pontificia universidad catÓlica de chile spring … · " 3" " 1.5. finding an...
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T R A V E L R E P O R T
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE CHILE
SPRING 2015
ANNU KOSTIAINEN
k93589
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1. PREPARING FOR THE EXCHANGE 1 1.1. APPLYING TO THE SCHOOL 1 1.2. OTHER BUROCRACY 2 1.3. TRAVELING TO SANTIAGO 2 1.4. ARRIVING TO SANTIAGO 2 1.5. FINDING AN APARTMENT 3
2. EXHANGE STUDIES 4 2.1. MY COURSES 6
3. FREE TIME AND OTHER INFORMATION 8 3.1. EXPENCES 8 3.2. FREE TIME IN SANTIAGO 8 3.3. WEATHER 9 3.4. TRAVELING 9 3.4.1. MY OWN TRAVELS IN CHILE 9
3.5. THINGS I WON’T MISS 10
4. FINAL COMMENTS 12
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1. PREPARING FOR THE EXCHANGE
1.1. APPLYING TO THE SCHOOL
After you have been accepted to Católica, you should of course apply to the school.
Everything in Chile works with mañana culture, so don’t worry even you have not ap-
plied one month before the exchange. I applied in November (after asking if I can do it
thousands of time since I left Finland in the beginning of November) and we selected
courses in December. However Monique from school is very flexible and for instance
sent my papers via email even they should have been sent by post. When you apply you
need to send your CV with at least 2-year work experience (since program is MBA) and
your Spanish level should be good. Mine was not but it was ok. I just used Google
translate since all the communication happens in Spanish.
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1.2. OTHER BUROCRACY
When you apply to the school, they ask you to pay student visa. Basically no one of us
took that since a) it’s super expensive and b) at least I and almost all of the others left
their home countries before we got an acceptance letter (actually it never arrived to me
via post). What it means if you study with tourist visa? You can stay in Chile only three
months. However it is super easy just to travel to Mendoza and back to do visa run.
1.3. TRAVELING TO SANTIAGO
I travelled four months before the exchange in South America. So I don’t have enlight-
ened knowledge about the flight tickets to Santiago. I flew with USD400 to Aruba (in
Caribbean) but to Santiago one-way flight should be USD600-800. There are usually
several layoffs in States and in South America before arriving to Santiago. If you don’t
want to pay taxi when arriving to Santiago, there is a bus to Los Heroes, which is a met-
ro station. Bus costs 1 500CLP. If you want to easier way to travel you can also book a
common taxi in advance. They will pick you up from airport and drive to your hos-
tel/apartment. You can book the transportation here: http://www.transvip.cl
1.4. ARRIVING TO SANTIAGO
My school started 9th March 2015. We had in the same day orientation lecture. However
they asked us to be available one week before the starting day. Orientation day was not
any special. We got Internet access and access to our study portal. However it was nice
to meet other students before the first lecture.
There is nothing like buddy/orientation things in PUC. It’s MBA school and all the lo-
cal students work and most of them have kids and other things to do. There are some
nice after works arranged by school and at least we had nice MBA gala in the beginning
of our studies. However since we had only 10 exchange students, our team spirit was
super good and very much better than in my last exchange.
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1.5. FINDING AN APARTMENT
Finding a room from Santiago is easy. Families rent rooms for the short and long time.
You may have your own bathroom but a kitchen is normally shared. Usually rent is
about 200 000CLP per month. There are dozens of websites where families rent their
rooms as well as these Facebook sites:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/roommateandflatfinderchile/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/roomflatfinder/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gringosinchile/
However my friends and me wanted to rent an apartment. That wasn't anymore easy, I
can tell. There are three bedroom apartments but we were five people. Finally we found
one four-bedroom apartment. Luckily it was in a good neighbourhood in Barrio Suecia.
The apartment itself wasn't very modern. The furniture looked like from the 19th centu-
ry. However there were two living rooms so basically bedrooms for five. We ended up
for the apartment, since it was only one available and we saw that it's nicer to spend the
same sum for your own apartment than living with a family. At least I prefer good com-
pany out of modern furniture. Apartment rents include only the apartment and expenses
like water, Internet, electricity and heating will be accounted from you later. We paid
together 1 million CLP for the rent and expenses for three months were 500 000CLP.
