September Actual classes actually did not start until 16 th Sept. For exchange students, ESADE provided some Intense Spanish Classes that last for 2 weeks. Although it was nothing compulsory, most exchange student would take this opportunity to improve their Spanish. The level of workload would depends on which class you were allocated into, according to your level. Each class lasted for 5 hours, with breaks in between. Before the end of the Spanish course, there would be a presentation and examination. I would not say it was anything tough though. The long hours of learning Spanish everyday actually made it easier for me to pick the language up. September was also the best time to meet friends from everywhere. There were parties and trips organised by the exchange student society CIEE. Before starting to plan trips going around Europe, a lot of people could still be searching for apartments to settle in so it is a nice opportunity to find flatmates and visit potential places together. The 11st of September is a big day in Barcelona. Having nothing associated with 911 in the US, 11st of September is the national day of Catalunya, where on 11st September 1714, Catalunya was defeated by Spain in the War of Spanish Succession (1701 1714). Every year there are massive demonstrations on the street, asking for dependence of Catalunya. During my exchange, on 11st September 2013, 1.6 million Catalans formed a human chain, surrounding Catalunya, demanding a referendum on independence for their country. The week of 24 th September is a huge festival in Barcelona called La Merce. During La Merce, there are parties being thrown everywhere, free concerts in Pl. Catalunya and magic fountain being lightened up. There are also parades with people in giant costumes, human tower castilla competitions on the streets and in particular in Placa Sant Jaume, as well as fire runs Corre Foc where individuals dress up as devils and light fireworks in a designated area. October The weather was still lovely and warm in Barcelona in October so many would still sit themselves on the beaches in theirs bikinis and shorts. Most courses lasted 10 weeks, of which some started later in October instead of in September.
November November was the month full of projects and examinations. Most examinations were taken place on the last class. However many course did not have exams but instead students would be required to write 5000 thousand words essay either individually or in groups. Anyhow, it was really nothing compared to the workload in UST. There was also an obvious drop of temperature once we entered November. Beware that once you realise the temperature starts to drop, it drops spontaneously that you would switch from sleeveless to down in just 2 days. December Most class finished by end of November, while a few extended to December. Some exchange students returned to their home countries, travelled around or threw parties every night starting from start of December. There were two Christmas Markets, one in front of Sagrada Familia, and one in front of the Barcelona Cathedral. There was no food available at the markets, but a lot of interesting Christmas decoration materials available, including the traditional pooing peasant Caganer. There was also Christmas lighting everywhere in the city the centre. Winter sales did not start until January. Visa Procedures Visa must be applied at least one month in advance. One important point to note is that applicant for the Spanish student visa must purchase and present to the embassy insurance covering the entire time inside Spain. If the applicant planned to enter Spain first, then leave Spain for traveling and return Spain ultimately, The insurance must cover the days when the student is away from Spain as well. For further details of the visa application process, please refer to http://www.exteriores.gob.es/consulados/hongkong/en/informacionparaextranjer os/documents/visa%20pdf/student%20visa.pdf Climate
In Barcelona you can enjoy Playa y Sol (Beach and Sunshine) up to end of October. After that, the temperature may drop spontaneously without expectations. Once it started to get colder in November, there could be heavy rain as well that comes with it. Nonetheless, over 90% of the days in Barcelona would be sunny. Communication In city centre, most people speak fluent Spanish. In areas near tourist attractions, a lot of people could communicate in basic English too. All signs, menus and banners will be in Catalan, as it is illegal to use Spanish on its own according to the Catalunya Constitution. In Sant Cugat, where ESADE is located, most people speak Catalan and Spanish. You will be very lucky to find anyone who can handle fluent English. Daily Schedule of the Spanish 8:00 Coffee and light snack before work 9:00 start work 11:00-11:30 Snack break e.g. they would have a Sandwich or a croissant just because lunch is quite late 13:30 16:30 Lunch Hours 