Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 2) 2013/14
Lisa Minibek, Spain, Universidad de Huelva, Mobility for Studies
Author: Lisa Minibek
University and history of the city
Huelva is the capital city of the region Huelva in Andalucia, which is located in the south of Spain and very near the portuguese boarder.
It is inhabitated since 3000 BC and had a population of 149,410 people in 2010.
Huelva is the city where Christoph Columbus began his journey to America, which is one of the most famous attractions of the city. They have two statues of Columbus, one at the harbour and the other one on the Plaza de las Monchas, which you could say is the main square of the city. There is also a museum where the three ships of Columbus are.
The city also consists of different squares, parks, churches and of course one bull ring on the Plaza de Torros.
Huelva has the oldest football club of Spain, so there is of course one big football stadium too.
Huelva centre (Foto Sandra Maloversnik)
The University of Huelva is divided and located at three different places in and around the city, Campus El Carmen, Campus La Merced and Campus El Rompido. It depends on what you are studying, where your buildings for your studies are located.
I studied at Campus El Carmen, because the Education buildings where there. It’s a little bit outside the city center, but there are a few bus lines to drive you there. It takes about 30 minutes by bus, 45 minutes by foot and 20 minutes by bike.
Campus El Carmen, University of Huelva (Foto Lisa Minibek)
Differences between the education systems
At the University of Huelva I had five different English courses where I got 6 credits each.
For a good grade we had to be in attendance and do our homework.
Whereas at home we would have 15-20 courses with much less credits.
The Erasmus courses where all in English and much more easier to pass than the ones at home.
But the normal Spanish courses are not as easy.
You have to do homework, presentations, little exams and one big exam at the end. But you get much more credits for it than you would at home.
I can’t really tell if the education system in Spain is that much more easier than the one in Austria because I only got to the experience the Erasmus courses and like I said before, these are much more easier to pass than normal Spanish University courses.
Another difference between these two education systems is the grading.
In Austria we have the grades from 1-5, where 1 is the best and 5 the worst.
In Spain the grades are from 1-10, where 1 is the worst, 5 means you passed and 10 is the absolute very best.
It took a little bit of getting used to the grades because in my teacher practicum I had to correct some exams and I was very unsure how to grade some of the papers, because of the wide range of grades you have.
But in the end it was another thing I wouldn’t want to miss from my Erasmus experience.
University Courses
General Didactics
General Didactics is a subject of Prof. Manuel Bautista and it is about the different methods of a school system. We met once a week in his office in small groups where we discussed a new topic every time. Sometime later this week we would get an e-mail from him with an article about this new topic and we had to read it and comment on it.
Creativity and Learning
Creativity and Learning is also a subject of Prof. Manuel Bautista. Again, we met in his office, discussed a new topic and got an e-mail with a new article every week. It was about different ways to make the lessons more creative, to recognize talents of students and how the pupils could use their talents for their own advantage.
Curriculum Making
Curriculum Making was the third subject I took with Mr. Manuel Bautista as my professor. We learned about different aspects of a curriculum and the advantages and disadvantages of a school system and compared different school systems of Europe. Like in the other two courses we met once a week in his office and got and e-mail to comment on.
Effects of global changes in the natural ecosystem
Effects of global changes in the natural ecosystem was a course of Prof. Pablo Hidalgo. We were a small group of Erasmus students and met with him once a week for one and a half hours to discuss the different problem, which were responsible for global changes like global warming, CO2 omission or the human’s demand of earth’s ecosystem.
Every week we got some kind of homework which stood in connection with the topic we discussed the last lesson and we had to send it to Prof. Hidalgo via e-mail.
We even took a field trip once to a military base, where they are building rockets and have the responsibility that the satellites in the space are working correctly.
Teacher practicum
I had to do a teacher practicum in a local school for my home university and I can definitely say that it was my most favourite course at the university at my semester abroad. It had to be 50 hours, so I did it in two weeks from Monday to Friday from 8 to 2 pm.
I had two different classes, but both were in 5th grade and I was mostly active in the English lessons because most of the other ones where held in Spanish. I was really lucky that I got older pupils because I was able to communicate with them in English. If they didn’t understand something the teacher was always there to help me or explain them the situation in Spanish.
one of my classes (Foto Lisa Minibek)
I even got the chance to correct some exams of them, which was very interesting because the grade system is so different in comparison to the one in Austria and in the beginning they had to explain everything to me about it.
