Experience Report
Jesse Damen
j.m.damen@tilburguniversity.edu
Psychology
Spring Semester 2014-2015
Master Year (Although I took Bachelor-classes only)
Universidad de Deusto – Bilbao Campus
Spain
General information about the school
The City
Bilbao is a city in the far north of Spain, located next to the Bay of Biscay. It is
situated in the Basque Country, a region with its own language and customs.
In the metropolitan area of Bilbao there are about 1 million inhabitants.
In my opinion, Bilbao has a fantastic size for a student. It’s not huge - like
London, for instance – but there is a lot of stuff to see and experience, such as
the Guggenheim Museum, situated right across the University. How’s that for
a view?
The city has a nice mixture of ‘grey and green’, and it’s varied in its
architecture. There are a lot of older buildings – churches, houses, etc. – but
there’s some very modern stuff too, such as the museum I mentioned.
Particular highlights of the city are Casco Viejo - which is the old town center,
and there are loads of nice bars there – the museum, if you’re into modern art,
and the Funicular de Artxanda, which is basically a hill with a spectacular
view on the city and all its beauty. There are also beaches near Bilbao.
The main means of transportation I used was the metro. For only about 0,80
euro, you get to take a single ride within the main parts of Bilbao. In my
opinion, it was a very efficient and cheap way of travelling.
In terms of location within Spain, Bilbao is situated really close to France, so
it’s fairly easy to take a trip to France for a day or two. Furthermore, there are
some nice yet not overly famous Basque towns near, like San Sebastián,
Guernica and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Bilbao has its own airport, and it’s also possible
to use the cheaper Santander airport, which is only about 1,5 hours away by
bus.
In terms of weather, Bilbao is not what you might expect of Spain. When I
arrived in January, there was only rain for a couple of days. While the
temperatures in Bilbao are usually slightly higher than in the Netherlands,
there is a similar amount of rain, sadly, if not more.
In summary, while not being a tropical paradise by any stretch of the
imagination, Bilbao is a great city to live in in my opinion. It’s not as glamorous
as Madrid or so, but there’s always something going on and something new to
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experience. In terms of choosing a city to study in, one could do a lot worse
than choosing Bilbao.
The University
The University is situated right across the Guggenheim Museum, near the
center of the city. It is a fairly small university, consisting only of two buildings
and a separate library. As seems to be habit of sorts for the buildings in
Bilbao, the university offers some great views. There are a couple of cloisters
with palm trees inside the university, which looks especially great if you’re
used to the fairly boring interiors of the buildings in Tilburg.
Traditionally, the University has Jesuit roots, and they are still noticeable in
daily life. There’s a crucifix in every classroom, and traditional catholic
holidays are upheld. Faith, specifically the catholic one, is still a major force in
the proceedings in Bilbao. That being said, people from other religions are
welcomed as well.
I only used the library in the last few weeks of my exchange. There’s a ton of
space there, and it was a really good place to study or finish an assignment. It
was not particularly crowded when I was there, but it may have been more
crowded in the earlier months – I wouldn’t be able to tell, sadly.
In comparison to Tilburg, classes in Bilbao were somewhat smaller, which
allows for a more personal approach to classes. In Tilburg, I usually only had
to pass an exam to pass the course. In Bilbao, there’s a lot of assignments,
group works, etc. I didn’t like that aspect, personally. It creates a more busy
schedule while not necessarily helping me understand the actual subject
better in my opinion, but I guess it’s a matter of personal preference.
Practical Information
Information/Housing Before Departure
I got the appropriate information in time, and the information on this was very
clear.
The university offers 3 options in terms of housing, provided you use their
help, of course:
- Stay with a Host Family
- Stay in the Residence Hall
- Stay in a Student Flat
I picked the third option, as did most exchange students. The university gave
me a list of apartments to choose from (about 60, if I recall it correctly, spread
all over town), and I had to pick 5 preferences based on pictures on a website.
