Experience Report E-mail: C.messing@live.nl Study Program: Bedrijfseconomie Exchange semester: Fall Academic year: 2017-2018 Host University: IE University Madrid Country: Spain General information about the school The university is located in the upper part of the centre of Madrid, in the neighbourhood Salamanca. The campus is really small and consists of multiple buildings. I had most of my classes in a really small building, north of the BBA building. The university is really modern. The campus is nothing special. Most of the students at IE are international students, only a small amount is Spanish. Madrid is a wonderful city to live in. I really loved it. There are a lot of interesting things to see and do. Especially Parque del Retiro is great. There is always something to do, people are living more outside and the weather was great. It only rained 3 times. Besides that, I thought it was less touristic than Barcelona. However, it was still very busy during the weekends on Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. Another advantage of Madrid is that it is located very central in Spain, which made it easy to travel. The best places to eat were 100 Montaditos, Steak Burger, tapas restaurants and a lot of restaurants in Malasana/Chueca. If you want to go to the gym, I would recommend Fit-Up. You can get a discount through CityLife Madrid. For parties, you can go to Joy, Kapital, Moondance or one of the parties of Nightlife Madrid. Fuckin Monday, beer pong and the pub crawls were always nice. The nightlife in Madrid is great. I experienced some differences compared to Tilburg. For example, you have no personal space in the public transport, even if there is some space left. Also, most of the people walk really slow. Practical information Information before you left I received the pre-arrival information from the host university well in advance. The information was always really clear which made it easy to register for the courses. However, the information about the welcome session and introduction activities was sent only one week in advance. Arrival
I arrived one week before the beginning of the classes. The university didn t provide any pick-up service but that also isn t really necessary in my opinion. It is really easy to get to the city centre, a taxi from or to the airport is always 30 euro. The welcome session at the university wasn t really special, they just gave you the necessary information and that s it. It did give you the possibility to get in contact with the other exchange students. Orientation/introduction activities There wasn t really an introduction week. They organized some activities for mainly first year students in the first two weeks which the exchange students could also join, but it was during lectures. The lack of an introduction program made it difficult to get to know the other exchange students. IE does offer a buddy program and they organized two activities for the exchange students and their buddies. However, it was again during a lecture and you are required to be present, so I couldn t join. Also, the buddy program wasn t really adding any value. Housing I organized my accommodation in advance via HelpMadrid. You do need to pay a high service fee but the service was great, it went really smooth. I would recommend arranging your accommodation in advance since it is really hard to get accommodation at the beginning of the fall semester. I lived in the city centre, near Opera and Palacio Real. Puerta del Sol was only 5 minutes away. I lived together with 9 roommates and I had to pay 520 euro per month excluding electricity, water, etc. The rent was really high but I would still recommend living in the city centre, it is worth it. IE also provided some support in locating housing but it was really expensive most of the time and also near the university, which isn t as much in the city centre as I wanted and the university is located in one of the most expensive areas of Madrid. Living costs I financed my exchange period by saving a lot and the Erasmus grant. My living expenses where in the end comparable to Tilburg, I think around 1000 euros a month. I spent most of my money on the rent. Groceries were much cheaper and also going to a restaurant wasn t that expensive. However, you are eating at restaurants more often and also clubbing is a bit more expensive. Most of the time you need to pay an entrance fee of about 10/15 euros which includes 1 or 2 drinks. For students, public transport in the whole Madrid area is only 20 euros a month. Since most of my courses were electives, I didn t have to buy any books. Going on trips isn t that expensive in Spain. I think I spent around 300 euros in total, I went to Salamanca, Avila, Toledo, Sevilla, Bilbao, San Sebastian and Valencia. Monthly budget: Housing 520 Food 200 Transport 20 Books 0 Miscellaneous 200 Tips
If you book your trips well in advance, it is really cheap to travel by train and also travelling by bus isn t expensive. The high rent in the city centre is totally worth it. You can best buy your groceries at Dia or Lidl. Academic Calendar I arrived the 27 th of August. The first day of the semester was on the 4 th of September and my classes started the next day. The last day of classes was the 21 st of December. There wasn t a special week for the exams. I still had lectures, you just had the exam on the last session of the course and it differed when the last session was reached. For example, I had already had 15 sessions of Digital Business before Product and brand management started so in the end the final exam of Digital Business was much sooner than Product and Brand management. My examination period for the mid-terms was the whole month of October and the final exams also took around one month. There wasn t a mid-term break. The International Office The international office was really helpful and they responded very quick. They provided you with all the necessary information. Social activities IE does organize some social activities for