E-mail: debby-94@live.nl
Study Program: Business school
Exchange semester: Fall
Academic year: 2015- 2016
Host University: Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE
Country: Spain
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
ICADE is located in the city-center of Madrid. It’s a lively environment and like a fifteen-minute walk
of Gran Via, the main street of Madrid. Madrid is an amazing city with a lot of students. There is food
everywhere and all terraces are full most of the time. As well for shopping and going out, Madrid is a
great choice. There is Spanish music all the time, so if you prefer reaggeton and salsa over top40
music, you have a lot of choice here. Moreover, everything is relatively cheap in comparison with the
Netherlands. This counts most of all for food. The university has no campus, it’s just one big
impressive building in the middle of a ‘shopping’ street. The university has its own sport-center
where you can do a lot of different sports for around €80 per semester. I love to dance, so if you
prefer dancing on an adequate level, you can go to dance-school flow. For cheap drinks and food
there are different cerveceria’s in Madrid. There is an organization called Citylife Madrid, what
organizes a lot of parties, activities and trips for low prizes. I’ve been to Valencia, Porto and Lisbon
with them and it was an awesome experience. However, Madrid itself is very beautiful as well. I
underestimated it, before I went. The weather haven’t been under 11degrees during daytime and it
rained for only four days or something. There are beautiful parcs and buildings everywhere.
Moreover, for people who like museums, there is Prado. Madrid is not very comparable with Tilburg,
what in my view is a good thing. There is life as much during day- as nighttime. Everyone is very
layback and has less stress. The weather is much better. Finally, nightlife in Madrid is way better than
in Tilburg where only are some bars. In Madrid, for example, you have Kapital, what has five different
areas with different music styles. But what about studying itself? Studying in Spain means, not really
studying.. I’m a social science student who took business courses and even I could follow everything
easily. So, don’t go here if you want to have an academic challenge. ICADE even was a private school
so I expected high level education. However, they are quite nice for Erasmus students. There were
around a 150 exchange students in my location in the city-center. Because it’s a private school, there
are small classes and they check attendance. It feels a bit like high-school.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before I left, the communication with the host-university was quite good. However, the subject
choice options came very late. This was during half July, while I was arriving during the half of August.
Arrival: I received information of the introduction days per email, but that was about it. You have to
find and discover everything for yourself, what in my view was logically. During the introduction we
got information about the city, the do’s and don’ts, and a guided tour around the city.
Housing: For accommodation, I think it’s best to find a room for yourself via internet. There are lot of
choices for relatively good prices. You pay approximately €450-€500 euro for a room in the citycenter. Transportation is easiest by metro, for around €35 a month. The most money I spended,
besides housing, was on trips and just having a good time. But it was definitely worth it!
Academic calendar: My first week of school was the last week of August (introduction) and my last
week was just before Christmas. All my finals were between the 8th and 22th of December. Only for
some subjects I had mid-terms. Special are the many free days in Spain because of national events.
The international office: There is an international office in the university, where you sometimes had
to sign some things. However, if everything is fine, you won’t have to do a lot with this department.
Exchange promotion: Mouth-to-mouth is the best promotion. A lot of foreign students went to the
Netherlands during their stay and most liked it a lot. They knew where are we from, so it may help.
Social activities: As mentioned before, Citylife Madrid is the main organization in Madrid,
independent of universities. The university arranged things as well, but I did not involve in them.
During your stay you mostly will have contact with other Erasmus students instead of Spanish, if you
follow your classes in English. Finally, as mentioned before as well, you can travel as much as you
want yourself. There are a lot of options.
Culture and language: Although Spain is not that far, there are quite some differences with regard to
culture. For example, lunch and dinner times. Secondly, in general, the Spaniards are way more
layback than Dutch people are. Thirdly, I learned that in Tilburg University everything is well
organized. Sometimes it´s very nice to experience the layback way of life, but in other situations it´s
very annoying. The language barrier is kind of big as well. Luckily in this university some people speak
English, but in the rest of Madrid it was less than I expected. Because I already followed courses in
Tilburg, I could speak a bit. I did not follow the Spanish courses in my host university, because there
was already a high workload.
Personal development: I think my exchange period has positively affected with regard to other
cultures. At first, I could really feel annoyed of other people and how they acted. During my
exchange, I accepted them just for who they are. There were people from all over the world, so
you’re in class with all of them and sometimes the cultures are very different. My best experience
were the trips and going out. My worst experience was one subject in school and the way of
communication in school. The most important thing I learned about myself, is letting things go
sometimes and not worry over easy things that you can’t change anyway.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
You can choose if you want to have your subjects in Spanish or in English. I only followed classes in
English. The courses I took were International political economy; International marketing; Marketing
planning and Management; Leadership; Business negotiations and Operations Management. I
wanted to know something about marketing and leadership matched most with my own study. The
others just fitted well in my schedule. I would recommend operations management and international
marketing. Here you learned well, but not with a too high workload. The academic level is quite low
compared to Tilburg. However, because you are for around 30hours per week at school it’s still quite
heavy to fix all assignments outside classes. The teaching style is quite practical, that’s what I liked
about the classes here. You just have classroom lectures, therefore you have direct relationships with
teachers. I’m happy with my achievements in my host university, because I’m from another faculty
myself.
Exams: Every teacher chooses his own type of examination. In some courses it was that one class had
and exam and the other class hadn’t, while it was the same course.
Other: There were quite some public computers and printing is free if you bring your own paper. I
didn’t use the library.
Description of courses:
Course:
Operations
management
International
Marketing
Marketing
planning and
management
Business
negotiations
International
Political economy
Leadership
Prerequisites
None
Exam
Written
ECTS
5
Comments
2controltests
None
Written
5
Assignments
None
Written
5
Assignments
None
-
5
Assignments
None
Written
5
None
Written
5
Midterm;
paper
Assignments
I can definitely recommend an exchange period. It has its ups and downs, but you learn a lot about
yourself and others. I would not recommend my host university, if you don’t mind travelling a bit. I
liked the location a lot, but the school itself could have been better. Don’t forget your forms given by
Tilburg, because you have to get them signed in your Host university. Moreover, make sure you have
as well summer as winter clothes with you. If you just make a list, what sums what to bring, you will
be well prepared to go.