ERASMUS #2

If you want to learn language of the country you are going to, I would advise you to supply for EILC (Erasmus Intensive Language Course). It takes sometime between two weeks and one month. You will probably be notified for one or two possible courses, but maybe they will not fit in your free time period. Do a little research by yourself. Google »EILC IN X«. X stands for the name of a country you are going to. Choose courses that take time before your classes start. Than you have to fill a form to supply for that course. You can write more wishes. I don’t know what they consider to be important factor for choosing students, but for the course I took place, they have chosen 30 out of 400 supplies. This course is free of charge for Erasmus students and you will probably get Erasmus scholarship for that period as well.

You can also take an instant course at your host faculty, but usually you have to pay for them and they might not be as good. You will get ESCT for language course. I got 4 ECST out of 20 that I needed to justify my scholarship for one semester.

Where to stay? The best thing is if you know someone that has been in the same city that you are going to and he/she can give you a first-hand advice. Otherwise you can ask your host faculty to give you some contacts or do some surfing on the internet. Prices depend on the location of the apartment, number of students living in one room and apartment it-self and of the quality of the accommodation. You have to decide if you prefer to live in city centre or nearby faculty. In my opinion is good to live near public transportation (metro, bus) and not to switch it many times to reach your faculty. Parties are usually in the city centre. So if you decide to live near faculty you will spend some more money for taxi, but the room you will rent will be cheaper. If you will have to wait between two classes, you can go home, which is not the case if you would live far away. I guess that depends on preferences. Never rent a room without a window, there are many rooms available, so take some time to find the right one. Many universities have campus, which is an area with faculties and apartments, shops, fitness. If that is the case, maybe is best to stay there. In the beginning it will be easier for you to meet people. But you can find cheaper and better apartment in other places. In my opinion you shouldn’t live with people from your home country, because one of the best things of being abroad is to meet other cultures. I went to Lisbon and sometimes I felt like being in Slovenia, because there are just to many Slovenians. I heard its top destination for Slovenians. I’m happy that I didn’t live with them. It’s not that I don’t like Slovenians; it’s just that I wanted to meet other cultures, to make some international friendships and not to talk in Slovenian. I have noticed that Italians, Spanish and Germans (also Slovenians) hang mostly within a group of people from their country. I can’t see any point in doing that. They don’t know what they are missing.