Experience report
Erasmus exchange – spring 2014
ANR:
Name:
E-mail:
Exchange semester:
Academic year:
Host University:
Country:
820451
Loes Verberne
loesverberne@hotmail.com
Spring 2014
3
Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Spain (Madrid)
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
I studied abroad at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain. Madrid is an amazing city! It is
always full of life and never quiet. The buildings are really pretty and old and the streets are crowded. I
basically lived in the center and I really enjoyed living there because there is always something to do
or see in the streets: street artists, living statues, magicians, etc. Moreover, the city is filled with
touristic places and attractions, so there is enough to see throughout a semester abroad. All these
places are relatively close together compared to the size of the city (over 3 million inhabitants). It is
nice to walk around the city from one touristic place to another along the beautiful Gran Via street, one
of the largest and most important streets in Madrid. This street counts many stores and is a great
place for shopping. The city also counts many squares which all contain numerous restaurants and
bars. A really worthy place to see is Plaza Mayor, the historic square of the city. I spend a lot of
afternoons there drinking sangria with my friends and enjoying the sun and all the different
performances of the street artists. Other sights which are definitely worth seeing are Puerta del Sol,
Plaza Cibiles, Retiro Park, the Royal Palace, the ancient Egypt temple, Gran Via and Plaza de
España.
Comillas University is not so far from the center. Depending on the side of the center you live,
university is a 15 to 30 minutes’ walk. It is a nice uphill walking route from the center to the university.
On the way there are many shops, restaurants and small bars filled with Spanish people. Comillas is
located north from the center and lies at another busy street Alberto Aguilera. It is a somewhat weird
street for a university to be located at. At first it seems like a big crowded street with stores, but
somewhere halfway rises really nice university full of history. You will recognize it immediately as a
university because of all the students you will see outside the building sitting on the stairs or smoking a
cigarette. Since it is located at a busy streets, there is no room for a campus. The university consists
of three buildings: the main building ICADE, a smaller building ICAI in the same street as the main
building and another small building at Calle Rey Francisco. Additionally there is another building
outside the city, the Cantoblanco Campus. The buildings are located in the same area in Madrid and
all buildings are concerned with different faculties. I mainly spent my time at the main building since I
was subscribed at the law faculty. This building is really large and contains a lot of staircases and
hallways. It took me some time to figure out the structure of the building because not every staircase
leads to the same floors and rooms of the building. Despite the university being so different from ours
in Tilburg, it was nice to study at a completely different university.
There are countless places in Madrid for nice drinks and food. Restaurants and bars are
everywhere throughout the city. Although they do not look all very nice, the food is delicious and
cheap compared to the Netherlands. For approximately €15 euro’s you will have a nice meal including
drinks at most restaurants. The nicest places for food are in the neighborhood called Malasaña and in
the streets connected to Puerta del Sol, the exact center of Madrid. The latter is also the place to be if
you are looking for nice clubs and pubs. The best clubs of Madrid you can find around Puerta del Sol.
There are a lot of them and choosing where you want to go for a night out may not be that easy with a
big group of people, since there is a lot of choice and everyone may want something else. The most
popular clubs are Independance Club (usually on Mondays) Joy Eslava (usually on Thursdays), Ocho
y Medio Club (usually Fridays) and of course Kapital. Kapital is the biggest club in Madrid and contains
7 (!!) floors. This one is one of the few clubs which is not in the center, but definitely worth to go to.
Additionally, Madrid has the oldest restaurant in the world in their center, stemming from 1725 and
registered in the Guinness Book of Records.
Regarding sports, there are some options that may be considered. The first option is to buy a
sports card at Comillas for one semester. This card costs around €80 and can be used every day..