all the students but not much for the exchange students. However, Citylife Madrid organizes lots of great parties, trips and events. My contact with the local students was minimal even though the local students were also mainly international students. I did have a lot of contact with other exchange students, but not really from IE. With them, I travelled to Sevilla, Valencia, Toledo, Salamanca, Bilbao and San Sebastian. Culture and language I did not experience a culture shock, I have been to Spain before and the differences aren t that big. The Spanish culture is way more relaxed and they live more outside. There is always something to do in the parks or in the city centre. I definitely noticed a difference in how friendly people where in the different parts of Spain. I found the people in Madrid less friendly overall. I do feel like I learned some new things about the Spanish culture also because of my Spanish classes at IE. I had a really nice teacher who also told us more about the Spanish culture. Overall, I really enjoyed the Spanish culture. Personal development I definitely developed myself during my exchange. After all, you are in a new city where you don t know anybody, you don t speak the language fluently and you just need to take care of everything yourself. You learn a lot by doing. But it is mostly a really fun experience. Mainly because of the people you meet, they become your friends and you experience unforgettable moments with. You create a whole different life. Besides that, I feel like I improved my presentation and teamwork skills and became a bit better in Spanish. The most important lesson that I learned about myself during my exchange is that I can take care of myself and that I don t get homesick easily. I really enjoyed the whole experience, the up and downsides.
Academic information Academic level at host university The courses are offered in English. You can read about the courses I took below. IE offers a lot of courses in different areas, especially entrepreneurship, marketing and finance. It is more practical compared to Tilburg. The emphasis is less on research and more on how it really works in a company. The teachers had a lot of experience in different companies and because of that you learned a lot. Also, the teachers were really involved in the classes, they wanted everyone to exceed and we were always allowed to e-mail them with questions. It was sometimes a lot of work because the group projects were all at the same time, it wasn t coordinated. But the grades were most of the time really high. However, I didn t like that you were required to be present. Especially because some of my courses started quite late and because of that I had a few weeks with a lot of lectures while the mid-terms were almost starting as well. The exams and lectures are mixed, you don t have a lecture free week for the mid-terms or the final exams. The required presence also made it more difficult to do a trip during the weekend. You are allowed to skip a few classes, however most of my courses consisted of 2 classes on one day. So, you wouldn t just skip one session but two. I would recommend this university just looking at the courses. Exams The exams were generally written exams. However, these were only a maximum of 40% of your grade. Your grade consisted mostly of group projects and participation. The final exams weren t as important as in Tilburg. Other The library is really small and there are only 2 old computers available. It also isn t really quiet because you can hear some noise from the floor above. There are enough spaces to work with groups. Description of courses Course Examination ECTS Comments Digital Business (29198) E-Business (29216) Consumer Insights and Marketing Strategy (29165) Written exam + 2 big group projects + assignments Only assignments and a group project Written exam (final exam was open book) + group project + assignments 6 Chaotic course. The guest lectures were interesting. If I could have changed one course, it would have been this one. Wouldn t recommend it. 3 Easy but interesting course. Participation was 25% but just consisted of physically being there. Would recommend it. 6 You really learn how marketing works in a company. Teacher was great. Learned a lot. Would highly recommend it. However, it is necessary to go to the lectures in order to pass.
Advertising and Creative Strategy (29166) Product and Brand Management (29107) International Strategy (29161) Spanish 1.1 (290687) Written exam + group project Written exam + big group project Written exam + group projects + case discussions Homework + Mid- Term + Final exam 3 Was taught really well. Really hard to not pass the course, you only fail if you don t go to the exam. Would recommend it. 6 Matches well with consumer insights and marketing strategy. 6 Great teacher and interesting subject. Participation really important. Would recommend it 3 Really easy to pass. Tips for future students I would definitely recommend an exchange period. It is really nice to just go somewhere new, meet people, make friends, explore a city and really live in a different culture. You also learn things about yourself and you develop yourself further. I would definitely recommend going to Spain, I really like their lifestyle. I would also recommend Madrid. However, I wouldn t recommend my host university. I really didn t like the atmosphere. It was also difficult to meet other exchange students at this university compared to other ones in Madrid. Some other tips, you should take a look on the website of Citylife Madrid and follow the instructions to order your public transport card in advance. It is really busy at the beginning of the semester to get your card. Also, chances are really high that something gets stolen. My phone got stolen and I didn t notice anything. Also, I heard a lot of other stories from other students that also got their phones stolen. So, don t take too much with you when you go to a party and if possible take a backup phone with you.