ANR: 753495 Name: Seleen Suidman E-mail: neeles12@hotmail.com Exchange semester: Fall 2013 Academic year: 2013/2014 Host University: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Country: Chile Santiago de Chile Santiago de Chile is a big city with approximately 7 million people. The city is divided in many different neighborhoods, some are richer and other poorer. The richest neighborhoods can be found in the north and the east and the poorer neighborhoods in the south and west. It is not a beautiful city compared to most European cities but the students live is very nice and lively. Main touristic things are Plaza de Armas, Santa Lucia, Cerro San Cristobal and walking through Bella Vista and Barrio Brasil is also very nice. There are also some nice museums, like Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, which is about Allende and Pinochet, or Museo de Bellas Artes. The transportation exists of buses (micros), metro, taxies and collectivos. Transportation is very good and you can come everywhere with it. During the night you better take a taxi and do not walk alone, especially not as a girl, in certain neighborhoods, but there are also neighborhoods where I did not feel unsafe, just be aware of it. There are several places where you can shop for cloths and shoes, there are a few shopping malls in the east of Santiago (Costanera Centre, near metro Tobalaba) where you can find the stores that also exist in The Netherlands and in the west of Santiago you find more the places where not rich locals shop. Going out for dinner or for a party can be done in Bella Vista, this is a neighborhood in the middle of Santiago near the main square, Plaza Italia, it's a very cozy place to go out, but it is very busy and especially during the night be aware of pickpockets, because there are plenty of them. Most exchange students live in the neighborhoods Providencia, Bella Vista and Santiago Centro. Although Santiago Centro is a bit dangerous to live, if you live close to the main street, Liberador Bernardo O Higgens, it will be fine. The first two weeks I lived in Santiago Centro in Barrio Londres Paris and I did not feel unsafe, but when you go more south, the neighborhood gets more dangerous. Bella Vista is also a nice place to live, but it is the neighborhood with all the cafes, pubs, bars and discos, therefore it is a bit more expensive than Santiago Centro and a bit noisier.
Providencia is the best place to live, I think, the neighborhood is nice and not dangerous. Most Chilean students live with their parents in Santiago or alone when their parents are not from Santiago. In the first case most students can be found in the neighborhoods Las Condes, Vitacura, La Reina and Providencia. These are the places where the rich people live, and since university is very expensive almost only these people can afford to let their child study at a university. Universidad Católica Universidad Católica has four campuses. Casa Central is the main building and is near the metro station Universidad Católica, but on this campus just some studies are located, like medicine and law. The main campus is San Joaquín, located next to the metro station with the same name. On this campus almost all studies are taught, there is also a verity of eating and drinking possibilities, there are libraries, grass to sit on, the sporting area of the university and many other possibilities. Traveling from the main square of Santiago, Plaza Italia, to this campus takes more or less 30 minutes by metro. Casa Central takes 5 minutes from this square. The other two campuses are Oriente and Lo Contador, I do not know exactly what studies are taught there but it mostly are the art and music studies. So, if you would like to sport you can do that at the university at San Joaquín. They have many different sports, you do not have to pay since they provide it as any other course you take, you even get credits for it. On San Joaquín are many faculties located and all include many different study directions. Every faculty has its own building and library. There are more or less 21000 undergraduate students, 3000 graduate students and 1300 exchange students (http://www.uc.cl/es/la-universidad/campus). The libraries are easy accessible for all students, you just need your student card to get in and out. There are also many study places on the campus were it is possible to work in silence, also computers are available. Academic Calendar For my semester the arrival date was the 1 st of August, this was the day that they gave an introduction speech and explained everything about the university. In the same week they had tours over the campuses, arrival parties and other welcoming things. The start of the lecture was a bit strange, because some courses started the same week as the welcome week, others the week after and some even another week later. Therefore it really depends on the courses you take and the faculty. For me the last day of class was the 22 nd of November, the week before that date and the week after, were exam weeks, officially the university finished the 13 th of December. This semester was a semester with many national holidays, therefore we had a few long weekends, meaning Thursday and Friday off. There is this break of a week around the 18 th of September, which is a kind of a Queensday but than for a whole week, you can call it the
mid-break term. Examination in Chile is a bit different then in Tilburg. They do not have one week for examination, only at the end they have all final exams in two weeks. The rest of the exams are spread out over the semester, I had an exam or assignment almost every week. Therefore you really have to catch up with the reading, because otherwise you will not have enough time before the exam to prepare yourself well enough. International Student Association: CAUC The university offers an international student association: CAUC (http://cauc.cl). This organization is an organization with exchange students but also Chilean students, therefore it is a really nice mix between locals and internationals. The organization organized the campus tours on all campuses, and this is especially necessary on San Joaquín because it is big. They organized trips to ski in the Andes or other places close and far away from Santiago. But also dinners and parties where organized and most exchange students do join these events. There was also the possibility of a buddy or a tandem, this means someone who wants to