Another option is to look for a public gym around the city. I lived in the center, so the gyms close to my
place were all pretty expensive. However, there are also a couple of gyms near the university which
are a lot cheaper than the ones in the center. I chose for a third option: running in the park. Madrid
counts a couple of parks which are perfectly suitable for a nice workout. I usually went for a run in the
Parque del Retiro, the central park of the city. On sunny days the park filled with people who are
having a drink, renting a boat or just enjoying the nice weather while having a picnic with friends.
Universidad Pontificia Comillas is a small private university in the heart of Madrid. Comillas
shelters approximately 6000 students (both Spanish and international students). I am not exactly sure
how many exchange students there were at Comillas, but what I do know is that there are many and
from all different nationalities. What stroke me is that there is a good mix between exchange students
from within the EU and other continents. The majority of the international students study at the
humanities, law or engineering faculties. Faculty of law and faculty of economy are based in the main
building of Comillas (ICADE). The engineering faculty has its own building in the same street as the
main building (ICAI) and the smaller faculties are based in another faculty building outside the center
of Madrid. The faculties cooperate effectively since many exchange students are following courses
from different faculties. For each course followed, there are multiple assignments throughout the year
to be handed in. This can be an essay, group work project or an oral presentation. All in all, there is a
lot of work to do throughout the academic semester compared to the work at Tilburg University. Most
courses end with a final exam at the end of the semester. Since there are many assignments before
the exam, the exam counts for a maximum of 60% of your final grade. On average, the level of the
exam is lower than at Tilburg University and it is easier to get a high grade than it is at TiU.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
The exact date I cannot remember, but I do remember that I received the pre-arrival information very
late compared to my friends who went to other universities abroad. I received everything through email
and in the end there was still enough time to arrange everything, since the deadlines in Spain are not
that strict. I had some difficulties with the planning of my courses. Before departure, you need to have
an idea of which courses you want to follow and if this fits in your week schedule. I remember it was
really hard to find all the appropriate information. A lot of the information I needed was described in the
intranet of Comillas and I could not access that part of the website yet. Also the website itself was
really unclear and messy. However, when I was studying at Comillas they changed the layout of the
website and now it looks more professional and organized. Fortunately, the International Relations
Coordinator of Comillas was really approachable over email and many times I received an email back
within a few hours. This was really helpful.
Visa procedure and arrival
Because Spain belongs the European Union, a student visa is not necessary. However, this does not
mean there is nothing else to arrange before departure. From TiU I received an envelope with
important documents which included a form the arrange the stop of my student card for public
transport and a document to authorize someone else than me to read, answer and process my mail
and to represent me during my time abroad. I also called my insurance company to ask for the
possibilities and consequences for me being abroad. My insurance company already covered a long
stay in a foreign country within the EU.
Then my arrival in Madrid. I left the Netherlands two days before the introduction days, on
th
January 7 . I came all by myself and I did not notify the university of my arrival, so when I arrived I just
took a taxi to my apartment (which I arranged earlier). The university has no campus for international
students to live, so international students planning to study at Pontificia Comillas need to look out for a
flat themselves. And so, nobody picked me up from the airport since the university has nothing to do
with the housing for international students. I arrived at eleven in the morning so basically I had two full
days to unpack and to get used to my new surroundings. The week after the introduction days there
were many documents I had to hand in for the administration of the university. To me this seemed a
little bit strange, since I felt like I already had given all this information. This stroke me throughout my
semester at Comillas: the different offices could collaborate much more efficiently if they share the files
of the students. I was asked to hand in all my details again for every course I was going to follow. If the
offices worked together on this part, it would save me as well as the university a lot of administrative
work.
Orientation/Introduction activities
On Thursday, the introduction days started. I received the information for those two days through
email so I knew when and where I had to be. The introduction days on Thursday and Friday turned out
to be really useful because we received a lot of information concerning practical matters and the
intranet of the school. Additionally, we were given a tour through the main building of the university
and on Friday a tour through the center of Madrid. During this tour I met many different people, so it
was really nice and useful to take part. I saw all the exchange students from every faculty that day and
it was really nice to see how many people were in the same situation as me that day. The tour through
the main building was given by the student assistant of the international relations office. She was a law
student herself and thus she knew exactly what we would like to see and to know. Also, a student
buddy was appointed to me. At the university they told me my buddy would contact me through email
the week after the introduction days. This turned out to be much later (after more than three weeks).
