Joe Hoch, USA – Spanish School in Santiago Chile
ECELA, el espanol que aprendi en la escuela, y el staff de la escuela fueron mi puerta a Chile, y al idoma espanol. Cuando llegue a Santiago yo estaba muy ansioso sobre lo que me iba a pasar. La cultura, le gente, la idioma-todo era nuevo. Pero en mi primera manana, llegando a ECELA, y conociendo a empleodos y profesores de la escuela, todo se cambio. De repente tuve un grupo de amigos chilenos, que querian mostrarme todo de Chile. Los empleados amistosos, combinado con las classes de espanol y las actividades sociales, forman un sistema donde realmente puedes conocer otra cultura y aprender como se usa espanol diariamente. El hecho de que he vuelto a Chile dos veces mas, y que todovia tengo amigos que conoci por ECELA, dice todo de mi experiencia.
ECELA, the Spanish that I learned and the staff at the school were my door to Chile and to the Spanish language. When I arrived in Santiago, I was very anxious about whatwas going to happen. The culture, the people, the language-everything was new. But within my first week of arriving at ECELA and getting to know the staff and faculty there, everything changed. All of a sudden I had a group of Chilean friends that wanted to show me all of Chile. The kind workers combined with the Spanish classes and social activities form a system where you can actually know the culture and learn how to use Spanish daily. The fact that I have gone to Chile two more times and I still have friends that I know from ECELA says everything about my experience.