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2. EXHANGE STUDIES
MBA studies in Santiago were very different than what I have used to in Finland and in
my master studies. The students were older and all of them work at the same time as
they study. Some of them have kids and family life between works and studies. That
means that the amount of the work was quite easy for us who were just studying. I had
lectures from Monday to Wednesday at 6-9 pm. That means that I was able to travel
four days a week!
Also the courses were quite easy. They were about the same level that I did in the bach-
elor studies in Finland. On the other hand, some of the students don't have bachelor
from business but from engineering or law for instance. So we needed to cover the ba-
sics too. Also the level of students’ English was quite bad and at least I felt that I got
better grades just because my language skills. On the other hand I heard that Spanish-
speaking courses were very challenging. I didn’t really concentrated for studying, just
more for travelling, but still I got one of the best grades from the classes. However, that
didn’t mean full grades since sometimes professors passed just a couple of students.
Grading is from 1-7 and 4 is a first grade to pass. For instance one time I got 5.5, which
was the best grade, and the average was 3.5. Fortunately, it was also quite easy to get
sevens.
Below you find the courses that we were able to select. Grey ones are in English. So
basically if you want to study English courses, you need to take everything that is avail-
able. But on the other hand you are able to do your studies just in English as I and most
of the exchange students did. To do 24 points you need to do 40 credits in Santiago.
And btw, there was food like sandwiches, yogurt, fruits, nuts etc. available every day in
school for free!
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CURSOS MINIMOS PRIMER TRIMESTRE 2015 Cr. Nombre del curso Profesor Área Horario Clases
10 DIRECCIÓN DE EMPRESAS I (curso en espa-ñol)
José Rive-ra Estrategia L: 18:00 - 21:00
10 DIRECCIÓN FINANCIERA II Ignacio Rodríguez Finanzas M: 18:00 - 21:00
10 DIRECCIÓN DE EMPRESAS I (curso en inglés) Matko Koljatic Estrategia L: 18:00 - 21:00
10 DIRECCIÓN FINANCIERA II Por con-firmar Finanzas M: 18:00 - 21:00
10 DIRECCIÓN DE RECURSOS HUMANOS Carlos Portales RR.HH/Liderazgo M: 18:00 - 21:00
CURSOS MINIMOS PRIMER TRIMESTRE 2015 Malla Nueva Cr Nombre del curso Profesor Área Horario Clases
10 GENERAL MANAGEMENT Álvaro Bustos Estrategia L: 18:00 - 21:00
5 ANÁLISIS CUANTITATIVOS PARA LAS DECISIONES
Pablo Marshall Estadística
M: 18:00 - 21:00 (10-mar al 21-abr)
5 ECONOMÍA PARA LA GESTIÓN Rodrigo Harrison Economía
M: 18:00 - 21:00 (28-abr al 2-jun)
10 GENERAL MANAGEMENT Jorge Tarziján Estrategia L: 18:00 - 21:00
CURSOS ELECTIVOS PRIMER TRIMESTRE 2015 Cr Nombre del curso Profesor Área Horario Clases
10 BEHAVIORAL ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT Rosario Macera Liderazgo/RRHH M: 18:00 - 21:00
5 GESTIÓN AMBIENTAL EN LA EMPRESA Luis Ci-fuentes Sustentabilidad
M: 18:00 - 21:00 (28-abr al 2-jun)
10 MARKETING INTERNACIONAL Hernán Palacios
Marketing/Global Mngt W: 18:00 - 21:00
10 THE LEADERSHIP OF ENTREPRENEURS Marcus Heidbrink
Lideraz-go/Emprendimiento
W: 18:00 - 21:00 (11-mar al 22-abr)
5 NEGOCIACIÓN AVANZADA Nureya Abarca Liderazgo/RRHH
W: 18:00 - 21:00 (18 junio al 30 julio)
10 VALORACIÓN DE EMPRESAS Y PROYECTOS
Julio Riutort Finanzas J: 18:00 - 21:00
10 FINANZAS INTERNACIONALES José Tes-sada
Finanzas/Global Management J: 18:00 - 21:00
5 GESTIÓN DE LA CADENA DE VALOR Marcos Singer Operaciones
J: 18:00 - 21:00 (30-abr al 4-jun)
5 GESTIÓN DEL CONOCIMIENTO E INNOVACIÓN
Miguel Nussbaum Innovación
J: 18:00 - 21:00 (12-mar al 23-abr)
FORMATO INTENSIVO
10 PRICING FOR STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL DECISION MAKING IN GLOBAL MARKETS
Lidija Polutnik Marketing
15 - 18 abr: Miér de 15 a 20 hrs., jue, vie y sáb de 8 a 19 hrs.