By then I already knew most things at the university and I had made enough friends already to ask
them for information if there was anything unclear to me.
Housing
Like I said before, the university has no housing accommodation for (international) students, since the
university is too small for that and lacks a campus. This means I had to look for housing by myself.
However, the university can help you find appropriate housing. They supplied me with documents from
different websites and housing corporations with which they had ties. Unfortunately, these housings
did not really seem appealing to me since all the housing they offered was close to the university and
close to the university means further away from the center. I decided that I wanted to live close to the
center so that I am not dependent on public transport when I want to go out at night. I contacted other
Dutch students that I met at the pre-departure days at TiU. During this evening I found out that I was
the only student from Tilburg University who was going to study in Madrid during the second semester.
All the people I met were going in the first semester and this gave me an opportunity to ask them for
advice or information. Two of these students had a nice room available in their student flat and after I
had seen some pictures and had read all the conditions online, I decided that I wanted that room. It
was really close to the center and was practically located at Gran
Via. I arranged my housing approximately two months before my
departure to Spain. This was somewhat early, but since I did not
want to stay in a hostel for the first few days and look for a room
while already being in Madrid, I arranged everything before. The
entire semester I lived in a flat together with 8 other students from
different nationalities. Including me, there were four Erasmus
students living in my flat. The other three were guys who did their
masters in Madrid and stayed there for a whole academic year. I had a great time in that flat and my
room was one of the best in the house: quite large, its own balcony and enough daylight. However,
there were some drawbacks too. The closer you live to the center, the more expensive the rooms will
be. Although I paid a lot of money every month for my room (€465), it was really worth it and I do
absolutely not regret living there. I would recommend everyone who is still going abroad to Spain to
find a place to live near the center, because that is where all the fun happens! Another drawback
turned out to be the agency to which my student flat belonged. The caretaker of the agency, Rafael, is
a real gold digger and all he seemed to care about was my money. Moreover, when I left the flat to go
back to the Netherlands a few weeks ago, another guy from the agency came to the flat to give my
deposit back and without any warning, I only got back €100 of the €400 that I paid without a concrete
reason. There was nothing I could do about it and I was really upset. But all in all, I had a wonderful
time in my flat with some amazing roommates, but the agency is really a pain in the ass and I would
strongly discourage anybody to rent a room from this agency. I found my flat on the website of the
agency: lalatinarooms.com. So as soon as you encounter this website online, please do not use it.
Living Costs
Living and studying in Madrid (and I think studying abroad in general) is not cheap. Apart from the
Erasmus Grant I received, I financed my stay in Spain with my savings, the monthly student grant
every Dutch student receives from the government, public transport compensation, and money I
received from my parents every month. My living expenses in Madrid were a lot higher than in Tilburg.
The rent alone is almost twice of what I pay for my flat in Tilburg. This rent was also my main
expenditure during my semester abroad. A lot of my money I spent on food and drinks in the
supermarket. I noticed that fruit and vegetables are clearly more expensive in Spain than in the
Netherlands. Another big expense is going out at night to clubs and bars. The drinks are far more
expensive than I was used to and at first I was really shocked how much I had to pay for a beer in a
club: €12. Most clubs have an entrance price which includes one or two drinks, but still, it is expensive.
