Experience report
ANR: 206181
Name: Roel Derks
E-mail: r.m.p.derks@tilburguniversity.edu
Exchange semester: Fall Semester, 2014
Academic year: 3
Host University: Universidad del Pacifico
Country: Peru
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
How was your arrival organized? Did someone pick you up from the airport/station? Was an
orientation or introduction activity organized? How was accommodation organized? Does the
university provide you with accommodation? What kind of accommodation does the university
provide? Did you have to book your accommodation in advance or did you have to search for a place
to live after you arrived?
I had to organize my arrival and my housing myself, I decided to take a 3-week Spanish course in
Cusco before the semester started because I could hardly speak a word in Spanish. I just booked a
hotel for the first 3 nights in Cusco to have somewhere to stay. After the first day of the Spanish
course I asked the international coordinator of the Universidad del Pacifico if she could arrange a host
family for 3 weeks for me in Cusco. The next day I moved in with my host family which gave a huge
boost to my Spanish because they only spoke Spanish to me. These 3 weeks in Cusco improved my
Spanish way more than any course in Tilburg could have done, I would really advise everyone to do
this.
Going to Lima after 3 weeks, I had already organized my housing about 3 months in advance, I had to
do this myself although the university provided me with some names of trustworthy companies.
APUPeru is a decent, somewhat overpriced, housing organization that I would advise. Watch out
though that you don’t take their taxi service of S/.200 per person, the safe airport taxi green will take
you to miraflores for just S/.50.
TOPIC: Location of university/city
Please describe the city you lived in. Where is the university located in the city? What is the best
place to go to eat/drink/dance/do sports/etc.? What are interesting things to see and do in your host
city? What was different than in Tilburg?
The Universidad del Pacifico is located in the neighbourhood of Jesus Maria in Lima, capital of Peru. I
myself lived in miraflores and by combi-bus it is about half an hour to the university. The city of Lima
itself is enormous, a city grown out of proportions and I bet I haven’t visited more than 5% of the city.
This is no problem since 90%of the city consists of ‘barrios populares’ where the rather poor people
live and there’s nothing to see. The neighbourhoods for good food, going out and where most student
houses are located are Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro and to a lesser extent Pueblo Libre, Jesus
Maria, Lince and Surco.
Being a coastal city Lima provides great opportunities for watersports like jet-skiing and surfing. The
‘Costa Verde’ is a high cliff in miraflores with a nice park for jogging and numerous companies
organizing parapenting above the cliffs. The places to be at night differ every evening though during
weekdays I found that there are less places to go to than in Tilburg, even though Lima has 9 million
inhabitants. During weekend-nights you’ll mostly go to bars with more European/American style
musice though it is also possible to visit other discotheques, but beware, there will be salsa music and
you’ll have to dance haha! There are lists for the best discotheques that you will be able to write your
name on for free, while the Peruvians will have to pay up to S/.100 to enter the club. Discrimination for
gringos.
Lima itself is completely different to Tilburg, I would see Tilburg more as a large village, compared to
Lima. First of all are safety concerns, though I have never been robbed, I’ve heard numerous stories
of people taking a bad cab or being robbed on the streets. My advice is not too worry too much about
this though, Miraflores and San Isidro are generally very safe districts with guards on every corner of
the street and cameras watching the whole area.
Taking cabs during daytime is completely safe and you can more or less take any cab that looks
decent. So just don’t take cabs that just have a sticker with taxi on their window that are clearly trying
to get you in, the rest are all safe. At night just look for a taxi that has the number of their license plate
written on the side of the cab or that has a telephone number on top of the roof (these are 99% safe).
Always remember the number of the license plate (just in case, never needed it though). It also helps
to know the route to where you are going, you can always direct the taxi driver if you feel he is taking
a too large detour.
TOPIC: Academics
Which courses did you take and why? Which courses would you recommend? What did the courses
add to your program at Tilburg University? How does the university compare to Tilburg University
concerning the level of the courses, use of extra material, level of English, workload, etc.? Overall,
were you happy with your academic achievements during your exchange? Please describe the
campus of your host university.