Out of those, if possible, I’d get assigned one, pending on my agreement of
course. I was able to stay in my second choice. From what I’ve heard, most
people got one of their preferred options. Most student flats are at 300-400 a
month, but there are cheaper options if you are willing to choose so. I have no
complaints about the flat: I stayed with 4 other Erasmus students, which was
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a nice way to meet other people from the start. As it happened, 2 of those 4
were Dutch, like me, so settling in was very easy.
As for the other options, only a few people I know elected to stay with a host
family. They were all very positive about it, though. The main downsides are a
potential lack of freedom, as they had to adhere to some family rules, of
course, and a higher price per month. I knew only a handful of people who
picked the last option (Residence Hall), but they were unanimously negative
about it. Pricewise, it’s about the same as the option I picked, but the
Residence Hall is located right next to the worst part of town, and they were
only a few people staying there, making it less fun to stay there. Although I
haven’t experienced it myself, of course, I would not recommend the
Residence Hall on behalf of my friends’ experiences.
Most landlords, unfortunately, do not speak English, and neither did mine. If
you elect to stay in a student flat, make sure you know some Spanish or make
sure someone is able to help you.
I did not regret my choice to stay in the student flat at all. I’d recommend
using the university’s help, like I did, as they offer great apartments for a fair
price. It is, however, possible to circumvent this, and pay a bit less, but then,
you might miss out on the opportunity to live with people experiencing the
exact same thing as you do.
The Start
Before the actual classes started, the university offered me the opportunity to
participate in the Intensive Spanish Course. Although I already took some
Spanish classes in Tilburg, it was a huge help to me. The intensive course
consists of daily classes for 2 weeks, for about 6 hours a day or so. It really
helped me to improve my Spanish significantly in a short period of time.
Furthermore, it gave me the chance to make friends instantly, and I continued
to hang out with those friends for the rest of my stay in Bilbao. I’d recommend
taking the intensive course unless you are absolutely fluent in Spanish
already. There are different classes for different levels, and you get assigned
to a class suitable to your level after doing a test on the first day. The classes
range from novice level to almost-fluent levels. In the regular year, there are
also Spanish classes: 4 times a week, an hour a day. It really helped me a lot.
Also, the university gave clear information on the relevant topics in the early
days by means of a special meeting. Information was delivered in both
Spanish and English, so it was easy to understand for all students.
The people of the International Office, and the university by extension, were
are very nice and helpful. Whenever I had a question, they were always willing
to help me out fast.
There’s also a ‘Buddy System’, which allows foreign students to be assigned
to a local student, who can help the person settle in. In return, the foreign
student can help the local one develop English language skills, for instance. I
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personally didn’t enrol in this programme, but it was a fairly popular choice
amongst other students, and most were positive about it.
Living Costs
First and foremost, I have to confess I’m not the most organized person in
terms of keeping an eye on the financial aspects of life. That said, life in Bilbao
didn’t come cheap for me. Including some trips I made across Spain and
Portugal, I spent somewhere between 3.000 and 5.000 euros in total, I
believe. The Erasmus grant (210 a month) barely covered half the rent (350 a
month in my case), so if you’d like to have a good time in Spain, and travel
around a bit like I did, it would be wise to accumulate a fair amount of money
before going there.
That being said, transport is cheap – as mentioned before. Groceries are
slightly less expensive than in the Netherlands, and books aren’t usually
needed – I only spend about 100 euro on all the books for my period abroad,
which is not that bad in my opinion.
Academic Calendar
Classes took place from 26-01 (if you include the intensive Spanish course) to
29-05, and the exam period was from 01-06 to 11-06. Resits were between 2206 and 02-07. I decided early on to stay until after the resits, so that I wouldn’t
get into trouble in case I needed to take one. Also, I enjoyed my time in Bilbao
immensely, so I was in no hurry to leave.
There’s also the ‘Semana Santa’, which is basically the Easter holiday. It’s a
10 day period without classes, which is a good time to use to travel across
Spain, for instance.
I really have to say that it was over before I knew it. Six months seem like a lot
of time at first, but time passed by very quickly – too quickly, in my opinion.
