Ilsa Philips - Exchange Almeria - BSc International Land and Water Management

This is Ilsa Phillips and she has been on a study exchange to Spain (Almeria) during her BSc International Land and Water Management.

Why did you choose for Almeria (Spain) to study abroad?

I really wanted to go to South-America for my internship, but I spoke no Spanish at all, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to do an Erasmus exchange ánd learn a language! 

What was your best moment?

I think the fact of meeting so much people from all over the world and travelling together through the south of Spain. There are many cool cities in the south, like Valencia, Cordova, Granada, Sevilla and Malaga, with a lot of culture and a lot of things to do. Also, close to Almeria there is an amazing natural park called Cabo de Gata where we would go in the weekends to camp on the beach. At the end of our exchange period we decided to take the boat to Morocco and then we took the train to Fez, a very cool city in the Atlas mountains.

What was a challenge you experienced?

I thought with a six-week Spanish language course in Barcelona I would be able to follow some courses in Spanish, but I kind of underestimated that, partly because it’s just not that easy and also because in Almeria they speak with quite a difficult accent!

Do you have tips for students who also want to study abroad?

Start in time with the application, but don’t worry too much about housing, in Spain it was very easy to find something once you get there, in my experience.

What did you bring back home from your time abroad?

A lot of good memories with friends for life and many cultural experiences like flamenco music, eating tapas and doing siestas.