¡Buenos días! or 'good day' in English! My name is Lysandre Lines, but Ly is fine for short. I'm 27, and I'm from Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia.
I love drawing, writing, and spending time with my friends, but most of all, I really love being with people. It's what really drove me to start studying Sociology-- the study of how groups of people grow together, with a minor in Spanish. It eventually led me to study at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee.
Growing up, I didn't have a lot of friends except for the ones I had made through the internet. I was a very shy kid! This led me to have many Chilean friends, and made me want to understand everything I could, as I loved my friends very much and they drove me to be the best person I can be! In conversations with them, I learned about the mining towns of Humberstone in the northern parts of Chile, and I realized how similar they were to mining towns found in my mountains! It drove me to understand more about how people in mining towns build their communities and help each other when times get tough.
Driven by curiosity and a fire in my heart to meet new people, I applied for the Gilman Scholarship. I was incredibly fortunate to receive it to help me with my current research efforts. Not only to allow me to go to the current mining towns, but also to see Chile as a whole! I'm attending Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, studying Chilean culture, dances, native cultures, and so much more! There's so much to see, learn, and discover here in Chile, and I'm absolutely delighted that I can share it all with you!
Want to know more about how you can study or intern abroad when you are a college student? The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Learn more about the scholarship by visiting www.gilmanscholarship.org.