The usual entrance price lies around €20. This was a good incentive for me and my friends to have
some more drinks at home before we headed to a club, because buying beer and wine in a shop is
comparable to the Netherlands: a lot cheaper. I also spent a lot of money on the little travels I did
within Spain: Valencia, Alicante, Toledo, Granada, Cádiz, Seville, Córdoba and Lisbon. I travelled to
these places by bus. This is the cheapest way to travel within Spain. While being on a trip you usually
spent more money than you initially expected and so it happened. I spent money on touristic
attractions, drinks, souvenirs and dinners. I spent this money not only on the trips I did, but also within
Madrid I spent money on touristic attractions, drinks, dinners and souvenirs. Other expenses are
concerned with public transport within Madrid (metro), tickets for soccer matches (Champions League
and Copa del Rey, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid), prepaid Spanish SIM card and clothing. I would
advise everyone to go to at least one soccer match in Spain, whether it is Real Madrid or Atlético. The
price you pay depends on the kind of match, but it is definitely worth it.
My approximate monthly budget whilst on exchange:
 Housing: € 465 p/m.
 Food: €100 p/m (supermarkets and restaurants)
 Transport €10 (university and main tourist attractions were within walking distance from my flat)
 Books €0 (schoolbooks were not necessary)
 Miscellaneous €300 (including trips)
Academic Calendar
th
Day of arrival: 7 of January.
th
Introduction days: 9 of January
th
First day of semester: 13 of January
th
Last day of classes: 25 of April
th
nd
Spring Holiday: 14 until 22 of April
th
rd
Examination period: 28 of April until 23 of May
The International Office
Universidad Pontificia Comillas does have an international office. This is the office international
students need to go to if they encounter any problems with their course registration or if they need
Erasmus documents to be signed. The coordinator who is responsible for the incoming students is
Mrs. Mónica González Rodríguez. She is also the person you can email before departure if you have
any questions. During the introduction we were told that the international students were always
welcome at the office, but this turned out to be somewhat different. The first two weeks, the office was
open for students all day to arrange their course registrations. After these two weeks, office hours
were introduced which ran from 10am to 12pm. These hours were by far not enough to help all the
students who came to the international office between those hours and I waited there for half an hour
numerous times. Moreover, during the office hours Mónica was not always there, which was really
frustrating if you needed a document to be signed (something which the student assistant is not
allowed to do). I found out that it is better to send an email to Mónica first if she is present at the office
at the time you want to come, or to make a personal appointment with her. In general, the information
provided was not really clear. Emails were sent out too late so that the students only had a couple of
days’ time to arrange the right documents. My advice is to really pay attention to the documents and
regularly check your email for new information from the international office.
Exchange promotion
There were no specific activities organized by the university to promote the home universities of the
international students. Nevertheless, I spoke a lot about my home university in a positive way to
others, since TiU is amazingly luxurious compared to Comillas. During my time in the Spanish college
life, I really started to appreciate the facilities we have at Tilburg University. For example, the library at
Comillas does not have computers and the sports center is really small and old-fashioned. I also heard
a lot of stories from my international friends about their home universities and we exchanged some
pictures. I honestly think I left behind a positive image about TiU.
Social Activities
Especially in the first couple of weeks of the academic semester, many activities were organized for
exchange students by the university’s small international student organization. I remember going out
for the first time with all the exchange students. The university organized a small pub crawl through the
neighborhood of the university. This was really nice and I got to know many people there who
eventually became my closest friends. After this, other activities were organized, like a day-trip to the
historic village Toledo (an hour away from Madrid) and language exchange activities in Tuesday
nights. This took place every week throughout the semester.
Compared other universities, Comillas is not very active in organizing activities for
international students. This is because it is a small university with a small budget for activities. I took
part in most of the organized activities, but honestly it is not necessary to take part if the reason is to
meet new people. After a few weeks all the exchange students will know each other or will at least
look familiar to you. There is enough to do in Madrid itself so there is no need for organized activities.
