Since I can remember travelling was my passion. Tthat is why I’ve decided to go to Faculty of Tourism Studies Portorož - Turisica and of course to go to ERASMUS Student Exchange. Also one of the facts why I have decided to go to ERASMUS was meeting new people from all over the world, putting myself to the test – am I able to go to a foreign country, study in a different language, live on my own, learn a foreign language etc...
Because we have Erasmus partner institution (University of Rey Juan Carlos–Madrid) for the first time I didn’t know what to expect. But it turned out that it’s a really good University, yes sure they have some pros and cons, but hey we’re in Spain in the middle of crisis hah. For example, some professors really don’t speak good English or they speak with their strong accent. The problem is that around 40% of professors were fired and the others got an ultimatum – either they teach in English or they will loose their job. So this is one of the cons, the other is maybe, studying material – again problem with English, sure there are some PowerPoint slides, but not for all the subjects, I guess it depends of which you choose. They are also really slow with all the paperwork – international office, but that might be because there is a lot of ERASMUS students and they all have their own questions. Now for the pros, everyone is really kind and helpful, if you have any problems, just go to the first Spanish student or professor and they will immediately help you, also in the international office, if you have any problems with learning agreement, accommodation, abono ticket, University etc...they will help you as much as they can. A big plus is also with all the professors, that their not that strict with the test or you don’t even need to do them – just some presentations and summaries of the material you went through in the classes. What surprised me as well, is that nobody is on time here haha, like they had their own perception of time, everyone is 10-15min late, so the class which should be 60 min is actually 45 or less heh.
Before I arrived I’ve been working in Greece for 2 months and I’ve been talking to some people that have also been in Spain – Madrid not so long ago and they said that is really similar to Greece way of living. Well they were rigt in a way. The people are as friendly and helpful as in Greece if not even more – I remember the first week when I was moving from a hostel to an apartment and I was dragging this large luggage up the stairs and skinny Spanish girl stopped to helped me, I was like what is this, why do you help me...that would never happen in my country for example, I of course said I am ok, I mean she was really too skinny to help hah, but I appreciated her good intentions and in general as I mentioned before, Spanish people are really open, ready to talk to you, to help you if u get lost or if you need some advice – the only problem is, language barrier...almost no one speaks English, so be prepared to learn Spanish as soon as possible. Madrid as the capital city is really nice and beautiful, actually is in top 5 scale of my favorite cities – Prague, Madrid, London, Berlin and Rome.
Again really friendly and helpful people, bad English or no English language hehe. One of the good or bad things (depends what your way of living is) is siesta, Spanish people really take it seriously, specially out of the center, for example in the barrio where I live – Vicalvaro, close to University. When the clock hits 14:00 they all ran into their beds and have their well-deserved siesta, because they have been ‘’working so hard’’ during the morning – they came to their jobs 30 min late of course heh and they have siesta till 17:00 or even 18:00, so in the outskirts be prepared that most 90% of the shops, foto-copy places, restaurants etc. Will be closed during that time, except for the Chinese shops, those are open all the time.
In Madrid I recommend to go to these sights: Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Plaza de Debod, Plaza de Espana, Sol, Retiro parque, Cibeles, Prado museum, Atocha train station – interior park, Gran Via...there are also a lot of activities you can join and University does help with everything if you want, plus there are some agencies that offer you their cards, like ESN card with which will give you some discounts on food, clubs, shops activities – photography course, tango, salsa, flamenco, cooking courses, language courses etc.
Spanish people are really proud of their food and culture so be careful when talking about that, not to offend them. I was expecting it to be similar to Greek food as they said to me that is in a way similar, but it’s not. In my opinion Greek food is way better. Spanish food – at least the dishes I tried so far are mostly Ham, bread, potato, cheese, rice, calamari and egges. Dishes: Paella of course, tapas – finger food, bread with potato tortilla, ham, cheese, croquettes, calamari. They don’t eat a lot of vegetables, which I really miss. They drink either cerveza – beer or sangria, which is also the cheapest. There are two really good restaurants/pubs where you can get food and drinks really cheap: 100 montaditos (Wednesday and Sunday – everything for 1€ ...0,5L beer/sangria etc 1€, one sandwich 1€ etc.), El Tigre (for 5€ you get 0,5L beer/sangria and a really big plate of various tapas, and every single person who orders get that, so imagine 7 people ordering that = 7 plates of tapas and 7x0,5L beer and when another person joins they just bring 7 plates + 1 more for everyone for free), and there are many more, it’s enough if you walk in the center and there are a lot of people who are offering different stuff so you can decide where to go. Food in the University is also very cheap also drinks so in case you get hungry you can go and eat there. What I don’t like is that there are just a few places where you can get good coffe – Starbucks, but I don’t like it that much because it’s like McDonalds and there is one other place I have found – Toma Cafe (metro Noviciado, street Calle de la Palma, perfect coffe, almost as good as Italian illy <3). If you are like me, mostly cooking at home since it’s much cheaper then I suggest you to go to Mercadona, it’s the cheapest or maybe Ahora Mas supermarkets.
