8. March 2018 | Von Alyssa, Lennard & Philipp  

UFV Madrid – Our Semester abroad

And this is our final blogpost from this semester’s batch of german exchange students to Spain.
Closing it off with our final thoughts and heartfelt words:

UFV Madrid – Our Semester abroad

PHILIPP

Spending a semester abroad is a perfect way to broaden your horizons and gain memorable experiences.

My semester abroad at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Madrid is already two months behind. How time flies when you are exploring a new country with its culture, meeting new people and making new friends.

In my time abroad in Spain, I had the opportunity to explore and get to know a different culture. The Spanish way of life differs in a way from the Germans.

This includes, for example, a relaxed, flexible way to deal with the daily life. The flexibility of the Spaniards is reflected, for example, in one of their favorite words „mañana“ which means “tomorrow”.

However, if one takes up this word with the German mentality, it will be completely understood differently, since we Germans like to be precise. Whereas Spaniards not so, and probably mean the day after tomorrow or in a couple of days even.

Studying abroad means learning a lot more than the professor teaches.

On the one hand, you learn the national language. Unfortunately, I have to say that my Spanish language skills have diminished in the meantime.

But you also develop yourself. Just the fact that we needed to get along in a different country, with a different language and different culture made us more adaptable, independent and open-minded.

One last thing I want to talk about is the incredibly good weather. During my entire stay in Madrid the sun was shining. It was raining very rarely. This good weather gave us the opportunity to explore the city and spend a long night outside.

Finally, I can say that I have not regretted the choice of UFV and Madrid. On the contrary, I highly recommend both the Universidad Francisco de Victoria and Madrid for a semester abroad. You will not regret it and will be welcomed with open-arms in the sunshine.

LENNY

I can personally say that my semester abroad was more than successful. I managed to pass all my exams and had a wonderful time in Madrid. It became like a second home to me and I miss Madrid a lot.

The first weeks back home in Hamburg were strange. No noisy people, total silence in the night and everyone wanted to eat dinner quite early. That were moments where I realized that Madrid was completely the right choice for me. I loved going grocery shopping at 10 p.m., taking breakfast in cafes at 1 o´clock in early noon and be up late and be able to do everything I wanted.

But of course, it is not to bad to be back home. I missed my friends, family and mom’s food. And I am sure I will visit Madrid soon and meet all the friends I made in my semester abroad.

Just two weeks ago, Julian a friend from Madrid came to Hamburg and visited me. I enjoyed showing him Hamburg, my hometown and all the places I told him about. I am looking forward to keep in touch with all the people I met in Madrid to always look back on moments we had and we can remind us on.

Another really cool thing about the semester abroad are in my opinion the Macromedia students from the other locations in Germany. I made some really good friends from the Macromedia in Berlin. About one week after I came back from Madrid even before the new year I went to Berlin to visit Gil, Sarah and Killian. They became really good friends of mine and will come to Hamburg next month.

The university was really nice too, there is nothing you could complain about as a student from abroad. All in all, I had a great time in Madrid and I would not have had a problem staying there any longer.

ALYSSA

So now, it is the time to officially close off this journey.

In short words I would say it was quick and sweet but certainly amazing.

Well, it’s been about two months and I couldn’t be happier with the opportunity to be able to have gone to the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid. The change did me good and certainly fed me a lot of knowledge from the people I met there. Also I think learning partly somewhat of my spanish heritage had made me felt like I was home. The people there are so open just like how I know it in the Philippines.

Personally it wasn’t that hard for me to get used to the spanish habits because most of them we already have in my culture.

Anyway, being open minded is the key to learn, especially in another country and willing to explore what education has in store for you. Meeting new people, too because through them you pick up new things! And there were a lot of amazing people I met in Madrid/UFV.
Also, like mentioned in the previous posts you will definitely not get tired of the city itself! Full of entertainment and diversity!

Okay, in all honesty words cannot specifically describe how my semester abroad was so I’ll cut it short and tell you this: 10/10, I would definitely recommend the University and Madrid in general!
You’re thinking ? “Hmm but I want something far and totally different”
Spain sure isn’t that far from Germany but education will get you there!

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