Regarding travels during my exchange, I travelled a lot. At least once I month I left Madrid for
a long weekend to visit others cities in Spain, especially in the south of Spain. I made my first trip after
a three weeks to Valencia and Alicante. I made this trip with the people I met during the introduction
days. We organized this trip all by ourselves and rented a big van. We left Madrid for 5 days and I had
the time of my life. Other amazing trips I made went to the Andalusian cities Granada, Cádiz, Seville
and Córdoba. The trips to Granada and Cádiz were trips organized by a special tourist agency for the
international students in Madrid, called Be Madrid and European Vibe. These trips are really low-cost
and all-inclusive. The trip to Seville and Córdoba I made during the spring break in April. After the
official ending of the exam period and the semester as a whole, I went to Lisbon with a Mexican friend.
I made this trip a week before I was going back to the Netherlands. We spent 4 days in Lisbon and it
was amazing. I would recommend everybody to visit Portugal – Lisbon or Porto – while staying in
Spain. It is not that far and still you can feel it’s a completely different country.
Culture and Language
To be honest, I experienced a small culture shock in the first two weeks upon my arrival. The biggest
thing I had to get used to were the dinner times; in my first weeks I was really hungry at 7 o’clock and I
was ready for dinner. However, nobody is eating at 7 because that is far too early for Spanish people.
Most local people start having dinner at 9.30 or 10. Since I wanted to adapt to the Spanish culture and
did not want to eat alone, I accepted this and eventually your body will get used to it and it will feel
really natural to you to eat that late. Also the people are not as strict regarding time as at home. When
I had an appointment with, for example, my study advisor, I made sure I was there exactly on time. In
Spain, it is no problem to be late, even 15 minutes is okay. This resulted in teachers being far too late
for their classes, appointments being rescheduled a couple of hours before the actual time agreed
upon and people just not showing up at all. I went to the university multiple times to find out that my
class was cancelled because there was no teacher. At first I was really angry with these practices and
lack of commitment (because that is what it was in my eyes), but after a while I found out that it has
nothing to do with a level of commitment. People are just far more relaxed and not that busy with
structure and schedules as Dutch people are; it goes as it goes.
In addition, I expected more people to speak English in Spain, although I already knew that far
less people are bilingual than in the Netherlands, I did not expect the number of people to be this low.
Even at the university not all the personnel spoke English. For example, I tried to ask the guy behind
the desk at the entrance of the university where exactly I had to go in English and he did not
understand. Also the shop owners in the touristic center of Madrid do not speak English.
Due to my experience in Spain I am able to see the Dutch culture from a different perspective.
Things in the Netherlands (and other north-European countries) are really structured and rational. In
Spain people are living their life more based on intuition than on rationality, far more than I expected.
They take things in life as it comes and are not as upset as Dutch people would be if something goes
wrong. Spanish people can adapt very well to situations and like kissing and hugging other people. I
really liked this part of their culture. In the Netherlands there is more mental distance and physical
space between people. I think there could me more room for passion, feelings and intuition in the
Dutch culture like in Spain, and Spain in turn could use some of the structure and organization from
the Dutch culture.
Because of my exchange to Spain I really feel more relaxed now than before. I am not that
stressed anymore when I am going to be late for a meeting with friends or family. This was very
common in Spain and people did not mind. Also, I feel like I have become more open-minded about
other cultures and countries. The Netherlands does not have the best way to handle everything, which
I thought was true before I left. In the cities in the south of Spain, which I visited, the Spanish culture is
even more noticeable. Madrid is a very big and touristic city and has lost some of its authenticity due
to that. However, in Granada, Seville and especially Córdoba you can really taste the Spanish culture
and the Spanish way of life.
One thing that I regret is that I did not take an academic course in Spanish. I thought it would
be too hard and so I followed all my courses in English. The year before my exchange I followed two
Spanish language courses at TiU (A2 and B1). During my exchange period itself I did not follow a
Spanish language course, because I was assigned to another B1 course, based on my online test
results. I thought it would not be very useful to follow the same course twice and since I already
followed 7 regular courses I decided not to take part. I think that taking one of my courses in Spanish
would really have improved my level of Spanish. Luckily I became friends with two Mexicans, with
whom I spoke Spanish.
Personal Development
The decision to study abroad was the best decision I have ever made and I do absolutely not regret
my choice to go to Spain. It is an amazing country and despite it is only a 2,5 hour flight, you feel like
you enter an entirely different world. The people, cities and climate are so different from ours that it
was a real eye-opener to me. Like I described before, the culture is different as well and it is a real
challenge to adapt to and live in this culture for 5 months. I already noticed that since I am back I will
always behave a little bit according to the Spanish way. For instance, I am more relaxed now and I am
not as panicking as I was before when things happen a little different than expected.
Additionally, going on exchange is a boost for your CV and enriches your world. I really enjoy telling
people about my experiences abroad and I really try to encourage other people to study abroad as
well – not necessarily Spain, but study abroad in general. I think that my chances for a job have
increased through this extra dimension I added to my CV and I hope I can use my Spanish language
skills later in my career again.
I would not only recommend going abroad to experience different cultures, but also to meet new
people from all over the world. I made many friends which come from countries all over the world. Me
and my friends spoke a lot about each other’s language, country and universities and it was amazingly
interesting to hear how other people experience Spain and how they usually live in their home
countries. Those conversations made me think about my own culture as well and showed me how
foreign people from all over the world see the Netherlands in general.
My best experiences while being abroad were obviously the
travels I did during the past 5 months. I visited many places in
Spain and I really feel like I know a lot about the country. Another
great experience to me was the Madrilène soccer culture. This
year it was the first time in history that two soccer clubs from the
same city played each other in the Champions League final:
Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. The rivalry between those two
teams is major and to me – being a big sports fan – it was a
privilege to actually experience this. Moreover, Atletico became
the champion of the Primera División (the Spanish soccer
league) for the first time in 20 years. On that day, everybody
was partying in the streets and you could see nothing else than
people dressed up in red and white, the colors of Atletico
Madrid. That was something I will most probably only see once
in my life and I am really happy that I was in Madrid during that
time.
Numerous things happened during my exchange that I will
never forget about for the rest of my life: the amazing cities I
have visited, the amazing international people that I have met
and the exciting soccer matches I have seen in the stadiums. Madrid is an amazing city, a lot larger
than Tilburg, and it is really an experience to live in a city that big. During my period abroad, I did not
only learn from the Spanish culture and the people I met, but I also learned a lot about myself. It is
quite a big step to go abroad all by yourself to a country where you do not know anyone. I was
expecting to feel really lonely in the beginning, but it turned out that I can be alone perfectly without
feeling the need to see other people. Sometimes I really enjoyed spending a night alone in my room
watching a good movie with a cup of tea, something I absolutely did not like before I went abroad. I
also learned that I am pretty good in making new friends pretty quickly. I am no longer afraid to start
conversations with strangers and my English really has improved. Because of these things I can say
that my exchange somewhat changed me, and I am really happy with that.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
Universidad Pontificia Comillas offers courses both in English and in Spanish. Some courses are even
offered in both languages. As stated, I only followed courses in English. The level of English of the
teachers was not always really good and I can say with high certainty that my level of English is higher
than the level of half of the teachers I had. However, I followed to Law courses and both teachers
spoke English really well, almost without a Spanish accent. Here is a list of the courses I followed at
Comillas:
- International Business
- International Marketing
- International Relations
- Business Negotiations
- Comparative Contract Law and International Contracts
- Competition Law
- Immigration and Refugee Policy (course dropped after a couple of weeks).
I chose the first three courses because those subjects really interest me. I really like the marketing
side of my studies (communication- and information sciences) and the word ‘international’ attracted
me to those courses. I added Business Negotiations to those three courses because this one was also
on the ‘international students list’. The courses on this list are established especially for exchange
students and it also sounded pretty interesting to me, after reading the syllabus (which was really hard
to find). I was sure that I wanted to follow these four courses on the list, but I still had to choose three
other courses, since I needed to reach the 30 ECTS. There not so much more business courses
offered, and other courses I liked overlapped with the other courses I had already chosen. In the end I
chose three law-courses. These courses fitted perfectly in my timetable and were the least boring of all
the law-courses I could choose from. Also, I have always been curious about what it is like to study
law and so I decided that these courses would be my final decision.
