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Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)

617 reviews
4.30 / 5 based on 617 reviews
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Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Student life
Describe host city:
Student life dominates the city
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Nightlife: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Activities, Travel: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Activities
Nightlife
Travel
Overall
Personal comments
El sabor- Latin american crowd/music Potemkin- where everybody always ends up around 5-8am on a weekend
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Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Housing
Type of housing: Apartment/House
Arranged by: Independently - My choice
If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House
Why?
To state the obvious- living with Spainsh students is the best option in order to learn the language
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Personal assessment
Cost
Facilities
Location
Cleanliness
Space
Personal comments
The uni provide a pretty comprehensive list of places to have a look at. Overall, I would have to say it's pretty easy and cheap to find accomadation compared to most other student towns.
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Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Expenses
Main source of funding:
An ERASMUS grant
Other sources of funding:
Family
Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options
Personal spending habits
Spain is sooo much cheaper then the UK. Anyone would spend less money here, even if you blow a lot on travelling. Forget about getting a part time job though- you'll be underpaid and treated like #$&($!
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Food, Telephone, Housing, Nightlife, Travel, Overall:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand text books
Second-hand household items
Computers / Internet
Administrative
Money from home
Personal comments
Find out if your current bank (at home) has any kind of agreement with any spanish banks- for example for german students with deutchbank were able to take out money from their home accounts for no extra cost
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Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Academic
Course recommendations
You don't have to choose your courses straight away which gives you the chance to try out as many as you like and figure out which teachers you can actually understand, which ones either care or not whether you're an overseas student- it's definitly worth trying to find out from the other spanish students which courses are better then others
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My academic experiences
Quality of courses
Variety of courses
Access to resources
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
Concerning the music faculty in particular, I think that this department is in decline, it's underfunded, lacking in facilities and some of the best and progressive professors have already left. I've heard the music dep. in Granada is supposed to be better
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams at end of course
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
Overall
Useful  |  0
Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Overall
I wish I had known...
That university social life is quite different from back in the UK- I was used to an active society envioronment in Edinburgh, and didn't realize this was pretty much non existent over in Spain
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In my opinion:
Most people loved it.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Academic reasons
2
Culture
3
Costs
3
Activities
3
Campus life
3
Party / people
3
Weather / location
3
Personal recommendation
don't miss the faculty parties- where everyone drinks themselves silly outside in the middle of the day
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
3
Traveled
3
Improved language skills
3
Met people from other countries
3
Became more independent
2
Partied a lot
2
Experienced a change in life
3
Advanced my studies & career
1
Final comments
Be prepared to encounter incredibly unhelpful, unfriendly and useless people who work in accomadation and secretarial offices, who tend to take coffee breaks during office hours! Don't be put off by them- they seem to be a race apart from the rest of the Spanish people!
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Useful  |  0
Jonathan B
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Music and Musicology, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Languages
Language of instruction: Spanish
Was learning Spanish a key decision factor?
No, it wasn't.
How much did you improve your Spanish?
My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: At ease in most situations
Language difficulties
Social
Educational
Administrative / Institutional
Overall
Personal comments
Even though the university offers a supposedly free 3 week course (you actually have to pay about 50 euros for some books you never use) it's worth signing up with the escuela oficial de idiomas (http://centros6.pntic.mec.es/eoi.de.salamanca)- they do semester long spanish courses, 2 hours a day each weekday for just 60 euros! Peanuts!
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