E- mail: b.y.m.denouden@tilburguniversity.edu
Study Program: Bachelor Organization Studies
Exchange Semester: Spring 2014
Academic year: 2013-2014
Host university: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Country: Spain
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Although Spain is not that far from the Netherlands, there are a lot of cultural differences between
these two countries. I studied in the spring semester of 2014 in Madrid, where I lived in centre of the
city (Callao), I couldn`t have wished for a better location to live! Madrid is a city where you feel home
really soon. Although it is the capital city of Spain, the city centre of Madrid is compact and you can
walk to almost everything. This makes it is easy to get to know the city. The centre might be compact,
but you won`t get bored here, there are so many nice restaurants, bars, plazas and parcs to enjoy,
that even after five months you still can discover some nice new places. Some places where you
should definetely go when you are in Madrid are Circulo de bellas artes, a rooftop terrace where you
have an amazing overview of the city; La musa, a tapas restaurant where they serve more than the
typical Spanish tapas; La Descubierta, a cheap restaurant where the food is good and when you leave
this place it is not possible that you are hungry anymore. The areas, or as the Spanish people call
them “barrios” , you should definitely visit are La Latina and Malasaña, here are the nicest bars and
restaurants.
In Madrid I studied Psychology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the biggest university of the
city. This university has two different campuses, one at Ciudad Universitaria and one at Somosaguas.
The faculty of Psychology is located at the campus in Somosaguas, just outside the city. To reach this
faculty I had to travel by metro to Moncloa (which was only four stops from my house) and at
Moncloa I had to take autobus A to Somosaguas, it took me 30 minutes to get there. In those
autobuses you get the idea you are on a fieldtrip with your high school, since only students are using
this bus. The campus at Somosaguas has a lot of differences compared to the one in Tilburg. The
buildings are not that well maintained, and there is a lot of graffiti on the outside. In Tilburg we are
used to have lectures in big lecturehalls, while at Complutense these lecturehalls could better be
compared to large classrooms. As mentioned before Complutense is a very big university where
almost each faculty has its own building(s), and all your classes are in the buildings of your faculty.
The structure of the classes differs, most courses have three hours of lecture each week. Most of the
time one of these hours is practical. However I had some courses where I only had one class of
theory and two hours of practical, and most teachers don`t publish their used powerpoints on
Campus Virtual (the Spanish Blackboard). Compared to Tilburg you have to make more groupworks
during the semester in stead of one big groupwork which you have to hand in at the end of the
semester. At the Psychology faculty there are loads of exchange students (around 100), which makes
it easy to make new friends!
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
In the beginning of september I received more information about my application for Complutense. I
received an email where they mentioned that I could applicate from the 15th of October untill the
15th of November. After more than a month I received the confirmation from Complutense and the
date I had my welcome- session and my language level test. Complutense offers you a free language
course if your level of Spanish is below C1. I had choosen to follow this course to improve my Spanish
but most of all to meet new people. Remember that in Spain nothing goes as fast and as efficient as
you are used to in Holland. It was mid- december when I still had not heard anything from
Complutense and the dates of the welcome session and the language course, so I send them an
email, a few days later I received the official invitation for the language course and welcome session
and could I book my ticket. The most difficult part about it was not knowing when you have to be
there, so you can`t book your ticket yet. However, you know it is Spain and that not everything goes
that fast.
On the 30th of January I had my welcome session this was a session of one hour and a half, and that
was all. I expected to have more an introduction period, but besides the welcome session there was
nothing organized. Complutense also has their own ESN, I went on a tour with them through the city
and to Toledo. After the welcome session I met some girls and we had a lunch together. Not all the
exchange students were at that welcome session which made it easier to make friends. Before my
departure I received an email of Complutense if I wanted to join their buddy system, a student from
Complutense would become my buddy. After a few weeks in Madrid I finally received an email of my
buddy, but I would not recommand the system, I never met my buddy and it took a really long time
when he send his introduction email.
As mentioned before I lived in Callao, a “plaza” in the middle of the city centre. A classmate from my
high school studied in Madrid for a year, and via her I got the room. If you`re looking for a room in
Madrid sent me an email and I could give you the email of my landlord, a sweet Spanish woman. The
university didn`t organize the housing you have to do this by yourself. But that is not that difficult,
there are a lot of facebook pages where all the erasmusstudents post information about available
rooms. I already had my room before my arrival, since it is already exciting to study abroad I didn`t
want to feel the stress of first having to stay in a hostel and looking for a room there. Afterwards that
wouldn`t have been a problem since everyday new rooms become available, and you don`t have to
stay in a hostel longer than a week.
