ERASMUS was not the easiest experience I’ve been through but the challenges I faced when I was there are what made it so enriching apart from the many friends I made and the beautiful places I have visited.
When in secondary school I decided to choose Spanish and I immediately fell in love with the language. Although I didn’t know what good it would be in the future I did my "O’ and "A’ levels and then applied for a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Latin American studies together with Communications at the University of Malta.
Apart from Spanish, my other love is traveling. So when I received an e-mail inviting me to participate in an ERASMUS programme I grabbed the opportunity. The more people questioned my decision the more I was excited to post that application. After I was accepted, my emotions were all over the place, although all the jargon and the long waits for signatures and confirmations that followed dimmed them a little bit, but from that moment on I never looked back.
Before I knew it on September, 10, 2013 I was on a plane heading to Madrid with the train tickets in hand, ready to get to my destination, Zaragoza, Spain in order to spend the next five months there. I settled in the smallest room of a 4th floor, no lift, shared apartment, and albeit this, I was exceptionally happy. University started the next day, it was the first 24 hours of my life that I did not hear or communicate in English or Maltese. This was the main reason I chose Spain, to become fluent in the language that I love so much.
It was difficult to adjust at first because the Spanish system is totally different to that in Malta. The first shock came when I stepped into my first lecture and discovered that Spanish universities are only equipped with blackboards and chalk together with computers and projectors dating back from the early 1990s but which are still everyday tools for teachers and students in 21st century Spain.
My second shock came when the lecturer arrived 15 minutes late, as happened in all the lectures and exams that followed, and started speaking at an incredible speed in a language that I thought I knew so well but couldn’t recognize anymore.
When I asked my Spanish class mates what they understood of the lecture I was told they were as lost as I was. In time, I got more accustomed to the Spanish system or at least the system maintained at the University of Zaragoza. I was improving my Spanish daily and learning to be a more independent person although that was never a big problem for me but experiencing it hands on was an incredible sensation.
In October we had a week’s holiday so I took the opportunity and caught a plane to Portugal in order to tick solo traveling off my bucket list. Any preconceived thoughts of boring myself out of loneliness were immediately shattered as I visited a bunch of cities while living in hostels meeting new people from all over the world. As of today, Portugal remains
my favourite country out of all my travels. When I returned to Zaragoza it was hard work again. But Portugal was a well- deserved break. Later, I had the chance to travel all over Spain with my family, with ERASMUS organisation groups and best of all solo.
Exam week came and I was prepared more than ever because lectures in Spain were very hard and much more demanding than I expected. I passed with flying colours three exams and failed two, the reason being unclear instructions from lecturers that took it for granted ERASMUS students knew about the Spanish way of doing things. But anyway thanks to the patient staff at the University of Malta I was able to carry my failed credits through my second semester which is not such a big deal after all.
With all the quirks and difficulties I faced during those five months in Spain I would still do it again because it is one of the most enriching adventures a university student could ever embark on. So I thank all those people who made it possible as well as those who thought it was impossible because they were my motivation through the whole process of experiencing totally different cultures and building timeless friendships, travelling and becoming a fluent speaker in Castilian Spanish. So the next time you receive an e-mail with the opportunity to experience the ERASMUS way of life please don’t hesitate but go for it.