Study program: International Business Administration (IBA) ​ Exchange semester: Spring Semester () ​ Fall Academic year: 2018-2019 ​ Host : Universidad del Pacífico ​ Country: Peru ​

I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

The university I spent one semester abroad is called Universidad del Pacifico, also known as UP in Lima. The university is relatively small and there are about 200 exchange students every semester. The university is located in the district of Jesus Maria, a residential district for middle class located next to the districts of Miraflores, San Isidro and Lince. UP is a relatively new university with a modern look to it, also it is a very prestigious one. As you will see this is an university solely for the upper class of Lima. There are security guards anywhere and it is impossible to access university without proper identification of your student card. The campus is basically a small outdoor square in the middle of the building where students sell and promote things during the day. There are multiple buildings in which you might find yourself, to eat or to study. Every building has a restaurant where you can eat ‘relatively’ cheap for around €2/3 during the morning, afternoon or evening. Especially the salad bar in the business building is recommended for their huge portions and rooftop view of the city. The main difference between Tilburg and Lima is that in Lima attendance in classes is ​ ‘mandatory’. In other words, your participation grade will sometimes count for as much as 50% ​ or your final grade. You can miss some classes, but make sure to be there most of the time because it's an easy way to pass your course.

II. Since university in Peru is not challenging compared to what we are used to in Tilburg, you will find yourself with lots of time to enjoy the city of Lima. Especially if you can manage to cram your courses in a couple days (which i recommend) you will have more opportunities to make little travels of 3 or 4 days outside of Lima. However also in Lima there is a lot to do. The city of Lima houses 11 million people and it is massive. The traffic is a complete nightmare with traffic jams literally any hour of the day, therefore I strongly recommend to live at walking distance of university in order to avoid spending hours every morning in public transport. Even though my courses started at 11:30 the earliest, it is also possible to have courses that start at 7:30AM. The most popular districts are Miraflores and Barranco. In Miraflores you can find most of the tourist and its located on the coast. Here you can surf, get good food, party or just walk along the long park which is on top of the cliffs. Barranco is the more artsy area where you can find lots of graffiti, nice seafood restaurants and colonial architecture. Also here you can walk down to the beach and catch some waves after or before class. You can rent equipment at one of the local surf shops which will cost you only €5 for the whole day. Furthermore, there are lots of musea, bars, monuments, etc. to visit in Lima. The city is so huge, after half a year I barely scratched the surface of what there is to see.

II. PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Information before you left The first information I received from UP was in June. This includes information on course selection and Visa application and procedure. Don’t rely on the university to guide you step by step. Make sure to already have your courses ready so you can enroll for them as soon as it opens, because there are only around 30 spots per class available. I got some information so late that I was already travelling before I could enroll. Luckily everybody gets assigned a local ‘buddy’ which is a Peruvian student that helps you and basically becomes your friend/guide and mentor for your time in Lima. In my case she enrolled me for all the courses I had chosen because at the opening of enrollment I was in Colombia without WiFi.

Visa procedure This is a tricky part since you don’t need a student VISA to enter Peru. I told customs I was a ‘tourist’ so I now have 10 stamps of entering and leaving Peru. Don’t do this because I have had major troubles with this at international borders. However for me it was the only solution because the VISA application is so slow, by the time I could pick up my VISA at the embassy in Amsterdam I had already landed in Peru. What I recommend is to just enter the country as a tourist, then go to the International Relations office at UP and ask for a student VISA. You give them your passport and 1 week later you have a tourist VISA (FOR FREE!). During your time at UP you will also receive many emails about that, so you won't miss it.

Orientation/Introduction activities There was an official introduction/welcome week organised by BBUP with is the budy team of UP. First of all you get to meet all your buddies, get a welcome by the dean and get an emergency explanation in terms of safety earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. This is the first week of August. You will be put in a groups whatsapp with all the buddies who organize massive parties and take you to clubs on a daily basis. Somebody opens up their house for pre-drinks and afterwards you all go out. Also you go on activities like; sightseeing of the city, ceviche cooking class and surfing lessons. This is a great way to get to know people and in the end the group of buddies and exchange students was incredibly close. Also during the year the travel faculty of the BBUP group organizes multiple trips (which are cheap) to diverse locations in Peru from trekking in the mountain to partying at the beaches and surfing. All in all there is a lot of support for incoming exchange students and everybody gets taken care of and included in what's going on.

