US student studying abroad in Santiago, Chile?

Question

Hi. I'm studying abroad next year in Chile and I would appreciate any tips you could give me. For example, how should I dress? Is there anything I might do that would be percieved as rude? Are people generally friendly if I need to approach them and ask questions if I'm lost or something? Things like that.

Also, if you could recommend any good guidebooks or websites I could look at, it would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As far as how to dress here, pretty much anything goes here. It's more a matter of what you are comfortable in. I think you will most likely find the people here friendly and the culture fairly relaxed, so don't worry too much about offending anyone. I'd say that usual common courtesy will serve you well. Probably the most important thing you should know is to leave anything that is valuable to you at home. The one very common thing here is robbery. Pickpockets are everywhere and you should always keep that in mind before going out. Don't dress "flashy" and keep valuables out of sight. A great online Yahoo group you could join is called Chilegringos. It's made up of both Chileans and "gringos" who live, have lived or want to live in Chile and you can get great advice about pretty much any concerns you may have while you're here.

Answer 2

Chileans are very casual dressers. As a matter of fact, sometimes young people dress way too casual. Students (MOST) definitely have a hippie style. Lot of guys wear long hair.

Yes, they tend to be friendly but they also like to make fun of poeple a lot. So don't be surprise if they want to pick it on you.

They are very nice. You could go to www. chile.com

There are many places on line.

Answer 3

I went to highschool down there and it is aweasome. Chile is not a very individualistic country, so I would recomend you not to dressstrangely, just dress the way you would dress if you were here. Now, the best thing about Chile is that you can find anything you would find in the US plus people down there love foreigners... so they will love you!

In Chile not a lot of people speak englih, but anyone that does will work out of his or her way to translate and help you. So don't worry about approaching people.

If you want to learn more about Chile you should read some books from Isabel Allende, "My Invented Country", "The House of the Spirits." Those books tell really well how the Chilean people are and they might help you understand the culture.

Hope it helps,

Domingo Nelson Altamirano