Testimonials
Andreas Hansen (University of Limerick) - Ireland
The semester abroad was great! The Students Union in Limerick organized lots of excursions and trips all around the island for a very reasonable price. The campus itself is really like a city within a city with its own shops and, yes probably loyal to some cliches, with two pubs on Campus. There was as well a quite broad offer on food places. Despite the nickname 'Stab city', Limerick still somehow has, the city itself is really nice.
The classes were quite differently structured some consisted out of 20-30 students others had more than 100 students enrolled. The lecturers have also been very helpful and easy to communicate with. The grading system has also been transparent from the very beginning. Even though some courses were quite stiffly organized and required weekly homework.
It felt sometimes a bit alien though, especially when students have been sent home for not doing their homework.
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Johanna Rübcke (Universidad Mayor) - Chile
I would do it all over again! The semester in Chile offered me many possibilities to explore and get to know the country and Chilean culture.
The Universidad Mayor offers mainly classes in Spanish, but nevertheless has some economical and exportation-oriented classes and seminars held in English. I traveled a month earlier to Chile to participate in an intensive "Chilean" Spanish course, which I can highly recommend, as the Chilean Spanish is quite unique. I studied in one of six campuses, which is rather small but very centrally located, so that you can reach it easily by public transportation or maybe even walking, depending where you are planning to reside.
Living cost depend highly on the district you are living in but are especially in central areas quite high. Santiago with its location surrounded by mountains has a lot to offer. Outdoor activities, such as hiking, skiing (in winter), mountain biking, river rafting are very common. However, for the same reasons the city is very polluted as the smog can’t overcome the Andes. This is particular present in the winter months.
Overall, I can highly recommend studying abroad in Chile with the advice of taking sufficient savings to travel and explore the diversity of the country as much as possible - Chile consists of incredible natural giving’s, history and people, which made my stay unforgettable.
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