Host University: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Programme: European Languages and Cultures
Student: Arjanna ten Wolde, a.h.ten.wolde@student.rug.nl
During the first semester of 2017/2018 I studied at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). Originally, I wanted to follow five courses, all worth 6 ECTS, in order to be sure to obtain the obligated 30 ECTS. However, due to some issues with my schedule and also the realization that I wanted to enjoy my Erasmus as much as possible I decided to follow only four courses. These courses were all part of the International Relations bachelor at the university and were the following: Teoría de las Relaciones
Internacionales (Theory of International Relations), Geografía de la Población y la Desigualdad (Geography of the Population and Inequality), Comunicación Intercultural (Intercultural Communication) and Historia del Siglo XX (History of the XX Century). I passed all my courses and thus obtained 24 ECTS in Madrid. During the semester I also followed an online course at the RUG which was Spanish Advanced Proficiency, worth 5 ECTS. So, in total, I obtained 29 of the obligated 30 ECTS during my semester abroad. I am glad about this result and will be able to obtain the last ECTS during the following semester at the RUG.
In the first week of the semester the UAM organized a welcome day for all the international students during which all the necessary information was given about courses, extracurricular activities and the practical things we needed to do in order to enrol ourselves. Moreover, like the Mobility Office in Groningen, at the UAM there were persons with whom you could get into contact every day to ask or arrange things.
International students were also given the opportunity to participate in a so-called mentor programme, which I did. By doing this, you were placed in a group with 4-5 international students and a student of the UAM who helped us finding our classes and figuring out the schedules and told us about the city. Personally, I think this programme was a great way to get to know the university, new people and Madrid and I would recommend it to anyone.
With respect to the level of education at the UAM, I think this is similar to the RUG. During the week, I had 12 contact hours because every course had a 2-hours lecture and a 1-hour seminar. What stood out for me was the size of the courses. In almost every course there were about a minimum of 20 students, both in lectures and seminars. Especially for seminars this is a big number and at times it made it difficult to concentrate. What I liked a lot was that all courses in a way linked the theoretical parts to some kind of (contemporary) practical case. Personally, this kind of practical cases spark my interest more than theory and I think it also helped me to understand the theory better.
Every faculty at the UAM has its own library which is really helpful. The university is only 50 years old, but I do not think it has ever been renovated yet. You have the opportunity to eat in one of the canteens at the campus and you can also use sport facilities which are also on campus, such as a swimming pool, tennis, volleyball, football and basketball courts and a gym. During the first weeks of the semester you can enrol
for these activities. Personally, I did not like the university its appearance a lot and
during the winter it was too cold inside the university. However, what was really nice and convenient is the fact that the train station is directly in front of the university, so it was really easy to get there.
During the semester I did have some contact with teachers and students from the RUG, mostly via email or skype and I think this went well. Whenever I had questions relating to the Erasmus programme or my stay abroad I mailed someone from the RUG and, most of the time, the response was quick and helpful. Of course, I could also ask things to my teachers at the UAM and I think this contact, whether personal or via email, has been good and helpful as well.
Looking back at the financial part of my exchange I am content with the expenses I have made. Housing expenses of course depend much on where you want to live in the city and in which conditions, but in general I think the prices are similar to here in Groningen. For me, living in Spain has been cheaper than expected. Food and drinks are not that expensive. Because of this, I was able to go on some trips like to Porto and Lisbon and to live without having to think too much about the money. Of course, without the Erasmus grant this would have been a lot harder. With regards to finding a room, I made sure that I already had a room on arrival. This means I booked a room via internet without seeing it first, except for photos and videos of course. Although it did make me a bit nervous to book a room without seeing it first I am glad I did it this way because during the first weeks I have heard a lot of stories of people who had lots of difficulties finding a room.
Furthermore, I did not encounter a lot of problems during my exchange, but I think the hardest things in the beginning for every international student are the language and meeting some nice people. All of my courses were in Spanish and although I have had studied Spanish for approximately 1,5 years before going to Madrid it still was a struggle in the beginning. I think the best way to handle this is to make sure before going on an exchange that you will be able to manage yourself in the country, whether this means that you can speak basic Spanish or English. Moreover, in Madrid, but I think that this is applicable for almost every student city, there are a lot of organizations and events for international students, ranging from language cafes, picnics in the park to pub crawls and city trips. For me, going to events like that has been really helpful in improving my Spanish and English and also in finding some good friends. Also, because of being in a different country and city you have to take initiative yourself in order to meet people and to solve your problems and although this might seem a bit difficult or even scary in the beginning I can only assure the next outgoing students by saying that everyone is “in the same boat” and therefore everyone will be open to make new friends, so do not be afraid and just take initiative.
