I have never seen a city that is this astonishing and beautiful with its historical buildings – gorgeous!
It is always a pleasure seeing the city’s scenery when coming out of the underground. London is a truly diverse city in which you meet many people from all over the world! I am not only fascinated by the city, the University of Westminster also proves its diversity throughout its numerous campuses all over London.
The Media Art and Design Department is located at Harrow Campus in northern London. There we live in Harrow Halls, which is located directly at the Campus so that we only need 5 minutes to go to university. It takes us about 15 minutes to get into the city, for example Baker Street.
I briefly want to explain my first day arriving at the campus and how this went:
We needed to check in first and get our keys and beddings. The staff and students were very friendly and you felt immediately comfortable and welcome. So we got our keys and we had to find our rooms but what we didn’t know is that there are NO escalators! So be prepared to work out the day you arrive here. But don’t worry! Everything becomes easy as you make friends during the same day as you help each other! Oh, I want to mention the doors! Don’t panic, as I did, if you can’t open them straight away.
It is a completely different system and you have to get used to the way opening doors here… Everyone got upset because of that, haha! So after I finally stored my luggage in my room I went grocery shopping (very adventurous)! There is a Sainsbury’s only 10 minutes walk from here and guess what, you don’t have to carry your bags, just drive your trolley with your things in it home. See, easy! In the first few days lots of students were doing the same thing. So funny! In Germany, everyone would stare at you as you drive the thing through the quarter of town. The only thing I suggest is to bring a lot of money for the first week, because London is really expensive! I would also recommend you to go to any Lidl or Aldi as it’s definitely much cheaper to buy food there!
Generally, the first week consisted of sightseeing, Harrow Halls Inductions, Student Welcome Events and a boat party! The boat party was amazing! There was a breath-taking view of London’s scenery from the boat looking at the Tower of London as well as Tower Bridge. Seriously I have never seen a city this stunning! We’ve also been to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, National History Museum (my favourite one), Victoria and Albert Museum as well as the Science Museum. Most of the museums are free and incredible beautiful. Can’t wait to see all other different places the coming weeks as well as taking part in the Harry Potter Tour and visit Oxford!
During these days it is terrific how many new things you see and people you meet! We met students from Australia, Canada, America, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Spain, India and so on! No wonder the University of Westminster is named most diverse University in the UK!
The Media Art and Design Department is completely different than other campuses in central London. There, you just feel the creativeness in the air while entering the forum! We have classes three times a week and two lectures twice a week. We are a bunch of international students and yet we still don’t know each other quite well but this will also change in the next few weeks.
The Graphic Design Department offers a lot of different equipment we can use. The only thing I personally don’t like is that the classroom we are in is not completely divided from other classrooms. This becomes a problem when we (or the others) start discussing things and start to disturb each other. However classes in general are very interesting, very organized and structured. Lecturers are quite motivational and they really want to push you further in creative thinking and in developing great ideas. This is what you need as a media and communication design student. This university’s department offers you outstanding education in this field. It’s awesome!
Hey Everyone! Finally we are in Madrid and we would like to share some of our first experiences with you!
An important factor to be taken care of before your semester abroad is accommodation. Trying to figure out a way amidst new unknown streets and strangers is hard with the added pressure finding a new place to live. When I decided I was coming to Madrid, I started looking for housing via all online platforms. I decided I’d be living in an apartment because of the previous experiences of living in a host family and student hostel.
There were two online portals specifically that helped me with this process and made finding an apartment much easier: ‘SpotAHome’ and ‘Housing Anywhere’. I also joined a few housing forums for students on Facebook; I got a lot of leads from there. A lot of people advise against this and say that it’s better if you land in Madrid and find housing, but I’m an exception to this safe stereotype. If you know what you’re looking for (the area you want to live in, your budget, and your needs), you can easily find a plethora of housing options to choose from. The representatives from ‘SpotAHome’ and ‘Housing Anywhere’ helped a lot too; they are readily available on live chat or via email.
