A Maths student's guide to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

A Guide to Santiago de Compostela Contents Introduction......................................... 2 How do I get there?............................ .3 When should I go?..............................4 What to bring with you.......................4 Where to go first................................. 5 Accommodation................................. 7 The University.................................... 12 Courses............................................... 13 Term Dates and the Academic Year...17 Travel whilst there.............................. 18 Food & Drink...................................... 20 Money & Banking...............................22 Keeping in Touch.................................24 Sports....................................................26 Social Life............................................. 27 Health and Safety..................................32 The City................................................ 33 Galicia.................................................. 33 The Weather.........................................34 Is Gallego a Problem?..........................35 Extra Information................................. 37 Appendix A - List of Hospedajes..........38 Appendix B - Useful Numbers / Addresses39 Appendix C - Spanish Vocab. for Maths4 Introduction During 1997/98, Helen Jenkins and myself spent our 3rd year of a BSc Mathematical Sciences With Study In Continental Europe degree studying at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. This guide is a record of our experiences and hopefully will provide information that will be useful during your time there. This guide might be a bit patronising, but is designed for someone who has little or no knowledge of Spain, and is not that confident with their Spanish. I was motivated to write it due to the lack of and existing guide to Santiago from the point of view of a Birmingham maths student. Before we start, a few points you should note: All prices, etc. are in pesetas and refer to 1997/8, when the exchange rate was around 240pts to the pound. Who knows, by the time you go, you might already have Euros in your pocket... Names in this guide are quite likely to change from Castillian Spanish to Gallego and back again, for no apparent reason and with no prior notice. I make no apology for this whatsoever, as that is what happens in Galicia - maps, signs, street names seem to swap between the two languages at random. See the section "Is Gallego a problem?" for more details. If you are reading this guide before you decide whether to spend your Year Abroad in Santiago de Compostela, please take special notice of the section "Is Gallego A problem?" You will see map references throughout the guide (e.g. A6). These refer to the map at the end of this guide. With streets that are in the old town ("Cidade Vella"), I will refer to that map. How do I get there? Plane This is your best plan by far. It's the quickest and easiest way. You can only fly direct to Lavacolla (sometimes spelt Labacolla) airport, 10 kilometres outside Santiago, from Heathrow airport which runs a daily service. The flight lasts about 2 hours, and in 1997/8 the only airline that did it was Iberia. If you book your ticket with Iberia, you are going to get ripped off a treat, paying about £270 for a fixed return and £380 for an open return. It's worth seeing if STA Travel do the route (they didn't when I went), but I would recommend Campus Travel. They do a six month return for £180 + £5 for an ISIC card (you have to have one, and it is known as USIT on the continent). Something to watch – if you buy your ticket before September, you also have to buy your ISIC card at the same time, which will then run out in December of the same year, meaning you’ll have to buy another one in January. To overcome this, reserve your ticket, but don’t actually buy it (and your ISIC card) until September. That way, your card lasts you until the December of the following year. This ticket can be left open, which is very useful to the student who doesn't know how long he/she wants to spend in Santiago. The bonus with Campus Travel is that it is very easy (and free of charge, more to the point!) to change your flight once you have bought your ticket. They also do an insurance package as well. Because Santiago is of religious importance for Catholics all over the world, demand for air tickets at Christmas and in the Summer is high, so as soon as you know when you can come home, book your ticket. A few people (including myself) had problems when it came to getting tickets for coming home during the summer, so don't leave it too late. A good USIT place to try for booking your ticket home is Viajes Viloria (C3), which is right next to the crossing between the Parque Alameda and the Old Town When you land, take a taxi to the hospedaje you've hopefully pre-booked. There is a flat rate of 2100pts from the airport to anywhere in Santiago, but if there's two or more of you and you are going to different places, you might be charged a bit more. Car If you have car, take it. It may be more of a hassle than flying, but if you want to do a fair amount of travelling whilst in Spain, especially around Galicia, you're sorted. The two routes you can take are by ferry & through France. If you go on the Ferry, you will go from either Plymouth or Portsmouth to Santander, which takes about 22 hours. Then you'll drive across the North of Spain (which has some of the worst roads in the country) which will take you about 7-8 hours. P&O are the company to contact. Train More hassle than it's worth. I wouldn't bother. When should I go? Before I went to Santiago, everyone was telling me how unbelievably easy it was to find accommodation. Well yes, I suppose it is if you go out there at the end of August/beginning of September for the intensive course. But I didn't, I went out on the 26th September and, although this is still early, it does become a little trickier. Bear in mind the timing of the intensive Spanish course and whether it will suit you when deciding your date of arrival. At the very latest, I would recommend getting there by about the 25th September, just to give yourself a bit of breathing space before term starts. What to bring with you A couple of photocopies of your passport Spanish money: a bit of cash to tide you over for a couple of weeks (bear in mind that you will need to be able to stump up money for the fianza (deposit) and first month's rent of any flat that you may find - see "Accommodation" for figures), and then travellers cheques or a Visa card, or both. E111 form with a couple of photocopies (you sometimes have to give the photocopies to the doctor who treats you at a hospital or clinic) Something to prove you are a student at Birmingham, should there be any problems in getting your SOCRATES certificate, e.g. a letter confirming you have been accepted on to the 3rd year For general living: Warm Clothes (see "Weather") Umbrella (see "Weather") Sleeping bag (useful if you want to go travelling) Don't bother with pots and pans, it will send the weight of your baggage through the roof. There might already be pots and pans at the place to live, but if not, they're not that expensive to buy. A "Lonely Planet" guide (or something similar) if you intend to travel a lot - it will be your bible! A fair few passport photos, probably about ten should be more than enough. Don't worry if you forget, it is actually cheaper to get them done over there. Don't go to a photo booth though, go to any photo shop that advertises "fotos carnet" . You are photographed by someone and you pick them up the next day; they only cost 250pts for 8 or 350pts for 16. Bargain! Some shops you could try are Fototiendas (c/Santiago del Estero, B2), Clic (c/Montero Rios, B2)and Fuji (Alfredo Brañas, C2) Where to go first If you have secured a place in halls, then fine, skip the rest of this section until the bit about going to the Oficina de Relacións Exteriores. To save a lot of hassle when you land, you're best off booking some form of temporary accommodation to tide you over for the fist couple of days until you manage to get yourself sorted properly. Hospedajes - By far the most popular form of temporary accommodation, these are very cheap places to stay. They provide a bed & bath/shower (some of them ensuite for a bit more money) and some even do breakfast for you in the morning. I stayed at the Hospedaje Recarey, Patio de Madres (see Appendix A) which was alright. I paid 1500pts per night. I didn’t have to leave my passport with the owners, but they did need to see it to take the number. I wouldn't leave any valuables in these rooms during the day, most places are fine, but you never can tell the dodgy ones, can you? Campsites - I only met one person who did this, and she was a bit of a headcase anyway. I mean, come on! The last thing you want to do is to kip in a muddy field in one of, if not THE rainiest city in Spain after a day's international travelling. I don't even know where the campsite is in Santiago! It says in the Lonely Planet that there are a few out of town. Far be it from me to influence you, but save yourself the hassle & go to a hospedaje! Hotel - Fine if you've got the money, but you're going to spend very little time actually in the hotel itself, so you might as well go to a hospedaje (is it starting to become clear that I'm a cheap git?) Hostal de los Reyes Católicos - At 23,000pts per night for a double, now you're just having a laugh, mate... On your first day, the first place you should head for is the Oficina de Relacións Exteriores (See Appendix B). They will basically sort your life out for you. When you go you need to: 1. Tell them that you are a foreign student from Birmingham and you haven't got a clue where to go & what to do. Providing all has gone well with the admin. in the Birmingham Maths department, they should already have your details in a file and will be expecting you. If there is a problem however, just look pathetic and they will try to help you sort the problems out there and then (making phone calls, etc.) . If all is well, they will print you out a certificate which proves that you are a foreign student under the SOCRATES agreement. This is one of the important ones, as it entitles you to register for Maths & Spanish classes free as well as other university activities. 2. Ask them if they can help you find accommodation. They usually have got a list of Spanish students, or other foreigners who have arrived before you who are looking for one or two people to fill up spaces in flats. Don't be hasty in saying "YES!" to anyone just yet, though! Read the section on accommodation first! The Oficina de Relacións Exteriores has the worst opening hour for students I have ever seen: 9am to 2pm, Mon. - Fri. Have these people forgotten they are dealing with students? If you've done all the necessary things, chill out and take a wander around the city. Remember how in halls you just attached yourself on to the fist group of people you met? Well think of Santiago as one giant hall of residence, except you have to listen out for people either speaking English (see "Warning" in the section on "Social Life"), or speaking Spanish with dodgy foreign accents. There will be a lot of tourists in the city in September/October though, so be sure who you're talking to before you start on your life story! After a couple of weeks you should get a Carné Xové ("Carnet Jóven" in Castillian). This is the Spanish version of the ISIC card, and is the only card that gets you student discounts (you get a book listing all shops that give discounts, but it is always worth asking). You need to go to the Xunta (the parliament that governs Galicia), more specifically to the Consellería de Familia, Muller e Xuventude, (walk up Virxe da Cerca from the new town towards the Parque Bonaval. Just before you get to the traffic lights you should see a small plaza on your right. That’s your building.) Take a passport photo and 650 of your hard earned pesetas, and you will be issued with the card on the spot. Accommodation Your two options for places to live in Santiago are halls & private flats. Halls of residences When I was deciding whether to apply to halls or not, everyone I asked recommended me not to go into halls. They said that Spanish