“It is a wonderful experience to have an opportunity to study abroad”
VMU Student of Economics and Finance // Erasmus+ studies in Spain, University of Alicante
I am Alina Mutassova, I study Economics and Finance and I went to Spain, University of Alicante
I always wanted to have an experience of living in Spain, I love their culture, people are open and kind, they live in the present and do not worry about tomorrow or what they like to say – they will do it mañana. Also, I started learning Spanish on the first year of studying in VMU and we all know the best way to improve it is being in a Spanish-speaking country.
I chose University of Alicante, because I like that there is a quite big campus and all the buildings are in one place, and it feels like a small student town. I chose Alicante city, because I knew that I would feel a Spanish atmosphere and culture more in a small city, rather than the capital. Plus, there is a sea with charming beaches and places. An interesting fact about Alicante is that it is the sunniest city in Europe with 349 hours of sun.Speaking about the difference between studying at VMU and hosting university, I would say that the studies and workshops are quite the same, but UA has a bit different evaluation of exams.
All the exams are mostly multiple choice and students get 1 point for every right answer, but they deduct 1 point for 2 wrong answers. Overall, it is the same.
There were a lot of happy moments, people, sports, studies, parties and travelling, all of those were happy moments. It is a wonderful experience to have an opportunity to study abroad, in another country. Since I am from Kazakhstan, for me, the first year of VDU can be counted as an Erasmus, and I knew for sure that I want to see and experience more of that in other countries, but when I am going to return to Lithuania, this time, I will feel it like a second home and not like an unfamiliar city.
Of course, there were some challenges as a foreigner in another city, not knowing what is better, what is safer and so on. One of the challenges was masks in transportation. When I came there by plane, I had a stop in Madrid and needed to go to Alicante by bus, but I did not know that they use masks in transportation, so I was surprised, even though I got the mask from the stranger, but I only got used to it after some time and some days of forgetting it.
Another problem was that there are no dormitories in the city and it took some time to find a good room in the apartment with some other students (well there is actually one dormitory near the university, but it is double price of the room in the apartment). I was searching for rooms through erasmusu.com website and found one.
So, this Is my experience!