SEMINARIOS INTERNACIONALES
5 GLOBAL NETWORK FOR ADVANCED MANAGEMENT
Andrés Ibáñez
Financial investments in Latin America
16 al 20 de Marzo 08.30 a 17:00
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2.1. MY COURSES
DIRECCIÓN DE EMPRESAS I MATKO KOLJATIC MAROEVIC Dirección de Empresas was all about the strategy. Even the name is in Spanish, should
course be taught in English. This wasn’t always the thing since professor is quite old
and sometimes the language changed to Spanish. There was lot to do in the course but
the level was quite easy. We needed to hand a Harvard case to almost every lecture and
there was lot of articles to read. There were a middle term and an end exam in the
course. Both exams were open book exams, so computers and books were allowed. The
tests were all about the cases, which was very nice!
Composition of the course:
30 % Problem sets and case write-ups
10 % Class comments
25 % Mid Term exam
30 % Final Exam
BEHAVIORAL ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT
ROSARIO MACERA
Behavioral Issues in Management handled many psychology issues as well how people
are not rational. The professor spoke good English and the course was quite a lot based
on discussions. For every topic, you needed to handle a paper of your own experience.
At the end of the course, everyone presented one of his or her own topic. The presenta-
tion was six minutes plus six minutes for the questions. Final exam was based on cases.
Composition of the course:
20 % In class participation
20 % Brief take-home applications
30 % Final-class application (paper and presentation)
30 % Final Exam
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THE LEADERSHIP OF ENTREPRENEURS
MARCUS HEIDBRINK
The leadership of Entrepreneurs was a very inspiring course. The core of the course was
leadership models but more than that professor from Switzerland inspired you to think
your own vision and place where you want to work. There were two group presentations
where you needed to study a case and there were one-hour time to make the presenta-
tion. Quite nice but when there is nine people in the one group, is grading unfair. Some
members who did not study the case beforehand and said nothing in the presentation got
the same grades as other group members. There ware also 5-minute presentation of one
leadership style and 8 pages report about your own leadership style. All in all the entire
course was just fantastic and professor one of the best that I have had.
Composition of the course:
20 % Group presentation on case study
20 % 2nd group presentation on case study
20 % Pair presentation
40 % Written essay about own leadership style
PRICING FOR STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL DECISION MAKING IN GLOBAL MARKETS LIDIJA POLUTNIK
I was supposed to do an intensive pricing course that would have been 4 days from 8
am to 7 pm. However they told us two days before that the exam is not in the same
week but next. I had already flights booked for that Saturday so I couldn't attend the
course. My roomies took that course and it was super intensive. They did all the nights
cases and readings and still they just and just passed the course. In the end the professor
announced that there would not be an exam at all. Nice. So in the end I could have been
able to do the course.
Composition of the course:
25 % Exam
25 % Final Paper
20 % Class Participation
30 % Case Write Ups
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3. FREE TIME AND OTHER INFORMATION
3.1. EXPENCES
Santiago is not the cheapest place in the world. Actually the prices are quite the same
than in Finland and city is the most expensive in the whole South America. Shopping in
supermarket is expensive and if you want to save money you should visit markets like
La Vega. Restaurants are quite the same than in Finland but wine is cheap.
3.2. FREE TIME IN SANTIAGO
MBA party. Picture from https://www.facebook.com/pages/MBA-UC/356575870539?fref=ts
There are lot of happenings in Santiago every day. As said I didn’t stay in the city a lot
and thus I’m not able to tell so much. Usually everyone wants to leave the smoggy city
in the weekends and travel to the beach or to South. Chileans are very nice and polite
and ask you to join them when they travel, so you will find your way to other cities too.
If not, Chileans will ask you to party with them.
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3.3. WEATHER
Weather in Santiago may be hot or cold. When I arrived to Santiago in March days were
extremely hot but becoming fall lowered the temperatures. Nights during May were al-
ready very cold and the worst part was that there is only one layer in the windows. That
means that there is usually colder in inside than outside. So take lot of warm clothes
with you as well as summer clothes. During March to May there was only one rainy day
but I have heard that during winter the weather is extremely rainy.