Social Activities
There are a lot of activities planned for students in Bilbao. My favourite one
has to be ‘Pintxopote’. Every Wednesday, a different bar was selected. There,
there would be alcoholic beverages at a discount price. Nearly all exchange
students participated in the pintxopotes, and despite the copious amounts of
drinks involved, I still have a lot of fond memories from those occasions. It’s a
great way to meet new people and to explore the variety of bars the city has to
offer.
On top of that, there are some more activities, like organized city trips, city
tours, sporting activities (football, surfing, etc.).
Aside from those things, I travelled across the Iberian Peninsula with some
friends I met over there. Buses in Spain are fairly cheap (10-12 euro for single
trips up to 2 hours, around 50 to go to Madrid and back, if I recall correctly),
while trains and airplanes are occasionally optional too.
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Personal favourite locations across the Iberian Peninsula, aside from Bilbao,
include Barcelona, Sevilla, Córdoba – and Andalucía in general, Lisbon,
Madrid to name a few.
Culture and Language
In my opinion, Spain is not enormously dissimilar to the Netherlands. Because
of that, I did not experience a culture shock or anything. That said, it took me
some time to get used to the language, although I had some previous
knowledge of it, and I tend to do well in learning languages. In the first month
or so, regular classes were a source of panic, almost, to me, as I found it very
hard to understand most of what was being said in the lectures. Spanish
people tend to talk at a rather rapid pace, and that certainly didn’t help in the
beginning. After a while (2-4 weeks), though, my Spanish was up to speed,
and I was able to pass most courses. Once again, I’d recommend taking the
intensive Spanish course to accelerate this process. In the end, my Spanish
was at an adequate level for sure. I even had to do a presentation in Spanish
roughly halfway through my stay abroad.
As for cultural differences, I found it hard to get used to the siestas. In Spain,
most shops are closed in the early afternoon, which can be pretty
inconvenient. Also, people tend to ‘live outside’ more: streets are usually full
of people of all ages, which makes for a great atmosphere in my opinion.
The food is excellent too: there are some really nice Basque pastries around,
for instance. Ask the locals for recommendations! I particularly enjoyed the
‘Pastel de Arroz’.
As I briefly mentioned before, Bilbao is located in the Basque Country.
Because of that, there are some traditions native to that region only. I took a
Basque Language and Culture class, which was a lot of fun to do. We had a
local teacher, and she taught us about the language and culture of the
Basques. The classes were in Spanish, but I understood it well after the first
weeks. You are not expected to know fluent Basque after a while, of course:
all we had to learn were some basic phrases. It was more about a willingness
to learn more about the Basques then it was about learning an enormous
amount of stuff or so. It was very easy to pass the course. It was great to learn
more about the specific Basque history and culture too. I’d heartily
recommend the course.
By living abroad, I learned some things about my own culture as well. Life in
the Netherlands tends to be more hurried and stressful. Spanish people don’t
care much about the exact time: even professors show up later at times, and
no one is bothered by that. Also, rules are not set in stone as much in Spain:
there’s more wiggle room, so to speak. I liked being able to live In a more
relaxed country: it fits my natural temperament.
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Personal Development
Although it might sound as a cliché, I really learned a lot about myself in
Bilbao. I feel better about myself now: I have more self-confidence and I feel
like I understand my strengths and weaknesses better now. I found it
enormously interesting to experience first-hand how an environment shapes a
person. In Bilbao, at times, I felt like a complete different incarnation of
myself. In this different environment, I did things I’d probably never have done
in the Netherlands, and I experienced different sides of myself I didn’t realize I
possessed.
I met a lot of people from a lot of different countries, and I made a lot of
friends. I have friends in all corners of Europe now, which makes for some
awesome travelling plans in the future! It helps me become more openminded, too, and to be more aware on the things happening around us, in this
world of ours. For instance, before I went to Bilbao, I wasn’t aware of the
extent of horrible things that are happening in Turkey at the moment. Thanks
to my new-found Turkish friend, though, my eyes are closed to this issue no
longer. I really liked to talk to a variety of people from different countries, and
to see the world through their eyes. I’d say meeting new friends was the best
part of my journey.
