Living and Studying in Santiago

Now that we’re about halfway done with our time here in Santiago, I thought I might take some time to describe what it’s been like to live and study here.

Santiago is a big, bustling city, and, like other big U.S. cities, it has some smog and a lot of varying neighborhoods all with their own unique flavor. Most of us are living in an upper-middle-class barrio called Providencia. Our language school is very close by, and our university is about 20 minutes by metro. The public transportation here is outstanding—the metros, buses and collectives (taxis that run on pre-determined routes like buses) take us pretty much everywhere we need to go. There are tons of taxis, but a few of us have run into some less-than-honest drivers who makes riding in those less pleasant.

Providencia also has tons of shopping malls and stores, good restaurants and bars, and lots of furnished places to rent short-term. The rent prices vary greatly—from as little as $200 per person for a shared apartment up to $800 for a single bedroom studio. Most of us used a housing agency for students called Contact Chile to find our places. Five of us have a great two-story apartment located directly above the Los Leones metro stop and a big shopping mall called Paris. We also have a grocery store (interestingly, it’s owned by Wal-Mart!) in the basement. The other students live in similar (but some nicer, newer) apartments nearby. And a handful are renting rooms from and living with local Chileans.

Most of our apartments come with a cleaning lady visit once a week, though not all of us have access to a washer/dryer. Some of us have been hauling our laundry a couple blocks to the full-service Laundromat down the street, which washes/dries/folds for about $5USD a load. Not bad!

The streets and sidewalks are constantly alive with activity—lots of traffic, vendors, street performers, and beggars. You can buy everything from rabbit-ear antennas to ladies underwear to fresh strawberries and avocados (palta…mmmm!) and flowers on the street—though not much artisan stuff unless you’re in a specialized art market. Surprising to me, there’s not a lot of room to negotiate for prices here—very unlike Mexico.

Our classes—International Ethics, Global Marketing, International Finance, and Latin American Economic Development—are all held Tuesday-Thursday at the University of Alberto Hurtado—a private, Catholic university in town.  After having Spanish class every day for the first week, we now take Spanish class just once a week like our other classes. We also have “practicum” once a week, for which we listen to speakers tell us about different industries in Chile (for example, the wine industry, the pension system, salmon, fruit exporting, banking, etc.). Overall, we’re getting a great first-hand experience and knowledge of what it is like to conduct business in a developing Latin American economy!

When we’re not in class, we’re of course experiencing the Chilean social culture. The food here is outstanding!! My favorites are the amazingly delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, roasted chicken, and seafood.  And the national drink is called a pisco sour—an incredibly tasty and dangerous drink that tastes similar to a hard lemonade. Three in one evening can mean danger! And, of course, this country has great, inexpensive wine too—so you really can’t go wrong!

Here a few shots of our classrooms and places around the city: