For the past fall, I’ve been studying in Madrid, Spain, in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.
The school is surprisingly similar to studying in Finland, but in some cases a little more old-fashioned. The level of the classes depends a lot on which classes you are taking and what the teachers are like, but most of my classes have been really similar compared to studying in a Finnish University of Applied Sciences. So in many courses, I’ve had a group assignment, which usually has been a long report and a presentation. What is different compared to TAMK is that all of the courses in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos have a mandatory exam at the end of the semester, which most of them are in January after Christmas break. The exams are mostly just short, multiple choice question exams on paper, but you need to pass them to pass the course.
What I like about the school system here is that when selecting courses during summer, I got to see the schedule for the classes already, so I planned my schedule not only what courses sounded interesting to me, but also I got the chance to make the schedule in a way that I don’t have school on Fridays. I also got to join a theater class, which was a cool new experience, however, the teaching was in Spanish.
Regarding the language, the school’s website wasn’t the best with all of the information in English, but at least all of my teachers’ English skills were good and understandable, so I didn’t have bigger problems with the language barrier.
The school is out of the city center, so as I’ve been living right in the city center (in Callao) it takes me 45 minutes to go to school. Even though the way to school takes a while, I’ve been super happy with my decision to live in the center. In Vicálvaro, where the campus is, there is pretty much nothing to do, and all of the student parties and other stuff are always happening in the center.
I’ve been living in a shared apartment with 8 roommates, which has been a really fun experience and a good way to get close friends, but of course, it has also been a little rough from time to time. I totally recommend getting a shared apartment when being on exchange, especially in Madrid because the rents can be really expensive, but also because you meet new cool people and most of my free time I spend with my roommates.
In my free time in Madrid I’ve been exploring the city, I’ve gone to many student parties and events, and also I’ve been taking different kinds of dance classes in this dance studio called Wosap. I have also had a lot of extra time to travel around Spain by train, and also fly to other countries since the flights from Madrid are really cheap.
Something that is also nice is the weather in Madrid since it is a lot warmer here compared to Finland. However, if you are looking for a beach place for your exchange destination I would obviously not recommend Madrid. But other than that Madrid is a really nice city to be spending the exchange in.
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