International Business, International Marketing and Business Negotiations were really easy to pass.
Those courses demand an active attitude from the students and I had to do a lot of assignments
throughout the semester for those courses. Although it was a lot of work, it was not difficult at all and I
passed those three courses without any difficulties. Another important thing is that I really liked those
courses. I really feel like I learned a lot during my time in class and studying for the exams was not
hard since I already needed to read the book and articles for the assignments. International Relations,
in my opinion, was an unnecessary and otiose course. The things the teacher told us were already
clear if you give them a good thought and the assignments the teacher gave us were really vague.
Despite this, International Relations is not difficult to pass either. The essays only count for a very
small percentage of your final grade, so there was no harm done.
The other three courses, however, were a lot more difficult. To a large extent this is thanks to
my lack of knowledge of law. I also noticed that a lot of Spanish students following those courses were
also having a hard time and those students actually study law. My Comparative Contracts teacher did
not use PowerPoint presentations, so if you wanted to know the information discussed in class, there
was no option but going. To make it worse, this class was taught on Wednesdays and Thursdays at
08.00. I can proudly say that I did not miss that many classes and I passed the course putting a lot of
effort in it. Although it is a law course, I found it pretty interesting.
Then the most complicated course I followed at Comillas: Competition Law. After two weeks
me and the other international students in this class discovered that this entire course was covered by
the Spanish students presenting past cases concerning competition law and that this would be part of
their final grade. International students were exempt from this and since we could not follow anything
from those presentations due to the disastrous pronunciation of English by the presenting Spanish
students, we decided not to attend this class every week. The exam for this course was really difficult
and a couple of days ago I heard that unfortunately I did not pass this course, despite of all the effort I
put into it while studying.
I dropped Immigration and Refugee Policy after some weeks because I received feedback
from the TiU board of examiners that this course was rejected. Since the period of changing courses
at Comillas had past weeks ago, it was not possible for me to follow another course anymore. This
means I have to follow an extra course at TiU in my last semester as a Bachelor student.
In short, I would definitely recommend International Business, Marketing, Relations and Business
Negotiations. These classes are only filled with international students, are fun and not difficult to pass.
If I could choose again, I would definitely not follow the law courses again. As an international student
I did not feel appreciated in these classes, they are difficult to pass and for me as a communication
student, not interesting. These are also the more theoretical courses, while the international courses
contain also a lot of practical work.
Most course assignments need to be done in groups. At one point my agenda was so full of
deadlines for group projects that I started to mix up my groups for different courses. In my opinion,
there was just too much group work, but this seems to be considered as an important aspect at the
university. Something that I have not mentioned before, is that most courses have compulsory
attendance. At first, this sounded ridiculous to me, but soon you get used to go to all your classes and
since attendance is part of your final grade, it is only positive if you show up. During the courses
established for international students I had a lot of contact with my teachers. They all were really
interested in me and the other international students and wanted to know everything about my life and
my country. Regarding the law courses, this contact was a lot less. I think this is because the majority
of the students in those courses as Spanish.
Exams
All my courses ended with a final, written exam, except Business Negotiations. For this course, we
had to write a chapter of an imaginary book that the class was going to publish: ‘How to Negotiate in
your Love Life’. It was really nice to have some diversity and I really enjoyed writing the chapter. The
other courses ended with a written exam, which in all cases except one (competition law) were really
short. Comparative Contracts, for instance, provided us with an hour time only to finish the exam.
Compared to Tilburg, the exams were pretty easy and there was no need to really apply the
knowledge to new cases. The questions were all about the studied materials and the answers to those
were literally stated in the materials.