learn your language (mostly English or French) and he or she teaches you Spanish. It is a very nice organization and totally run by Chilean students. Via this organization but also because of the house I was living in, I had a lot of contact with local students and therefore I learned more about the Chilean culture. Next to that, all exchange students go to the same parties, live in the same areas and do the same trips, therefore you meet many foreign students and you will do many things together with them as well. Especially travelling is done in small groups of foreign students, because the Chilean students either do not have the money for the travels or have already been there. I tried to go somewhere almost every weekend, it did not have to be very far, some place in Santiago for example, or if there was a long weekend I went with some foreign students outside Santiago, and because I had a tourist visa I had to go after three months in Chile to another country, so I went to Argentina for a weekend, since it is kind of close to Chile. International Office On the campus of San Joaquín there is an international office, the people who work there are very friendly and helpful. Patricia Uribe M. (puribem@uc.cl) sent me emails before and after my arrival about the practical things I had to do for the
university. And from Julio Cesar Gulin (jgulin@uc.cl) I received emails more about my stay there, about the international community CAUC and other activities. International Fair There was also an international Fair organized where you could represent your university for the Chilean students, who might wanted to go abroad for a semester or do their masters abroad. I represented at the Dutch stand Tilburg University, with other people who studied in the Netherlands, the promotion material was sent by Tilburg University. Academic information All courses are offered in Spanish, however there are some courses offered in English every semester, but these courses differ every time. I followed all my courses in Spanish because they simply did not offer any English course were I was interested in. I am studying Liberal Arts and Sciences in Tilburg and my Major is Social Science, since they focus on sociology and psychology in Tilburg I wanted to know a bit of the other subfields of Social Science as well. Therefore I choose, next to one sociology course, two courses in anthropology and one in political science. I really would recommend the sociology and the anthropology course, because the subject is very interesting but also because the professors where very good. They spook very clear Spanish and they explained the matter very well. I enjoyed these classes. The academic level differs for every course. The classes are comparable with the classes in Tilburg, but in general I had to read more for my Chilean courses than I do for my courses in Tilburg, which makes it not more difficult but more time consuming, especially when the texts are in Spanish. And since there is not one week for all the exams, you are constantly studying and because of that the workload felt more than in Tilburg. The structure of the courses is quite similar to the structure in Tilburg, but while they integrate the text you have to read in the lectures in Tilburg, they do not do that in Chile. The exam has some questions about the lectures and some about the text, so if you do not read or understand the texts, it is almost impossible to answer half of the questions, so you better read and understand the text. Next to the normal lectures there are ayudantia s, in these hours students from the last years of the study come and explain the text that you had to read. These were not obligatory most of the time and its just very helpful for yourself to go. What I noticed is that the relation between the students and the professors is very open, I had two professors who were still partly students (they were my best professors though) and therefore they knew some people in the classes and there was a very nice relationship without much hierarchy. Exams The examination differed per course. I had two courses were the exams existed of five open questions, in where you had to make connections between the theories taught in the lectures and some questions about the texts. The level of these exams was comparable with the level in Tilburg. For the other courses you had to choose one or two questions out of three to five, in that sense you could answer the questions you knew and the others you just skipped, this made it easy to pass an exam. For most
courses there was one possibility to resit the exams, this means that you had one extra exam if you failed one or more exams, it is not like in Tilburg were you can resit every exam you take. Courses All my courses were bachelor courses. 10 Chilean credits = 6 ECTS Paradigmas Antropológicos: ANT100, 10 credits, 2 written open exams and one essay: theoretical, lot of reading, not that easy but also not too difficult. Paradigmas Sociologicos: SOL100, 10 credits, 3 written open exams: theoretical, lot of reading, kind of difficult. Antropologia Americana: IHA0010, 10 credits, 4 written open exams: theoretical, reading, kind of easy. Seminario: America Latina Siglo XX: ICP0109, 10 credits, 3 written open exams: theoretical, lot of reading, difficult. Visa Before leaving for Chili I checked the visa requirements and the costs. It turned out that a student visa, what you officially need, was quite expensive. Since a tourist visa is free and you can stay in the country for 90 days, I decided to go without any visa. I met many people who had decided to do the same and after three months we went together for a weekend to Mendoza, Argentina to get a new tourist stamp in our passport that was valid for another 90 days stay in Chile. The university never asked for our visa and at the border they did not asked anything. Pre-Arrival information In the end of December 2012 I got an email from Tilburg that I was accepted at the university in Chile. Chile sent me in between April and June of 2013 pre-arrival information and instructions, for example that I had to send a copy of my health insurance. Just check your email regularly and you will be fine with the instructions. Arrival My semester started the 1 st of August and that day there was a welcome ceremony for all exchange students in Casa Central, they introduce the university, the international student associations and how things work in the university and Santiago. Moreover they had organized a fair where you could ask students about the courses they provided that semester, so you could get a bit more inside information about the subjects the university offered. We also got a kind of booklet with all the information about the university and about the courses they offered at the university that semester. The only problem was that the information about the courses was not really correct. Either the classrooms or the time schedule did not go inside with reality but also some courses in the booklet where not offered this semester but another semester. So that was quite confusing in the first week. To find the courses they offer: go to this link http://dsrd.uc.cl/alumnos-
