Experiencia IN – Filip Droste

Today we have the incoming experience of Filip Droste, from ISM Internacional School of Managament, who was studying business during last course

Organisation & Accommodation:
On http://www.helloflatmate.com/ they offer apartments for students that are located in different areas of Valencia.  I have already booked my apartment via Helloflatmate from Germany before I came to Valencia. The apartment that I booked was a little bit far away from the UCV, but I had the luck that there were other flats available. So Helloflatmate provided me another apartment (Calle de Marques de Caro 5) that just was two minutes away from the university by walking. I would recommend looking for an apartment directly in Valencia. A lot of Erasmus students were looking for an apartment when they just arrived in Valencia. It is not a problem to find an accommodation. I would not book over an agency like Helloflatmate again because the apartments are looking different on pictures and are more expensive in comparison to other flats. On Facebook there is a group that is called “International Office UCV & Buddy Program” where students are offering accommodations.

Everydaylife:
The UCV is located in the old city center of Valencia. In the old city center of Valencia there are a lot of restaurants, cafes and supermarkets. In the near of my apartment is a park that is called rio. The rio park was a river. Nowadays it’s the most famous park in Valencia. The rio park is a very good place to do sports like jogging, playing soccer or doing calisthenics. I went very often to the rio park to do sports. The beach Playa de Malvarrosa is a little bit far away like about 40 minutes by metro. I went to the beach always by metro. The metro station Turía is 10 minutes away from the apartment by walking. The beach Playa de Malvarrosa is an urban beach. There are also rural beaches around Valencia. The nearest are in Albufera. Albufera is about 15km away from Valencia and can be reached by bus 25 that is leaving from Plaza del Ayuntamiento (old City Center). I preferred more the rural beaches because they are more natural. At the weekend Valencia offers a really good nightlife. Very often I went to the clubs Mya, Akvarella and Marina Beach. The app Xceed offers you to write your name on the guest list and to enter some clubs for free. The weekend in Valencia starts from Thursday because the most students don´t have lectures on Fridays. There is a group Happy Erasmus on Facebook that offers diverse trips for international students to sightseeing in and around Valencia. This was for me a good opportunity to get to know new friends.

Studying at the partner university:
The UCV has different campuses. For every degree program there is one campus. The campus for economy is in the old city center. The economy campus is a very comfortable place to study and to have lectures. The economy campus is a church and around the church are the rooms for the lectures. I had the courses math’s, growth strategies, informatics and exchange market. I would not recommend choosing the course math’s because it is one of the hardest subjects and the failure rate is very high. I had to study a lot for maths. The other courses that I had I would choose again. The most teachers are able to speak English and they were very kind and helped me with doubts. Growth strategies was the only course that I had in English. Other courses were in Spanish. The staves are different in Spain in comparison to Germany. During the semester activities have to be done. The final mark is the average of the activities during the semester and the final exam.

Conclusion:
Valencia is the third-largest city in Spain. It is a very nice city because it represents culture, art and music. I like the old architecture in Valencia. In comparison to Barcelona and Madrid Valencia is a quiet city. Valencia offers a lot of leisure activities. It is hard to get bored there.  On one side Valencia is famous for its night life and on the other side it offers quiet places like the rio park and beaches to relax.