All that being said and done, I was worried about moving to a new place and a new apartment which looked amazing online, but anything could go wrong. It turned out to be beautiful though, with all the information I got online being accurate to the T and the company I ended up with being amazing. I currently live with the landlady and another housemate in an apartment of three bedrooms, which has all amenities and is quite close to my university. The rent is affordable too!
My first day in Madrid was one of the best days of my life till date because I realized how warm and friendly the people here are. My landlady not only welcomed me into her home, but also took me shopping for groceries and helped me buy a new sim here, and my other housemate is like a sister to me. It’s funny how we all don’t understand each other’s language but we understand most conversations. It’s like I found a new family in stranger lands. Presently, we are teaching each other our languages, spending weekends together, and sharing our meals on a regular basis. I never realized a picture of a random room on the internet would lead to this beautiful experience I’ve had to start Madrid off with. I love my new home.
Abhiti Anand
While Abhiti stays in an apartment during her semester abroad, I am staying with a host family. As far as I know, I am the first Macromedia student going to Madrid to choose this form of accommodation. I made this choice for different reasons. The first one is very obvious – I want to improve my Spanish. Before I came to Madrid, I had studied Spanish for three years at school.
Since I have started to study at university, I have had no opportunity to speak Spanish. Therefore, I was not very practiced at communicating in Spanish, and I wanted to change that. Since our courses at UFV are in English, and we are a big group of Macromedia students, I knew that I would not speak a lot of Spanish if I chose to live in an apartment.
Now, living with my host family, I speak Spanish every day, and I can already see huge improvements in vocabulary, grammar and fluency.
Another reason is that I want to get to know how life in Madrid really is. I am part of my host family, and experience and hear about their everyday life.
Additionally, I also get a lot of hints, advice and recommendations about what to do in Madrid and which other places I should visit that I would not if I chose to live by myself.
Already now, I can fully recommend this form of accommodation, especially to everyone who wants to improve their Spanish.
Benita Dederichs
Since a few weeks we’re already in Madrid. After an orientation day the week before, lessons started at 26th of September. We’re studying here at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. It’s a private University in Madrid and it’s a bit outside of Madrid, in Pozuelo. The Campus itself is really nice. It is a bit like the Campuses you see in american movies, the students wear sweaters with the UFV logo, drink their coffee to go from Rodilla, the café on our campus, and welcome each other with cheek kisses.
Our classes are from Monday till Thursday, so we have enough time on weekends to explore Madrid and other nice cities in Spain and Portugal. Most courses are just with the other international students and just a few are with Spanish students. Projects are a great part of our semester here and also part of our grades. Furthermore we’ll write midterms in November and our final exams in end of January. We were welcomed very friendly and I’m sure we will have a great time at UFV.
But as you all know, university is not the most important thing at a semester abroad 😉
Irina Fomin
Spain is known for it’s colorful nightlife, especially in Madrid.
There is a variety of places from bars to salsa clubs, but the favorite neighborhoods, ” barrios”, are Sol and La Latina.
Spaniards love a good meal and before going out it is tradition to enjoy some “tapas”. Bars like “El Tigre”, “La Esquina Eusebio” or “Casa Paco” are very famous among students. The ambience is flooded with people laughing and trying to get their “tapa” before the plate is empty. Bars are normally cheap places that offer a great experience!
Before hitting the club students often organize the so called “botellón”. It is improvised in parks with music, beer and calimocho or tinto de verano( a mix of fanta and wine).
It is time to go to the club and there are many options:
For international students “Orange Club ” and “Teatro Barceló” are very common. They are flooded with people all around the world with whom you can easily maje friends.
But to have a real madrileña experience you have to try ‘discos’ like “Pachá”, “Mitty”, “Kapi”, “Bowi”, “Empire” and many others.
Here you can enter for free until 1:30 am or by paying 10€ with 2 free drinks ( price depends on the night!).
Nightlife in Spain starts and ends very late. Sometimes you have to wait for the metro and while you are doing it, you can treat yourself with some churros in “San Gines” or drink hot chocolate in “Malasaña”.
To enjoy Spain you just habe to let yourself go and move with the crowd.
Daniela de Osma Arreciado
We hope you liked this post and we’ll get back to you soon!
