Housing & Student Support
Accommodation
GW Latin America’s Resident Director will assist in placing students in housing with carefully screened Chilean families, who live primarily in the upper-middle class Providencia and Las Condes neighborhoods. Homestays include a private furnished room, three meals daily and laundry service. Students are billed at GW rates for campus housing and full meal plan.
Student Support
Santiago, Chile is the only one of GW’s Latin America programs with a full-time on-site Resident Director, who has responsibility for supporting student needs throughout Latin America, and a program office where students can check email, print their papers, and meet with the Resident Director. The Resident Director provides a GW-specific orientation upon the arrival of students in Santiago, covering academics, safety, security and health, transportation, and an introduction to key elements of Chilean culture. During the semester, the Resident Director also plans excursions, offers academic support and provides general assistance when needed. The program offers two group trips and numerous activities and day outings, as well as optional volunteer work and internships. Past program outings and trips have been to Torres del Paine national park in Patagonia, San Pedro de Atacama in the northern Atacama desert, to Pucón in the southern lake district, to Pablo Neruda’s homes (now museums) on the coast and in Santiago’s bohemian Bellavista neighborhood, to Santiago’s civic center, to an urban Mapuche indian community, to the Cajón del Maipo river valley, and to the Villa Grimaldi center for commemoration of victims of the dictatorship. Throughout the semester, there are also group workshops, Chilean movie screenings and bilingual coloquiums where students can engage in language exchange (and make friends!) with Chilean students.
Along with the GW-specific orientation, students also attend orientation sessions at both host universities. These sessions are designed specifically for international exchange students, and are organized by the Universidad de Chile’s Programa de Movilidad Estudiantil (PME) and the Universidad Católica’s Dirección de Intercambio Académico y Asuntos Internacionales (DRAI), local equivalents of the Office for Study Abroad. These offices also offer students continued assistance throughout the semester.