let that kind of money go to waste? That will cover the cost of airfare and then some, so National Merit Scholars should definitely take advantage of that.

Then there's the President's International Travel Fellowship, which is for $1000 dollars. The application is very short, and I don't think its particularly difficult to recieve. This one is only for OU students, I think.

Finally, there's the Gilman Scholarship, which during the summer is only for science, technology, and engineering majors (STEM). Which is great, since thats when most STEMs have to fit in any study abroad experience. The Gilman is for quite a bit more money ($2500 for me), so the application is quite in depth, and includes a service plan proposal designed to promote studying abroad in the student's community. This blog is my service project; it doesn't need to be super in-depth or anything. Other common ideas are joining groups such as OU ambassadors, giving presentations, etc. And the fact that the summer Gilman is for STEM's means no competition from the stereotypical moneyed liberal arts major, journeying through Europe to cap off their education.

So why Chile? Well, first of all, I personally like the Chilean dialect. And the only two other spanish choices for the summer were Spain and Mexico. Spain is one of the most popular choices for studying abroad; along with Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy. While I'm sure these are wonderful places, something like 80-90% of American students go there. Snooze.
Although you often wouldn't be able to tell it from our history books, there is a lot more to the world than just the US and Europe. Hopefully my later posts will illustrate that.

Arrived in Chile

I will go ahead and be up front about the purpose of this blog. As a winner of the Gilman scholarship for studying abroad, I am required to complete a service project to help promote studying abroad in some way. Which is totally cool with me, considering that thanks to the Gilman scholarship, I am able to study abroad at pretty much no expense to myself. Since it's rare for engineering and science majors to get a chance to study abroad, for a variety of reasons, Í figured I could tailor my project towards that audience since that is what I am (Engineering Physics major here). And a blog seemed to be a good idea, since I can work on it here, in Chile, where the experiences are fresh in my mind and I won't really have much reason to procrastinate.

So that is the reason for the blog: to convince any engineering and science majors out there who are curious about studying abroad, both of the feasibility and of the worth of doing it.

Chau!