Jasmine's Exchange to CEU San Pablo | Spain
Since I was a first year here at Murdoch, I knew I waned to go on exchange. I lived at the student village on campus in my first and second years as I come from the small country town (a little bit far to travel everyday for class!). One of my roommates during semester one of my first year in the Big City was a Danish exchange student, and honestly I’m so glad he was. After seeing all the fun he got up to with fellow exchange students, getting to show him around our little part of the world, helping him to understand the Aussie way of abbreviating everything and chucking out seemingly random slang, I remember thinking “yep, I’m going to do that”. So, from then on, I worked towards being able to get on a big plane and make the trek across the ocean as well. And during my third year of studying, it was finally time to hit the button and submit my exchange application! And it was absolutely terrifying.
Next thing I know, it’s time to jump on the plane and say goodbye to my friends and family, put on my big girl pants and be truly independent. After a full day of planes and airports I finally arrived at Madrid’s Barajas Airport in early September. My first thought when out of the plane - “It’s hot, why is so hot?” Straight off the bat this is going against my expectations of Madrid. As someone who grew up in rural Australia, I’m used to stifling heat, but this was humid. Really humid. What I learned later on is that most people who live in Madrid leave the city during August and September and head to the beautiful coastal cities and villages of the peninsular where the weather is much more pleasant. Figures!
I arrived a few day’s earlier than CEU (what everyone calls the university – the full name is way too long) requires for orientation, so I spend the time getting to know my new city – and what a beauty it is. I started on foot, finding practical things like supermarkets, my local metro station and how to get to my campus from my apartment. The language barrier was one of the most difficult things to navigate during my first few weeks. True, Spain is working towards getting everyone passable in English, but there is a fair way to go. If you’re open to learning a new language, you’ll pick it up fast, even if it is very confusing at first.
Before it came down to the final weeks before the exchange application deadline, I’d never considered Spain as a compatible country to study in. For some reason, it wasn’t on my radar. As I study communications and media studies and English and creative writing (double major), I thought, “how can what CEU offers go with my degree?” Well, I ended up being able to take courses (what we call units) that were incredibly rewarding, fun and different from what was on offer at Murdoch. As I unfortunately didn’t speak Spanish before I arrived, course options were more limited than Spanish language courses. However, I made that work for the best and ended up with some great classes that I never would have taken in Australia.
As a CEU student, there are two accommodation options. The first is to stay on campus. This option is only available to students stay for a full year and not many Erasmus/exchange students stay there, as it’s usually more expensive than your other option.
The second and the far more popular option for exchange students is renting a flat. When I first heard this was the norm at CEU, it was daunting. I wasn’t keen on living with random people who had no associating with the university I was going to and I had no idea where to start looking. For my student visa application I had to have accommodation sorted when first applying, so got organised very early. I found a great flat only 15 minutes walk from the Moncloa campus (which is where the Humanities buildings are located), 2 minutes walk from a major bus and metro station that connects with my campus. I did this through Aluni.net, a company who works with CEU to house students in the city. As this company only rents rooms to students and young professionals, I ended up living with 5 other students, which was really awesome.
I lived with a Mexican American (who spoke fluent Spanish) and four more girls who came from all over Spain, from Barcelona to the Canary Islands. This definitely helped me embrace and emerge myself in the culture and language, as they were wonderful in helping me out. They helped me with my Spanish and I helped them with their English, as they all varying language levels.
I found living off campus really made me feel like I actually lived in Madrid, not just travelled or stayed there for a while. No meal plans, no dorms. I lived just like any other Spanish student did in the city.
At first, it took me a while to get used to how university in Spain differed from university in Australia. In fact, for the first month it was incredibly frustrating. It was definitely a learning curve, figuring out what was the same, what was similar and that seemed plain out backwards. But once I let go any preconceived ideas and realized and accepted it was just the Spanish way, things got a lot easier. If I had any piece advice for a future exchange student, it’s to be as prepared as you can be before you leave, but expect things to not be how you imagined.
I told myself to just say yes to opportunities while I was there, so when some new friends asked me if I wanted to join them on a beach weekend trip, of course I was quick to jump on the offer. A week later we, and a bunch of other students/young professionals, were off to the city of Valencia for a couple of days. The first day was spent at the beach, chilling in the calm water or having epic games of volleyball.
After a night out at a swanky club, or “discoteca”, a group of us explored the city on foot and bus the next day. First we headed to L'Oceanogrà fic, the largest aquarium in Europe for a few hours, which actually looks like a space age, super modern structure compared to the historic city. We spent the rest of the day wandering the picturesque tiny streets so common in Spanish cities, past the dozens of public plazas, churches and of course, fountains. Everywhere you go in Spain there’ll no doubt be a fountains and statues in every other plaza, one of the many charms of Spain.
However, reality had to hit and yes, you actually do a lot of academic work while on exchange, in between having a lot of fun! Once all the course work was done and dusted and it was time for the holiday season. As the exam period for CEU when I was there was after Christmas, I got the opportunity to spend Christmas with a wonderful friend in England, which is something I did not expect! We spend 10 days eating so much delicious holiday food, going along to family dinners and birthday celebrations like I was one of their own and day tripping to cities like London and Brighton. Trying to see as much of England as I could while I was there. It was defiantly a great way to end my exchange semester, with the family hosting me for two weeks being so wonderful and welcoming.
Thinking back on the last 5 months, it’s hard to believe it was real. Spending a semester in Madrid, Spain studying at Universidad San Pablo CEU was by far the most brave I’ve ever been, while also being the most exhilarating and rewarding experience of my life. I got to spend half a year exploring a new city, picking up a new language, making great friends and *attempting* to become a madrileño (that’s what people who are from Madrid are called). To those who are considering exchange, I say go for it. As a person, I’ve learned more about myself than I thought possible. The small accomplishments make you so proud and you absolutely cherish your friends.
- Jasmine studied abroad at CEU San Pablo in Madrid, Spain
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