I studied at the faculty of philology at the Universitat de Barcelona in the first semester of the academic year 2019-20. At RUG I study European Languages & Cultures with my profile being literature and my main language Spanish, which meant that the courses I picked to study in Barcelona were all about Spanish literature. I tried to pick a variety of subjects but unfortunately this didn’t prove easy as I was limited by the fact that many of the courses I found really interesting were either taught in Catalan or a second semester course - this was quite disappointing.
Sadly, I found the introduction to the faculty to be insufficient - the welcome session was brief and its main focus was the promotion of Catalan classes, there was no explanation of the layout of the building & enrolment took three weeks. This meant that for the first few weeks of the semester I could not access important emails from professors, texts from the course or the course syllabuses on the virtual campus. I feel that this left me even further behind the Spanish students in my classes and was not a good start to the semester. Something that took some getting used to was the style of teaching and examining - it’s completely different to what I was used to in Groningen. Teachers rarely use any visual aids during the lectures, which makes it even more challenging if you’re studying in a second language. All of my exams were also hand-written and without any materials (quotes from texts we had studied had to be memorised).
My time in Barcelona also coincided with protests for Catalan independence following the sentencing of Catalan political prisoners in October 2019. This period lasted for around 1.5 months and meant strikes, student protests, cancelled classes and even some dangerous and violent riots. There were even students camping outside the university and blocking the entrance for several weeks. Although it was exciting to be part of something so culturally important, it did cause a lot of uncertainty and disruption so be prepared for that.
Barcelona is a beautiful place and has some amazing things to offer - architecture, beaches, nature, food etc. - but be prepared to not always feel welcomed by the Catalan locals. Many of the students and professors preferred to talk in Catalan in class which made me feel quite excluded at times. There is also a general anti-tourist mindset there so I would really
recommend making the effort to speak as much Spanish as possible, and learn some Catalan
too! You do also have to be careful of the (rising) crime rate. Within an hour of my arrival I had been pickpocketed, which was a good enough shock for me because it made me extra cautious for the rest of my exchange and luckily it didn’t happen again.
Some final recommendations… go on day trips to nearby towns and cities! There are lots of groups that organise excursions and affordable group train tickets. My favourite places I visited were Girona, Vic and La Masella for some skiing. Make the most of the galleries and museums; there are often days when entry is free or reduced. Try to stay in Barcelona for a few days while looking for accomodation, there is a lot more availability than in Groningen so you have the freedom to be a bit picky. A lot of landlords there also take advantage of tenants and you don’t have a lot of rights when trying to make claims against them so be careful of this.
In summary, if you do decide on Barcelona for your exchange, be prepared for a challenge - both academically and culturally. However, with its history, architecture, nightlife and surrounding landscape, it is an amazing city for an Erasmus student so make the most of it.