I lived with students from all over the world; an American-, Canadien-, English-, Dutch-, German-, and
a Spanish girl. I could walk to almost all the nice places, bars, restaurants and clubs in the city which I
think is one big advantage. Most students lived in the areas of Moncoa or Malasaña, Malasaña is
close to Callao but if you live in Moncloa you have to take the metro or the night bus back after you
went out.
Madrid is not the cheapest city to live in, renting a room is overall more expensive than in Tilburg. My
room was €400 per month, besides that living there as an erasmus- student is generally more
expensive sine you have more dinners in restaurants, you go out more often, and you travel more. I
spend around €800 each month, I saved a lot, because I didn`t want to have the feeling that I
couldn`t do things because I had no money for it. To finance this I had my “studiefinanciering”, some
money which I received from DUO for my public transportation, and the money I received from
working and the grant I received for doing a board year at my study association. Most money I saved
went to food and drinks and to travels I made. An overview of my average living costs per month:
Housing: €400
Food: €200
Transport: €35 (you can buy an “abono” at the metro stations, if you are younger than 23 it is only
€35 for unlimited use of public transportation in zone A of Madrid. If you are older than 23 it will cost
you around €50)
Books: €25-€30 I didn`t buy any books, but made copies of the necessary chapters.
Miscellaneous: €150
I arrived in Madrid on the 28th of January and I had my welcome session on the 30th of January. The
language level test was the day after on the 31st of January. The language course was a course of
two weeks from the 3th of February intull the 14th. The 17th of February my courses started and I
was finished on the 12th of June. Spaniards love holidays so there are a lot of free days during the
year. The week before Easter is “La Semana Santa” a week off, so no classes. In May there are two
long weekends one in the beginning of May and one in the middle. Ask a Spanish person in one of
your first weeks when the day offs are, because also each faculty has its own patron, meaning that
you have one more day off. Besides that they love holidays, Spaniards also love demonstrations.
Every week there are plenty of demonstrations in the city centre, consisting of 30 people average. In
March we had one week off because we couldn`t reach the campus, because of the strikes.
The welcome session was held in the international office near Moncloa. Although there is an
international office, you have more contact with the erasmus office of your faculty. Here you can ask
questions about how to apply for courses. To this office you have to go when you arrive and when
you leave, they sign your documents, and they will also send your transcript of records at the end of
the semester. Although I didn`t have that much contact with the erasmus office, since I didn`t have
that much questions, I was satisfied, in the beginning it is relieve that they can speak English, so if
your Spanish is not that good yet, don`t worry!
Each university in Madrid has its own ESN (the Erasmus Student Network) who organize activities for
all the exchange students. My university had one as well, but I didn`t participate in that much
activities. The most important reason for it was that I didn`t want that the trips I made were too
organized. The ESN of Complutense is really active and offers a lot of different activities, so you
definitely do not have to spend a lot of time alone. I didn`t have that much contact with local
students, most Spanish people are quite close when it comes to meeting foreign people. This could
be because most Spanish students don`t speak English, so yes you have to speak Spanish! While with
most of the other exchange students I spoke English, most of them were Germans, but with the
students from Italy, Mexico or France you have to speak Spanish again. Although in the beginning
this was difficult, at the end it is quite cool that you can have conversations in Spanish. During my
exchange period I traveled a lot, most of my travels I made were with Dutch or German people. At
the beginning I didn`t want to spend my time with only Dutch people, but that turned out differently.
Luckily I met a lot of people from different countries so I had the possibility to improve my Spanish
and English. I made some day trips to cities in the neighbourhood of Madrid, like Toledo, Segovia, La
Escorial, Ávila and Salamanca. I went with two other girls a weekend to Valencia, and in the Semana
Santa we (3 Dutchies, and one German girl) rented a car and made a roadtrip through Andalucia.
There we visited the cities Sevilla, Cádiz, Vejer de la Frontera, Tarifa, Gibraltar, and Granada. After my
exams I went a weekend to Lisbon to go surfing there. I liked it a lot that Spain has so many different
landscapes and the people in the different cities all have different mentality towards live. When you
are in Madrid you think the life is pretty relaxed, but when you go to the south it is even more
relaxed.
