Details

• Chile
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

I think the application process is very straight forward, for me the most helpful tool was the excel file of past applications in order to see for which spots more people applied and which ones were less popular. As for looking if the uni has the courses one is interested in, I think it's best to look on the website of the specific University and in the WU file of past courses that were taken by other students. For the interview, I think it is important to have some concrete reasons for choosing that particular university and that you show you did your research beforehand. On a general level on preparing for a semester abroad: I think trying to learn the language a bit if you don't know it is always helpful, look at the weather of the specific city (not country) you are going to for the months you will be there, try to talk to other WU students that did their exchange semester there and tale the Cross-cultural Competence course seriously since it gives one a lot of tools to deal with multicultural situations even if maybe while doing the course it doesn't seem so.

2. Accommodation

.Accommodation search and general advice: Finding accommodation was fairly easy, while there are some companies that have houses for exchange students (Rumi, Santiago Exchange) and some student dorms, I chose to look on compartodepto.cl (which is very similar to WG gesucht) or on Facebook groups. I lived in a shared house with a mix between local and international students (I was looking to also be with locals) and rent was cheaper than the other options mentioned above, and really liked it. Location: Where I was staying was close to Barrio Italia which is where a lot of exchange students choose to stay. To me it was perfect because it was 10 minutes walking to uni, with restaurants, cafes, bars, supermarkets, metro stops and a park all 10-15 min walking away and in an area that I felt was mostly safe (didn't have any negative experiences in the neighbourhood). I think living further north-east (Providencia, Las Condes, Vitacura, La Reina etc.) might mean living in a safer area with more modern buildings but also having a much longer commute to uni. Tips I wish I’d known beforehand: asking if the house has heating or not, or if the rooms have electrical heaters (houses in Santiago often don't have heating and in the winter months nights tend to be cold), what type of window your room has (older windows tend to not soundproof the room so it can get a bit loud) and if there is a person cleaning the house or not.

3. Academic life at host university

I think the campus is really beautiful and has good conditions, I especially enjoyed the fact there is a gym and a lot of outside spaces to hang out during the day. There is a cafe and a cafeteria where you can get lunch and a lot of other options to get food around uni. The temperature inside was confusing to me, since each professor choses the temperature in the room the course is taking place so you can go from super cold to super hot in winter and summer going from one class to the other. As for the actual courses: I think most of the ones I took were really interesting, but I found the teaching style to be less fit for me compared to the one in Austria. I found the ones in Spanish to be more complex and interesting than the ones in English. Most courses are designed as lectures with very little opportunity to participate actively and with the local students tending to not participate even when given the chance. Also, I found the economics courses to be somewhat taught from only one perspective, without much talk about different schools of thought. When comparing them to WU courses, I would say they are not more difficult per se, but they are more time intensive since the workload is usually higher, with some courses requiring quizzes, presentations, papers, exams and group work all for one course and attendance is often mandatory.

5. Every day life in the host country

I really liked the everyday life in Santiago: public transportation works better than one would expect, there are a lot of places to visit and hang out, concerts, bars with live music, political activism opportunities, gyms and sports clubs etc. The safety situation I think is also really good in the nice neighbourhoods during the day. During the night I would recommend taking uber or cabify for general safety reasons. There are some neighbouhoods that have bad reputations but I can't tell anything regarding the truth of it since I didn't go, although in my opinion Chileans often exagerate the danger of certain areas.

6. Testimonial

I think all in all the experience of doing an exchange semester outside of Europe was very valuable. Although I wasn't expecting everything to be so different, I experienced culture shock after culture shock in the beginning which made me enjoy and treasure everything I am learning outside of Uni from much more, although I find the academic knowledge acquired here also very important. I particularly loved the places I saw while travelling, the local people I have met and whose culture I am still trying to completely comprehend and the other exchange students with whom I got to share so many experiences and endless moment of cultural confusion.