RTW: Exchange in Chile

The truth shall set us free

That is the motto of my university, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez -or at least it is written under the emblem of UAI. The past few days have been spent, as one might guess, trying to start a life here. Of course, it has not been without surprises or problems, but overall it has been ok.

The orientation for us was in Viña del Mar, a city some 1,5 hours away on the pacific shore. That is where most of the exchange students will be, as there is the other campus of UAI. I could see why as we cruised along the beach road after the orientation.. But, I am decided on staying here in Santiago despite all.

I will move in tomorrow with my two new French friends, Cindy and Gael. They are living in the center of Santiago and have been a great help so far as they spent the past semester in Viña del Mar and know their way around. We make 60% of the exchange students of UAI Santiago, as we are just a total of five.. So far Cindy and Gael have helped me in everything, getting a new mobile number (+56 87232443, the old is not in use anymore!!!), getting the flat, organizing my studies, etc. -and drinking beer! They seem like really nice people and living with them, one Italian student and three Chilean artists should make this 4 months quite memorable. Oh, not to forget the dogs in the house - one of them accidentally mistook my toes as sausages or something and grabbed a good hold of my sandal the other day.. Big and on the slow side, but very friendly the two of them.

Anyway, about the university itself: it is a big ultramodern campus with outstanding athletic facilities including a swimming pool and unlike in most of Santiago, the air is fresh (if someone did not know, there is so much smog that Ciudad de México would be proud, see pic above)! This all is due to the fact that it lies about an hour trip (metro+bus) from the house, up in the mountainside. As it is a private school almost everyone goes by their own car and us poor foreigners and a minority of other students get to wake up at inhuman hours. Still, in a weird manner, I like it. Or I like the idea of living in a "normal" Chilean house, close to a bohemian neighbourhood of Santiago (to mom: it is still quite safe as there is so much people all the time) and the lively city centre and going to school in a perfectly equipped private university with not so big classes and a chance to keep in shape and breathe real air. Here you see a view of one of the windows and some arcitechture of the campus.

The only worry I have at this point is with the courses. I managed to get an amount of them that might satisfy even the results-driven International Affairs of Helsinki School of Economics.. Results-driven because they seem to expect that I complete the studies of 5 months in 3 months. Obviously, the people here look at me like I was crazy asking for more courses than is the norm and aiming to start my Master's thesis at the same time.. But anyway, at the moment everything should be ok, depending on the room available on the courses and about 10 other things I just might be able to pull this one off and make it back on the RTW track in time.

posted by Kassu @ 12:27 PM