ESADE Business School Barcelona, Spain

Transcription

1 ESADE Business School Barcelona, Spain Verlebie Chan BBA (Mark & OM), 4Y Spring 2015

2 Part 1 Monthly Activity Log January I arrived at Barcelona just two days before the orientation program started. Unfortunately, I did not notice that all shops including supermarkets were closed on Sunday. It's lucky that I brought my cup noodles from Hong Kong to survive my first weekend there. The intensive Spanish course basically occupied most of my time during weekdays. It is good to stay in student hall in Sant Cugat for that two weeks because sometimes the activities ended quite late and school started at 9 am. I started to explore more at the weekend with other exchange students. Also, the weather is around 5-6 degree as expected. There was a week off before the semester officially started. Hence, all of us decided to travel for a short trip within Spain. February In the early Feb, I moved out of my student hall and spent a whole week to move and tidy up things. IKEA which was not located in the city centre became my most frequent hangout place. Another highlight of the month was definitely the Chinese New Year. My flatmate and I held a party in my living room and invited other students to join. That was an amazing night since we have tried different Asian cuisines and local Spanish food. There were also celebration activities like parades in the city centre. March As a lot of exchange students did, I travelled around Europe during weekends from Thursday to Monday because all of my classes were concentrated in those 3 days. It was a bit tiring but at the same time the experience was totally worthy. As I was more familiar with Barcelona, I started to explore more. For instance, I have joined the Holi Colour party and watched football match in Camp Nou. April April started by a 2-week long Easter trip with other UST students. The weather in other part of Europe was still cold and around degree, on the contrary, Barcelona started to have more sunshine and winter was almost ended. I went to the King's Day in Amsterdam and continued my adventure after the Easter trip. In late April, some of the courses had ended already, so I had more time for exploring local gothic area and hangout near the beach. Besides, the St. Jordi's Day, which was the local Valentine's Day, was widely celebrated in Barcelona. It was an important festival to locals, therefore, you mustn t miss it. 1

3 May Most of the courses ended in early May, hence I was quite busy at preparing finals and presentations. In the mid May, I travelled to Morocco and the desert in Africa and ended my exchange journey with a 10- day trip to UK. At the end of the month, I started to pack stuffs and mail my belongings back to HK by EMS. It cost me about 90 euros for a 14 kg parcel. ESADE also had a farewell party, but I missed it since I was travelling. Before I left Barcelona, I joined a cooking class and learnt how to cook some traditional cuisines like the famous paella. June I left Barcelona on the 10th of June. By then, I tried to do my last-minute shopping and exploration in the city. It was sad when I have to say goodbye to this beautiful place and all the friends that I have met for this six months. Part 2 General Exchange Information 1) Visa Procedures The whole visa application takes about a month to process, so it is advised to start the preparation work earlier. The application is rather simple though, but the submission has to be in-person. There is a list of required documents on the embassy website. Housing letter could be requested by sending an to ESADE and some documents like medical certificate and criminal certificate are unnecessary since I was applying for a short-term 3-month visa. In my case, the visa cost approximately HKD$800. 2) Orientation Activities ESADE organized a 2-week orientation program for all exchange students, in which there was an intensive Spanish course. The program is compulsory and started in the late January. In fact, the orientation program was very useful and meaningful because most exchange students would get to know each other and exchange contacts or even help each other to settle down. It was a good opportunity to look for flatmates. I found my flatmates and my flat during that 2 weeks as well. Most important part of the whole program was the language course, in which I was able to learn basic Spanish and it made my life in Barcelona so much better. The course indeed was very intense and was taught totally by Spanish. Students had presentations every day and had to attend at least 80% of the class in order to pass the examination. The exam consisted of reading, writing, listening and a short presentation. Other activities like welcoming dinner were held as well. There is a student society called 2