19:00 Average time to finish work 20:00 00:00 Dinner Hours 01:00 Pre-drink before parties starts 03:00 Party time A lot of shops would be closed during lunch hours, while many restaurants close between lunch and dinner time. On Sundays, markets, supermarkets, department stores and some chain garment shops would be even in central Barcelona. Some museums are closed on Sundays and Mondays. Fortunately on Sundays, there were usually Sunday open-air markets near Barceloneta (the Barcelona port) and Lesseps (near Parc Guell) Accommodations Most exchange students chose to live in the Barcelona city centre, while I chose to stay in the Residencia Universitaria Roberto de Nobili. In the school residence, all rooms are single studios. The place was really neat and
clean. It will take 2 minutes to walk from the residence to the BBA main building. Each resident can enjoy his/her own washroom, a corner to cook, including 2 hobs, a refrigerator, a microwave, an electric kettle. It costed around 800 euros per month. There was also a package including room cleaning service, which the cost was around 900 euros. You may also join the monthly meal package, of which you may enjoy breakfast or buffet lunch or dinner at one of the on-campus restaurant, Gilda, for extra charge. It was a lot cheaper to live in Barcelona town. The monthly rent from 300 to 600. My friend lived near Casa Mila, near Passeig de Gracias (the main shopping street in Barcelona, like Champs-Elysee in Paris). She paid 600 per month and share with 2 flatmates. Her place was highly decent and spacious. There were a lot of exchange students settling themselves in the Gracia. I would also recommend this place for living because there is direct FGC Train from Gracia to Sant Cugat, where ESADE is, while it is only 2 stations away from Barcelona town. You could also walk from Gracia to Passeig de Gracia (the main shopping street like Champs-Elysee in Paris) in 5-10 minutes. The rent in Gracia was usually cheaper than central Barcelona. There were many shops, supermarkets, bakeries, cinema, restaurants, etc. Basically you will find anything you need in that area. Campus ESADE has two campus, with the law school near Barcelona central, and the business school in Sant Cugat. You would probably say the campus in Sant Cugat is ridiculously tiny compared to UST. Basically from the entrance of the plant to the far end, where the residence was, would like me less than 5 minutes. On the Sant Cugat Campus, there was 3 main blocks. One of them was the MBA and ESADECREAPOLIS department. ESADECREAPOLIS is a place that allows entrepreneurs to start their business and exchange ideas. This was also one of the selling point for ESADE as a pricy private university that students were acquiring explicit business knowledge while being located right next to the business sector with the all the entrepreneurs sharing their business ideas and offering internship opportunities. Inside this building, there were two canteens, Gilda with its buffet bar, and the MBA canteen. There was a also a fully facilitated gym room, offering private training classes as well, operated by Corner 4. They offered all students a 20 euros per month package.
Another building other than the residence and the MBA building was the BBA building. There were a very small library (basically it is a room, providing scanning and printing service, and a small amount of books. There was also canteen which the price is slightly cheaper than the other canteens. They serve delicious hot sandwiches, some pastries and coffees on ground level, while on the basement level, there was hot food available during lunch time on weekdays. Transportation Most students buys T-Joven 3 zones to travel from Barcelona to Sant Cugat (where ESADE campus is). The T-Joven costed around 155 euros and it lasted for 90 days. With a T-Joven, basically you could travel anywhere, with any means of transport within 3 zones in Barcelona, which covered the entire Barcelonametro system, plus certain bus and FGC Train routes within the 3 zones. T-mez for 3 zones would cost around 75 euros, and it would last for 30 days. T-30/50 for 3 zones would cost around 65 euros. Within 30 days, you may use the T-30/50 in 50 integrated journeys. It would allow you to change from one mean of transport to another within a set certain period of time, and count the entire trip as an integrated journey. T-10 for 3 zones would cost around 20 euros, for which you may use it for 10 integrated journeys. Food In Barcelona, there mainly serve Catalan style food, which is somehow similar to French cuisine with escargots, duck etc., and Tapas from Basque country (North of Spain). Never miss out the Catalan Suckling Pig from Can Culleretes, the oldest restaurant in Barcelona where Gaudi used to hang about once every year. My favourite tapas bar include Ciudad Condal, Quimet I Quimet and Tapas 24. For more information about dining options in Barcelona, you may read my blogs on Openrice Travel: http://travel.openrice.com/traveller/trip.htm?tripid=3331 Yes there are many seafood too in case you are wondering! Though it can be quite pricy for good quality ones. If you wish to enjoy some grilled seafood at the Boqueria Market on La Rambla, it would cost you around 30 euros per person. If you want unlimited seafood at a good price, you should visit the Chinese buffets. In Barcelona, there are many places like this, where less than ten euros, you can enjoy