The courses I took were Gestion de Comercio Internacional, Gestion Internacional de Empresas,
Analisis Economico and Management the Latin American way. So 3 courses in Spanish and 1 in
English. The courses weren’t too hard to take, not even the Spanish courses because I had already
been in Peru for over a month taken Spanish courses, giving me confidence in Spanish. The only
thing that is hard are the technical terms that you sometimes don’t know in Spanish. GCI and GIE
focused primarily on doing business internationally, what contracts need to be signed and what forces
have to be taken account. It was a more practical view on the matter than I got in Tilburg. The course
Analisis Economico was more or less the beginnings of micro and macro economics but the teacher I
had talked a great deal about problems in Peru with corruption and pollution etc. which was very
interesting.
The level of English in my only English course was somewhat low, the teacher sometimes just didn’t
understand what we were saying and there were quite some students that were really struggling with
the English. The course itself wasn’t too difficult so I got quite a good grade in the end (16) but I
wouldn’t advise people to take Management the Latin American way.
My final grades were 15, 15, 15 and 16 which calculates back to 3x 7,5 and 1x 8 in dutch grades. The
overall academic level is lower than in Tilburg and teachers are willing to lend you a hand if you’re
struggling with the Spanish or the material.
The campus of the Universidad del Pacifico is really small with just 2 buildings, you’ll find your way
around really quickly.
TOPIC: Social life
Which social activities organized by the university or students? Did you have contact with local
students? Did you have contact with other exchange students? How did you get along with the local
students and other exchange students? Did you travel to other places/countries during your
exchange?
The university itself does not really organize anything for students apart from the first introductory
activities and the optional Spanish courses. There is a buddy program with the Peruvian students and
this works quite well, I had a really nice buddy that really helped me to choose my subjects but I also
know people that never even saw their buddy.
There is a facebook group that is called What To Do Peru that organizes some activities during the
semester and that puts up the lists for the clubs every day. Furthermore they highlight some events in
the city.
I got along great with the other exchange students and every weekend it was partying at a club or a
house party. I also travelled with some of these people and all in all it was an awesome experience.
During the semester there is enough time to travel so I travelled to the the north of Peru, Huaraz in
the mountains and to the oasis of huacachina. After the semester I travelled two weeks to lago
Titicaca and Bolivia with a dutch friend I met during the semester. We went to Uyuni and after that
climbed the Huayna Potosi mountain of 6088m just 1 hour outside of la paz. This was the absolute
climax of my travels in Peru and Bolivia and I would advise everyone to do this climb as well even
though it is really tough
TOPIC: Living costs
How did you finance your exchange period, apart from the grant you received from Tilburg University?
What were your living expenses abroad like compared to Tilburg? What did you spend most of your
money on? What would you advice future students to spend their money on? Please outline your
approximate monthly budget whilst on exchange: housing, food, textbooks, etc.
I financed my period abroad mainly with the government grant, since I got the maximum. Furthermore
my parents paid for my university and I had some savings that I used. The expenses for housing are
comparable to Tilburg and going out I spend more actually, because of the taxi (even though it’s not
expensive) and because I went out around 3 times a week. Your food expenses will be higher
because the good supermarkets are more expensive than in the the Netherlands. Also beer is more
expensive in Peru than in the Netherlands, other drinks are cheaper. I spent most of my money on
travelling. All in all I would take a budget of about €1200 per month to spend on housing, going out,
eating, travelling etc..
TOPIC: Culture
Did you experience culture shock while on exchange? How would you compare your host culture to
your own culture? What did you learn about your own culture while on exchange? What was different
about your host culture than you expected? What did you like and not like about your host culture? Do
you feel you learned a lot about your host culture, and if not, what would you like to learn more? How
would you describe your host countries culture? If you travelled to other cities/countries during your
exchange, were they different than your host city/country, and how?
