# A Second Semester Abroad June 20, 2019 **By Aidan Garrett, CASA Chile Spring 2019 (Brown University ’20)** After spending a semester abroad in Spain, I felt compelled to continue my abroad experience in Latin America, improving my Spanish and visiting South America for the first time. With nothing but positive memories from Granada, the decision to remain abroad was simple. Deciding between the CASA programs in Argentina and Chile, I ultimately settled on Santiago, eager to explore a city I knew almost nothing about. As the initial thrills of acclimating to a new country waned, I longed for the familiarity that I had grown accustomed to in Spain. I remember the initial feelings of culture shock and the homesickness for California. Feeling accomplished and comfortable with my level of Spanish by the end of my time in Spain, I was overwhelmed by an entirely new accent and the relentless use of slangs. The routine and rigidity of small-town Andalusian life clashed with the hurried and hectic Santiago attitude that felt thrust upon me. The vast metropolis of Santiago and its seemingly unnavigable system of metro and micro discouraged rather than emboldened me. As time passed however, my experience began to transform. Initially, the change was slow and steady. Yet with an unrelenting itinerary of planned and unplanned group activities, I started to accept and embrace the lack of a regular schedule. With lots of trips throughout the various landscapes of Chile, my attitude towards Santiago shifted. The weekends away strangely made me more fond of Santiago, and enthusiastic to explore its alluring and lesser-known pockets during the times that I was there. After five or six weeks, the bonds I had made with friends, my host family, and in daily interactions felt genuine, connecting me to the city that I had initially felt uneasy about. Since then, the rest of the semester has been a blur. There have been very few down moments, with something always new and interesting to explore in the city and something else just around the corner to look forward to. These months have been full of laughter and amazing memories. I realize that I have grown quite a bit since the beginning of the semester. The experience of working through an imperfect beginning is one that I now value highly. The lessons learned over the course of my time in Chile are ones that will surely guide me in the coming years. On a second and unrelated note, the opportunity to meet and become close with some of my distant cousins who live in Santiago was another guiding factor in choosing to study abroad here. Living with them my first week here before the program started and spending countless days and dinners together opened me up to sides of myself that I was not aware of. While they have shown me so much about Chilean culture and society, the time spent simply as family together are the memories that stick out the most. Watching my father and grandmother, who had not seen their cousins and nephews in more than two decades, visit me in Chile and form new bonds with old family assured me of the surprises that can come with studying abroad. With the ties even stronger amongst my cousins and me, I feel satisfied leaving Chile having attained many objectives, expected and unexpected. See also:- [ Andes & Southern Cone ](/programs-initiatives/andes-southern-cone) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)