- How much money I was going to spend. I went in with the naïve expectation that I would not spend very much money at all. I thought that $500 would be sufficient spending money for the course of the semester. I was very wrong! I spent a lot more than $500, but it was worth it! With the cost of daily public transportation, extra food and snacks, toiletries, and, of course, travelling, it is easy to spend over $1000 on everything. I had friends that took multiple out of country trips and must have spent a couple thousand dollars during their time abroad. At first, spending money stressed me out and I tried to avoid purchasing things at all costs. But then I made the decision to enjoy my time there and though I spent more money than I had planned, every penny was worth it.
- How hard it is to make friends with locals. This was also something I was not expecting! During orientation, they encouraged us to leave the gringo bubble and put ourselves out there, but I didn’t realize how challenging that would be. It definitely depends on the culture, but in my experience it was hard to make friends with Chileans. They are initially shy and closed-off, and have sometimes negative view of Americans. I am also shy when meeting new people and found it hard to leave my safe bubble of Americans to interact with the locals. However, I was able to make friends eventually and it was worth the initial discomfort!
- Challenges of living with a host family. Living with a host family was one of the things I was most excited about. And it was really fun! But it was also challenging. Not having control of what or when I ate, lack of privacy, and cultural differences sometimes made me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I loved getting to know my host family and interacting with them, but there were definitely moments when I was very excited to come back home and have more control over my life.
- It is still normal life! This is something a lot of my fellow study abroad students struggled with. It was easy to start thinking that, since we were abroad, we needed to be doing cool things at all times or we were wasting our time there. But that is not realistic! There were a lot of times where I hung out in my room, or I was bored, or I had to work on homework, or where I just read or watched a movie. It is important to remember that life is still life, even in a foreign country, and it is important to rest and practice self-care.
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International Business major Katrina Kinzel is spending the Fall 2018 term in Chile through ISA with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
