What to Expect During Orientation Week in Santiago

Hi everyone! I’m back with another blog post this week and I wanted to share my experience during orientation here in Santiago, Chile in the Health Studies program. I'm from Cleveland, Ohio, so I’m familiar with city life, but coming to live and study in a city in another country is a whole new experience for me. Some things are the same, and some are very different. There are tons of things I could write about here, so to make sure this post doesn’t turn into a small novel, I’m just going to focus on a few of the most important things I’ve learned during orientation :)

Number one, safety comes first. Always!! While Santiago isn’t a particularly dangerous city, pickpocketing is the main crime that international students face while living here, so it’s important to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Public transportation is very commonly used in Santiago to get around the city, but crowded trains or buses make for excellent places to get your phone stolen. While many of the locals will scroll on their phones during their morning commutes, it’s very important to hide your phone deep in a zipped-up coat pocket or in a cross-body bag to avoid putting yourself at risk for pickpocketing. 

Most Chileans have cheap phones due to the fact that pickpocketing is very common, but thieves are smart enough to know who is worth stealing from and who is not. It’s an important lesson: just because people around you are doing something doesn’t necessarily mean you should follow suit. This is also important in understanding general cultural norms. If you feel uncomfortable, it’s a better idea to offend someone and protect your safety than it is to comply with something dangerous thinking it’s just a cultural difference. Aside from awareness of surroundings during travel, it is also important to know the more dangerous areas of the city to decide when and where it is safe to go, especially at night. This applies to all unfamiliar cities, but especially to Santiago. In this program, there were safety presentations that included a section specifically outlining places to avoid and places that are safe. The staff here in the IES Abroad center in Santiago are also always open to questions or concerns about anything, including safety in the city.

Another thing that I learned during orientation week is that it’s okay to not know what you’re doing, but it’s important to keep calm and stay levelheaded in stressful situations. I’ve never been to Santiago before, so the first few days were definitely rough for me. I was nervous to take public transportation alone, I took many wrong turns on my walks to class, I had issues with my credit card not working, and it was a big adjustment to hear Spanish basically 24/7. 

There were times that I paid to get on the train and then realized that I didn’t know where I was going and decided to walk out and get home by walking instead, and that’s completely okay! I have had to take out my phone on the street at least 50 times to check where I am going, and that’s okay too. I had to call my parents and the credit card company to figure out why my card wasn’t working and I had to listen and try my best to respond when my brain was tired and my host family wanted to talk during meals. 

During the moments I felt scared or overwhelmed, I took deep breaths and reminded myself that everything is new, so it is totally normal and expected to feel stressed. That being said, it is also important to not panic and to actively look for solutions. I like to use breathing and mindfulness to ground myself when I’m feeling overwhelmed, but figuring out beforehand what works best to help you stay calm during stressful times is very helpful. It's also important to note that while it can be scary in the moment, it’s important that you don’t let one or two negative experiences deter you from trying new things. Even though I’ve gotten confused on public transport at least 3 times during the past week, I can now confidently say that I know how to use the bus and the train to get to class and back.

It is important to note though, that for every low there were many highs such as taking field trips to explore Santiago and Valparaíso, going out with my classmates to watch a soccer game, trying my host mom’s homemade apricot marmalade, or running in the park on a sunny morning. In the good times, it is especially important to live in the moment and enjoy the amazing opportunity you’ve been given to experience the world and to see places that are likely very far from your home. It’s easy to get caught up in the worry and the negative emotions that come up, but that’s where mindset is more important than ever! Keep an open mind and be ready for things to not go the way you necessarily thought they would, but also learn to appreciate the way things do turn out.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for my next post and thanks for reading!