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I cannot believe that it has been over two weeks since I left Chile to come back home. I'm back to working my busy schedule and enjoying the rest of my summer break, before I start my final year as an undergraduate. Yay!
By the time we were wrapping up the last week of our stay, I was missing my family, friends at home, and my bed. Now, I really miss being in Chile even more! I'm sure my friends and co-workers are sick of me talking about Chile. Everyday I bring up something I learned or experienced when I was in Chile in conversations, just simply because I want to reminiscence everything I did in those three weeks. Maybe I'm just really feeling that post travel depression, because I went from sleeping in my bed in the suburbs of Buffalo to staying in a beautiful apartment with a breathtaking view of the Andes, and back to my home. There are so many things I miss about Chile. I miss the amazing food that I got to taste. I would kill for some ceviche, choripan, the freshly squeezed juice or that amazing seafood soup I had when we went to Valparaíso. I miss the friendly staff at ECELA, my friends of the 2019 Buffalo Delegation from Universidad Mayor, the falculty and the students we met when visiting UMayor, my host family, and the students from the schools we visited. Oh I can't forget about the stray dogs! I wanted to take them all home with me. These people (and fur babies) really made the experience ten times better than I had expected. What also made this trip special, was spending it with the members of the 2019 Cohort. I learned so much about my classmates and professors as I'm sure they have learned more about me than we did in class. I wouldn't trade this experience with this group of wonderful ladies for the world! When I left Chile, I made sure to bring a piece of it with me. I brought back some of their famous wines, the notes and drawings that the students made for me, recipes, a playlist of famous Reggaeton songs by Chilean (and other Latin American) artists, poetry from Pablo Neruda, some of the slang or special words that only Chileans use in Spanish, and numerous of photos of all the activities I participated in. Now I have things to forever, remind me of the best time of my life. As an open minded individual, who is always eager to learn, I can say that the three weeks in Chile really helped me grow as a person and as a future educator. I really immersed myself into the culture, but also immersed myself in learning about the Education system in Chile. And with that, I feel that I have taken back wonderful strategies to use for my teaching in the future, especially when I have language learners in my class. If it wasn't for IPDS Chile, I would not be able to talk about all these amazing things I learned and experience. Because of this program, I feel confident going forward with my methods courses, student teaching, and teaching in general. It provided me the extra practice that I really needed, and I want to encourage all teacher candidates to participate in IPDS Chile, especially to my fellow mathematics education majors. You will not regret it, I promise! If you're worried about the cost of this program, there's no need. There are lots of scholarships through the school that will help minimize the cost. All you have to do is apply and show how excited and determined you are about participating in this learning experience, because that is exactly what I did and I had the support to make it happen. Of course, none of this would have happen without the amazing team work of Dr. del Prado, Dr. Patti, and Dr. Schmidt for making what IPDS Chile is today. They really did an incredible job for organizing this year's trip. They really did look out for my fellow classmates and I. I mean how cool, but thoughtful of them to have set up a meeting for me to participate a class with math education majors at Universidad Mayor where we could collaborate ideas. I know I am the first mathematics education (and possibly the first secondary education major) to participate in IPDS Chile, and the fact that they made sure I was going to get the same learning experience as my fellow classmates but to also participate in activities in my content area, shows how dedicated they are to the program and care about their participants. I want to give a special thank you to the Dean of Arts and Humanities, Dr. Benjamin Christy, and Dr. Jane Cushman, the Chair of the Department of Mathematics, for the scholarship donations, but also for the support of sending one of your own students on this wonderful learning experience. Also, thank you Dr. Tamara for helping me and my classmates find multiple scholarships opportunities and helping us with the paper work! Finally, I want to thank everyone who followed and share my journey by reading my blogs. You all are the bee's knees! Hopefully this will not be the last time I'll participate in IPDS. Maybe, I'll participate in IPDS Chile 2021 as a grad student or maybe be a trailblazer for another IPDS program! Until then, I'm off to finish my journey as an undergrad!
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Author¡Bienvenido! Welcome! My name is Carmen and I am a Mathematics Education major at SUNY Buffalo State College. This will be my first experience going abroad with the school. I am beyond excited what Santiago, Chile has in store for me. Please tune in to my blogs as I share my travel experience as well as sharing another perspective of education outside of the United States! ArchivesCategories |