erasmus!

kel91

Hi all,
Im in 2ndyear arts doing spanish and geography and we r in the process nw finding out about the erasmus. Im just wondering has anyone gone on erasmus and if ye have where did ye go and did ye enjoy it?

Lockstep

I went to Leuven, Belgium from 2009-2010.
It was great, Erasmus is an experience and I really reccomend it.

theginsandwich

I went to Poitiers, France, in '09-'10. Easily one of the best experiences of my life. It's what you make of it though. I know people who just hung around with English speakers or even just other Irish people. They missed out big time in my opinion.

amym87

Totally agree with the above! My erasmus year was without a doubt one of the best years of my life! I went to a place just outside Madrid in Spain. Any of the places you go will be brilliant though. I would advise you to go to one of the smaller places however as you really get to know the erasmus community. Its harder to get to know people in bigger cities.

Niamhf

Hey Kel91,

I am studying Spanish and German and am currently on Erasmus in Valencia. It is amazing! I was a tad nervous about going, but after the first few days that quickly left! There are loads of Erasmus groups like ESN (Erasmus Student Network) and Tandem UV (an intercambio group in the university) that organize trips away, parties and tours of the city within the first few days to help you get settled quickly and meet people. These are great and I definitely recommend that you do them. Also, there are plenty of sports teams and other groups like orchestra or choirs etc that some of my friends are involved in which is a great way to meet people. I was lucky enough to find that there is a GAA team here so I opted for that, and it is not just Irish people playing, there are plenty of Spanish and Latin Americans playing too so it's fun to help teach them GAA through Spanish! As for uni itself, it may seem a bit mad at the start...the Spanish looooove paperwork...you'll be filling in a lot of forms and running around to get stamps here there and everywhere...they haven't discovered that these things can be easily organized online. But, once all that is sorted you will settle in to your classes quickly. Be sure in the first 2 weeks to sample classes, you can always change if something doesn't seem all the appealing, there is no point signing up for something that you don't like. You can ask the previous years Erasmus students about classes to take also. We were sent their e-mail addresses in August. The Spanish students in my classes are very friendly and are very helpful with sharing notes in case you get lost in a class! They usually invited us for dinner and to group study sessions in the run up to exams. They are always looking for an intercambio for English as many of them in the Spanish faculty study English too. As for accommodation, that usually takes you 2-3 days to find. Explore plenty of options, don't ever take the first place you walk in to. There are sometimes organizations that offer Erasmus students apartments, but these are terrible...they are very expensive and you will only be living with other Erasmus students. It is always better to try and live with at least one Spanish person to have the language in the house...at least then you can point at things and ask "what's this in Spanish"...it's like having a walking dictionary! In Spain your rent should be no more than €200 per month, bills excluded. The extras are water, bin charge, gas/electricity and internet. I can't think of anything else...if you have any more questions just ask! Erasmus is amazing, and it is the only way to really get the language!