uc/cursos/primer-sem, enter your subject, for example Ciencia Politica, and whether you are going to study in the first (our Spring) or second (our Fall) semester, then you will receive this schedule http://dsrd.uc.cl/dara/libcursos/periodo21/ua45_0.html and as far as I know the information on this one is correct. Before Arriving I flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, because a flight ticket to Santiago was 1200,- and to Buenos Aires 900,-. Besides that I like to travel and went four weeks before my semester started in Santiago to Buenos Aires. From there I traveled by bus via the north of Argentina to the north of Chile, I crossed the border near San Pedro de Atacama, and went by bus to Santiago. I am really glad I did it that way. When I arrived I went to a hostal, searched for a room and a week before the start of the semester I settled in my room. Housing Housing in Santiago is not very difficult. Before leaving for Chile, I received general information about the university and the city from Universidad de Chile, in this package was also a paper about housing included, they provided some websites and organizations that help students to find a room in Santiago. Many exchange students use such organizations and will live with a host family for half year, I think this is very good for your Spanish, but it is also more expensive. I did not use the information provided by the university. I asked people from Santiago who I met in the hostal what the best websites were. An example is Comparto Depto http://www.compartodepto.com/, via this website I found my room in two days. It depends a bit when you are looking for a room, because in August, when the semester already started, most rooms are not available anymore, but at the end of July there where still many opportunities for a room. Try to find a room in Providencia near Parque Bustamente or Santa Isabel or near Pedro de Valdivia, its very well located for both city centre and university, and the neighborhood is kind of safe and nice. Some people arranged their room from their home country, but I would recommend to come a bit earlier then your semester to Santiago and try to find one there, because for me it was very important to see the room first, since you never know whether the information on the internet is the same as in reality. Just start searching a few weeks before the semester, and try to visit as much as possible until you are satisfied. For me it took two days until I found something nice, I started living there but I discovered that the house was not really what I was looking for, so I went to visit more houses and apartments and after two weeks I found something that fitted me more and changed from house, and I had very good experiences in my second house. In Santiago there are many apartments were students can live but also old houses that are just one level but very long. My house was like that and I lived there with 17 other persons who only spook Spanish because they came from Spain, Colombia, Italia, French and the main part from Chile, therefore my Spanish improved way faster then when you live with only foreigners. So, if improving your Spanish is one of your goals, try to live in a Spanish-speaking house because it helps a lot.
Living Costs Overall Chile is not more expensive or cheaper then the Netherlands, some things are cheaper, like cloths or shoes, but other things are slightly more expensive, like the food in the supermarket. So to finance my exchange period I only needed extra money for the plane ticket and the traveling around. Next to the grant I received from Tilburg University and the study financial support from the government, I changed my OV card into a monthly payment (more or less 100,-), I also received some support from my parents and I saved money especially for this exchange. Overall I did not have money problems, I spent more or less the same as I do in the Netherlands. The rent was 200,-, but it can be more and sometimes less depending on your room and location. Most of money went to traveling before and after the semester and food during the semester. Food is a bit more expensive than in the Netherlands, but again it depends what your eating habits are. There is a huge food market, La Vega near metro Cal y Canto, in this place you can find everything and they have a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, go there ones in a while and by for a longer time, its cheaper than the supermarkets. I think I spend around 100,- a month in the Netherlands on my food and in Santiago it was around the 180,- a month. Another thing that took a big part from my budget was transportation. In Santiago the metro costs around 1,- (619 700 pesos) a ride, depending on the exchange rate. A taxi costs around 3,- (2.000 pesos) for 15 minutes and buses are less then a euro (450 pesos). So it is not very expensive but by using it every day it becomes a big part of your budget. Transportation from Santiago to other places is not expensive compared to the Netherlands. A bus ride of 8 hours might cost more or less 10.000 pesos ( 15,-). Going out for foreign students is not expensive, since most places have free entrance until a certain time for foreign people and it is most of the time free at any time for girls. Drinks have comparable prices to the Netherlands. In Chile no one buys books at the university, all texts are made available by the professor at a copy point where you easily can make copies of everything. It costs around the 17 pesos ( 0,02) a page. I think I paid around 10,- a course. Monthly budget: Housing: 200 Food: 180 Transportation: 90 Books: 10 Cloths, drinks, small traveling, etc.: 250 In total I spent 7.500,- for 7 months including everything (flight, traveling for 3 months, cloths, food, housing, transportation, drinks and university). I think if you have a budget of 1000,- a month you will be fine. Culture and Language Latin American culture is quite similar to European culture, I think. The language is a European language, the religion is Catholic and the people always have some European ancestors. Therefore I did not really have a culture shock, I just really liked it when I arrived. It is way more relax than the Dutch culture and people are friendlier
