Week in Peru by Alina Rosario

One of the best weeks I have had abroad during this experience is when my group and I went to Peru. We visited Cusco, Peru for the first couple of days, and went on tours exploring the city along with its history. Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, a village in the Sacred Valley of south Peru; where we climbed the “Ollantaytambo Sanctuary,” the ruins of an ancient Incan city and…

Heading to Chile by Annie Perkins

My name is Annie Perkins and I’m a double major in Spanish and Communication with a minor in Business Administration. I’m a Junior at Cofc and the study abroad program I chose was the College of Charleston Chile study abroad program with the Spanish department. I chose this program firstly because it included classes that I need to take for my major, but also because I wanted to visit South…

Peru by Annie Perkins

Every year the Chile program takes a weeklong trip to Pero to explore Cusco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes, y Lima. When we stepped off the plane and took the bus to our hotel, the altitude really affected us. We all felt nauseous, had headaches, and just didn’t feel normal. We arrived in Cusco first and spent 2 days there exploring the city and adjusting to the altitude. There is a tea…

Chilean Independence Week by Leasette Leon

As I first arrived in Chile, I looked at the program’s schedule, and realized we had a week off of school in September. Chile’s Independence Day is September 18, but the country uses an entire week to celebrate, mostly referred to as Fiestas Patrias. My group and I instantly decided to take this week to travel and also celebrate. Half of the group went to Valparaiso, while some of us…

Hello Chile by Leasette Leon

My name is Leasette Leon. I am a junior at the College, and I am double majoring in Latin American Studies and Spanish, and also minoring in Linguistics. I am currently studying abroad in Chile at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The idea of studying abroad is what most college students dream about and have most likely been planning since their freshmen year of college. I, on the other…

Vamos al Desierto! by Elena Minolfo

The weekend of November 14-17, our whole group went to the Atacama Desert. We planned this trip on the second week that we arrived in Santiago as our last trip of the semester. All 10 of us were able to go, which took a lot of planning, but it worked out in the end. We arrived in the desert at our AirBnb around midnight on the 14th so we all…

Introduction to Chile by Alina Rosario

My name is Alina Rosario, I am currently a junior at The College with a double major in Spanish and International Studies. This fall semester I am abroad in Santiago, Chile taking classes for both of my majors while attending the University of Santiago de Chile. My region of concentration within my major of International Studies is Latin America and the Caribbean and I chose to study abroad in Chile…

Side Trip to Peru by Delaney Cloyd

In early October the group set off for an 8 day trip to Peru, hitting all of the major destinations. We started the journey by flying to Cusco, where we had a couple of days to explore and adjust to the altitude. Adjusting to such a high altitude was much harder than I thought it would be, but absolutely worth it, and it only took one day. We then took…

Getting Situated by Elena Minolfo

I’ve been abroad for approximately 7 weeks now, and during my time here I have had many instances of culture shock and difficult lessons to learn. I’ve traveled a good bit up to this point in my life, and I’ve always liked to see how different countries handle day to day living, but I’ve never been in another country long enough to have to adapt to a different way of…

Protests in Chile by Ainsley Cook

The past few days, Santiago has been on national news for the state of chaos we have been under. Fortunately, I am safe, and the violence seems to be calming down, but there is still a lot that needs to be done before Chile can put these issues to bed. Early last week, the government announced they would be raising the prices for the metro, the most popular form of…