{"id":77193,"date":"2026-03-04T08:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77193"},"modified":"2026-03-04T08:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:36:54","slug":"lumberjacks-abroad-chile-edition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/lumberjacks-abroad-chile-edition-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumberjacks Abroad: Chile Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Steller completed his last year at NAU through the\u00a0<\/span>Interdisciplinary Global Program<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Chile. While abroad,\u00a0this\u00a0environmental and sustainability studies and modern language major with a minor in\u00a0mathematics\u00a0learned\u00a0about history, culture and how to travel on a budget. Learn how\u00a0Steller\u2019s\u00a0life-changing experience has now\u00a0transformed\u00a0his\u00a0plans for the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where did you study and why did you choose this country for your study abroad program?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a>
Cerro Castillo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I studied abroad for a year in Concepci\u00f3n, Chile. As someone in IGP studying Spanish, my options were between Mexico, Spain,\u00a0Ecuador\u00a0and Chile. I\u00a0choose\u00a0Chile by process of elimination and because of my interest in Chilean nature and history. I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to go to Spain because language is important\u00a0to\u00a0me and I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to have people speaking\u00a0to me in\u00a0English all the time. I also wanted to leave the continent, so that eliminated Mexico. Then, between Ecuador and Chile, I decided that I am just more interested in the sociopolitical history of Chile as well as its natural beauty, which is\u00a0very important\u00a0to me. I wanted to see the Andes and the Atacama\u00a0Desert and\u00a0above all, Patagonia.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What class(es) or research did you complete while abroad?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a>My year in Chile was divided into a semester of classes and a semester of a lab-based internship. During my first semester, I\u00a0attended\u00a0their equivalent of a college of agriculture, where I took three different classes: spring crops, viticulture (the study of grape cultivation and\u00a0subsequently\u00a0wine) and floriculture (the study of flower growth and flower markets). In a different college within the university, I took a Spanish class geared toward\u00a0international\/exchange students. In my second semester, I completed an internship in a soil lab\u00a0at\u00a0the campus Biotechnology Center. My semester working there consisted of\u00a0helping out\u00a0on a few different projects, serving\u00a0in\u00a0the role of a lab assistant. During my time,\u00a0I spent a few weeks\u00a0helping out\u00a0one of the post-graduate students studying the impact of bacterial inoculations of\u00a0soils\u00a0as a means of increasing soil nutrient levels in place of traditional fertilizers. I also helped\u00a0on\u00a0a project with a student completing her bachelor\u2019s thesis.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you\u00a0fund\u00a0your study abroad experience?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0funded\u00a0my study abroad experience through a few different avenues. First, I received money in the form of scholarships from NAU. Second, I have worked 25-30 hours\/week throughout my college experience\u00a0and with the\u00a0Lumberjack\u00a0Scholarship,\u00a0I was able to save up some money in the process. Finally, I did receive a small financial inheritance from my grandfather upon his passing, which I used to help\u00a0fund this experience. I also\u00a0incurred\u00a0some credit card debt to fund the experience, which\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0found manageable upon returning to the U.S.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u00a0was your\u00a0language-learning\u00a0process?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>Can you tell us about a humorous language-related situation you\u00a0encountered?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a>
Arequipa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My Spanish language learning process began well before I studied abroad, as I had spent\u00a0all of\u00a0my time in college and extensive time throughout middle school and high school learning\u00a0the language. But while\u00a0in Chile,\u00a0I was able to put together the skills that I had been learning,\u00a0and after my year was up,\u00a0I felt and still feel very proficient in Spanish. The process of putting those skills together\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0easy,\u00a0though. I had to go through many\u00a0different stages\u00a0of being unable to quite express myself or say what I wanted to say, and I often found myself frustrated in conversations with Chileans when I could\u00a0not quite understand\u00a0what\u00a0they were saying. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0think of a\u00a0super-specific\u00a0humorous instance,\u00a0unfortunately, but I can say that I did often get confused by Chilean slang. For example, they call a traffic jam a \u201ctaco,\u201d and when I said this to my other friends there,\u00a0that there had been a \u201ctaco\u201d on the way to an event we were at, they got confused as to why a taco would cause such a delay.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What local traditions or customs have you experienced?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While in Chile, I went traveling to the northern part of the country during Fiestas Patrias, which is a week-long party period that surrounds their national\u00a0Independence Day on\u00a0Sept. 18.\u00a0While in La Serena, Chile, I went to a huge party called\u00a0<\/span>La\u00a0Pampilla<\/span><\/i>\u00a0which is akin to a state fair except with less rides and more of a food market with large performance stages and campgrounds surrounding it. While up there, I stayed at a hostel where I left my\u00a0pocket\u00a0knife, which led to\u00a0a different cultural\u00a0experience. A friend of mine had hit it off with the owner of the hostel, and we found out he was from Concepci\u00f3n, where I lived.\u00a0So,\u00a0he agreed that the next time he came home to visit his mom, he would return the knife.\u00a0When he did, I went with my friend to pick it up from his\u00a0mom’s\u00a0apartment, and while there, she invited us in for coffee and we got to\u00a0talking. She eventually invited us to come back to her apartment for an \u201conce,\u201d which is most\u00a0easily understood as a Chilean afternoon tea. More specifically, it is an afternoon light meal period where family and friends get together\u00a0to\u00a0eat something small and drink\u00a0coffee and tea\u00a0and chat.\u00a0A\u00a0week later,\u00a0my friend and I returned to her\u00a0apartment\u00a0and she baked pizza for us and her friend and her friend’s husband. Over the course of two-to-three hours,\u00a0we chatted about their lives and Chile and what we were doing there and such. To be candid, I felt very awkward at the beginning of the experience, but\u00a0by\u00a0the end,\u00a0I felt much more comfortable and I was\u00a0very grateful\u00a0to have been invited to such a local experience.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How has this study abroad experience influenced your personal,\u00a0academic\u00a0and career goals?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a>
Patagonia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More\u00a0than anything else, I think that my study abroad experience has significantly expanded my interest in traveling and going abroad.\u00a0Before\u00a0my study abroad, I knew I loved to travel but I figured it would be one of those passions I engaged with once a\u00a0year\u00a0and I figured I would move back to my hometown after college. But while down there,\u00a0I traveled extensively and learned about how to make it affordable. I also made\u00a0friends from around the world and met my girlfriend, who lives in Germany.\u00a0I am now hoping to move to Germany for my\u00a0master’s\u00a0program so I can be near her\u00a0and countless other friends while I take time to travel.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us about your favorite\u2014and\/or least favorite\u2014dish abroad.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My favorite dish would have to be\u00a0<\/span>the empanada<\/span>. While many countries in Latin America make empanadas, my biased opinion has led me to believe that the Chilean empanada is the best. I am\u00a0a\u00a0vegetarian, which is sometimes difficult when abroad. But in Chile,\u00a0I could always get a cheese empanada.\u00a0I grew to love them for their warmth and their delicious simplicity.\u00a0They were\u00a0generally served\u00a0with sauces as well, which I also found quite delicious.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Steller completed his last year at NAU through the\u00a0Interdisciplinary Global Program\u00a0in Chile. While abroad,\u00a0this\u00a0environmental and sustainability studies and modern language major with a minor in\u00a0mathematics\u00a0learned\u00a0about history, culture and how to travel on a budget. Learn how\u00a0Steller\u2019s\u00a0life-changing experience has now\u00a0transformed\u00a0his\u00a0plans for the future.\u00a0 Where did you study and why did you choose this country for…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1821,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjacks-abroad","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}