For those who may not know, an Erasmus is a scholarship that allows student exchanges between many European universities for a certain period of time. The word Erasmus stands for European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students, but the programme is also named after a Dutch philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, who expanded his knowleadge in many European cities.
Students can choose the lenght of their stay from two to nine months. Not everyone can get into an Erasmus programme, it's necessary to have, at least, one academical year of your studies already completed, althought this varies from one country to another. For example, here, in Spain, where degrees usually last for four years, students can do an Erasmus in their third or fourth year. They also have to have an official certification of their language level (of the language of the country they're going to) and, depending on the destination, it's compulsory to have a medium level (this happens with English, French and German, mostly). They are given a certain amount of money and they live with that.
You may be wondering why I chose this topic. Well, as we're doing the gap year's project I thought it would be a good idea to show another alternative. My sister Andrea is currently doing an Erasmus in Bologna, Italy. She has a lot of fun, but she also learns a lot in the Università di Bologna.
But what do I think about the Erasmus programme? I think that it's a great experience that everyone should try.
First of all, you can choose the European university that you want to go to in order of the subjects they teach. Other countries offer you a different variety of subjects to choose from that you may not have in your own country. For example, my sister Andrea (she studies History of Art) wanted to learn about Asian art, but there wasn't any of that in her university. When she applied for the Erasmus in Bologna, she was able to choose that specific subject. Another case may be that you do have the oportunity to take that subject in your university, but you may have better lessons about it in another country.
But Erasmus (let's stop fooling ourselves) are not all about studying. The experience of living in another country for that long is unique and very enriching. You can meet new people from different cultures (you won't be the only Erasmus student there, there will be students from different countries!) and contact with society. You can go party, go on trips to discover new places and also get a good level of the language. What is there not to like about an Erasmus programme? Somebody tell me!
The Erasmus programme is not the only student exchange scholarship. There are some variations of Erasmus, like Erasmus + and Erasmus Mundus, and other scholarships like ISEP, Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes.
Personally, I would love to do an Erasmus. I don't really know where, but I'm sure that it will be somewhere where I can complete my studies in the way I want. I also think that I would take the long-term programme because I would like to finish my stay with a really good language level and also with some contacts for the career that I would do later (basically, gather oportunities so I can live in another country when I work). When I saw that my sister was having a lot of fun and going to a lot of new places I realized that the Erasmus programme is something worth-living.
After all of this, I've come to the conclusion that, if you're going to do a degree, doesn't matter the area of it, you should totally check out these student exchange scholarships, as they allow you to learn in a way that you wouldn't be able to learn in a regular school year.
