Remembering my Erasmus days

Today I did my last Exam for this year! And now I'm reading all the messages of my Erasmus friends that will be leaving in few days (some have already left) Eindhoven to return to their cities. This made me think that 6 months have passed since I left that city. I remember when I arrived there without knowing anyone and thinking that it would be a hard experience but something that I had to do and I wasn't wrong. On my first day I met some guys and started speaking English with Turkish, German, Italian and French people. But suddenly I heard three guys speaking Spanish cool! These guys during my Erasmus became in very important people for me. I remember approaching to them before saying hello haha. These guys were Dani, Manu and Adrian (me debes mi fiesta de despedida!!). I remember all the people from the Spanish group, and all the trips we planned in few days (here in Barcelona is now impossible to make plans). I also remember my family in Edelweisstraat (Roci, Raquel and Dario) as well as all the polish guys that came with us! It was nice to see you in Amsterdam and Eindhoven during Queensday! I hope you all had fun during those last days (having barbeques, something I regret I couldn't do...) and learned a lot and what I hope now is to see you soon!! So have fun and burn the Stratum this last nights and then we'll meet again somewhere!!!

Have all a great summer!

Useful tips for your Erasmus in Eindhoven

Here you can find some information about the city and the life in Eindhoven as an Erasmus student. There might be lots of things missing but are the things that I find useful before coming to live to Eindhoven.

- The city: the city is the 5th biggest city in the Netherlands and famous for the Philips company and the football team PSV Eindhoven. It is a city that doesn't appear in the city guides as it has nothing to show to the tourist is mostly a technological city. One of the most interesting things it has is the Lightroute (you can find an explanation about it in the blog) and the football stadium.

- The weather: you'll get used to the dutch weather but it's mostly cloud all the day. In August-setember, if it's sunny you can wear a t-shirt but at night you'll need a jacket. It rains a lot, so my advise to you is to buy a waterproof jacket (and trousers) so you don't arrive wet anywhere. Sometimes it starts raining suddenly and 15 minutes later it stops. The winter is quite cold (we arrived to temperatures like -15ºC) and the snow is usual here (not for a long time though). If you want to know how the weather will be in the following hours, please take a lookt at http://buienradar.nl/

- The university: it is located in the centre of the city and it's quite big. Each facutly has its own building and you can park your bike anywhere. It's a technological university and some departments are the best in a speciality in Europe. You can have a coffee in every facutly and there are also canteens (I prefered to go home rather than eat there). At the Kennisport you can have free coffee. It won't be easier for you as an Erasmus than for the other students, you are another student (not like in other countries) and you'll have to work hard if you want to pass. There are also lots of technological companies located in Nord-Brabaant (where is located Eindhoven) so if you are doing your project there or finishing your studies maybe you can find a place there

- Transport: you can go to Eindhoven by plane, it has its own airport. The airlines are Wizzair and Ryanair. Once you have arrived to the aiport you have to take the bus 401 to the station.You should take a day ticket (dagkaart) as it costs the same as a single ticket, but allows you to use all the buses you want during all the day. Once you have all your packages you have to look for a bike. It will be your vehicle during your Erasmus in the Netherlands. You can find a bike in some shops in the city centre, in the ISN list (suscribe in http://listserver.tue.nl/mailman/listinfo/isn and you'll get mails from people offering different stuff) or go to the station where some black guys will sell you a bike for 10-15 € (try the bike before paying it and beware with the police if you decide to buy it there). To know the bus timetable: http://www.9292ov.nl/

- Shopping: there are 4 main supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi, C1000 and Albert Heijn). If you don't want to spend lot of money go to the Albert Heijn and look for the Euroshopper things (really, really cheap). You can also ask there for the bonus card that is sometimes useful for some discounts.

- Eating: people here in Netherlands have strange eating habits (at least for Spanish and Italian people). They don't cook a lot and the typical food here are: fries, frikandellen or kroketen (all fried), soups and then a sort of different kind of cookies (I highly recommend you the stropwaffels). For lunch they have milk and some sandwich and if it's cold outside a soup. They also drink lot of coffee, but it's like the american one not really good. What they also drink is a lot of beer. The spirit drinks are really expensive so you'll end drinking beer. The belgian beer is really good, but there's also some dutch beer which is amazing (La Trappe for example)

- Partying: if you are looking for crazy parties everyday you shouldn't go to Eindhoven. The parties will be on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Usually you'll meet in some Erasmus students house to have a drink and talk with all the Erasmus family and after some beers you'll go to the Stratum (a street full of bars, is the only place to party). There are some places where you can have beer for 1€ but try to go to every pub and then decide which one you like the most. There are also some parties (borrels) in the university on thursday. Each faculty has its own association which has a bar where every Thursday they meet. Sometimes they give free beer, from 4 to 7 pm. Here you can find a calendar of all the parties of the different associations: http://www.stud.tue.nl/~fse/

- The language: One day I read that 87% of the population in Netherlands speaks English. You won't have problems to talk to anyone (young or old) in English. If you can I recommend you to do the Dutch course in the university, it is free and you'll lear some words that may be useful during your stay in Eindhoven.

- Sports: Eindhoven is famous for its football team but you can find lots of things to do related with sports. One of the first things you should do is to go to the SportsCentrum and register there. It is the gym of the university and for 55€ the semester you can go there and do a bunch of different activities (football, basketball, fitness, swimming, lacrosse, hockey, aerobics, spinning, all kind of sport you can imagine). With the gym card, you can also go each Tuesday from 20 to 22 to the iceskating place, it's free (you only have to pay for the skates rental). In october takes place the marathon of Eindhoven, a good oportunity if you like to run and you can do lots of trips by bike so if you want to do sport it's a great opportunity there.

