Field of study in Wageningen: Bachelor Business and Consumer Studies
Study period exchange: 17/01/2024 – 28/05/2024
Country (exchange): Spain
City (exchange): Murcia
University (exchange): Universidad de Murcia
Faculty (exchange): Facultad de Economía
2. Motivation for exchange
Why did you choose to go on study exchange?
Firstly, to have a study and living experience abroad. Secondly, learning a new language and culture has always been one of my interests.
What is the reason you chose for this country?
As I mentioned above learning a new language was one of my goals. Therefore Spanish, is one the most used languages worldwide and can therefore also be helpful in the future. Besides this, the weather was also a big plus.
What is the reason you chose for this university?
I wanted to try out a new, more unfamiliar city and since Murcia is a relatively big city, but not very known in the Netherlands this aligned with my preferences.
3. Accessibility to reach destination
Do you have any advice about reaching your exchange destination?
There are two ways to travel to Murcia. Since I wanted to travel green I tried to go with busses and trains. However this will take you at least 30 hours and a lot changes to. The option I took is the plane to Alicante and a bus of around 30 minutes to Murcia afterwards.
4. University and studying
Could you provide some general information about the followed courses?
I had sufficient possibilities to select suitable courses that were taught in English:
Not a lot, but that was also not the reason I went there. You have to be a little flexible when moving there.
I had sufficient possibilities to select suitable courses in my field of interest:
Same as above.
I am satisfied with the level of the courses that I followed:
Partly yes. Most courses were interesting. On the other hand, no, because the exams were very different compared to WUR, which is part of the reason I failed 2 courses as I also studied relatively good.
I am satisfied, in the end, with the selection of courses I followed:
No, I wouldn’t choose to follow the management operations course again.
What is it like to study there?
Very different than WUR. The level of classes is mostly easy although it varies across different courses. Workload is a little more than I was used too and the examination is also different. Studying for the exam was harder because the lesson material of activities and practice questions were only publishes without answers.
What is the culture of the university?
Lecturers were very approachable and nice. The big difference was the amount of students per class, which was way less than WUR.
What does the university offer students additionally?
Very good and cheap catering. Sport facilities was harder to find.
5. Housing-traveling-living
What are the possibilities for housing?
There are a lot of possibilities but I chose to use Idealista to find Spanish roommates. Rent rates do not differ much compared to the average in the Netherlands and is a bit more expensive than the average room in Wageningen I think.
What is the culture like?
Way more eating and drinking outside of home. Also very slow/relaxed way of living. Took me a while to get used to, but after a while I started to appreciate it and began to doubt the always find the super-efficient way of the Dutch culture.
Could you give some information about public transport infrastructure?
Very cheap. Cards to have unlimited use of train and bus.
6. Expenses
Can you give an indication of your expenses for/during your exchange?
The price levels were in general [higher; lower; equal] in comparison to in the Netherlands:
Lower, except for room rent.
Additional remarks regarding expenses?
Eating out is almost as expensive as cooking at home. Going out is also very cheap, but because of that very tempting to spend a lot.
7. Free time
What are must-sees in the area?
Alicante -> bus
Andalusia -> bus
Morocco -> plane
What does not appear in a travel guide, but is definitely worth seeing/doing?
All the small restaurants in the city itself.
8. Challenges & best moment abroad
Any challenges? How did you deal with them?
Arriving alone without knowing anyone before university started. In the end that helped me a lot and I ended up really feeling at home knowing a lot of people including the restaurant and bar owners in my street.
Best memory?
The ESN Ibiza trip with all Erasmus students around Spain (and some from France. 2000 people in Ibiza going to clubs that opened specifically and only for us before the party season opened.
8. Contact Details
Would you like to ask Thomas more questions about his exchange?
Send him a mail: Thomas.tros@wur.nl