Details

• Peru
• BBE-18
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

If you would like to stay with a host family, I would recommend organizing the accommodation as soon as possible. There are not many host families, and most of them only have one/ very few rooms. I personally have not heard of anybody else staying with host families so I can only talk from my personal experience. Booking the flights as soon as possible is ideal because it is cheaper, even though some of you might choose to travel beforehand as the university in Lima only started in the beginning of March which makes early planning harder. In general, I would not stress about organizing everything asap, at the end this is Latin America, and you do not have to be stressed about organization. There is always a way, and everything and everyone here is late :))

2. Accommodation

I was the only one I knew staying in a host family. I found my host family because I asked one of the previous students that stayed there for the family's contact details. I do remember that my host family was also on the accommodation sheet we received from the university, but by that time I had already confirmed my stay at Rosa's house. If you want to or are thinking of staying at a host family, I highly recommend staying at Rosa's house. I loved living here and really experiencing Peruvian life, I was able to improve my understanding of Spanish (They do not speak english which is perfect for learning), I was able to try real home cooked Peruvian food, I was able to live a very Peruvian life which was my goal coming here. Some days it was like living in a telenovela, people/friends/family members come and go, some moments there is nobody in the kitchen, some moments there are 10 people in the kitchen. You hear laughing, screaming (in a Latin way so don't worry this is normal hahaha), discussions, raeggeton, or just the birds outside. In total there were 10 people living in the house (I was the only exchange student but some other peruvian friends of them/nephews rented a room) It was the mom (rosa), the dad (juan), the older daughter (31, olgua) the younger daughter (11, Lu), the best friend of the older daughter (Omar, 33, salsa teacher), two nephews, and two other friends. I lived 20 min by walking (Austrian 20 min, so I walked fast) to the university (close to Metro Pershing) which was perfect for me, it helps a lot if the path to and from uni is not dependend on public transport/ the horrible horrible horrible traffic in Lima. There are supermarkets closeby, a mall, a market on sunday's, but other than that it is rather residential (which made it very safe, but a bit far from spontaneous plans). San Isidro is an area with nice cafes and restaurants, and it takes a bout 45 min walking there, which to me was fine since I loved walking (and during the day its perfectly safe). No matter where you stay you will be far from some things and close to others, because Lima is a huge city. You just have to decide what criteria are most important to you. If you LOVE to surf and want to do it many times a week, stay in Miraflores/Barranco (even though I also had a friend that lives in Jesus Maria that surfed twice a week) and if you dont mind taking long to uni and being dependent on traffic/busses. The only downturn of my host family was the distance to Miraflores and Barranco, because if there were plans at night/clubs/bars/ specific restaurants/ the beach/ surfing, you would have to take a bus or Ubers. During high traffic hours (7-9 am/pm) the transit takes double the amount of time. But i would never change my choice of staying at this host family, even knowing all of this now. I felt very at home.

