Erasmus Exchange Report Benedikt Ickenroth Winter Semester 14/15 Universitat de Valencia General report (A): 1. Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad Universitat de Valencia, 27.08.14 30.1.15 2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey If needed, the contact with the home faculty was working fine. The preparation I did was mostly checking out courses offered, because the UV offers a great variety of different courses in English and Spanish. Roughly 70% is in Spanish. From the course book you could already assess how the courses are organized and choose wisely so you have maximum free time and appropriate courses in Valencia to broaden your study horizon. The journey is super easy and cheap if you fly with Ryanair from Germany, like I did. 3. Residence abroad Do NOT sweat about finding an apartment, there are more rooms available than there are students searching for it so the rental situation is the opposite of Groningen. Prices are a joke compared to the Netherlands as well. Take a hostel (Damia Bonet or Purple nest in the center) for the first two weeks and look at some rooms or apartments while you are there. I found an awesome place in walking distance to the beach and the university for 250 a month, which was a 120m2 apartment with balcony shared with 3 people. There is a welcome meeting and the ladies at the Erasmus office will help you with all your problems, some of them even speak English. It is Spain so be prepared that in the beginning it will be messy, but eventually everything will work out and everyone is very flexible, you can even most of the times choose your own exam date if you talk to the professor. I have lived in Spain before so the language was not a problem for me, but you should have a basic level of Spanish before coming here, even though I had friends how did not speak a word (and continued to not learning one). The Centre de Idiomes is the place to go if you need refreshment or if you want to take courses in Spanish, there you ll find all kinds of Spanish courses tailored to your needs. In the end you can survive without speaking a word of Spanish by choosing only English courses and living the Erasmus life, but that s of course not recommendable. 4. Grant
I think the grant was about 1100, which is a nice cash injection but of course not enough to cover all your expenses. When it comes to living expenses, you will ask yourself why you ever started studying in Holland in the first place. Food is cheap, drinks are cheaper, restaurants are sometimes a joke concerning prices. If you want to go super cheap you can pay 150 rent and live with 400 comfortably. Of course you can also spend 300 on rent and 600 on living expenses and travelling. 5. Study (general) The semester started on the 15.9 and ended before Christmas, exam period was over the whole January, I arrived already the end of August to integrate myself and be able to have some holiday before it starts. Make sure to join ESN Valencia and go to their first meetings and the introduction week to meet all the people of this semester. When it comes to the level of education, there is one thing to say: If you survive the RUG, you will have no problems with having enough free time in Valencia. Depending on your course choice, the level of difficulty can be as high as in Groningen, but the workload is generally much lower. Because they offer such a wide range of courses while Groningen is extremely narrow, it is a good way to broaden your horizon and take subjects that are not offered at the RUG. In some courses there is no mandatory attendance at all and the final exam counts for the whole grade (travel!), while others want you to be present every week and hand in continuous assignments. 6. Other relevant info you want to share with our future exchange students Choose your courses wisely, there is a two-week period where you can try out the subjects and talk to the professors. Do this and make sure they match your idea of your life in Valencia and your educational profile. Join ESN Erasmus and be open and active, you will meet hundreds of awesome people and some of them will become your short-time family. Eat at Vinedo, then have some drinks at Natura Dub and then party at La3. Learn some Spanish and TALK, if you want to really learn it join Tandem and be open to everything new. Most important: have fun! 7.Summary impression of the study period abroad and any advice/suggestions/tips for students or academic staff who will be involved with the host institution in the future. The UV is more than 500 years old, they know what they do, even when it doesn t look like it. The cooperation with the RUG was good and everything worked out just fine. The weather is incredible, after some weeks you will stop checking the forecast because the sun shines literally every day. Starting October the waves are coming in and Playa Patacona generates world-class left and righthander when there is enough swell. I have travelled almost the entire world before I came to Valencia, but still my
Erasmus was the best time of my life. The special spirit of the Erasmus group is one of a kind. Make sure to enjoy it. B: Specific report Game Theory (36125) English 1.Universitat de Valencia - 27.08.14 30.1.15 2. 2h lecture and 2h tutorial, not mandatory. 3. Lecture for theory, tutorial solving excercises. 4.In Economics we only touched the issue of Game Theory but did not go deep. This course is a classic and very interesting course on strategic behavior and games. 5.There were 3 midterms counting 20% in total and a final of 80%. 6.This course is a good supplement to Micro 2, and is broadening as well as deepening your knowledge from the RUG. 7.4 hours per week of class, preparation for class and exam depends on your own abilities and effort. 8. Elhorst, 6 ECTS Dynamic Macroeconomics(36122) English 2.2h lecture and 2h practical. 3.Lecture for theory, for the practical there was homework that had to be handed in in teams every Friday in order to get 10% extra. 4.Even though we have 3 macroeconomics courses in the Economics degree, this one treats subjects that are not treated in Groningen, mainly dynamic effects of macroeconomic decisions and interrelations of policy instruments. A very demanding course. 5.Next to the 10% homework there are two midterms that count for 10% and a final exam. 6.This course is an additional macroeconomic course going over the boundaries that we treat at the RUG. 7.By far the hardest course I have ever witnessed at the UV, I would only recommend it if you are a really skilled mathematician or really into macroeconomics. The professor was surprised to see international students even taking it.
8.Elhorst, 6 ECTS Consumer Behavior (35908) English 2.2h lecture and 2h practical, which was mandatory. 3.Lecture for theory, for the practical you had to work quite a lot in advance, first completing a weekly assignment on your own, then redo it together with your group in the practical and hand it in at the end. 4.Consumer behavior is one part of Marketing, but it is really important for marketing decisions concerning advertisements and marketing strategy. 5.The weekly practicals account for 30%, while the final exam is 70%. 6. It is a good continuation of Marketing 101, going deeper into the psychological side of the marketing mix. 7.The study load was quite more than average because you had to prepare on your own before every practical. 2h of mandatory class each week, but an easier final exam to prepare. 8.Elhorst, 6 ECTS Financial Risk Management (35914) 2.2h lecture and 2h tutorial, which is not mandatory but advisable. 3.Lecture for theory and a tutorial where we mostly did exercises. The professor is highly skilled and teaches better than others. 4.This is a really practical course about risk factors and all financial instruments to hedge them. I really enjoyed this course because it actually teaches you how to create, manage and hedge a portfolio that will yield a return in the real world. 5.There was a continuous online assessment containing assignments, which together with two voluntary tasks accounted to 30% and a final of 70%. 6.It is a good combination of corporate finance and other financial courses that brings together the financial and the goods market. 7.Continuos assessment takes quite some time, but the assignments prepare you very good for the final exam. 8.Elhorst, 6 ECTS
International Financial Management(35915) English 2.2h lecture, 2h practical which is not mandatory but highly advisable, because here, practice is everything. 3.Lecture for theory and a practical that was kind of a mix of a lecture and solving exercises, depending on the week you are in. 4.This is a really mind-twisting course, because it is all about currencies. You treat all factors that determine risks and profits in the financial sector and learn everything about currency conversion and hedging risks concerning the currency market. It is quite demanding because you will have to think around corners more than once. 5.There was a midterm of 20% and a final exam of 80%. 6.This course really lacks in Groningen, an extensive course on the currency market and risk factors concerning it should be in the portfolio of every economics student. It is a good supplement to the Economics program in Groningen. 7.Study load was higher than average, about 6h of weekly studying and a lot for the final exam. But some students cope better with the currency market than I do. 8. Elhorst, 6 ECTS