Other
The study rooms in at the university and not so luxury as in Tilburg. The library is on the fifth floor of
the ICAI building and contains of many rows of tables with uncomfortable chairs. There are no
computers in the library, but you can bring your own laptop. Some tables contain a power outlet on the
table to recharge ipads, phones and laptops. Since the library is at the top of the building, it is really
hot in there. For me it was impossible to study there, so I decided to study for my exams at home.
There are no public computers in the library, but there are at other places in the buildings. The ICAI
building has some class rooms available with computers at the first floor, including printers. The main
building has an entire computer area in the basement, including computer rooms, group work rooms
and computers which students can use if they want to print. The computers at Comillas are very slow.
It is impossible to print something quickly between classes, because it takes ages for the computer to
get ready and there are far too few printers for all the students, which results in a permanent queue in
the printer room. The funny thing is that the printers are very old-fashioned, but work perfectly well.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to bring your own papers to the printer. You can
buy printing paper at the paper shop close to the canteen. At first this seemed very strange to me, but
after a while I figured that it was actually pretty handy. Besides the paper costs, you do not have to
pay for printing.
Overview of the courses followed
Course title
Level Prerequisites
International Business
BA
None
Exam form
Written
ECTS
5.0
International Marketing
BA
None
Written
5.0
International Relations
BA
None
Written
4.5
Comparative Contract
Law and International
Contracts
Competition Law
BA
Law students
Written
4,5
BA
Law students
Written or
oral
4,5
Business Negotiations
BA
None
Assignment
5.0
Comments
Established for
Erasmus students.
Easy, practical, relevant
Easy, practical,
relevant. Established for
Erasmus students
Not so relevant,
practical. Teacher
speaks poor English.
Pretty difficult, relevant,
no powerpoints,
theoretical.
Exam is very difficult
and a lot of reading,
theoretical.
Easy, fun and useful.
Very practical.
Tips for the future students
I enjoyed every single moment of my time in Spain and it has really enriched my life and my way of
thinking. I have learned a lot about myself and others, have met lot of new friends and know how it is
to live in Spain. I am truly thankful for this great experience and the great memories, which I will
always cherish. If you have the chance to go on exchange – to any country whatsoever – grab it with
both hands. Living abroad has such a positive impact on your life and the memories will remain
forever. You will build an international network of friends, which may be really helpful in the future, who
knows?!
What Spain is concerned, I would really recommend the country as an exchange destination.
Despite it being relatively close, the lifestyle, culture, climate and language are completely different. It
is an absolute challenge to live in a country where you do not fluently speak the language and where
English is not widely spoken. The university, however, was a lot different than I am used to. It felt like I
was back in high school sometimes and it was not all that pleasant. On the other hand, it made me
realize how blessed I am to study at TiU, where everything is modern and well-structured. It was a
good wake-up call for me and I appreciate everything I have (friends, social life, job) even more than I
did before I went to Spain.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this and I hope your upcoming exchange will be just as great (or even
greater) than mine. It was absolutely a blessing to have the privilege to live in this beautiful country. Of
course your education has priority, but there is so much more than that. My advice: grab all the
chances you will get and enjoy every moment to the fullest.
If you are interested, the link to my blog which I wrote during my exchange is the following:
loesverberne.reislogger.nl. Also, I will attach some more pictures below to give you an impression of
my exchange experience. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully I was able to excite
you with my story. With any further questions you may always send me an email!
Kind regards,
Loes Verberne
rd
3 year CIW student at TiU.
Me and my roommates on my last night
Me and my seven closest friends
First trip to Toledo with the university
Fireworks during carnival
Relaxing in the Retiro Park.
Me at a Real Madrid game
At the beach in Cádiz (March 2014)
Beautiful Granada (February 2014)
Sevilla (April 2014)
Having dinner at Alicante (January 2014)
st
My 21 birthday dinner
In front of the university: last day of school