4 CIEE, which is particularly to organize activities for exchange students. It is also recommended to join their activities if possible. 3) International Services & Activities Almost all exchange students would travel around Europe during the semester. It is relatively cheap to travel with some low-cost airlines like Vueling and Ryanair. It would be even cheaper if it hits Thursday and is booked about one month before. The average flight tickets were only around 50 euro to Germany and 60 euro for round trip to Belgium. Barcelona was just the right location to stay as a base for you to travel around the whole Europe with low cost. On the other hand, CIEE had organized a skiing trip to Andorra for exchange students with a low cost as well. 4) Accommodations There are some options for accommodations in Barcelona. First of all, ESADE has a partnership with a local student residency company which named RESA. It offers the nearest hall option to the school campus, which is the Roberto de Nobili Residence Hall. However, not all exchange students are interested in living there mainly because the rent was relatively expensive and the location was very inconvenient. It only offers single bedroom and costs about 800 euro. The school campus in fact is in Sant Cugat where is about an hour train far from the city centre. Hence, you may consider the second option which is living in other RESA hall, but in other University campus, or at least a place with lower rent and closer to the city centre. The third option is to rent a place directly in the city. It is a bit difficult to find an accommodation online since you may not be familiar with the location and the actual living environment may vary a lot. I searched for my house when I had actually visited the place. So I basically lived in Roberto de Nobili Residence hall for a month and then moved to a new place with other exchange students in the city. I strongly advise you to live in the city where is more convenient and exciting. If you would like to further explore Barcelona or even travel to other countries, living in Sant Cugat would be more expensive and time-consuming. I rented my place for 450 euro. Other students found places in the city ranged from euro. On the other hand, the school would also provide websites or housing agency information in the first week of the program. There were a lot of students finding accommodation at that time as well. 3

5 5) Courses Registration Exchange students were able to choose course from a list and some of them were taught in Spanish. Since my level of Spanish is beginner, all my registered courses were taught in English. The registration process would be online via the Intranet and would be further explained by ESADE welcoming package. The enrolment period would be late November or early December. All exchange students are required to take at least 27 ECTS, unless with our home university approval. Please be reminded that to apply for some courses assessment for your credit transfer before the enrolment period. Students would be able to drop or change their courses before the second lesson of the course. 6) Teaching & Assessment Methods The courses assessment method varies and most of them include 80% class attendance and some inclass participation. The assessment mostly were projects and case studies. There were a lot of group work and it was a good opportunity to meet their exchange students. In my case, only two of my courses required a paper final exam, but it was definitely less intensive than that in UST. Another point that was very different from UST was they used to have a three-hour lesson once per week instead of two 1.5- hour lesson twice a week. 7) Sports & Recreation Facilities ESADE campus is relatively small compared to that of UST, hence there is no gym room or sport stadium for students. However, you would be able to assess a gym room when you stay in Roberto de Nobili Residence hall and paid premium. Another option is that to join other gym companies and they all cost around 100 euro for 3 months. For me, I also exercised once a week during my stay. I highly recommend to jog in the city or along the bench. The warm sunshine, refreshing air and the view at the seaside was absolutely fabulous. 8) Cost / Expenses The living standard in Spain was only slightly higher than that in HK. However, compared to other Europe countries, it was relatively cheap. For instances, most of the menu cost about 10 euro with 2 courses and a coffee. I would say it is comparable to some western restaurants in HK. For some Asian fast food like 'Wok' from Chinese or 'Kebab' from Turkish cost around 5-6 euro per meal. And it would cost lower if you could cook by yourself. Most of my expenses were spent in travelling and the second largest expense was transportation. (Please refer to transportation) Also, there were quite a lot of 4

6 Chinese living supplies stores in the city. It is highly recommended to shop there for daily appliances. Supermarkets which opened merely during weekdays and closed after 9 pm were those cheaper. The cheapest supermarket that I found was named 'Mecadona' and it would spare you a lot of budget. 9) Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities As mentioned before, CIEE is a student s society that would organize various activities like trips within Barcelona or skiing trip to Andorra. Also, all exchange students would be invited to join the ESADE alumni network. Although most of the activities were conducted in Spanish, it is a precious chance to meet other students or some students in MBA courses. 10) Health & Safety Fortunately, I didn't have a chance to experience the medical service in Barcelona. However, I believe the medical service would cost quite a lot. Barcelona is a safe place overall. Although a certain number of exchange students have the experience of things being stolen. It is advised that to be alert all the time especially in some tourist spots and on the metro. Despite pickpocketing, you have nothing to worry about. 11) Food I believe everyone loves Spanish food. There were a lot of food options in the city which were very traditional and cheap. Personally I love to have the Spanish omelette 'Tortilla' and the classic wine ' Sangaria'. It is highly recommended to go on the Internet and search for some special restaurants and try them out. I have attended a course (Spanish Art and Culture), in which Prof. Alex had come out a list of recommended local restaurants for us. He also introduced us the food culture in Barcelona, this was also why I loved this course. In addition, since Spanish were also fascinated by Asian food, so you could find Asian food with no effort in the city. Although they were much more expensive than that in HK, it may be occasional treats to heal your homesickness. Besides, I had joined a cooking class by a local chef in the city. It costs around 80 euro per class, but the experience was awesome. 12) Transportation People may found transportation in Barcelona a bit complicated and needed time to get used to. Since ESADE school campus was in Sant Cugat where located outside the city, you would have to change 5