Most of my friends found their accommodation over the internet from their countries, but I didn’t, first I went to a hostel in the center so I got the feeling how far everything is. As I said some of them found it over internet by them self. This way is good because you can get a good place for a reasonable price and you will probably live with other Erasmus or mixed – male/female, which in my opinion is really good since you can meet a lot of different people. The only problem is that with a lot of landlords is like that, that when you plan to move out you should find another one who will replace you or you won’t get your 300€ deposit back, but this is not with all of them. So the safer choice in my opinion is by Aluni agency, which helps you find accommodation. I took it with Aluni, because I was running out of time and nerves. With Aluni you get the deposit back, the only thing I don’t like is that there are no mixed apartments – only male or only female.
Now for the best part, FIESTA !!! Because Spanish have their siesta from 14:00-18:00 they have a lot of energy in the night hehe, so they have to go out to have fun. The usual time they go out is around 23:00 after late dinner or maybe before if they go to eat out or just to the park for a botallon – drinking in a park. Then they go to discos/clubs or just pubs, but pubs are only open till 2:00 am, while clubs/discos stay open till 6:00-7:00 am, perfect time because the metro opens again at 6:00 am. The usual entry fee is around 12€ with one or two drinks and in most of the clubs there is a dress code which they take seriously – Shirt and nice pants, girls high heels and a dress. Sure you can find some clubs without dress code and there are some night you can go in a good club with casual dress code. It is also possible to enter for free if you put yourself on a guest list on Facebook or if you find a person who is giving free entry fliers on the street. Some good clubs which everyone has to visit are: Pacha, Joy, Kapital, Cats, La Nota, Palace, Moondance...and remember, every good party finishes with Churros (kind of a desert you eat with hot chocolate, straight from the club to Churos is sth.traditional everyone should do it at least once!!!) Drinking on a street is forbidden, but everyone is doing it, it depends of the police, one day they do nothing the other day they stop and throw all your drinks away or write you a ticket, but I had no problems with them).
The best way to go around Madrid is either by metro or by bus (monthly ticket: 30€ under 23 yrs old, 51€ 23 and more), metro closes down at 1:30am – goes from the last station, opens at 6:00am, there are night buses which all go from Cibeles to different locations in Madrid. If they catch you without the ticket, the fee is around 30€, but if you are lucky and they just ask you for the address and name, you actually don’t need to pay for the ticket, because they won’t come to the address. If you decide to travel to other cities, which I hope you will, because everyone who goes to Erasmus should travel as much as possible, the best way is by bus, because it is much cheaper than train and faster or by plane – Iberia or Ryan Air.
The costs of living in my country – Slovenia were much lover than here, but just because the apartment was 350€/month and I spent a lot of money on month ticket and of course fiestas. So Erasmus scholarship 290€/month would not be enough to cover all, luckily I have 266€/month scholarship also in Slovenia so that covers all and I might get another one 150€/ month from Public Fund of RS and with this is more than enough. But be prepared that if you go out, even just to the center a few times per week it will cost you really a lot, because sooner or later you will stop for a coffee, beer or snack.and 2€ here, 1€ there, 3.€ there and there it is 6€ just like that...3 times a week it’s 18€, 4 times a month is 72€ a month just for nothing. But I know that you will do it, because everyone does it haha, it’s Erasmus for god’s sake! =D
THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would never change this experience for nothing!!!! EVRYONE SHOULD GO ON ERASMUS!!!!
JUST GO AND YOU WON’T REGRET IT, I PROMISE !!!
David Zupanc, davidzupanc1@gmail.com
P.S. A word of advice, never put ketchup in a jamon sandwich or tortilla sandwich in front of Spanish, because they will freak out! hahaha
So Erasmus scholarship 290€/month would not be enough to cover all, luckily I have 266€/month scholarship also in Slovenia so that covers all and I might get another one 150€/ month from Public Fund of RS and with this is more than enough. But be prepared that if you go out, even just to the center a few times per week it will cost you really a lot, because sooner or later you will stop for a coffe, beer, snack or sth.and 2€ here, 1€ there, 3.€ there and there it is 6€ just like that...3 times a week it’s 18€, 4 times a month is 72€ a month just for nothing. But I know that you will do it, because everyone does it haha, it’s Erasmus for god’s sake! =D
No comments:
Post a Comment