As mentioned before Spain is not that far for Holland, it is only a 2,5 hour flight from Eindhoven to
Madrid, however, there are a lot of differences between these two countries. Before I left I told
myself that I probably would not understand that much of my first lessons of my spanish courses, I
already knew some Spanish but thought it might not be enough to completely understand classes. By
preparing myself for this I think my culture shock was not that big. It also helped that I already spoke
and understood some Spanish, so I could ask for the direction, or order something in a restaurant for
example. Prepare yourself that in Spain nothing goes fast and efficient. In the supermarkets people
work more slowly than in the supermarkets back home for example. Or people on the street
suddenly stop walking and start to discuss things. Although the Spanish culture is less fast as the
Dutch culture, it is more relaxed. And I had the idea that people enjoyed live more than in Holland.
For example people, especially in the south are more willing to invite you for dinner or for drinks. An
example of the more relaxed culture is that in Spain they have lunch around two o`clock, than they
have their “merienda” around five or six, and dinner is around nine or ten. I learned that the Dutch
culture should be more flexible once in while, but that everything is really well organized here,
something the Spanish people could learn from. I think I learned a lot of the Spanish culture,
especially in the beginning, because than you are comparing everything with the Dutch culture. You
start to understand both cultures better. The Dutch culture of organizing everything would not fit
with the Spanish way of living.
Five moths abroad definetely changes you, may be you don`t notice it while you are on exchange but
when your back to your old way of living, you start to see changes. An exchange period will make
your more confident and more social, because you have to make new contacts in the beginning, and
you want to do that as well. Nobody wants to spend five months alone in a big city they don`t know!
In the beginning I was a little bit scared that I couldn`t make new friends, but after a few days I
already knew a lot of people and made some new friends! Besides it will affect your social view
towards live; you accept people the way they are, while back home you are more picky about
choosing your friends, it will also affect your cultural point towards live. You start to learn and
understand a lot of different cultures. And that for some reason everybody is the same, you can talk
about the same stuff with people from Spain as with people from the United States.
Since you improve your social skills and understand more different culture, and you are able to speak
three languages at a really high level, I think you have a higher chance to get accepted for a job than
a person who didn`t go on exchange. It also enhances your career possibilities because by going on a
exchange you have shown that your independent and are able to build a social live from scratch.
If I had the chance to do this all over again there is only one thing I would do differently, and that is
that I would search for a house with more Spanish people. I know I imporved my Spanish but I think
this could be more if I spoke Spanish almost every minute of the day. Besides that I wouldn`t do
anything differently!
My best experience during my period abroad is that I had the opportunity to travel that much, and to
see so many different sides of Spain. My worst experience was that some teachers were not that
comprehensive towards Erasmus students, which made it more difficult to understand everything.
Luckily their were a lot of erasmus students in all classes, so I could ask them for help. Fortunately
there were way more good experiences about my exchange than bad experiences! Madrid is a big
city and almost all my friends got something stolen, luckily that didn`t happen to me, but you have to
be careful especially in the big clubs.
One of my best experiences during my period abroad was watching the game Real Madrid versus
Levante. We sat in the stadion and the atmosphere was so nice, I couldn`t help smiling all the time. I
think this was one of best experience because you see a part of the real Spain, the Spain without the
tourists. Football lives in the heart of every Spaniard. When Real Madrid won of Atlético the crowd
went crazy. There is one big square in Madrid, called Cibeles, where the fans of Real Madrid come
together after Real Madrid wins a match. The whole square was full of people celebrating like they
won the World Cup, amazing!