3.4. TRAVELING
As told I have been travelling quite a lot before, during and after my exchange. You can
read more from here: http://www.lily.fi/blogit/all-pages-annu
3.4.1. MY OWN TRAVELS IN CHILE
VALPARISO
We made trip to Valparaiso. We enjoyed city's wine, seafood as well as the streets of
that Unesco world heritage destination.
CASABLANCA VALLEY
In the Eastern weekend, we visited Casablanca Valley, which is one of the biggest white
wine and Pinot Noir wine country in Chile. There are about ten wineries in Casablanca
Valley. We visited three of them and enjoyed wine and life. Day was one of those beau-
tiful summer days during a starting fall and it was super nice to use one of the last
summer weekends visiting the wineries.
CHILOÉ
Chiloé is the second biggest island in Chile and it is known for its personal building
style and seafood dishes. I was so happy to end up a place where crabs and fish were so
cheap. However what I liked most were Castos' traditional houses in Palafitos. I stayed
one of those houses and just enjoyed the view and the sea.
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TORRES DEL PAINE
If you love hiking and nature, you really should hike in Patagonia! And even you are
not the best friend of hiking; the view is so amazing that I would book tickets anyway.
Patagonia is an extraordinary place to hike since the view changes every ten minutes.
Remember that in Patagonia it is summer from December to March and that is the best
time visit.
ATACAMA
You should really travel to Atacama too! Views are just fantastic and sometimes it feels
that you are not in the Earth but in the Moon or the Mars instead. Atacama was one of
my favourite places to visit.
EASTER ISLAND
Ester Island was so lovely place! It is a small cute island where traditional Rapa Nui
culture, Hawaii and South America create together unique mix for the island. The island
is 12x24 kilometres and there is only one street in the city. Most of the island is beauti-
ful countryside. The island is full of moai statues and wild horses.
3.5. THINGS I WON’T MISS
THE SMOG
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The smog! You can even imagine the amount of smog. Travelling in Shangai and Asia,
has Santiago been one of the worst. And I have heard that when it comes to winter, the
smog is even worse. You don't really want to do sports outside or breath air at all.
METRO
Don't even bother to use the metro. You would not fit in. And when it is not rush hour it
is so hot inside the metro that you prefer walking anyway.
FREEZING APARTMENTS
Like in the metros, it is not hot inside the apartments during a winter. No, it is a freezing
cold! My window has only one layer and yes it's about zero degree outside. So it is al-
most the same temperature inside as well. My best friends have become my woollen
socks, my woollen shirt, hat, fleece pants, jacket, down blanket.
INTERNET
It may work or it doesn't. We thought that it just ours that is not working but apparently
there is a common problem in Santiago. Not enough capacity for the whole city. Every
time you call the company, they add more capacity to you. But you can imagine what
happens when the next customer makes the same call as you did. So be prepared inter-
ruptions.
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4. FINAL COMMENTS
All in all Santiago was’t my favourite place to live but on the other hand I have loved
South America so much as well as other parts of Chile. They are just fantastic and one
of my favourite ones in the whole world. I really encourage you to travel around South
America to see the real culture and way to live. Unfortunately in Santiago you are not
able to see that. On the other hand, Santiago is very safe and easy place to live com-
pared to other cities in South America and thus also a very nice place to live. I didn’t
feel at all unsafe as I did in the other cities here in South America. So even Santiago
wasn’t my favourite, I’m happy that I end up here since it’s easy place to live and travel.
All in all I felt that in the second exchange I didn’t learn so much about myself or the
other cultures. The first exchange was very eyes opening experience. On the other hand
this exchange was very easy compared to the first one in terms of how easy it was for
me to settle down to the unknown city and how little I stressed things like in the first
exchange. I guess that in the second exchange you really feel that living abroad is not
big issue and just normal way of your life. However I really encourage everyone to go
for the exchange or two. You will miss a lot if you don’t do that.
If you have anything to ask, please do not hesitate to contact me. Easiest is with email
or Facebook since I will move to Dubai and I don’t know how long my phone number
will be in use.
Have a good time in the exchange!
0405442196
ANNU