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#Clarified career path, confidence in language #Spanish language skills, farm life #Cultural differences, self-reflection
Stay in the Beautiful Nature Learning Spanish in Peru Before Adventuring in Chile
Interested in learning Spanish in South America but not sure where? Unsure what path you want to take and if it is the right one? With our 1:1 consultation with our specialist we can determine what destination is best for you to ensure the best experience of your life! Don’t worry about the preparation or concerns you have, we are here to help! Apply Now!
A participant stayed 12 weeks in Peru and Chile to focus on her Spanish speaking skills and she said “The trip helped me a lot, to be honest I didn’t know what to do before arriving but once I arrived I developed a mindset of “Ah, I should go with a certain direction and focus on my career.”
We had an interview with her to tell us about her experience abroad.
How did you take on the challenge? Have you traveled abroad before? Have you always liked traveling?
I’ve never traveled to South America but I have been abroad before. My major is Spanish so I applied to learn more and do activities at the same time. I really liked it since I think my language skills have improved a lot. I felt distant at first, when I saw foreigners but now I can approach them without hesitation and being afraid of the language barrier. I liked traveling but this is the first time I’ve been this far away. I haven’t traveled much but I did travel around Peru a lot. The participant also stated this was her first time traveling alone to South America but her parents didn’t worry much because the atmosphere was free-spirited but my grandparents were worried.
The flight was quite long for the participant and she also explained her travel process.
It took 20 hours since I had a layover in the US. It took 12 hours to get to the US and then 6 hours to South America. Since transportation isn’t developed in South America, it took 21 hours to get to Cusco by bus for 4-5 hours. The buses were well-equipped so they used buses a lot even though it would have taken 1 hour by plane. I thought it would have been a long time since it took 4-5 hours to get to Busan from Korea but it was nothing compared to Cusco.
What was it like learning Spanish at school and then actually using it in a local setting?
The Spanish spoken in Spain is different from the Spanish spoken in South America. The pronunciation and speed are different. Peruvians speak slowly while Chileans speak very quickly and have abbreviated pronunciations. I felt that there are differences in each country. I do believe my Spanish skills have improved since I had to interpret to Koreans when I stayed in a Korean guest house in Peru. When I went to a restaurant with Koreans I even ordered the food in Spanish.
Why did you apply for a language program as you could’ve just traveled?
I was looking for language courses in South America or Spain. That's when I found out about Korea Gap Year. At first, they recommended Miami since in the US that city speaks Spanish but it was expensive. There was Cusco and Chile so I decided to give that a try right away. I contacted Korea Gap Year first and then bought my plane ticket.
I majored in Spanish, so I wondered if it was a good fit for me. To be honest, I didn’t know what to do when I was a freshman and sophomore so I thought about transferring to a different major. I took a Spanish course in an academy in Gangnam after taking a break during my sophomore year. My Spanish didn’t improve at the academy. My friends also said that going to Peru or Mexico for a year helped them a lot.
How was the Spanish structured?
It was geared towards conversation and I learned things like basic verb conjugation, tense changes, and things like that. The people were foreigners and they spoke Spanish unconditionally and if they didn’t speak Spanish they explained it in English, I could feel a difference. There was a difference especially during breaks. I would speak English or Spanish unlike in Korea, I spoke Korean during break time. I became close with my homestay friends. When I had a week left my homestay friends changed but I still hung out with those friends a lot.
How was the homestay?
There was nothing uncomfortable in Cusco. If I had service on my phone I would make calls but it wasn’t that uncomfortable. There was no wifi in the accommodation but there was wifi in the academy. They did provide meals except for Sunday lunch since it was a Catholic event. The distance to the academy was 20 minutes to walk since Cusco is small and the surrounding historical sites and plazas are small.
After finishing my language studies in Peru, I took a gap year to stay at a farm in Chile.
Why did you specifically choose the farm stay program?
I was only going to stay in Cusco but the consultant suggested going to Chile or somewhere else. South America isn’t an easy place to go so at first I was only going to stay in Cusco but I said I would go to Chile. In the case of Chile, it is said that it takes 4 four hours to get to Santiago. Chile has a well developed express bus system so I used it for short trips. I just got a call the day before I left Cusco by bus. When getting on the bus they tell me what time I should meet them so I just go to the terminal.
The first day I arrived late and just cooked. I started working the next day. I started with simple tasks but later I cleaned animal feces and such. There were horses, alpacas, dogs, and cats. The horses are out on land all day when it is time for them to come back in the evening. I call them and they return as it takes time to put them in the cage and feed them and clean their cage. I always watched them and never rode a horse.
I heard you live with a couple on a farm?