I did not experience a culture shock because I get the feeling that the cultural difference is not as big
as I thought beforehand. It also helps to know that you’re travelling to another country with a different
culture and to just accept this and go with it. I found out that the Peruvian people are in general really
friendly and very talkative. People are more laid-back and if you forgot something at uni it was never a
problem to move the deadline or to find another solution. Peruvians are always at least 10 minutes
late, at least most of them. Furthermore they are not efficient or fast in doing their job. An example
would be waiting for a coffee in an empty café for 15 minutes, don’t let it get on your nerves, just tell
the waitress that it’s taking too long and go with it.
I learned that dutch people are in general very hastily and that people don’t really take time for other
people either. Dutch people are also very punctual and have very high expectations of everything.
These factors contribute to the fact that I feel dutch people are far more stressed than Peruvians but it
also contributes to the great wealth we have in our country compared to inefficient Peru.
I would describe Peruvian people as being really friendly and talkative, I’ve had uncountable
conversations with taxi drivers, bus drivers or just random people on the street. Things in Peru are all
laid-back and efficiency is a word that doesn’t exist in Peru but just take advantage of this instead of
letting it get on your nerves. In a conversation 90% of the times the topic of how you like the Peruvian
food will come up so be ready to answer this question. The only thing that I can think of that I didn’t
like was that a lot of girls can be really jealous and will try to claim you. In general as a gringo you
won’t be lacking female attention to understate it.
The people in the countryside, which is in fact everywhere outside of Lima, are more open and
talkative than in Lima, people in Lima are more westernized and just minding their own business in
general, like in the Netherlands.
Bolivia is an even poorer country than Peru but culture is comparable to that in the countryside of
Peru.
TOPIC: Personal development
What did you learn from the people you met during your exchange? Would you do things differently if
you had the chance, and what would you do differently? What was your best experience, and what
was your worst experience? What will you remember for ever about your exchange period? What was
the most important lesson you learned about yourself during your exchange period?
I don’t think any people specifically really learned me something but that the experience as a whole,
and being in the presence of a huge variety of nationalities and cultures has taught me that though
with some people the stereotypes about their country are completely true, this is not true for everyone
of the country. Every person is different in a way so it’s better not to judge them on their nationality but
just to meet them and see how they are.
The best experiences I had on my exchange were seeing machu picchu and climbing the 6088m
huayna potosi mountain in Bolivia in my last few weeks. Also meeting so many great and openminded people will stay with me forever and will benefit me in the future. I don’t have really bad
experiences to be honest. The only thing I just never really liked was going to and from the airport. I
didn’t like this because you are there with all your money and everything you own, I felt very prone to
robbery.
What I learned personally seen is that I was very impatient in everything I did. In Peru I learned to be
more patient but also not to always expect the best of everyone and everything.
TOPIC: Tips for future students
Would you recommend an exchange period? Would you recommend your host university? What
should prospective students bring with them/leave behind? What preparation is required for going on
exchange to this destination? Was there anything you should have done in preparation that you didn’t
do?
I would certainly recommend an exchange period to every student. I learned more than I would’ve
possibly learned if I had stayed in Tilburg 6 months. Even though the level is somewhat lower than at
Tilburg, I learned a new language and I learned a lot about myself. I would recommend the
Universidad del Pacifico not for its great academic level but for the fact that it grants you enough time
to enjoy your time abroad (going out, travelling etc.). I haven’t had any trouble with the university
bedause in general they are very laid-back and if you can’t make a deadline, you can always discuss
this with the teacher and most of the times he will just allow you to hand in the report a week later. If
you go to Peru, I would certainly recommend to take good walking shoes with you because there is a
lot of hiking to do in order to see the great landscapes and for example machu picchu. My Spanish
was literally 0 when I arrived in cusco and I thought; why the hell am I doing this. I didn’t understand
anything and most people in Peru don’t know any English so the first week was really challenging and
tiring. After the first week I couldn’t believe how much I had already learned and after 3 weeks I felt
confident with communicating in Spanish, this goes really fast so don’t worry about it too much. I think
it would’ve been better if I had taken a bit more Spanish classes and if I had taken them a bit more
serious.
Roel Derks