7 from metro to FGC (train) to reach school. Be reminded that trip would need a 2-zone (2-zona) ticket which would cost more. The school would introduce you different metro tickets and their cost in the orientation program. Most exchange students bought the T-jove ticket, which was 155 euro for three months. The tickets could be used for bus system as well. In my case, I used T-10 for the rest of time and T-jove for 3 months. On the other hand, the taxi service in Barcelona was considered as the safest transportation. I sometimes took taxi to and from the airport to city. It was about 35 euro with an extra airport charge. It would cost around 55 euro from the airport to Sant Cugat since it was not in the city. If you were with a heavy luggage or the very first time to reach Barcelona, taking taxi would be recommended it was mainly because there is no metro to and from the airport. There is a bus, the 'aerobus', to travel between the airport and the city centre though. It cost 5 euro per passenger and took around 20 minutes. 13) Climate Barcelona is renowned for its beautiful sunshine and warm weather. However, compared to HK, I would say it is rather cold. It would reach about spring only until mid of May. Hence, it may be better to bring more winter wear and be prepared for the chilling weather. 14) Communication Most people speaks only Spanish and some younger generations may speak better English. Hence, it is important to know at least some basic Spanish. For me, I would need the help of Google translate during grocery shopping. Also, some other exchange students may need to use Spanish to communicate with their landlord or flatmates. You may also need further Spanish in laundry shops, barber shops and food markets. 15) Cautionary measures Overall, it is safe to walk in the city centre in Barcelona. Just beware of pickpocketing. For instance, always zip your bag up and pay more attention on the metro. I used to put my bag in front of myself on metro. However, in the worst scenario, just contact ESADE and the exchange program staff would be more than welcome to offer help. 16) Bank Account 6

8 Some students may concern about opening an account in Spain. According to some other exchange students, it would charge about 10 euro for the account registration in the largest bank in Barcelona, 'la Caxia'. And some said that they were not charged by other smaller banks. I did not open an account since I was able to withdraw money from my HK account via Union Pay. It did not charge me extra transaction fee but only the exchange rate. It is not hard to find an ATM that offers this service in the city centre, but if Union Pay is not supported by your HK bank account, opening an account in Barcelona is not very complicated. ESADE would provide more information in the welcoming package as well. 17) Internet It is very important to have Internet access especially in a totally new environment. Most of the exchange students, and I, chose Orange prepaid plan. It charges 10 euro each month for 1 GB data. Some claimed Vodafone has better network speed and covers more area, but I had no problem of using mine. Besides, Orange offered a plan named 'Go Europe', in which it offered 100 MB data roaming outside Spain but in Europe for a euro a day. I found that was very convenient since I was travelling almost every weekend. 18) Courses I have taken and Comments 1. Introduction to Brand Management This course mainly covered a board conceptual knowledge about marketing and branding. The most interesting part was that students had to create a brand from the start of the course till the end. The professors were very interesting and fun. The course totally counted on the project and did not count on attendance or any assessment. I highly recommend this course. 2. Managing Services It was taught by a few different professors throughout the whole semester. A case study report would be required to hand in every two weeks and there was one final paper. The course was not very difficult but the workload may be a consideration. 3. Marketing from Strategy to Action All students were separated into two groups and taught by two different professors. For my professor, he is nice and friendly. Apart from a case study every two week, each student were assigned into groups and had to work on their own project. The assessment was mainly two presentations and a final report. It 7

9 would be fun if your group members were responsive and creative. 4. Project Management The professor had a rather tight requirement on students and class attendance. There were at least 4 lectures with guess speakers from various industries to share their experience. Besides, he used to have pop-up quizzes during classes. Students also had to work on a group project with the tools that he taught in class, although some of them were not well taught. 5. Spanish Art and Culture: Understanding Spain through Gaudi, Picasso, Dali or Miro I believe every students love this course. It covered all aspects of Spanish culture like music, art, food and football. Prof. Alex was friendly and his lecture provided a lot of guide of local culture and tips. It would definitely make your stay better and more enjoyable. 6. Intensive Spanish Courses in Orientation Program It is a mandatory course for all exchange students. As mentioned before, the course was intensive but very helpful. It is recommended to take it seriously and try to ask help from the professor if needed. Part 3 Items to Bring and Contact Winter Clothes Shoes A cabin luggage (for low-cost travelling in Europe) Laptop Phone Adaptor Personal caring products Stationary (pens and notebooks) Travelling Kit (empty bottles for travelling) Cash Insurance Documents Exchange Documents Optional: Skincare products (relatively dry) HeatTech or SuperWarm Hong Kong snacks or cup noodles Swimsuit 8