Moving to Almería
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Thea
26 Oktober 2015 | Spanje, Almería
After one of the greatest adventures of my life, backpacking in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, I was ready to start my second big adventure of 2015. Studying one semester in Almería, Spain.
On the 10th of September I left The Netherlands and I flew to Almería from Brussels. Once arrived in Almería I could stay with another student of the Hanzehogeschool, because I didn't find a apartment yet. The appartment was amazing, overlooking the sea and some palmtrees. The next day we went to the Universidad de Almería and also the university is located next to the sea, with palmtrees offcourse. We had to take to bus to university and it took about 20 minutes. I soon noticed that no one spoke really good English and that my Spanish wasn’t good enough. So, I knew what I had to do. Start learning Spanish.
During the introduction week at university you will quickly notice you are in Spain. The preperation of presentations could be better, they do not start on time and they tell us that they don’t respond within 3 days on mails. But, we can’t blame them. We’re in Spain and the weather is amazing! ☺
During the introduction week we got to know many other people from around the world. I’ve been here in Spain for a while now and I can really tell the difference between countries and cultures. Especially when it comes to Italians, French people and Mexicans, but also people from Eastern Europe and the USA and even Korea. The reason why we met so many people is because of ESN (Erasmus Student Network). It’s a group of students who volunteers to guide us (with finding a house, get your Spanish number etc.) and they organize parties and trips around Spain and even Portugal and Morocco. To be honest, without ESN Almería wouldn’t be that much fun.
After two weeks I found an appartment togheter wiht another Dutch girl from the Hanzehogeschool. We now live between the centre and the beach. Most studenst live in the area Zapillo, that’s the beach area. But when you go out or want to go shopping, you have to go to the centre. That’s why we decided to live in Oliveros. We live with 2 English guys, so even our English is improving (we learn to understand there very hard accent). Finding a appartment was not that hard. There is a good website recommended by the university and even the members of ESN will help you if you ask them. The rent for appartments is quite low when you compare it to The Netherlands and Groningen. It’s between 150 – 200 euro’s a month. I think groceries are the same compared to The Netherlands, but I also think there are cheaper supermarkets. But the Consum (where we go) is close to our house and you have everything there, except Dutch food of course. Going out for dinner is cheap (you have to love the tapas culture though). The most popular restuarant here is Tio Tom, a cheap tapas restaurant. Also going out is quite cheap, because they love Erasmus students in the club ‘La Clásica’ with free entrance and free drinks in the beginning of the evening/night.
Speaking about going out. That was also my biggest cultural shock. In The Netherlands I always listen to dance music or just the top 40 of The Netherlands. But here in Spain, there is only Spanish music and even the guys are dancing. Like really dancing. But when you got to know the Spanish songs, it’s really fun to go out here. And you really feel like you’re far away from home.
Hasta luego!
On the 10th of September I left The Netherlands and I flew to Almería from Brussels. Once arrived in Almería I could stay with another student of the Hanzehogeschool, because I didn't find a apartment yet. The appartment was amazing, overlooking the sea and some palmtrees. The next day we went to the Universidad de Almería and also the university is located next to the sea, with palmtrees offcourse. We had to take to bus to university and it took about 20 minutes. I soon noticed that no one spoke really good English and that my Spanish wasn’t good enough. So, I knew what I had to do. Start learning Spanish.
During the introduction week at university you will quickly notice you are in Spain. The preperation of presentations could be better, they do not start on time and they tell us that they don’t respond within 3 days on mails. But, we can’t blame them. We’re in Spain and the weather is amazing! ☺
During the introduction week we got to know many other people from around the world. I’ve been here in Spain for a while now and I can really tell the difference between countries and cultures. Especially when it comes to Italians, French people and Mexicans, but also people from Eastern Europe and the USA and even Korea. The reason why we met so many people is because of ESN (Erasmus Student Network). It’s a group of students who volunteers to guide us (with finding a house, get your Spanish number etc.) and they organize parties and trips around Spain and even Portugal and Morocco. To be honest, without ESN Almería wouldn’t be that much fun.
After two weeks I found an appartment togheter wiht another Dutch girl from the Hanzehogeschool. We now live between the centre and the beach. Most studenst live in the area Zapillo, that’s the beach area. But when you go out or want to go shopping, you have to go to the centre. That’s why we decided to live in Oliveros. We live with 2 English guys, so even our English is improving (we learn to understand there very hard accent). Finding a appartment was not that hard. There is a good website recommended by the university and even the members of ESN will help you if you ask them. The rent for appartments is quite low when you compare it to The Netherlands and Groningen. It’s between 150 – 200 euro’s a month. I think groceries are the same compared to The Netherlands, but I also think there are cheaper supermarkets. But the Consum (where we go) is close to our house and you have everything there, except Dutch food of course. Going out for dinner is cheap (you have to love the tapas culture though). The most popular restuarant here is Tio Tom, a cheap tapas restaurant. Also going out is quite cheap, because they love Erasmus students in the club ‘La Clásica’ with free entrance and free drinks in the beginning of the evening/night.
Speaking about going out. That was also my biggest cultural shock. In The Netherlands I always listen to dance music or just the top 40 of The Netherlands. But here in Spain, there is only Spanish music and even the guys are dancing. Like really dancing. But when you got to know the Spanish songs, it’s really fun to go out here. And you really feel like you’re far away from home.
Hasta luego!
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