Housing During my stay in Lima I have lived in 3 locations. The first house I arrived was ‘casa Yllika’ which is a house of 14 exchange students that all study at UP. It was a great place to get to know people for your first months. The owner arranged that somebody picked me up from the airport and drove me to the house (the second and third time she forgot to call a taxi and left me stranded). After living there for 2 months, me and 2 other roommates of Casa Yllika moved to an apartment next to university. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 private terraces a huge swimming pool and a gym. The reason for moving was that for me personally 14 people was just too crowded for a small house with a small room. If you live in Peru longer and you speak Spanish you get to meet people and later on can make some good deals. Because for the apartment I paid just as much as for the very small room in Casa Yllika. Expect to pay around $300-400 a month for an apartment a month. For Peruvian standard this is very very expensive, but as you live in the capital it is decent. Furthermore, if you live in the high end districts of San Isidro and Miraflores expect to pay a couple hundred a month more.

Living Costs As mentioned in the section above the monthly rent is usually about $300-400. I did not receive a grant from tilburg university or any financial aid whatsoever because I had problems with the enrollment at UvT. For me the average cost per month is probably around $1000-$1500, also because I went travelling nearly every other week. In Lima eating out is cheap (like cheaper than to buy the products and cook) so expect to eat out every day at least once. My preferred place is Chifa, which is classical Chinese/. You eat a 3 course meal for €2. This will save you money in the long-term. I financed my exchange from my student loan which I have put on maximum since the moment I started university. I did this so I would have enough money to travel during my Exchange.

You will spend a lot of money on transport. The busses are cheap so its negligible however, in my case, I ended up sometimes taking 5 to 10 Uber’s or street taxis a day going to various places in Lima. With every half an hour ride costing €3 it will add up in the end.

Books are not used at UP so you will have no cost from the university itself, in fact I did not even have to buy a pen during the semester so spend literally nothing on university expenses.

Academic Calendar The academic calendar, holidays and other events can be found here: http://www.up.edu.pe/en/international/study-at-up/student-exchange-programs/SiteAssets/Pagin as/requirements-costs/Calendario%20Acad%C3%A9mico%202018%20-%20Ingl%C3%A9s.pdf

The International Office Yes, there is an International Relations Office which helps incoming students and regularly sends messages to you via email. Also it is responsible for all the events that are organised at university. There is someone in charge of the office but apparently the job is so demanding that everybody quits after 2 months so I have seen 3 persons so far. Therefore i don't have a name or contact. On the website of UP you can find the current person in charge.

Exchange promotion Half way during the semester there was an international day in which everybody had a booth and represented their home university. During this day Peruvians who wanted to go on exchange came and talked to the exchange students asking for information. Also I had several dinners and lunches with Peruvians asking me for information about Tilburg University amongst others.

Social Activities There is a lot of social activity going on in Lima, Peru. First of all, you will find yourself being never at your room alone since you get invited by Peruvians and other Exchange students all the time. Declining is not polite in their culture so you accept and come with gifts. In the end I found myself hosting dinners every night or going to pre-drinks daily. The Peruvians distribute ‘lists’ everyday on which you have to write your name and the names of your friends. When you go out you will be happy you are on the list otherwise be prepared to stand in line for hours like the ‘common’ people. Yes, this was quite strange for me in the beginning to be treated like a superstar, but get used to it. You are white and you are different which in Peru makes you very desired. Especially because my Peruvian friends where mostly all from the UP they were upper upper class, so they could get in everywhere and ordered drinks for everybody etc. That's one advantage of being in UP, that you won’t have in other let's say ESAN or UPC.

A big part of the social activities in Peru as you probably already guessed are the parties. In Tilburg I like to go out once a week, however in Peru it is normal to go out 4 or 5 times a week. The culture is very party oriented and everybody just wants to feel the good energies and dance. One time you go to a club on the ocean and the other day you might find yourself in a salsa club and the next day a casino. Lima has a great variety of nightlife which will fit anyone.

