Santiago, Chile
Chile
Chile is
an amazing country! With its long extension, it comprises both a desert and
glaciers and the landscape is just out of the imagination. Distances are
ridiculously large and taking planes is often necessary to travel, but totally
worth it. Often called as “the Singapore/Switzerland of Latin America”, Chile
is booming and it is considered stable, both politically and economically. This
not only provides great study material on Chilean companies and multinationals
with country presence, but also job opportunities (Spanish is essential
though).
Santiago
Santiago
doesn’t look at all as I was expecting, it is much more developed, resembling a
European capital. It is located in a valley and wherever you look around, you
see very beautiful mountains. Santiago is a sport friendly city and you can do
almost anything, depending on the season: hike, climb, cycle, ski, surf, run
and so on. However, the ocean’s water is super cold and the beach is an hour
and a half away. The metro is highly reliable, but traffic hours are to be
avoided since getting inside the carriages might demand you to wait for 5 or 6
different metros to pass.
The Chilean
I found
the Chilean very welcoming, always smiling and willing to explain time and time
again the same thing if I needed it. My colleagues at UAI were crazily nice, taking
the buddy concept to a whole new level. Practicing Spanish was also a great
plus and the Chilean Spanish is full of fun words to learn, such as weón, po,
catchai…
UAI and the Campus
Universidad
Adolfo Ibáñez is a great university, highly recognized in Latin America,
especially for management studies. The campus is beautiful, in the middle of a
mountain, with good facilities and an amazing view over Santiago. It is large,
with four different building areas and it in a very steep terrain, so there are
shuttle buses between them.
UAI
also has a very good gym, with both exercise machines and classes that can be
attended for free (just need your passport number). Wifi works well in the
university. There is also a canteen where you can buy a full meal for around
€2,50. However, most students preferred to either buy it from one of the two
cafes, that sell pizzas, sandwiches, salads and alike, or bring it from home
and heat it up. As in most places in Chile, the campus lacks heating and thus
it can get a bit cold inside the classrooms during winter. However, as the
thermic amplitude is very large in Santiago, we were already bringing warm
clothes to face the morning and evening cold.
Housing
prices are slightly lower than in Lisbon, on average. As the university is very
far, I would recommend living close to stations of metro line 1 and the
university and not in the center, which is also considered as not being so
safe. Finding an apartment was not hard for both me and the other CEMSies.
The downside(s)
I have
really enjoyed taking my exchange at UAI. It was a great opportunity to be
introduced to Latin America, both through classes, reading materials, the
contact with people and travelling. However, not everything was great. First
and foremost, the work intensity was very much above what I and the other
students were expecting and I don’t really feel it has led me to learn much, it
has instead made me work long hours. This has made it very difficult to travel
and not doing so, in an amazing region such as Latin America, is frustrating.
The
campus although beautiful, is very far from the city center. It took most
students at least one hour to go and then another one to come back from
university everyday, taking at least two means of transportation. The prices
were also higher than I was expecting, in most cases being the same or higher
than prices in Lisbon. Some of the faculty were really great, some were really
bad and this made the work intensity all the more annoying. Regarding the
weather, the cold only started easing around November, so warm clothes are
definitely required.
The surprises
I
believe that Chileans speak more English than Spanish do. They say that is
because they do not double movies or TV series. However, speaking (some)
Spanish is definitely an asset and it will probably make you feel and be safer.
Chile
has a very socially-hierarchized society and in Santiago you can see it very
well, due to the difference in neighborhoods. High-class Chileans are usually
very much afraid of what can happen outside of those neighborhoods. I for one
have always felt safe in every place.
Many
buildings have pools. However, they only open mid to end-November. Besides, you
may have to pay a very large amount in condo bills if you live in a place with
a pool. You should probably include all the expenses in your rent, since you’ll
probably end up paying less. Water bills are also quite expensive.
Touristic info
Most-dos
are probably to hike the cerros (aka
hills) of Santiago, such as cerro Manqueue and cerro San Cristobal. You should
also make a visit to the Cathedral, right in Plaza de Armas, which was being
restored all through the time I was there. When in Plaza de Armas, continue
walking and you’ll find the central market (Mercado Central) where you can eat
some fish or just walk around. Afterwards, you should cross the bridge to buy
some cheap vegetables, fruits, cheese, olives or dried fruits in Mercado de la
Vega. You might also be lucky enough to catch a cueca performance, the Chilean national dance. After passing by
Mercado de la Vega, you’ll be very close to Barrio Bellasartes, which is full
of beautiful graffiti and is a nice place to go for some drinks or dancing. For
walking around and eating or drinking something nice, I would also recommend Barrio
Lastarria and Barrio Brazil.
In Los
Leones, you can find some nice second-hand shops. Concerts in Santiago can be
very fun, I would recommend seeing a Chico Trujillo one, going for a Satta
event and the festivals Frontera and Primavera Fauna.
From Santiago,
it is very common to do day or weekend trips to Viña and Valparaíso. For longer
trips, both in Chile and in the surrounding countries, you have a lot to do!
Travelling in Latin America is not cheap on average (as for example in most
parts of Asia), but there are some very cheap countries such as Bolivia.
In
Chile, definitely try to go to the Atacama Desert in the North and Patagonia in
the south. You also have a number of volcanoes around the country that can be
hiked, some of them currently active.
By Filipa Araújo, Class of 2014/2015
Term
Abroad - Fall 2014
