Student’s Name: Kate McCarthy
UL Course: Applied Languages
Academic Year: 2016 / 2017
Semester: Autumn
Host University: University of Murcia
Host University Code: E MURCIA 01
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For my Erasmus I picked the University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. Murcia is a small city in the
Murcia region in south eastern Spain. You can fly into Alicante or San Javier in Murcia but I would
recommend flying into Murcia because the bus only takes roughly 50 minutes are it’s relatively
cheap. If you fly into San Javier, you can only get a taxi which would cost about 60 or 70 euro. I
was luckily able to fly out of Cork in September however the flights do stop running in the Winter
so I had to fly into Dublin on the way back. When I arrived I stayed in a hostel called ‘Pension
Segura’ which was very basic but it was okay for the first few days.
At the beginning when I arrived, the temperature was about 30 degrees for weeks so make sure
to pack plenty of sun cream and visit a few beaches. There is an Erasmus group called ESN
which organize many different events for Erasmus students during the first few weeks. They
organize trips to the beach, language tandems, tapas nights and weekend trips to cities such as
Madrid, Granada.
There are two campuses in Universidad de Murcia: ‘La Merced’ and ‘Espinardo.’ The faculty of
arts and law is based in La Merced while all other faculties are based in Espinardo. La Merced is
very close to the city centre however Espinardo is about thirty minutes away by tram from the city.
This will be important for you depending on what discipline it is that you are studying. I had my
th
orientation session on the 8 of September however there was also another one further into the
month which I could have chosen. This session was on in Espinardo and it was very brief. We
received a small booklet which was not very useful in addition there was no tour of the college.
Personally I found the other students to be quite friendly and interested in Erasmus students.
Likewise, with the teachers I found them to be very helpful and I enjoyed their classes. If you
have any problem I would suggest that you ask other Erasmus students or your supervisor for
help. My supervisor was very kind and she told us to email her if we had any problem which was
reassuring at the beginning.
The college offers a Spanish Intensive Course that you can before beginning college which is
held at the end of August. I did not do this course because I was too late signing up to it but I did
hear that it was useful for refreshing your Spanish. I did a Spanish course every week for four
hours a week which I would highly recommend. I found that it really enforced things that I was
learning in college and the teacher was very enthuastic. In terms of communicating with the locals
Murcia is an excellent spot as they have very little English. The city itself is not very touristic and
so the locals appreciate any efforts of Spanish. I was a beginner before going on Erasmus and I
was nervous about my level however you just have to try and immerse yourself in Spanish as
much as possible. I made friends with many other Erasmus students which was great but at the
same time all we would speak together was English. I lived with two Spaniards which I found to
be a great help because they insisted on speaking Spanish to me all day every day. The ESN
host language tandems every Monday night at the ‘Foster’s’ pub which was a great place for
practicing Spanish and also mingling with other Erasmus students. I did not join any clubs or
societies but they have many to offer.
In terms of part time work, it is possible to get a job in a bar ‘Badulake’ or give English classes to
children/teenagers. I gave lessons to two young kids by just mainly playing with them for three
times a week for an hour and a half every week which was rather enjoyable and was also useful
money aside from the Erasmus grant.
I did not find accommodation prior to my arrival but I did join the Facebook group for ‘Erasmus
students Murcia 2016’ which was very useful for finding accommodation. For accommodation it is
relatively easy to find and you should only pay about 170-250 euro a month (bills and rent
included) Be careful of the ‘instituto hispanico’ because they are this organization which offer
accommodation however the accommodation they offer is usually more expensive than normal
and I heard stories about people having trouble getting back their deposits also. The college
recommends ‘Vimur’ but to be honest I didn’t find them very helpful, they gave me the name of a
landlord which didn’t reply to me for ages and when they did they told me to go to ‘instituto
hispanico.’ I was lucky to find accommodation near La Merced because that’s where all of my
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classes were. If you are going to have your classes in Espinardo then I would recommend that
you find accommodation near Plaza Circular, Vistalegre or Plaza Juan XXIII because this is just
beside the tram line.
Fortunately, UL usually make up our own timetables but on Erasmus must do this yourself. This
can be great because you can pick any module you like from your own faculty but it is also
stressful because it takes a lot of time looking up the timetables for your modules. I would
recommend that you attend the modules you think you’re going to take during the first two weeks
because you can see how easy or hard it is going to be in terms of your own level. There are not
many classes offered in English in the faculty of arts but luckily I found a very enjoyable one on
the culture of Great Britain. I personally found the Spanish classes difficult so be careful of which
ones you choose. Make sure to ask your teacher if they accept Erasmus students or if the module
is suitable for Erasmus students as some teachers do not want Erasmus students in their
classes. The class sizes can vary however I was studying German over there which was very
uncommon and these classes were tiny with only five students while other lectures had about fifty
or sixty pupils. Classes can start from eight o clock in the morning and the last one could be nine
at night. Participation and attendance is very important in college in comparison to UL.
Attendance may be counted towards your grade or your grade may improve because due to good
attendance. Do try attend your classes and keep up to speed so that you can relax over the
holidays when you go home as exams are held after the Christmas break. The library is very
small on campus, with very little plugs or books. The opening hours are also much more limited
than UL as it closes at nine every night and is closed on the weekend.
The first cultural difference was probably siesta time. Many shops are businesses close from 2-5
everyday even during the Winter. Unlike Ireland all shops are closed on a Sunday. It is also
valuable to note that many restaurants are open until 2 or 3 and will close until 8 because this is a
more normal time to eat dinner. In terms of going out the Spaniards do not start hitting the town
until 12 or 1am and there are many bars and clubs that stay open until the early hours of the
morning. I found the city to be relatively safe but always be careful when going out. Unfortunately,
my phone was stolen from me one night that I was out. After this I heard about more stories of
phones being stolen from other people too so take care.
The city of Murcia is very small and you can walk to most places. There is a train station and a
bus station there. At the weekend make sure to travel if you can. Buses are reasonably priced
and you can check them out on ‘Alsa’ online. ‘Bla bla’ car is also another option for transport
which is very cheap. Cities such as Valencia, Granada and Sevilla are well worth a trip as they
are very different to Murcia.
The Spaniards really enjoy tapas which I personally didn’t like because they were so small but
you should definitely try them out. Churros are also part of Spanish cuisine which you should also
taste. There are many Italian restaurants in Murcia too but overall I found the restaurant selection
poor. There is an Irish pub however I will warn you that there is no RTE or Sky Sports there which
was a pity when we wanted to watch the all-Ireland.
I think the most important part of Erasmus is mingling with people from different places, improving
the language (if you study it) and don’t take it too seriously. You are lucky to be given the chance
to live in a different country for a limited time so immerse yourself as much as possible. If you feel
homesick don’t worry because four months is a very short time. You can always fly home at the
weekend or have someone visit you.
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