It’s hard to name just one best moment. I experienced so many great
moments in Bilbao that I get swamped with great memories at this very
moment. The trips across Spain were great, but there were a lot of great
moments in Bilbao too. It’s impossible to name just one.
My worst moment was probably leaving the city, honestly! Even 1,5 month
after leaving, I still miss Bilbao a lot. Thank god for Whatsapp and Skype: at
least I get to keep up with my friends across the world, even without them
being physically close to me now. Aside from that, the first regular classes
were terrible, because of my limited Spanish at the time. Then again, after a
while, I got used to it, so it was just a wee period of being uncomfortable,
really.
The most important lesson I learned was to just ‘let it happen’. I really liked
living my life without knowing what I’d do in 2 hours, so to speak. It’s really
liberating to just ‘go with the flow’.
Academic Information
Academic Level
At the Universidad de Deusto, courses are offered in three languages:
Spanish, Basque and English. Nearly all my classes were taught in Spanish. I
would recommend anyone to take the Spanish Intensive Course and the
Spanish Regular Course, so that the level of Spanish is as required. Like I said
before, I had some trouble understanding what was being said in the
beginning, but after a little while it all went fine.
I also took the Basque class, which was taught in a mixture of Spanish and
simplified Basque. In order to take that class, knowledge of Spanish is,
therefore, once again a requirement, as most teachers have a very limited
knowledge of English, unfortunately.
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Furthermore, I took several Psychology classes in Spanish and one in English.
After the first period, understanding it all was not much of a problem.
I picked a lot of courses in the beginning, because we had to register before
the classes started, and we could not add courses after said date. For that
reason, I selected a big amount of courses, with the ability to drop courses if
necessary.
Mediación y Relaciones Interpersonales was one of the courses I elected not
to finish after all. It consisted of several group assignments, which went fine.
However, the individual assignment at the end of the semester was too
difficult for me, as it required an significant time investment just before the
exam period. Due to that, I wasn’t able to finish the course, unfortunately,
which is a shame, as I found it quite interesting. The course was about
mediation and interpersonal relationships, as the name suggests.
Intervention and Psychological Treatment III, a course focused on cognitive
therapy and psychoanalysis, was a better choice, as this subject was taught
in – limited, it has to be said – English. The professor has a lot of struggles
with regards to teaching in English at times, but the course was fairly
interesting and not overly difficult in my opinion. It consisted of a group
presentation and an exam, which consisted of a multiple choice part and a
written part. It’s also possible to take the course in Spanish.
Psicología de las Drogodependencias was an interesting course about
treating people for drug abuse and issues related to that. It consisted of an
exam only, and although it was in Spanish I was able to pass the course –
barely, due to the difficulty of the exam.
Evaluación e Intervención Psicológica con Familias was the course I dropped
in the beginning. The Spanish level required was too high at the time, and I
didn’t feel comfortable in the class. The teacher was really unsupportive to
foreign students: she had little mercy to those who did not speak Spanish
fluently, like me. Together with another Dutch person, I dropped out of the
course because of that. I didn’t regret dropping that course, as other students
that continued taking the course later told me they regretting doing that, as
the teacher had some unreasonable demands.
In general, though, teachers were very friendly, especially the ones teaching
Spanish and Basque. They were always willing to help if necessary, with the
exception of the horrible teacher I already mentioned.
In Bilbao, in comparison to Tilburg, the way of teaching is more practical.
Instead of lectures, you are required to participate more actively in the class,
doing assignments and giving your opinion on several topics. Also, there are a
lot more group assignments, which I never really enjoy. In comparison to
Tilburg, it is more important to attend all the classes, as you will miss a lot if
you don’t attend. Teachers don’t usually supply summaries, so I had to do
more work there, which is not a problem, of course. It’s just a different
approach to studying.
In general, I am satisfied with my accomplishments in terms of passing
courses in Bilbao. I passed most courses, and I am proud I managed to pass
classes in Spanish, especially after the rough start.
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Exams
The exam for the Regular Spanish Course consisted of several parts:
listening, writing, grammar, reading and vocabulary. There is also a midterm,
consisting of the same parts. Furthermore, there are 4 written assignments at
different times throughout the year. There are also speaking exercises in the
class, which helped me a lot.
