weitere Erfahrungsberichte für Spanien
Land:
Spanien
Universität:
Universidad de León
Semester und Studiengang:
5. Semester Bachelor International Management
Aufenthalt:
wintersemester 2016
Über die Universität:
The Universidad de León is approximately 10 minutes by bus and 30 minutes by foot away from the city centre. The whole campus is pretty large what made the orientation in the first weeks a bit complicated. The buildings at the faculty of economics have seen better days. But these facts were secondary for me as the study offers are grand. At least for persons who want to focus on marketing, sales and consumer issues, León is the best place to go!
Subjects like Marketing Communication, Consumer Behavior and Market Research are fully taught in English, what was perfect for me as I only had A1 level in Spanish before my departure to Léon. But the courses I mentioned are just offered during the winter semester. Of course you can also (additionally) take these courses and many others in Spanish as León offers a broad range of interesting business courses.
Two weeks before the lecture period starts, you can attend an intensive Spanish language course. Do not miss this chance as this is a great opportunity to get to know other Erasmus students and to refresh or improve your Spanish skills to start well prepared in your semester abroad!
As all the courses at the university have compulsory attendance, which will be also part of your final grade, I would really recommend you to go there every single lesson. At the end of the lessons the students have to do short projects, group works or prepare presentations to make sure the students really got the topics. As those things also count to your final grade, it is important to spend attention every single lesson and to take notes. In all of my courses I had to write two exams and do two projects with two final presentations. So be prepared to work hard, also in your spare time. But do not worry, there is still enough time to explore the Spanish culture!
Betreuung vor Ort:
The people from the International Office are very friendly and most of them speak English. The orientation week was very well organized, but as some friends of mine who live in León already showed us the university and the town before, for me and my friend who went with me, it was not that interesting anymore. Every Erasmus student also gets assigned to a buddy some weeks before you leave for your semester abroad. My buddy was very helpful as he visited some flats for me, while I was still in Germany. Following I already had a flat upon arrival in Léon. The only problem was the communication between my buddy and me at the beginning as my Spanish was still not that fluent and his English was poor. But we solved it quite fast, as on the second day we met, he just brought an English speaking friend. All in all my buddy was a big help not only during the first weeks.
There are no student dorms in León. Hence you have to rent normal flats and share them with other people. As most of those flats are not that modern and new, me and my friend decided to pick a more expensive one in the middle of the city centre next to the cathedral of León. We payed round about 450 Euros each, which is a lot even for the perfect location and the new furniture. Most of my friends shared their flat with 3 or 4 other persons and payed a monthly rent of round about 200-350 EUR.
I found all of the professors very friendly and helpful. Especially one of the Marketing professors is stunning. Her lessons are very interesting and entertaining at the same time. She prepares you very well for the exams and leads you through the semester.
Tipps:
I would recommend future students at the University of León to take part at the intensive Spanish language course the two weeks before the university starts. Here you can meet other Erasmus students and share your already acquired knowledge about the city, the best places to go, the university, the time tables, bus issues, travel opportunities etc.
Also take the opportunity to contact your buddy and assign him or her to search already for a flat before you arrive in Spain. For me it was very comfortable to have my own flat already from the first day on as you are very tired from the flight and the bus or train ride from Madrid to León. From day number one we could settle down in our flat and concentrate on the intensive language course. As I heart from a lot of other students combining daily language courses and searching for a flat in a new town is very exhausting.