Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)

The reason why I chose Spain as an Erasmus student was because I could not speak a word of Spanish and really wanted to learn the language. The other reason was because I did not know much about the country and the culture. I really enjoyed my stay in Salamanca which is a beautiful city. I got to learn Spanish quite quickly and I loved the culture. It was also a very good opportunity to meet other people and other students from all over the world. The University education in languages was very strict but very good. It was a very good experience!

Just expect to pay for the services mentioned above. Find restaurants with "el menu del dia," which gives you a several course meal for around $5. Walk places instead of taking taxis. Use the Let's Go Guide for traveling to find cheap hostels. Take out large amounts of money at a time, because your bank charges you a fee each time you withdraw.

gas heating will cost you a fortune. go for central heating

Although this program is geared only for international students, make an effort to meet local students and hang out with them. If not, you will have a tendency to fall into the trap of speaking the universal language of English with the rest of the international students since everyone's Spanish will be at various levels and their English will most likley be stronger.

If you want you can go out everyday in this down, from Monday to Monday. The thing is you can't produce much during the day if you act like that, so I chose not to. I like going to the cinema, bar de tapas (the best) or just watching a film and having dinner with my friends at home during the week. On Thurday I allow myself to start clubbing and that goes on for two more days. The interesting thing in Salamanca is that, as you can walk everywhere and you don't have to pay to enter the clubs, people usually switch all night long visiting several places in a night. Very different from what happens in my home town, where we have to pick one place to go for the night.

Salamanca is simply a beautiful city and has something for everybody. Ancient buildings, friendly people, clean streets. Every night had its special bars, offering amazing prices. Tuesday and wednesday many bars offered a 'barra libre', which means you can have an 'all you can drink' stamp on your hand for 3 or 4 euros. And then you had the weekend when prices were raised a bit, but were still under the European average. As Salamanca is located near the middle of Spain, it is really easy to discover the rest of the country by renting a car. Madrid, Sevilla, Lisbon, Porto and Santander are a couple of the numerous cities within reach.