UAB Reviews (7)

By | June 15, 2021

From September to December 2010 I studied at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

This stay abroad flew by, I would have loved to have stayed longer in this beautiful and diverse city.

The semester started on September 6th, but I arrived a little earlier to look for an apartment. I found my room on the website loquo.com, there are many apartment offers that you can report to. The rental prices for an acceptable room are around € 300-450 per month. But you should definitely not expect German standards … For example, many rooms are offered that only have an internal window or even none at all.

Furthermore, you should buy the metro and bus ticket “T-Joven” for 115 € after arrival, so that you can get everywhere cheaply and quickly, because there is no semester ticket like at most universities in Germany. It is valid for three months and you can also take the night buses. For the last month you can then buy the “T-Mes” ticket for around € 40.

The university has three locations. One main campus just outside the city and two more in the middle of the center.

If you take part in the “Pre-Established Program” you never have your courses on the main campus, which is very practical because you can always take the metro to the university quickly.

Each course has a maximum of 30 students, most of whom come from the USA or also from Germany, which I personally found a bit of a shame.
Attendance is compulsory in most of the events, but since every Friday is free and there are many other days off due to public holidays, there is still enough free time to really enjoy the semester abroad.

I took three courses and a Spanish course for beginners and had lectures every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In terms of the workload, I have to say that I really had to do more for the university in Barcelona than in Germany. In most of the courses you had to give presentations, hand in homework and at the end still write an exam, in addition, great importance is attached to cooperation.

It was a lot easier, but it still took more time than expected. Nonetheless, I think that you can definitely improve your average in Barcelona!

It never gets boring in the city, as there is always something new to see and you get to know nice people very quickly, who make the semester simply unforgettable. Check iamaccepted to see more reviews from current students.

I can only advise you to start exploring the city culturally early on, as time is really limited. At the beginning you always think that you still have a lot of time, but unfortunately towards the end it goes so quickly that it can easily happen that you haven’t seen everything by a long way.

The nightlife is also great. There are countless good bars and clubs, so that you are offered a lot of different options for going out and you never get tired of them.

I found “La Merce”, a festival that always takes place on a weekend at the end of September, very impressive. This weekend there is something going on in the whole city: stages have been set up everywhere for all kinds of live performances and admission to museums is free. You don’t even know where to go first because there is something to see everywhere!

The weather couldn’t have been better in the four months! There were even one or two days in December when it was 20 ° C and most of the time there was no cloud in the sky. That’s why you could often go to the beach after university, but unfortunately it was very overcrowded.

The security in Barcelona is generally no different than in other large cities. I almost always felt safe. But you should always keep an eye on your valuables, as there is a lot of pickpocketing (especially in the metro or in tourist places). It is best to leave the things that you do not need in the apartment from the outset.

All in all, I can only recommend you to spend a semester in Barcelona or a semester abroad in general. I would do it again and again!
You have important experiences, both positive and negative, which no one can take away from you and which really help you advance in life.

Facultat de Traducció i d'Interpretació - UAB Barcelona