even if they do not know you. Argentina and Chile really like foreigners, and you will notice that in how they treat you. Everything is less strict and no one will be on time. I learned that the Dutch culture can be a kind of cold, especially towards other people, that it is very organized and strict, when you come too late in the Netherlands it is not good, in Latin America they just do not care. But we are also not the worst on that part, Germany and Canada for example are even colder, stricter and more organized. Chile is very modern and rich compared to all other countries I have seen in Latin America. The cities look like European cities and the people treat you differently than in Peru or Bolivia for example. I was really surprised by the modern attitude of the country, I did not expect that. But the strange thing with Chile is that, although they look rich and wealthy they still have a huge population that is poor, the gap between rich and poor is one of the biggest in the world, you would not say that when you walk in the streets. The people are very, very friendly, and especially when you speak their language it is really nice to talk with them and they really like to talk with you and tell about their country. Being on time is also more important in Chile than in the other countries in Latin America, buses drive on time and people come less too late. Chile is a country of extremes, not only in rich and poor, but also the nature cannot be more extreme in a country. In the north you have the driest dessert of the world and in the south you have the wettest region in the world, they have every kind of nature; dessert, ocean, rivers, lakes, lagoons, mountains, fjords, islands, pampas, forest, rainforest, glaciers, volcanoes and so forth. There are also regularly earthquakes or earth shocks, and ones in a few years there is a volcano that erupts. While traveling and speaking with the local people or the Chilean students in my class I learned much about Chile, about the politics, the economy, the nature and culture of the country. I really enjoyed that, but in order to be able to speak with people you really need to learn their language because they do not speak English, students do, but the locals in the street or on the road do not speak another language than Spanish. The other countries around Chile where I have been are very different. Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay are poorer, the people are smaller and have more indigenous influence in their appearance but also in their culture. But the countries are very nice to travel through, the nature is nice and the culture is just more Latin American than in Chile, were it has a huge European influence. It is also cheaper and less organized in the other countries, and people treat you more like a tourist in these countries than they do in Chile. Argentina is comparable to Chile. The people have a bit the same appearance, and the countries are both very influenced by European culture and habits. Prices are similar and they are both better organized and stricter in time than the other three countries mentioned above. But in all countries it is easier to get in contact with the locals when you speak their language, since they simply do not know English or any other language. But there are differences between the Spanish of all countries. In Chile and Argentina they talk very fast, for example, while in Peru and Bolivia the Spanish is easier to follow when you cannot speak Spanish very well. Another thing is that Chile uses many different words than they do in the other countries and also their accent is supposed to be the most difficult, even after a few months living there I sometimes could not understand when some one was speaking with a very thick Chilean accent. All my courses were in Spanish, the university offers some English taught courses, but for my study direction they did not offer anything. Therefore I really had some problems in the first months. Some professors speak very clear and you can follow what they say but others had a very thick Chilean accent and talked so fast that I did
not get a word, even at the end of the semester. All text were in Spanish and all exams were taken in Spanish, that was a huge struggle for me, not necessarily because the subjects were difficult but more because I needed more time to read and understand the Spanish texts and courses. With the international students I spook either English or Spanish or both mixed, and with the Chilean I only spook Spanish, because I wanted to practice my Spanish, like in my house we only spook Spanish and that really helped me. I did not take any language course in my semester, because for me this does not work, I learn a language the best through practicing with speaking, reading, listening and writing by myself and with other people in daily life. Another reason for not taking a language course is the fact that I had five courses and that was already a bit too much for me. I thought I can better focus and use my time for my Chilean courses and since they were in Spanish they would help me learning Spanish as well. Next to that I bought a grammar/practice book for Spanish and I worked an hour a day in that book, to learn as well a bit of the grammar. Tips I would definitely recommend future students to go on exchange, I really had a good time in Chile, socially and culturally but also academically. Universidad de Chile is a very nice university with many opportunities. To go prepared, means learn Spanish because you will need it. But even with my Spanish, which was not much in the beginning, I survived and had a good time there, and of course my Spanish improved enormously and although I have had some hard times with the language difficulties I
will never regret that I went. I met many nice people, I lived in an awesome house and I can speak another language now. I definitely learned a lot. Contact Me s.d.suidman@tilburguniversity.edu neeles12@hotmail.com