- Travelling: maybe that's one of the best things of choosing the Erasmus in Eindhoven. First of all you can travel all around Netherlands, and see some nice cities (Eindhoven is the ugliest one I think). You should have a look to some different shops (Blokkers or Kruidvaat) that sometimes sell a day ticket for only 13 €, so you can travel by train around the Netherlands that day for that prize. If you want to travel to Amsterdam (a return ticket is about 35€). If a lot of your friends will come to visit you (you will have to take them to other cities as EIndhoven as I said is not a tourist city) maybe it's better to get a 40% discount card for you and for people. You can get it for 56€, is valid during one year and as I said it allows you and four friends to travel with 40% discount. You can also travel all around Europe by plane. The airlines that are in Eindhoven's airport are really cheap and you can find a return ticket for less than 40€ to some of the most beautiful cities in Europe (you can see some of the trips we did in the blog). A good alternative is to travel by car, renting one. Eindhoven is really near Belgium and Germany and both are really interesting and beautiful countries (you should try to go to the Oktoberfest in Munich)

The people: the best thing of the Erasmus and of course in Eindhoven is the main thing. Meeting people all around the world, planning trips, partying with them doing different activities together, meeting in other people's house it's just amazing. I highly recommend anyone that is thinking on doing an Erasmus to do it, is one of the most fabolous experiences that I've ever had and I met some amazing people that I willnever forget. If it is possible, try to go to the Introduction day in order to meet other Erasmus and start partying!

 

If you have any other question, please don't hesitate to ask!

Hope I helped you :)

It's not a goodbye, it's a see you soon!

Today is my last day here in Eindhoven, where I've had some wonderful time with all of you. I remember my first day here, where  I met Silvia, my flatmate and she introduced me to the first Erasmus that I met (Marianne, Cristoph, Angelo, Francesco, Dora and Aurelie). Then the next day was the Introduction day. I arrived early so I met some other Erasmus like Timo, Edouard or Huseyin. Then I heard Spanish (I thought there wouldn't be many Spanish here) and went to those guys speaking Spanish. These guys have been all of them wonderful people, since the first day we have been talking about everything and helping us in whatever we needed. These three guys are Adrian, Manu and Dani. A little bit after we met Jordi and Gemma, the group was increasing!! By the end of the night, while partying we met Deniz (I'm a gentleman, I let you sit in my chair haha), Nuno and Ricardo (fucking portuguese!! you are so great!), Alex (also called smoke bomb, as disappeared everytime), Amaury and Irina (salsa classes!! haha). During the two first weeks I was the guy with the broken arm. We started making the spanish group, with Victor, Jaime, Fernando, Javi, Felipe and all the other Spanish that I said before. When I came back from Barcelona, more people had arrived. I have to specially say thanks to Rocio, Raquel and Darío (i've been the last two days occupying their home as my house contract had already expired). Then we met Jana, Hani (spanish-syrian haha), Sandra, Pedro, Ricardo and Héctor (mr. de Haan, great time at classes), Carmen, Kiko and Vicky (to make a bigger group). After some time we met all the industrial people (Bea, Cris, Marta, Mariano, Nacho, Arturo, Frenky, Arianna, Margot, Markus, Carlo). I cannot forgot the parties with the polish guys (Jola, Michal, Jakub and Aaron) These months here have been amazing, even if the city is not the most beautiful in the Netherlands, I'll have a marvellous memory of the city thanks to you! I remember the trips to Munich (crazy trip, organized in only one week, with a rented car and 6 people sleeping in one room, just amazing), to Brugge and Gent, all the kruidvaat trips (running and running in order to visit as many cities as possible), Prague, Budapest, the trips with the bike near Eindhoven, the parties in other cities, the Redbull party and of course all the parties we have done here in Eindhoven (first one  in Alex's house, but then, Dani's, Rocio&Dario&Raquel's, Salcedonia's, Jola's, Dora's, Carlo's, Gemma's, Portuguese guys, Aron's) all the parties the thursday's in the university, looking for the places with free beer it has been something incredible and I'll miss you a lot guys!! As it says in the title, it's not a goodbye, it's a see you in the Queensday and if that's not possible I hope to see you anywhere else! You all know that are welcome in Barcelona!!

Last dutch trip

Yesterday we spent the day visiting some dutch cities with our last Kruidvaat ticket. We (Dani, Felipe, Jordi, Gemma and me) met at quarter to eight in the station and took the train to Alkmaar, our first destination. Is a city well-known here for the cheese (we could taste a wide variety of them and bought some) and visited the Centrum. After a while, we visited Haarlem a city near Alkmaar and Amsterdam, we visited there a windmill and also the typical centre of the dutch cities. Then, we took the train to our last touristic destination, Groningen, a city in the north of the Netherlands. When we arrived it was raining, so we decided to have a beer in a huge bar (it was amazing, we thought that there were different bars but it was only one) and after that we visited the city centre. We had dinner and went to Utrecht, where we met Javi and Fernando and had a nice party there! Finally, we got home at 4.30.
Here you have some photos:

Back to Eindhoven

After spending the Christmas holidays in Barcelona (with a great weather and meeting with the people I hadn't met for 4 months) I am back to Eindhoven. This Erasmus experience will end in a month and right now is the most stressful moment: preparation for exams, finishing and presenting the projects we had to do, doing the last assignments... I hope I can handle with it!!!
Have fun
Després de passar les vacances de Nadal a Barcelona (amb molt bon temps i veient a la gent que feia 3 mesos que no veia) estic de nou a Eindhoven. L'erasmus s'acabarà en un mes i ara mateix és el moment més estressant: preparació pels exàmens, acabar i presentar els projectes que teniem, fer els últims treballs... Espero poder amb tot!
Que vagi bé!