The Intensive Spanish Course consisted of the same parts, although they
were all crammed in a two-week period.
The Basque Course consisted of a small exam at the end of the course only.
There were two parts: a writing part and a reading part.
Intervention and Psychological Treatment III consisted of a two part exam
(multiple choice and written part) and a group presentation.
Psicología de las Drogodependencias consists of a multiple choice exam only,
with penalties for a wrong answer and no penalties for a lack of an answer. It
hate this system, as it punishes you if you pick a wrong answer. Sometimes, I
was in doubt between two answers, and then it becomes a risk-rewardchallenge: do I pick the answer I like best, or do I skip the question, avoiding
the risk of getting points deducted? Because of this, I barely managed to pass
the course.
Mediación y Relaciones Interpersonales consists of several group
assignments and a very large individual assignment in the end. Due to the
massive size of this last assignment, I didn’t pass the course, as I elected to
study for the exams instead of spending all my time on this assignment.
Evaluación e Intervención Psicológica con Familias consists of several
individual assignments and an exam. I dropped the course early on, so I can’t
judge the course in its totality.
I worked hard to pass my courses, and I am satisfied I managed to pass most
courses – even the Spanish ones. I feel like I learned a lot, and this should help
me in my career later on.
Other
The university also offers library access and a few computer rooms. I never
had to reserve a computer, and the library is an excellent environment to
study. I have no complaints about these things at all: I consider the library in
Bilbao to be a superior environment to study in compared to the one in
Tilburg.
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Description of Courses
Course
Spanish: Intensive
Course
Prerequisites
None – you
get placed in
a level after a
placement
test
Exam
Written,
speaking in
class
ECTS
5
Spanish: Regular
Course
None – you
get placed in
a level after a
placement
test or after
taking the
Intensive
Course exam
None
Written,
speaking in
class
6
Written
6
Additional
homework
exercises
None
Group
assignments
and an
individual
assignment
only
6
Psicología de las
None
Drogodependencias
Exam only
6
Intervention and
Psychological
Treatment III
Group
presentation
and two-part
exam
6
3 group
assignments,
1 individual
assignment.
High level of
Spanish
recommended
High level of
Spanish
recommended
Presentation,
exercises in
class
Introduction to
Basque Language
and Culture
Mediación y
Relaciones
Interpersonales
None
Comments
Midterm, 4
written
assignments
in class,
additional
homework
exercises
Midterm, 4
written
assignments
in class,
additional
homework
exercises
Tips for further students
I would absolutely recommend people to study abroad for some time, if
possible. It has without a doubt been the best period of my entire life: I
learned a lot about myself and I enjoyed it immensely. I got to meet so many
great people from a variety of backgrounds, and I consider that to be the most
valuable part of my experience abroad. It was very easy for me to find my way
in Bilbao: I made friends very easily, and people are always willing to help you
in you run into problems. I can imagine that some people would find it hard to
leave their friends and family behind, and to take a jump into the unknown. In
the beginning, it might be hard for you not to have your friends and family
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around you. Personally, while I love my friends and family, I didn’t miss them
to such an extent that I regretted going to Bilbao – on the contrary! Spending
6 months abroad truly was a valuable experience for me. If you allow yourself
to take some time to settle in, I’m sure you wouldn’t regret going abroad for
such a period of time!
As for this specific city and university: I’d highly recommend Bilbao and the
Universidad de Deusto. The city is great and the university offers quality
courses. Also, the people in the university are very friendly, generally, so if
you run into trouble they are always willing to help you out.
Again, if you get the chance to go abroad, take it! For me, it was the
experience of a lifetime. If I could do it all over again, I’d do so in a heartbeat,
without a shred of doubt.
This site might help you too, as it offers a lot of information about Bilbao:
http://www.bilbaoturismo.net/BilbaoTurismo/en/tourists#
Also, if you choose to go to Bilbao: don’t forget to bring an umbrella! It’s a
very rainy city, even by Dutch standards.
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