Susan Clandillon
Staff Writer
The term, Erasmus, for many students alike, conjures up ideas of cultural exploration ranging from those daydreams about immersing yourself in la vie parisienne, with your chosen beau or belle and pondering one’s raison d’être on the banks of the Seine, those concerning the soon-to-be realised suave and ravishingly confident aspects of one’s personality, which will serve to dazzle the native student body with sparkling conversation and will seek to take full advantage of the ‘foreigner abroad’ style of humour – incidentally, a guaranteed crowd pleaser every time- and those which capture the avid Erasmus student gazing into the shimmering depth’s of their €0.50 espresso pondering how to maximise their experience, their language skills and their personal development.
Yes, these images may occupy every given moment of your time before departure, whether like me, you’ve known your fate from day one due to a compulsory Erasmus year, or you decided on a whim in February of second year, or perhaps your mum’s friend’s niece’s cousin spent a year in Seville and had the time of her life, and you think you’ll give it a shot. Regardless of the reason, if you’ve decided on Erasmus, then you’re in for the ride of your life (Orgasmus jokes aside.)
For the first while yes, it can be as dizzying as the fastest fairground attraction you have ever been on, but there is something so alluring about the tumultuous nature of the unfamiliar, clashing colours and scents and the spinning and pulsating tempo of life is enough to draw you like a moth to a flame and leave you breathless and gasping for more. Of course the first few weeks are challenging, with meeting new friends, dealing with your Erasmus coordinator in broken Spanish, French, German, Polish… Trying to find the timetables, the classrooms and faculties that are often scattered all over the city, but you will learn to look back upon these moments fondly, with a gentle shake of you head as you compare the apparent disorganisation to Trinity’s comparatively highly structured and compact nature. Once you’ve scaled these hurdles however, you can get down to discovering the city, sampling the nightlife and if you happen to be in Spain, like me, gorging yourself on cheap and delicious tapas.
As mentioned, when given the choice between France and Spain, I chose Spain as my Erasmus destination, as I felt I knew less about the culture, and I wanted to develop my language skills further, the fact that it might be quite warm and good fun were of course also vital considerations. In September, I arrived in the city that would be my home for the next nine months, Salamanca, whose public University, Universidad de Salamanca (USAL), is one of the four oldest universities in Europe. Academically speaking, it is considered to be one of the best universities in Spain, with a ranking of 295th in the world. Despite this, throughout my Erasmus, having to select the equivalent of JS and SS courses, I have found the language barrier to be the only obstacle to my understanding. Initially, classes were difficult to follow, especially if the Professor had a strong accent or didn’t use PowerPoint slides, but gradually classes became more and more straightforward. As a recent exam veteran, I can divulge, in terms of academic performance, and exam questions, that the approach to study and answer styles are very much a throwback to the Leaving Cert, whereby you aren’t expected to do outside reading, you aren’t expected to introduce argument to your answers, you are simply required to regurgitate the lecture notes, and the more facts you remember the higher your grade, neat eh? But also utterly bizarre, and very unlike the standard I was expected to meet in Trinity.
In terms of language development, on arrival most Erasmus students face the time old question, to live with native students or to live with other Erasmus students? I, myself, chose what some would consider the more sensible (boring?) option, and am living with three Spaniards, two of which were on Erasmus in Trinity last year. This has been extremely rewarding so far, and my Spanish has really improved as a result, and I’ve also gained a huge amount of insight into the culture. Aside from living with native speakers, another fantastic way to immerse oneself into the language is to look for a conversation exchange partner or intercambio. In Salamanca there is an exchange service run by the university, but another way to find exchanges is by using www.conversationexchange.com, which may appear to be a seedy way to pick up an exotic piece of culo, but it is actually fairly legitimate. Otherwise, I find going to see films of the Rom-Com variety -whose plot in English would most likely appear to be mind-numbingly dull- to present quite the challenge to the bemused Erasmus student, with the language barrier causing innumerable plot twists and character personality defects, as one even struggles to grasp the emotions portrayed by the main characters.
With regard to personal development, Erasmus offers a huge amount of personal freedom, as well as free time and boundless opportunity. For me, the phrase ‘Erasmus is what you make it,’ seems to constantly echo around my head, despite the fact that I’ve long since forgotten who said it. Generally Erasmus students are required to do only 75% of the amount of credits required in Trinity and this tends to afford you large gaps between classes and sometimes four-day weekends. If you have chosen an Erasmus in mainland Europe, it won’t be long until you discover just how cheap it really is to travel between major cities using low-fare airlines or taking the bus, and soon you’ll be jetting off all over the place, city guide and one impossibly small piece of hand luggage in tow. Its not all about travelling however, you may also be overcome with a desire to learn new skills, that maybe haven’t been so readily available before, such as, salsa dancing, life drawing, knitting, cocktail making, cooking, yoga or maybe classical Spanish guitar, and there is no shortage of brightly coloured flyers, enticing you in for a small fee. The Spanish pace of life really allows for all of this, as it is notoriously relaxed, this is reflected in the college timetable, which has a scheduled lunch hour from 14.00 until 16.00. USAL facilities, such as the gym, lack resources and have to allocate time slots due to demand, and for most, present too much a challenge to be bothered with. Instead, there are many private gyms, with low student membership fees. In comparison to Trinity the presence of student societies and sports clubs are limited, and so, in order to get the ball rolling, you must take the initiative.
Who knows if you’ll ever fit the mould of the Erasmus stereotype you dreamed of becoming prior to arrival, who knows if you’ll reach your full language potential, who knows if you’ll succeed in making the mostest of the most of your Erasmus year, one thing that is for certain is that the espresso’s probably will be €0.50, and you’ll meet lots of new people from interesting backgrounds, and you’ll make countless hilarious language mistakes – like asking for penis instead of chicken (polla/polllo) and most importantly, you’ll probably come back next year with so many, ‘this one time in ….’ stories, that no one will ever talk to you again.