unlimited teppanyaki style grilled seafood, salad, Chinese food, sushi (please remember you are in Spain not-bad sushi means good sushi) etc. for over 3 hours. The food in Wok Yutaka near Provenca is of fair quality. One thing that is cheap and easily available is cured ham. Actually it is cheaper to get cured ham than York or Cooked Canary ham. Spanish Iberic ham is also way cheaper than you buy in Hong Kong. There are many types, of different grades and from different district of Spain, but no matter what level of quality you are looking for, you will never disappoint as the price would be at least 50% cheaper than in Hong Kong. It always makes the best souvenir. If you are a chocolate lover, you must also try the Spanish hot chocolate. In Spain, they like their chocolate being rich and thick, where you may dip your churros inside and eat with it (SOME OF THE SPANISH EAT THAT AS BREAKFAST ). One of the best place to enjoy it in in Granja La Pallaresa, one of the oldest cafeteria that invented the famous cacaolat, a chocolate flavoured milk being consumed all over Spain! But I must say, Cacaolat is really not that special so don t have too much expectation. For the best churros, you can not miss out Xurreria in the Gothic Area. It is a tiny churros take-out shops that open in peculiar hours so better do some research on the web before you head to your foodie adventure. Eating at school can be cheap or expensive, depending on what you eat. For a huge, panini with cured ham, cheese, tuna that can could easily fill you up, you could get it for less than 2 euros. For buffet at Gilda, it will cost you around 10 euros for lunch, 13 euros for dinner. Mind you there are usually more variety during lunch than dinner. Also please don t try to look for decent food as you are very likely to be disappointed. Drinks other than coffee are expensive. Chocolates, crisps, or any other packaged food served in ESADE are also costly. For a decent 3-course lunch in Barcelona, you may find it for around 10 euros. Though for dinner, it is usually 20 euros or more per person not matter you looking for full meal or tapas. Poble Sec is a good area to enjoy pinxos, a special type of tapas from Basque country. Each pinxo will cost you 1-2 euros, and a glass of wine will only cost you 1 euro per glass which is a lot cheaper than central Barcelona. When you order coffee, if you just say you want a coffee, they would bring you an espresso. Café Cortado means espresso with a tad of milk. If you want milk with your coffee, no matter you are looking for a Latte, a flat white, a latte machiatto, normally
they only serve Café con Leche (Coffee with Milk) in most places, which they emphasize that it is served with a portion of espresso and an equal portion of steamed milk, but it is not always the case so the richness varies from places to places, from time to time. Cappuccino is not always the safest option. Sometimes they make it with espresso and topped with solely the bubbly, airy milk froth on top of steamed milk that they spooned on. (The key words here are Spooned-on-top milk froth, not poured-in steamed milk with its foath ) Opening a Bank Account Most staff working in Banks only speak Spanish, in particularly in Sant Cugat. Some required me to apply for a residence card, some charged commission monthly, while some required me to buy a 150 euros health insurance at such bank first. I opened a bank account with my HK passport and student visa at BBVA, the second largest bank in Spain after Santender. All documents are only available in Spanish and all staff speaks Spanish. Even the recorded voice on the hotline is in Spanish. Though the people working at the Sant Cugat office are really nice and they always tried to explain to me with every English words they know. It is also free of charge to open a bank account. We all had a TUI card, which is the student card at ESADE where we may load it with money to pay for your food and beverages at the canteen of the BBA block, just like the Octopus Card. The card operator is Santender, which apparently you may also find your account at Santender with your TUI card, deposit money into it and use it as a debit card. Items to Bring Europe Plug Adapter Lotion/ Moisturiser (it is really dry there.) Chargers Bed sheets Batteries Luggage Weight Lift A Little bag wrapped around your waist that can be hidden under your clothes to put your cash