Author: Armon Afrasiabi | Major: Industrial Engineering

For the last Spring semester, I had the privilege of studying in Alicante, Spain, a small-medium beachside city off the Costa Blanca. My experience was an unparalleled joy that even my most optimistic anticipations could not have predicted.

To begin with, the academics at my university, the University of Alicante, were a very minor part of the experience. The English classes offered to international students (referred to as ERASMUS) are definitely on the more forgiving side when it comes to workload, subject complexity, and grading. The program understands that students are primarily coming for the experience of living and traveling around Spain, and most of the staff do their best job to give you as much free time as possible. This worked perfectly for me because I chose this program for the simple opportunity to live somewhere in Europe while knocking out at least 2 credits. If students desire a more rigorous and immersive experience, the Spanish courses follow a closer pace of what most U of A students have become accustomed to. For lazy students like me, you can find a lot of comfort in what your day-to-day will be like being an international student in Spain. Most classes don’t bother with attendance, and regular homework is not very commonplace. Students, if they believe themselves to be disciplined enough, can elect to skip classes here and there as long as they are prepared for the final exam or project. Most, if not all, of your grade will rely heavily on your performance for these. Luckily, the grading system in Spain is 1 – 10 and the passing grade of 5 was beyond achievable for any student capable of securing a grant. The finals take place at around early – middle June, and every final allots a retake around the same time in July. Classes themselves actually end at the final days of May, so students who plan to return soon after class ending will need to organize a proctoring by UARK staff for the exams. The academic environment of Spanish school matches the relaxed culture of the country. If classes go beyond 1 hour, there is usually a 15 min break in the middle. Drinking and smoking on campus are not even remotely taboo, and most students can be found with a hand-rolled cigarette between their fingers or lips after their lunchtime beer, provided of course by the campus cafeteria. I do want to clarify that these are my subjective experiences with my own personal choice of classes at this specific university, and experiences can vary. Regardless, all these conditions allowed me to fully experience the laisser-faire Spanish student lifestyle.

The culture and features of life in Spain differ from that of the US in too many ways to count, and almost every single one was an improvement to my personal quality of life. Fast food chains are not as widespread as local cafeterias, cafes, restaurants or tapesarias, and I promise you, every single one of these places have some sort of alcohol for sale, even the McDonalds. Students won’t have access to a car but are still capable of seeing near everything they could want using the extremely developed local and national rails, bus services, metros, and tramlines. Beyond that, the smaller city of Alicante was extremely walkable, and when I was going out for the night, this characteristic of the city (and general Europe) makes running into the countless international friends I made happen like clockwork. On the topic of going out, this is where particular cultural factors of the Spanish shine. The Spanish know how to party, and they do not call it night early. Discotecas are regularly open till 5 am, at the least, and filled with much more lively dancers than what can be found on Dixon streets craziest nights. If you can dress better than the typical American man’s fashion sense, and enjoy Reggaeton, some light Techno, and then more Reggaeton, you’ll have consistently fun nights. I often struggled with both, and the cityscape of Alicante still never failed to give me something to do for extremely cheap prices. Hopefully the beer or two will help with you loosen up with your Spanish, because a certain amount of proficiency is necessary. Most Spaniards have limited understanding of English due their media not being nearly as American/British dominate. Most movies are dubbed and popular music is usually coming from Latin America. I came to the country without more than 10 words under my belt, but with the constant immersion, I was able to get most service-related interactions handled by month 2 and a really solid baseline to continue learning conversational abilities by the time my program was done.

While my time in Spain was easily a peak life experience, I would tell students to comparatively shop for programs. I would heavily encourage a semester in Alicante or a similar smaller Spanish city, but different providers may have better offers than that of CEA. The cost of living is much more attainable for students compared to other European nations while still allowing frictionless travel to those places. If they come with an A2 – B1 understanding of Spanish and fully utilize the resource of their environment to speak, read and listen to constant Spanish, they can learn more in 4 months than they did in 2 years of studying. That was a huge opportunity that I wish I was more prepared for. I’d also encourage students to go in with the mindset of trying to meet as many people and do as many things as humanly possible while there. Everyone can have a lazy day at home or yet another study day at the library, but the opportunity to find yourself chatting in a group of 2 Scots, an Algerian, 2 Italians and a German or backpacking from Paris all the way to Berlin only comes to an Arkansan so many times. I believe I maximized my time as much as I could ask myself to, and I have come out of my program with much more perspective and life experience than I could have ever imagined.