Aside from the couple who were the owners there was another man. He was Chilean and he didn’t do much farm work but he cooked for me and lived there as he came back and forth from Santiago de Compostela. There were no other students staying there. Yes, the man would ask and answer in English when he didn’t know something in Spanish. I had a hard time adjusting and it was awkward but as time passed he took care of me a lot. He kept reassuring me if I needed anything. Do you need anything? Are you okay? things like that. The husband was there but would only see him once or twice since he was a professor in Chile.
Was there anything different from what you had thought before participating in the program?
It was very different from what I had thought. I thought of volunteering as a helper if I knew I was going to do a lot of work. I had hours set to work by the owner of the farm. She told me that if it was different from what I thought it would be I didn’t have to do it and could go somewhere else. She told me to make a decision but honestly, it was a bit awkward since I had nowhere else to go. I said that I would do it but it was hard to adjust at first. Previously, I had expressed that I was frustrated because I couldn’t contact my family since my cell phone and internet didn’t work. I think my mom got really worried so it was hard to adjust but after a week or two I got used to it.
It must’ve been frustrating not being able to use a cell phone or the internet right?
I like baseball, so I was really curious about baseball news so I wanted to know what was going on in Korea as well as contacting my family and friends but it was hard because I couldn’t. At first, I just watched Infinite Challenge on my laptop. It took me a week or two to get used to everything. I went hiking behind my house and the internet was a bit weak on that mountain or sometimes bad. I asked the man who was with me to use his hotspot and I contacted my parents since it has been a week. It was 5 AM in Korea but since I had to contact them I used the video call app. It was really frustrating but it was okay.
I guess you had a lot of time to think about yourself.
If you subtract three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening you have a lot of time left eating. I had a lot to think about and since I didn’t have much to do I wrote in my diary as much as I could. I was able to organize my day and think about what I wrote in my diary.
How much do you work on the farm?
Work started at 9:30 AM and lasted until 1:30 PM and then after 5 PM I worked for another 2 or 3 hours. I used to help my grandfather when he had a small vegetable garden but when I stayed at this farm there were a lot of animals. I cleaned around and made hiking trails as well as working on the drainage ditch. I did work on weekends but it was much simpler than weekdays. I picked fruit and fed it to the alpacas since there were a lot of apples falling. It was a shame that the fruit wasn’t ripe. It would have been much more fun to pick the ripe ones.
How much travel did you do during the rest of the period?
It was for 3 weeks so I just looked around Lima and went to various tourist spots with people there. I also went to the desert. The sand was fine so I didn’t get hurt. I just went on a tour by car too. When I first arrived in Cusco I didn’t go straight to the homestay but I stayed at a hostel for about 3 days. There were mostly Europeans in the hostel.
Looking back now, what was South America like when you actually saw it? Was it dangerous?
If you are careful it doesn’t feel dangerous unless you are walking around late at night. Cusco is a small city and there are a lot of police on the streets so it wasn’t dangerous and there was no mention of Chile being dangerous. In Lima the homestayers in Cusco told me to be careful which made me worry.
The place I was in had a lot of foreigners and rich people so there were police officers on the streets and they strictly checked on people’s belongings. When I went to Starbucks, they made me tie my luggage to the chair so that no one could take it. There were always a lot of police officers on the street and chain stores usually had security guards. So as long as you don't go out late at night it’s okay.
Were you satisfied with the program?
Yes, I was fine but I wasn’t very satisfied with Chile at first but after a month I realized that it’s not easy to experience something like this in Korea. It was hard at first and I missed my mom but as time passed and I got used to it, it was fine and I’m satisfied.
They say horizons are broadened, which I didn’t really know what that meant because when I travel it's only a week at most, never more than that. After I actually participated in the program I learned a lot about meeting new people and how they approach me without hesitation and when I met Koreans they were all from different workplaces. There were a lot of people in their 20s who traveled and a couple who worked for 10 years and quit to travel the world. There were more who traveled around the world than I thought so my horizons were literally broadened. My field of vision literally expanded.
What does a gap year mean to you?
It’s a time that allows me to reflect on myself. When I was here I just worked part-time and went to school for a year which was kind of a routine. I felt rushed a lot but when I went to South America for a gap year I could just be there without thinking about anything so I could focus on myself more. The Cusco language program was really good since I was the only Korean there and all the Europeans stuck together. It was difficult. I think you have to be the one to approach them first. For things like farm stays don’t imagine too much and just think of it as the countryside. It’s hard because it’s different from what you think at first. Once you get used to it it’s nothing. It’s the countryside where there was no phone or internet service. I wanted to rest and work but it depended on what work I had to do.
What are your next plans?
First of all, I want to go back to school and travel again. South America is quite too far and expensive to fly there so now I want to travel around Asia. I want to travel more. Most people there have traveled to the US or other regions. They said that once you go there you want to go anywhere. My career path is in education and I want to teach Korean or Korean culture to foreigners as well as minor in English and advance in education.
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