Intro- Erasmus Experience in Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona UAB

       I started writing this blog as a way to keep record of my journey as an Erasmus Student at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and to share with my friends and to all those who are interested to join Erasmus.

  Ever since I started university, I got really amazed by "Erasmus+:" program as I've always wanted to experience living abroad and I have a really adventurous spirit and a thirst for exploration. So taking the risk to study for a semester abroad was certainly a huge challenge that I couldn't resist not taking it. If you are planning to study at UAB, I will also try to give as much advice as possible so you would know in advance what to experience and how to get started.

Travelling from airport to Bellatera-Barcelona

   After arriving at El Prat's Airport in Barcelona, we decided to take the Aerobus from airport's exit and headed to Placa Catalunya.  Placa Catalunya is a large square in the center of Barcelona and the main transport hub for many journeys. From the stop, you should reach the café called Cafe Zurich (just 2 minutes walking). From there, you should take the FGC train (the entrance is in front of Cafe Zurich). Once inside the FGC train station, look for the line S2 train direction Sabadell, and stop in Bellaterra (35 min) If you are planning to go to Vila Universitaria ( campus of UAB), otherwise If you want to go directly to UAB stop at Universitat Stop- 2 mins after Bellatera. The ticket that you need from Plaça Catalunya to Bellaterra is a single ticket 2 zones. It costs 3 euros aprox. You can buy the ticket inside the station; there are some authomatic machines very easy to use (you can pay by credit card). From Bellaterra stop you just walk 10 minutes following the wooded way and you will at the reception desk.

  Personally, I have to admit that I don't really have much experience with trains, as Cyprus is a tiny island and we don't really have any trains, so I am still learning to use the tickets and which zone for each ticket. It could be quite confusing.

Recommendation: It's advised to use a T-10 2 zones ticket which costs 20euros , which saves you 1 euro per journey and anyway you get to use it eventually for 10 times.

Some difficulties we have experienced with the journey was that we got in the wrong train station,so make sure the stairs face Zurich Cafe, otherwise just don't bother going down a hundred stairs with 30kilos of baggage. Highly NOT recommended. We went to the wrong train station firstly, fortunately a very kind guy went out of his way and helped us lift all the baggages up and down again and guided us to the right train station.

Well, I have to also admit that Spaniards(all that I have met so far) were very polite as none of them hesitated to help us in any way possible. It was also surprising that the majority of them do not speak English at all, but you could easily get the meaning of their words. So asking people around we managed to get to Vila's Reception.

Arriving at Vila

After arriving at la Vila after a tiring journey, I managed to get my room. I could say it was quite up to my expectations, spacious, and practical. The only thing that I would complain about is that there is not oven! ( so there goes the 99% of the recipes I know- chicken in the oven,pork chop in the oven, salmon in the oven and all the hardcore recipes I got to learn through university that include throwing a piece of meat in the oven!!). Also, the internet could be quite annoying sometimes. I did not borrow the equipment from Vila, ( It's 9euros for bed sheets,towels etc. per month) and I brought everything from home and I preferred to buy the things I needed.

Before arriving in Barcelona, I've been really hesitant about staying either in Vila or renting a room in the city centre. For those who know me, they know how much I over-analyzed this subject.Therefore I could write a list of advantages and disadvantages of living in Vila and city centre!

1. It's  really close to UAB so you could walk to it on your own so no transportation FEES!  Bonus: There is a free bus that goes around campus and vila, so you could even come by bus back./You need a monthly transportation ticket which costs approx €71 + a lot of time for travelling. 
2.  Bellatera is a very peaceful place to live. So the environment is quite inspiring for studying and oh well,,, sleeping! / It is not guaranteed that you are going to live in a quiet neighborhood or around respectful roommates!
3. 5 minutes from UAB, there's a supermarket named "Condis", it is much cheaper than the supermarkets in Vila, and also a bank & a  very cute bakery-but you could take the train to shop from nearby areas./ Perhaps many more options for shopping, Mercadona is probably the best one
4. The majority of Erasmus students live in Vila, so If you don't know anyone , it's a fantastic place to meet new people!/ You are only going to live with a certain amount of people so you have to chase socialization. 
5. It's nice to know that in buildings around you only  live students/Very uncertain in city centre.
6. Reception is in charge 24/7 and there are always security guards/ Not sufficient protection 
7. It could cost from 240-750 to live in vila, for an individual's use studio for one semester , it costs me 545eu./ It could cost anywhere between 150(if you are living in cerdanyola) to 600(in central locations) for a room.
8. It takes about 40 mins to get to city centre/ You are already there!

Final words: I am very satisfied with the decision I made to stay in Vila. Barcelona is a very nice city centre but let's not forget it could be really tough to concentrate on your studies If you are going to have to travel 2 hours a day, and If you live on a busy road, it could be tough to focus. So anyway, city centre could be your weekend's escape and something to look forward to and in the meantime during the week, there are many ways to spend your days as there are many activities (gym,salsa,yoga,zumba,football,) so you are still enjoying university life. 

I also wish I didn't bring as much stuff as I did, as you will anyway get to shop around from city, and I am already wondering about the trouble of bringing all these stuff back to my country! Oh dear!