Valparaiso Chile offers students a unique study abroad experience since the majority go to Europe. Although at times the city can be overwhelmingly dirty or even dangerous, the incredible Chilean landscape, and culture more than make up for it. In this skinny country there are an incredible amount of natural land features. In the north are the deserts areas, to the east the Andes mountains, in the south the Patagonian forest, and of course the stunning coast line. Only in Chile can you go skiing and surfing in the same day. Local transportation in Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar is safe easy and mostly reliable. Locals can be shy at times, but once you get to know them they become extremely welcoming, warm, loving, and often jokesters. Of the available housing options I recommend a homestay with a Chilean family. That will give you more access to culture, meeting locals, and lets face it they end up being your greatest allies and friends. Valparaiso is situated about an hour and a half west of the capital Santiago. It is right on the pacific ocean and is connected to Vina Del Mar, its sister city. buses run to and from the city to just about every location within Chile, and buses to the Chile for the airport are frequent reliable and cheap. Academically, you will love the course selection. Many of the programs offer classes with locals which helps when making friends. Also the universities offer sports and activities a great way to make friends while abroad.

Valparaiso was the perfect city for me to improve my spanish and have a change of pace in my everyday life. Valpo is very unique and beautiful in its own way. Chilean Spanish was hard to get used to at first but now I love playing with the language and using words I had never heard before. My university also was very helpful in connecting me with my teachers, locals, and other exchange students. Locals were timid at first to connect but once you do they are very warm and welcoming. ISA helped me see the surrounding area of Valpo and was a good introduction to Chile, I highly recommend traveling on your own as well.

Valparaiso is the perfect place to study abroad! It is amazing, the people are so nice and there is so much to do and see and learn in this country.

The ISA staff was very helpful if we ever needed anything

The orientations at the beginning were very helpful to show us what there is in our area and give us a nice overview of what was in store. I liked the excursions because they brought us to places I would have never thought of going to and I learned so much on them. They were also good to go on because you got to hang out with people you may not see all the time.

I lived at a home stay, I love my family, they are amazing and so nice. It was very easy to get around the area and very cheap too! Everyday I would walk a few blocks to where I could catch either the metro or a micro to Baron which was a block away from school. One way cost about 20 cents.

The teachers were pretty nice and easygoing and the work was easy.

I was lucky enough to become friends with quite a few Chileans, but it is fairly hard to become friends with them. Just don't be afraid to go out on a limb to talk to people.

I always felt safe, I would regularly walk home at 4 in the morning and did not feel scared or anything. I would tell future students to just always keep an eye on your bag and be careful with your things when you walk around in public, just in case.

Chile has a machismo culture, which is very hard to get used to and deal with.

I decided about a month or so ago that deciding to study abroad in Chile was the greatest decision I've ever made. I will always remember my time here and go back to visit.

When we had a week off for fiestas patrias I hiked the W in Torres del Paine National Park. I think this is the most beautiful place in the entire world, it was absolutely breathtaking.