As I mentioned before there are travels organised by the university itself, I joined 2: to Rupac and Ica/Paracas and Huacachina. These travels are always a lot of fun since you go with around 50-100 exchange students that you all know and you go party a lot as well. Apart from the organised trips I backpacked a month myself through Colombia before starting the semester in Peru. During my time in Peru I went hiking a lot with friends and visited: Huaraz, , , Rainbow Mountain, Puno, Arequipa, Titicaca and also the Amazon jungle in Iquitos. Furthermore at the end of the semester I traveled to Bolivia to see Salar the Uyuni which was magnificent. In the end I have been in: Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

Culture and Language In Peru dont expect to find any English speaking people therefore speaking Spanish is a must. Unfortunately I did not speak Spanish before coming to , but luckily during my travels in Colombia I already learned the basics through trial and error. Also, you will quickly improve your Spanish because in every action you do you need to speak Spanish because there is not even the slightest understanding of English.

I did not experience a culture shock in Peru, it all felt relatively normal. I have travelled a lot before and it was not that extreme as other poor countries. You quickly get used to the 24/7 traffic jams, the dirty air and the chaos on the streets. After awhile you stop getting annoyed with rude people and the extremely slow service everywhere. It is necessary to adapt to local customs in order to save yourself some time. For example, dont be punctual in any situation. Even in classes, professors can come late and for meetings usually people show up an hour later.

The difference for me between Peruvian culture and Colombian and Bolivian culture is that the Colombian people are by far the friendliest and most open and the Bolivian people are extremely slow and ‘rude’ in their way of giving service. In Peru it is all a bit in the middle and it very much depends on the individual because Peru is a country full of ethnic diversity. You will find many people looking Chinese and also a lot of ‘white’ people which you expect are German/British or Spanish but turn out to be 100% Peruvian.

What I experienced was that the Dutch punctuality and straightforwardness is not appreciated in Peru. In the Netherlands honesty is appreciated and I noticed that I easily shocked or upset people by being honest (e.g. about their quality of work). Also Peruvian people are unable to process criticism, therefore just put in an effort and change the work yourself instead of approach them.

Beforehand, I took a basic course at the language center at Tilburg University. This helped me a little, however the greatest learning for me personally came from interacting with the locals and having lots of Peruvian friends whom I asked to speak Spanish with me instead of English. Now after my Exchange I have an advanced level of Spanish and can understand everything and also make myself understandable in any situation. The Spanish in South America is different than the Spanish spoken in Spain, since there are different tenses and verbs.

Personal Development During this Exchange I learned more than in all my time at University together, because I learned, not academic skills, but mostly social and cross cultural skills. Especially during my solo travel through Colombia without any understanding of the language or the country, I learned a lot about myself and my character. Meeting numerous different people with different careers and different studies definitely helped me to define what I would like to do later on and where my interests lie. Most of all I tried to learn from the experiences of other people in order to try to make myself grow.

During your semester you will meet a lot of Exchange students from everywhere around the world all with different cultures, but what everyone shares is that they left home alone in order to get out of their comfort zone. This units everybody and will soon make you very close to the others. I made friends with people from different religions which broadened my view and tolerance. One of my best friends now is a Jewish soldier from Israel that told me much about the effects of war and his religion. This is just an example of the many people that told me about their country and customs.

My best experience was that I assembled a crew to catch an anaconda in the Amazon Jungle. We had to kill our own food and sleep on the ground and after days we finally found and caught an anaconda. There is no worst experience, because even the altitude sickness, food poisoning, attempts or robbery, semi-kidnapping is all an experience from which you learn and grow.

Peru is definitely a country where you should open yourself up for new experiences and get out of your comfort zone. If you stay in your own bubble you will have a completely different exchange than if you go along with the Peruvian vibes and just accept all the invitations and let it happen. Try to enjoy every moment, because before you know it your on the plane back home. That is my biggest recommendation to anyone wanting to come to this special country.

