Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Program: Estudios Internacionales (international studies) Shanne Bouma
shannebouma@gmail.com
I signed up – very enthusiastically – for five courses in Spain. At the same time, I was following a course in the Netherlands via skype in order to improve my academically spoken Spanish. After the first week, all of a sudden the schedules of the courses in Madrid changed. This led to me dropping one of the courses, even though I preferred to have completed 36 ECTS instead of 30 ECTS. I dropped the one I found least interesting: Europa y América: una perspectiva historica, since I already followed a similar course in Groningen in my second year. My other courses were well interesting. I had high expectations of Geografia de la población y de la desigualdad, but it was very nuclear what we exactly had to do. Furthermore, the teacher was very chaotic and didn’t apply any structure whatsoever in his lessons. However, I managed to pass writing an essay about rural populations in the Netherlands and the exam was very easy. The next course I followed was Teoría Social, a very theoretical but also very interesting course. The central aspect throughout the course was human progress and how this is envisaged by different branches of sociological thinkers. I really liked the fact that every week we had to analyse very dense texts, but every week we would explain the texts in groups during class. I really learned something here and I consider this course one of the most interesting courses I followed during my university career! It really took some of the classical thinkers about modernity, such as Marx or Weber and explored their concepts and ideas I depth. I think this is extremely necessary and valuable as a student of humanities and in my case European Languages and Cultures. Another course I followed was a fourth year course about Latin American Politics. In this seminar, we had a super passionate lecturer that guided us through key historical aspects that define and are still defining the Latin American continent. We had really interesting guest speakers about indigenous’ struggles, the Washington Consensus or the historical presence of the military in Latin America. I also consider this course as being very valuable for my academic and personal development. The last course I attended was called Contemporary Territories and Landscapes, treating mainly geopolitics and distribution of energy, resources or income/capital. This was a very basic, mainly reproducing course that did not offer much intellectual challenge for me. However, the teacher was very sympathetic which led me to enjoying this classes more. In the end, I passed all my courses, thus obtaining 24 ECTS.
As mentioned in my descriptions of the courses, the quality of education varied according to the teacher. Some teachers provided me with top notch knowledge and insights, and others didn’t. In general, I got the impression that most things at the Autónoma were managed very well. However, in the beginning it was all quite unclear what to do. We had to deal with long waiting hours for registration, but since I prepared and read all of the given instructions, it went quite smoothly after all. The UAM provided for an introduction meeting at the faculty of arts. It was quite informative, but didn’t give any further introductory meeting to meet other students – whereas other UAM faculties did this. On the other hand, the general introduction day was interesting and was a good opportunity to get to know some people.
The website of UAM gave clear information for incoming internationals. I found an housing agency on this website and via this agency I already booked a room back in April. The housing in Madrid was very expensive, I heard stories from people telling me that had to live in hostels for weeks because in September it was very difficult to still find something affordable. So, I
would suggest to look for a room early on - as soon as you are accepted. I found something via the webpage www.aluni.es
As soon as a entered my house, met my roommates and made some friends, I got really excited about the city of Madrid. So excited, that I actually wanted to stay longer than only one semester (one year of Erasmus is actually what most other Erasmusstudents do!). I emailed my coordinator, Bob de Jonge, and he was very helpful and replied always very rapidly. Also, Juan Alba Durán, one of my teachers in Groningen, was also providing ‘support’ in the skypecourse I had to follow. He was also very sympathetic.
Of course, not every thing was great. There were some periods I which I experienced extreme homesickness or that I felt uncomfortable. I think it is good to consider that this is normal, and that most Erasmus students go through this. I think it is therefore good to be realistic about your Erasmus. I would recommend students to go in to this experience with no expectations, grab the chances your city has to offer you and take a look inside other cultures. I specifically did not hang out with Dutch students - because being a Dutch student myself I wanted to experience a more intercultural friendgroup. I am really glad I did this, even though in the beginning it seemed I didn’t make as many friends as other people I vaguely knew. In the end, I met many people and made connections and contacts and experiences with lovely people from all around the world.
Right now, I am missing Madrid. It is an amazing city, with many cultural opportunities I was not used to in Groningen or my hometown in another part of the Netherlands. My Erasmus experience was an amazing life experience that has taught me a lot. I would recommend everybody to take this opportunity, you will challenge your own cultural beliefs and you will learn and grow!