3. Academic life at host university

The BBUP Team (Buddy program) was very very nice. Everybody was super motivated (especially in the beginning) and the onboarding and activities feel very personal. They do feel interested in getting to know exchangies, and I know from a friend that is a buddy, that the programe is considered a very exclucisive one and becoming a buddy is difficult. The organisation was however sometimes very spontaneous, but this is in my eyes not blameable on the Buddy program, but rather the Latino culture. These organisational issues (ie. lateness, postponing, change of plans, spontaneouityI are very very normal in every aspect here. What I really did not like about the university was the fact that attendance was strictly mandatory in all courses, there are very few profs that do not care about attendance. This makes travelling not only difficult, but also for people that did not travel as much during (like me) it felt annoyingly like highschool. Lateness was also recorded btw. The students at this university are very much not independent, and this reflects heavily in any groupwork. There is a "REA" (Klassensprecher) in every single class (that is btw at most 30 people). The university building is very nice, and some profs and classes are great. But the organisation and grading are things I am glad to leave behind now. In terms of teaching I have to say that I got lucky with two out of three of my course choices. I took Ciencia Politica (in spanish) with Maria Noles, she was so so so nice, and I learned a lot about peruvian history and the state of politics in this country. Her teaching style was amazing, not pressured, she jjust wanted everybody to take away learnings and be able to self-reflect on Peruvian politics. I think I have never learned as much at uni as I did in this course. She even allowed to take exams in english. We had 4 in-class reading tests (where she always more or less told us the question beforehand) and 1 midterm (which was an essay). The final exam was oral, and we had to come up with a question that we then had to answer using what we learned in class. She grades super nicely (A lot of people got 20/20). The Relaciones Internacionales class I had with Professor Bambaren was also very cool. I liked the teacher a lot, he was a very kind and nice person that also just wanted his students to learn something and be able to self reflect and critically question what happens around the world. He is a little "old" in the sense that we were not allowed to take notes on the laptop, use our phones, or any electronics. He also did not upload the slides. But it was fine, everybody took notes by hand and we had readings that were the "basis" of all exams or tests. there were 2 reading tests, one final exam which was an essay, and a take home essay in a group. I learned a lot in this class aswell. The last course I had was International Marketing, which I absolutely hated. The teacher, Carla Penano, graded super unfairly, and was not interested in the students (or what she taught) at all. She always looked at her phone WHILE students were presenting, and never gave good feedback. Her exams were unfairly graded and very biased. Also she randomly allocated our groups and then did not give a chance for individual grading. Which, if paired with peruvians that are really difficult to do group work with due to their "flojera", can be very bad luck. Recommendation: I have heard that sistemas financeros is a very cool spanish course, even for people that do not have great spanish. I heard it was like an intrpductory class into finance and was generally interesting and with a nice teacher.

5. Every day life in the host country

Sports: volleball touniers are ornagized by the buddy program. Aswell as weekly football matches. You can also surf all year round, there are many many surf schools and it is relatively cheap compared to European surf prices (i think 100 Soles (25 €)) for a surf lesson and the board combined. and there are discounts if you go more often. Social activities: I also loved walking around to cafes, exploring different parts of the city etc. The city is HUGE. there is a lot to just "see". Cinema is super cheap here, aswell as going out to eat which we did almost everyday. Apart from daily activities, there are parties almost everyday, and exchangies really never have to pay. It is also so easy to make friends with a bouncer or promoter that invites you to VIP areas and events... Public transport; it works, and is perfectly safe during the day. It is not punctual, nor is it guaranteed that the bus will stop at your bus stop. Also it is only safe on certain routes within the center.If you go outside the city with the public buses (which you won't normally) then it might get unsafer. I have never heard form anyone having a bad experience however. Except for one friend that got her phone stolen, because during rush hour you mostly have to stand up, and she had a tote bag without a zipper... Just be vigilant, and nothing will happen. Safety: in general the city was a lot safer than I expected and have been told. But it is not Europe, and therefore be careful (ie. when walking with your phone next to streets is risky, many peoplpe get their phones stolen by passing motocycles or bikes). Also, at night, I always took the Uber (except maybe walking to my friends house "Casa Yllika" in Jesus Maria which is like 20 min away.) Ultimately, I never really felt unsafe in Lima.

6. Testimonial

Go on the trips with other exchangies. Make friends with peruvians, they can teach you a lot about this interesting country, and give you insights, tips, or just help you with everyday life. They are very open to connect, so take that opportunity. Take in the "relaxed" mindset of the Peruvians. At the end of the day, things are not that deep, and Peruvians really do not stress about a lot which is awesome. Explore the city, watch as many sunsets as you can on the Malecon. Go to bars, concerts, clubs, Salsa lessons, try the food and talk to as many as you can. My favorite trip was Huaraz. We stayed at Aldo's hostel which I highly recommend. And i loved it there, you really get more insight into how people live outside of Lima. Also be open to learn about the many many problems this country and city have.