Economics/Arts
I would definitely recommend coming to Salamanca to any Spanish student – it has been one of the best experiences of my life.
Salamanca is a city made for students. The social life is fantastic: there is a really great community of international students and you’ll find no problems at all making friends. I stayed in a student residence, so I quickly made friends with all the exchange students there (most of the other students are first year Spanish students). Expect to be going out most nights, leaving at midnight and getting back at 6am. Everything is in walking distance and everywhere is really cheap. Tuesday and Thursday nights are the biggest nights for students; Tuesday nights are Erasmus party nights at the pub the Irish Rover, which you should definitely not miss. Also hit up the seedy little rock bar Paniagua for cheap drinks.
The university administration is really tricky at first, and it seems really backward compared to UQ. However, if you just ask the exchange coordinator for your faculty, they tend to be pretty helpful. I took five courses: three Spanish and two French. The teaching is quite different; lecturers are really laid back and sometimes it seems pretty unorganised, but on the whole I really enjoyed my Spanish courses. I chose courses that a lot of exchange students were enrolled in, so the lecturers were really understanding and patient, and spoke clearly. It was also really interesting to be able to do courses I couldn’t have done at UQ: like a Spanish novel course and a communication course. You have plenty of time to trial out different courses before you enrol, so go to as many as possible. Just beware that choosing courses that don’t clash on your timetable is really tedious. I definitely recommend asking past students which courses they did. Five courses may seem like a lot, but the workload really wasn’t that much at all. You will have a lot of time to enjoy yourself.
In terms of finances, I spent a lot less than I expected, even though I stayed at a uni residence, which is about three times more expensive than a share apartment. Tapas and drinks are really cheap and I often had lunch for under three euro. I had a $5000 scholarship and a $5000 loan, which was definitely enough.
I can’t go on enough about what a great time I had. Salamanca is a beautiful city, full of students, you never get bored, and you won’t want to leave at the end. Not to mention the fact that it is the best way to learn Spanish. The uni offered a free three week intensive Spanish course to exchange students which I absolutely recommend, and there is also a pretty cheap language school. My favourite places to have lunch and coffee were Delicatessan and Mandala, the café under the philology faculty building has pretty good cheap tapas too.
I loved staying at the student residence because it was so easy to make friends, there were always people about, and you get your own room and bathroom - which is cleaned for you every day! However, the food wasn’t that great and it was really expensive. Living in an apartment might be a good idea, especially if you are on exchange for a year. They are quite easy to find, rent is really cheap, and if you get one with Spanish students you can improve your Spanish a lot more. If you have the time and courses left in your degree, go for a whole year!