During these five months I learned a lot about myself, I know now I don`t see problems, but always
look for solutions, and that at the end everything goes well. And that while I was on my own and
needed to build a new live, it went easier than expected.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
At the faculty of Psychology at Complutense all the courses were offered in Spanish. In the beginning
I found it quit difficult, but at the end you can understand almost everything! I followed four courses:
Psicología de las organizaciones, psicología social II y de los grupos, Diversidad, exclusión social e
integración, and Selección y formación de personal. I have chosen these courses because they were
linked to my field of studies in Holland, but also because they added something to my bachelor. The
courses I would reccomend are psicología de las organizaciones and Diversidad, exclusión social e
integración. The teacher of psicología de las organizaciones was really nice, although we had to do a
lot of work it was a course I completely understood, the course of Diversidad, exclusión social e
integración I could make in English and we only had to write paper, so no exam. The acadamic level
of Complutense is lower than we are used to in Tilburg. Although for some courses you have to make
groupworks, and exams each week, I didn`t find the courses more difficult than back home. The
difficult part is the language. Only one of my teachers published their powerpoints online, for the
rest of the courses you had to memorize or copy everything. For two of my courses (psicología social
II y de los grupos and psicología de las organizaciones) we had to analyze a video every week,
something you`re not used. As mentioned before all the courses were taught in Spanish, but all the
readings as well. There were only a few teachers who could speak English, the rest wasn`t that
confident about it. I studied everyday a bit, and had my weekends off. However, during the week I
had enough spare time to go for walk, go out, having some drinks or dinner in a bar or restaurant.
Each course is given three hours a week, divided in a theoretical and practical part. Some courses
were more practical, while other more theoretical (selección y formación del personal). The classes
are small, since there are a lot of teachers giving the same course. All the teachers give their own
interpretation to the course and can have different ways of testing the knowledge of the student. In
the beginning you have the time to choose your courses and choose the teacher you like. The
relationship between teacher and student is informal. You can easily ask questions, and some
teachers don`t mind if you call them by their first name.
At the end I passed three of the four courses I took, and I`m proud of that. I studied in Spanish and
held some presentations in Spanish, wrote essays in Spanish, and I might have failed one class I
learned a lot these five months, and I think that`s the most important part!
For the course of psicología de las organizaciones I had an exam each week. This exam consisted of
ten statements; true or false, which you had to make in 10 minutes. Each week a chapter was tested,
and if you failed one you could resit the chapter in June. For psicología social II y de los grupos I had
an exam every three weeks, whereby three chapters were tested. Again you needed to pass all the
chapters, if you failed one you could resit that chapter in June. Also this exam consisted of
statements which were true or false. For Diversidad, exclusión social y integración I didn`t have an
exam only a groupwork. For the course of selección y formación del personal I didn`t have a exam if I
went to 70% of the classes, so ofcourse I went to the classes.
The faculty of Psychology has its own library which is easily accessible, but don`t expect a library that
well equiped as in Tilburg. This library only had 20 computers, but a lot of places where you could sit.
When I had to study for my exams I went to another library closer to the citycentre. There was a
library in Lavapiés which is easily accessible as well and better maintained than the one at my faculty.
Description of courses:
All the courses I took where at bachelor level, and can be found here:
http://www.ucm.es/estudios/grado-psicologia-plan
Course
Psicología Social II y
de los grupos, 800151
Prerequisites
None
Exam
Written
ECTS
6
Psicología de las
Organizaciones,
800168
None
Written
6
Diversidad, exclusion
social e integración,
800183
None
None
6
Selección y formación
del personel, 800180
None
Written
6
Comments
Exam every three
weeks, every week
analyzing a video in a
group, no classes
Exam every week,
every week analyzing a
video in a group,
classes mandatory
Paper about
intervention session
with a psychological
problem in the context
of the course
No exam if you are
present at 70% of the
classes. Two
groupworks, two
presentations about the
groupworks, two
individual assignments
Tips for future students:
If your thinking about going on exchange: GO! It might sound cliché but it was the best decision I
made. No matter where you go you will have the time of your live. Going to Madrid would make it
even better, it is a real Spanish city and I loved every minute spending in this city. Complutense is a
big a university whereby not all the buildings are that well maintained, although all my courses were
in Spanish and that was quit difficult, I am really proud I passed three courses, and that I made the
choice to study in Spanish. Before I went to Madrid I didn`t prepare myself that well about the city. I
did this on purpose because I wanted to discover everything when I was there. To prepare yourself
for the language, watch series in Spanish and follow the language course which Tilburg and
Complutense offer. Being active with the language is the best way to learn it. I watched a serie in
Spanish before I went, to learn new vocabulary and to hear Spanish. I found it more relaxed to have
my room already arranged before I went, this gave me less stress than when I had to arrange a room
there. But as mentioned before, there are so many rooms available that you don`t have to worry
about that.
If you have any questions, or want to know something about this beautiful city, don`t hesitate to
contact me, I would be happy to make you enthusiastic about making the best choice of your life!