I really enjoyed my internship at this Spanish school and it was very interesting to see how a different school system in a different country works, but sometimes I was really horrified how low the knowledge of the English teacher was. They even asked me sometimes for some help with vocabulary because they only know what is written in the school books.
Also their teaching methods are not very various. It is always the same how they work through a unit in the textbook, so it can get very boring for the pupils and I think these methods are not the most effective ones when it comes to learning a new language.
I even got to experience an once-in-a-lifetime field trip with the school. It was a bicycle trip with the whole school, which were around 500 students, 20 teacher and a few parents. This was an experience I will never forget and would never be possible in Austria. But I’m glad I got to be a part of it and even though it was really stressful because there just too many pupils, it is not something I wanted to miss.
All in all it was a great experience and the staff at school was very friendly and welcoming and I’m really glad I got to experience a new school system. It makes me appreciate mine in Austria even more.
poster of the classroom rules (Foto Lisa Minibek)
Application and Registration
Before my semester abroad started I had to fill out an application form and sent it to the University of Huelva.
After I got accepted I could choose some of the courses I wanted to do in Spain. Every course had 6ECTS, so I just had to choose five different courses.
When I got my okay from the International Office at my university I could fill out the Learning Agreement, where I needed the signature of my home university and the one where I would study.
When I got to Huelva I had to change some of my courses because they weren’t available this semester.
After I got the mail from my home university that my changes were okay, I had to bring it to my coordinator at the University in Huelva to get her positive confirmation too. Then I got a date from the International Office when my registration as an official student at the university would take place.
As an Erasmus student you can take just five courses, because there are just too many students.
That worked out well for me, because all of my courses had 6ECTS, so in the end I got my 30 credits, which I needed for my home university.
Contacts
Information of the university
Universidad de Huelva
Dr. Cantero Cuadrado, 6. 21071 Huelva, Spain
Website: http://www.uhu.es/index.php
Phone number: 959 218000
Information of the Coordinator of the International Office
Name: Isabel Leandro
Servicio de Relaciones Internacionales
Universidad de Huelva
Email: drinter02@sc.uhu.es
Phone number: 959219494
Pab. 13_Juan Agustín de Mora
Campus del Carmen
21071 Huelva, Spain
Universidad de Huelva, Campus El Carmen (Foto Lisa Minibek)
Accomodation
I found my apartment via Facebook in November because there was already an Erasmus page for the spring semester.
Students from the winter semester posted their flats with pictures, prices and when they would be available.
If students didn’t find something on Facebook, they could look for an apartment when they would in Huelva and also the ESN-team from the university would helped you to find something, because they had a list of available flats and would contact the landlord for a meeting.
Description of the accomodation
I lived in a flat with two other Erasmus students. One was Sandra from my university and the other one was a German girl.
It was in the street Calle Gines Martin 22, which was very central and I payed around 260€ each month for the rent, electricity, water and internet.
Like in the most Spanish apartments, we had no heater, but the contract included a cleaning woman who came every fortnight.
Life
The life in Huelva is cheaper than in Austria. I payed around a 100€ less for my rent than in Graz and also the public transport in the city is much cheaper.
For food and going out I spent around 200€ each month. You can get a coffee or beer for 1€ and Tapas between 1,50€ and 2,50€.
There are many bars for students and especially Erasmus students will get many discounts. Huelva is a student city through and through.
view point above Huelva (Foto Lisa Minibek)
There are three beaches near Huelva. Punta Umbria, El Portil and Mazagon. To Punta Umbria and El Portil it will take you 20 minutes with the bus and to Mazagon 40 minutes and the bus ride is always 1,55€.
You can get a bus card with which you drive much cheaper than without it. In the city you would only pay 60 cents for one bus ride instead of 1,10€ and to the beaches you would pay 1,05€ instead of 1,55€. I recommend this bus card, because I saved so much money with it.
Punta Umbria Beach in February (Foto Sandra Maloversnik)
A cheap way to travel is with ‘Blablacar’. Spanish people offer you a ride somewhere, so you can share the gas. It’s so much cheaper than to travel with bus or train. For example we paid around 25€ from Huelva to Lisbon with Blabacar and the bus would have been 60€-70€.
For me, travelling was one important part of my Erasmus. Of course it was an expensive luxury on my semester abroad but worth all the money.
I also got a scholarship of 300€ from the Julius-Raab-Stiftung which was also a great help for my life abroad.
I heard once a saying which said “travel is the only thing you buy, that will make you richer”, and after my semester abroad and can confirm that it is totally a 100% true.
Sahara Desert in Morocco (Foto Sandra Maloversnik)