Erfahrungsberichte

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weitere Erfahrungsberichte für Uruguay

Land:
Uruguay

Universität:
Universidad Católica del Uruguay

Semester und Studiengang:
5. Semester Bachelor International Management

Aufenthalt:
wintersemester 2016

Über die Universität:
The Universidad Católica del Uruguay is a private university in the country´s capital, Montevideo. Located on the avenida "8 de Octubre" is is easy to reach by public transport (or walking/bike if you are up for it).
The business faculty offers different study programmes and you are free to pick and choose from all of them as long as you check back with Deggendorf about transfering the credits (Learning Agreement).
The classes are offered in different modules and timeframes, some only last half of the semester (bimestre), others last the entire semester (again, some might only be taught two times a week while others have daily lectures). Wednesdays are usually off days for Uruguayans but exchange students might have classes if they choose to elect any of the classes especially offered for them.
I personally enjoyed "Cultura Uruugaya" since you get to know a lot of different museums and places in the city and even if you might not be interested in all of them you get to know the city from a different angle. The Spanish classes offered in different levels also helps a lot, especially since almost all other academic courses are taught in Spanish. I do recommend a certain level of Spanish to study here since the "school-like" system of lectures requires you to study for small weekly tests from the beginning on, which is manageble contentwise, but obviously feels more complicated due to language problems. In general, professors are nice enough to help you out and in most classes you are not the only foreigner.

Betreuung vor Ort:
The international office in Montevideo is great and always happy to help with anything. You might need to check back with them a few times in the beginning when it comes to picking your classes (for which you have a couple of weeks) due to the system of varying times and credits that I talked about before. They will provide you with all the material needed and schedules of all study programmes, so if you sit down a day or two to figure out what works for you, you should not have any major problems.
Accommodation is up to you although again, the international office hands out lists of contacts even before you get to the country. I personally got to Uruguay without any clue and survived, which is typically a good sign that anyone can do it :P

Tipps:
Dont expect living costs to be much cheaper than in German cities.
While you might be able to save a few bucks on rent, food is pretty expensive and I got used to buying my weekly groceries on Sundays at the feria street market.
Nice neighborhoods to stay in are Pocitos, Punta Carretas or Parque Rodó, and bulevard españa offers a variety of bars, clubs and nightlife.
Be ready for Uruguay to be a really relaxed country with not a lot going on on the streets, especially when the weather is bad. In summer months (our winter!!!) people spend a lot of time along the Rambla, a sort of beach promendade that stretches along the entire city´s coastline.
Streetmarkets are not as bargain friendly as I have experienced in other parts of South America, but I have never felt like I was being ripped off.
Don´t make the same mistakes as me and underestimate the winter, it does get cold, rainy AND windy, so depending on when you are coming here, bring warm clothes.
Any other questions, no worries and just contact me (I guess the IO has my contact :P)