Student Blogs/Phil in Spain
Hola and Buenos dias to all! My name is Phil, and I hope you will follow my adventures at school in Europe this upcoming academic year.
With the Bachelor of International Business (BiB) program, I am lucky enough to study abroad for my third-year. When I started at Carleton University, I had to select a language to study; I decided to choose Spanish because of the hot climates of Spanish-speaking countries and the opportunities that could come with Latin America and the Caribbean becoming more developed.
And after two completing two years of academic study, it is my turn to experience a year abroad, I earned a spot at Universidad Europea de Madrid, Valencia Campus for my third year!
It took a lot of preparation to get everything ready for my year abroad. I had obtain a visa, sort out a place to live and much more. I’m afraid to say that it isn’t as easy as snapping your fingers. Getting a visa requires a huge amount of supporting documents that can take a long time to process. So, for future students, I highly recommend getting your ducks in a row as soon as you can!
As for finding a place to live in, I am lucky enough to spend my year abroad with my girlfriend, and of course we could not live in residence together. So we set out early to try and find an apartment in Spain, we found an incredible two-bedroom apartment in the historic downtown area of Valencia which was spacious, had utilities included, fully furnished and was in our budget.
But, when people say is “if it’s too good to be true, don’t get it.” To make a long story short, we ended up getting scammed for over a $1,000 dollars and have taken legal action against the individual.The experience did put a bitter taste in my mouth about my year abroad. I’m wriitng about this tomake sure that this will not happen to anybody else!
But on the positive note, we have managed to find another apartment which is just a ten minute walk away from the school. If any students need help / advice don’t be afraid to email the people living abroad in the place you want to go! I emailed Vanessa who lived in Valencia this past year and she helped and answered all my questions about Valencia, making for an easier transition.
To wrap up, here are the main goals that I would like to accomplish this year:
A bunch of cliché ones, but they’re honestly what I want to do with my year abroad!