III. ACADEMIC INFORMATION

Academic level at a host university First of all the level of in Peru is not what you are used to in Tilburg. The level is low and will take little effort to pass everything with excellent grades. However, in contrary to Tilburg there is a lot of focus placed on attendance and participation. These 2 factors determine sometimes up till 50% of your final grade!

The most challenging course for me was ‘Neuromarketing’ which was given in Spanish. The content was not difficult, but the fact that the teacher spoke very rapid Spanish meant I had to pay close attention during every session. Also during the project I was in a group with 4 Catelan people which meant that you have to basically make the entire project yourself, if you want it to be finished in time. At the same time you learn a lot of Spanish since all the material is also in Spanish. I highly recommend this class, the teacher is a funny man and if he likes you and you talk to him sometimes after class he will give you a good grade.

The level of English exercised by the teacher was pretty good, except one professor, however most of them were fluent and could understand if I talked in English. Furthermore, the teaching style is different. You are being put into classes of 20-30 people, in a high school setting, and being asked to participate in all the sessions. Usually you have to read a case and then give your input on the case which will be discussed in class. During the class of Global Branding given by Vanessa Acosta this was always the situation. I would not recommend this course since the content is very basic.

Other courses were more in the form of lectures, these were ‘History of Colonial ’ and ‘Sostenibilidad Ambiental y Responsabilidad’. Both courses were also taught in small ​ groups and the teachers had powerpoint presentations and elaborate more about the lecture topics. I definitely recommend the course History of Colonial Latin America, since the course is very interesting and applies to the country in which you study. Furthermore, the course is easy to pass because you will get the exams a week before exam week. You get a change to alone or with your peers sit down and make the exam and then bring it to the actual test and write it down on paper. The more effort you put into making the questions beforehand the higher your grade will be. Also Sustainability is a recommended course because even though for Europeans it's pretty basic practise it is interesting to see how a developing country handles these topics.

In the overview below you can see my chosen courses, with their corresponding code and number of ECTS:

Courses

Course Prerequisite ECTS Exams Comments

Neuromarketing none 8 (=4UP cred) none Easy, 2 presentations and 1 1MN062 experiment. Very nice teacher. Course is in Spanish only! Includes a field trip

History of none 8 (=4UP cred) 1 written Easy, interesting Colonial Latin midterm course with a good America teacher. Exams are 1 written final distributed one 120101 week before and made together. Course is a ‘non-business’ course. Course is in English

Sostenibilidad none 8 (=4UP cred) 3 reading tests Easy, course in Ambiental y 1 midterm English. Discusses Responsabilidad 1 final cases in Peru and 1 project includes a field trip. 178071

Global Branding none 6 (=3 UP cred) 4 reading tests Very easy, weekly 1 midterm cases and class 1MN077 1 final discussions. presentations Attendance and participation is important. Course is in English

Conclusion All in all, I think that my learning and the learning of others when going to a country as Peru is not necessarily academically, but more importantly on a social and cultural aspect. Academic skills can be learned and developed in Tilburg as well. Even Though I did not learn new academic skills I have grown as a person and learned valuable life and survival skills. The choice to go to Peru is one of the best I ever made and I would highly recommend going to Lima. It is an amazing metropolis full of life and things to do. Explore the countryside of Peru and travel to more countries in South America during this time, because it's just totally worth it.

TIPS - Go to the Amazon Rainforest - Go surf in Lima - Eat out a lot (it will actually save you money) - Choose courses in English, but also one (or more) in Spanish - Travel as much as you can - Hang out with the Peruvians because they can learn you a lot - Try to embrace the chaos

Figure 1: The view of Miraflores from the Malecon; main residential area for exchange students

Figure 2: My apartment Figure 3: My favorite surf spot located next to La Rosa Nautica

Figure 4: Huacachina was a BBUP trip and it's a dessert oasis 4 hours from Lima Center

Figure 5: Laguna Paron in Huaraz, a hikers paradise its 8 hours by bus from Lima

Figure 6: Pasturori is at an altitude of 5200m and its in Huaraz

Figure 7: The highlight of Peru: Machu Picchu