Studies
My studies started of as very confusing, since my university had a very short welcoming day. We did not really get told anything, like how to find classrooms, campus tour or how Spanish grades work. Overall, the administrative workers were a bit overwhelmed and also took a long time to answer to emails. Most of us had problems with courses overlapping and making a new learning agreement took a long time, which means I have missed a whole month of classes.
After everything worked out and I was in the right classes, it was fine and the students were nice, most of them Spanish though. It was a lot of material and our classes were 2 hours without a break.
Spare time
In my spare time I went out with newly made friends a lot and went travelling a bunch. I went on a student trip to Morocco, drove in a bus to see friends in Portugal and made a road trip with friends to Marbella, Malaga and Gibraltar. Because of the differences in population density and air quality I was sick quite a lot, but when I felt good I did as much as I could. We also explored the nightlife in Madrid fairly a lot, as well the local cuisine.
Finland vs Spain studies
In Spain university is way stricter than in Finland. The classes are not mandatory to be in, whereas in Finland you need to be present at 80% of the classes per course. But Spain has not as far technologically evolved as Finland and for example, the exams are written on paper, and it is very much controlled what you bring into the classroom with you. In some courses we even had to get seated, so we don’t sit too near next to each other. In Finland most of our exams were presentations, which I think is way better to get hands on experience as a business major. Spanish courses just have too much information and instead of using them, you just need to learn material.
Comments