The Universidad de Chile is in Santiago, the capital of Chile. It is one of the three major universities in Chile, alongside the Universidad Catholica and the Universidad de Santiago. I was in a faculty of the U de Chile, the “Facultad de Economía y Negocios”. I was totally impressed by the campus of this faculty. Everything is new, clean and just super modern! You don’t feel like you’re in a South American country at all. The support before and during my stay abroad was great! The person responsible for us exchange students simply speaks many languages fluently, answered all our questions, whether by email, phone or in person, and the best thing: she was also able to answer all questions 😉 So the support was a big plus, because that yes, especially for organizational questions with the university at home, as well as for current information on site (subjects, canceled lessons, private matters) is very important. The degree of difficulty of the modules was very different. You could take both very “chilled” courses and very demanding courses. The level of difficulty can be read in advance in the course program, but of course it also differs from professor to professor. High courses that are taken in Spanish require a good language level! All professors are very helpful and actually always available. They always had an open ear for questions and problems from us exchange students. The level of difficulty can be read in advance in the course program, but of course it also differs from professor to professor. High courses that are taken in Spanish require a good language level! All professors are very helpful and actually always available. They always had an open ear for questions and problems from us exchange students. The level of difficulty can be read in advance in the course program, but of course it also differs from professor to professor. High courses that are taken in Spanish require a good language level! All professors are very helpful and actually always available. They always had an open ear for questions and problems from us exchange students.
Money
Chile is one of the richest countries in South America. This has advantages, for example it is actually very safe and both hygiene and living standards are very high. “Disadvantage” for us, actually it is almost as expensive as Germany. The travel costs mentioned above are of course much lower and some other things may also be cheaper. But in general you shouldn’t expect to need less money to live in Chile. Rent, groceries and nightlife prices are really similar to those in Germany.
Santiago
Santiago is a huge city. About 8 million people live here, that’s about half of the population of all of Chile! The city actually offers everything you need, just a big city. What one should however expect: Smog! Unfortunately, Santiago is really smoggy (especially in winter). You can often not see very far, and especially when jogging in the park you can clearly see that the air is very bad. Another thing: car noise. South Americans in general, and Chileans are no exception, usually communicate on the street by honking their horns. Unfortunately, this noise level, together with a lot of exhaust fumes, does not make the city particularly attractive.
For information about Chile and South America, please visit computerannals.
Travel
From Santiago you can reach interesting destinations in all directions. Some are ideal for weekend trips, some maybe for the time before or after your studies. Despite university, you still have enough time to travel. Even most professors pay attention to this and are mostly exchange student-friendly with exam dates 😉 And this opportunity should be used! Chile is an incredibly beautiful country! There is simply everything: sea, palm trees and beach, mountains, glaciers and lakes, as well as deserts and volcanoes! Generally, intercity buses are used to travel. For a trip from Santiago to the south, for example “Pucon”, you need about 10 hours. If you drive overnight in a “Cama” bus (particularly wide seats that can be moved almost horizontally backwards), time goes by really quickly. For such a trip you pay the equivalent of around € 30. Not to be compared with German train prices for a comparable route…
NOT TO MISS:
San Pedro de Atacama: a village in the middle of the desert! From here you can easily make a lot of day trips. To geysers, in the so-called “valley of the moon”, to highland lakes and volcanoes. You can also go on a one-day or multi-day trip to Bolivia!
La Serena / Coquimbo: Reached within 6 hours from Santiago. The cities are right by the sea and are super beautiful. From Serena you can drive to the Valle del Elqui. This is especially known for wine and pisco, the famous South American grape brandy!
Pucon: pure action! From here you can climb a 2,800m high volcano, drive a day to Argentina, admire waterfalls, hike along lakes and so much more.
I can only recommend everyone to do a semester abroad in Chile! Certainly, many things are not as developed as we are. But this is exactly what makes you think and brings really valuable experiences. If you are open to new things and a different world, South America is the place for you! And Chile is certainly a very good “entry-level country”… 😉