halls were nothing like their British counterparts, that everyone was really boring there and there was no sense of community life. So I decided to find my own house. I then got to know people in halls, so any information that I give you comes from them. Don't blame me if you find that the opposite is true! The general impression that I got about halls were that they were alright, but the only problem was location. They all have their own cafeterias and bars which sell nice food at good prices (see "Food and Drink") Burgo das Nacións is on the north campus, very handy for your Spanish classes, but a 20/25min walk from your maths classes. Everyone I knew from there had single rooms, and it is quite a big place with a TV room (where they show films, football etc.), laundrette facilities, kitchens, study rooms, and other stuff that I can't remember. My friends always used to jokingly refer to it as the "psychiatric hospital", and the halls do remind you a bit of a ward. But saying that, these same people had a fair few Spanish friends and I assume they got to improve their Spanish a lot. However, they did say that some people were the type to ignore you in the corridor and just shut themselves in their rooms. But you get those in every hall, right? Monte da Condesa is on the south campus, very handy for your Maths classes, but a 20/25min walk from your Spanish classes. I didn't know many people at this hall, but I think there were a lot of shared rooms. A lot of the Spaniards I knew went to do through the night studying there, so I get the impression that it is a quiet place, although we knew some Italians who really liked living there. Don't take my word as gospel! It gets worse. Monte do Gozo is about a mile or so out of town in the middle of nowhere, so you have to get a bus to anywhere! I knew about 5 English girls there, and they said that it was quite nice, but the distance away was really annoying, so much so that three of them actually moved out and found flats in the city. There are other halls in the city, but they are very small, and I don't know if they let Johnny foreigner go and live there. Steve’s Verdict: Unless you're really paranoid about not finding somewhere to live (which you shouldn't be) and desperately want to know where you're living before you get there, then I wouldn't bother with halls. But that's me though... Rented flats The vast majority of the foreigners, indeed most of the Spanish students that I knew lived in rented flats. The choice of flats, areas to live in and people to live with can seem bewildering, and most people end up in places they like through sheer luck. Pensiones Pensión was one of the words that they didn't teach me in Spanish classes, so I didn't have a clue what was going on until someone told me. A pensión is a normal flat, but usually all the rooms are rented out separately and have access to a common living room but not a kitchen. They are mostly above cafes or restaurants owned by the landlords and you get 2, or sometimes 3 meals a day cooked for you. Pros Cons You get 2/3 square meals a day cooked for you - ideal for the lazy student! You get no choice with what you eat, and some landlords will stick to a rigid routine of eating a certain food on a certain day Don’t have to go food shopping and don't have to worry about buying pots and pans when you get out there. You get no choice when you eat; meals are served at the same time every day (I'm not sure about weekends, though) - see Food & Drink for Spanish routine If you like sampling the typical food of a region, this is probably the best way to do it Your food is included in your rent, so if you miss a meal, tough! Some landlords are a bit strict - see "Strict Spanish landlords" Steve’s Verdict: Nice if you don't mind having your mealtimes dictated to you and possible restrictions on who you bring to your flat and at what times. Hospedajes As well as staying there temporarily, some offer a more permanent arrangement. Each is so varied though, you have to weigh each one up when you see them. Private Flats By far the most popular form of accommodation, both for foreigners and Spaniards. A few things to consider when looking for flats: Flats will either be advertised as for rent by a group of students, or spare rooms will be advertised for people looking on their own. A lot of people who went on the intensive course in September made groups of foreign friends who then went on to find flats. This is fine if you all agree to speak Spanish to each other, but we Brits find ourselves in the unique situation that most of the other foreign students we meet are able to speak English, and it's very easy to just go back into speaking English with them, which does a lot of good for their English, but not a lot of good for your Spanish. Make sure you all have an understanding if you find yourself in this situation. Or you could make the break and look for a room with Spaniards, something which I would highly recommend. It's not only good for your language, it gives you a better idea of what it's like to be a Spaniard, and you will get to know far more Spaniards than you expect. Obviously, there are going to be some major differences between your lifestyle and your Spanish flatmates, and sometimes it does cause a bit of friction, but on the whole Spaniards are very open and are generally happy to live with foreigners. I would say that Spaniards generally spend more time studying than us, so if you intend enjoying an "active" night life, make sure they know about it, because it will only cause problems later. Bear in mind that students in Santiago, even Galicia, are more or less unique in Spain because most will go home for the weekends. Gallegos who live 2 hours away will still go home every weekend. Steve’s Verdict: I found a flat with a Spaniard, and a student from Finland. I suppose that gave me the best of both worlds. I would say that my Spanish was a lot better for having lived with a Spaniard. Strict Spanish Landlords A few students I knew had problems with their landlords laying down rules. One American bloke had to move out because no girls were allowed to set foot in his flat, and he wasn't the only one who had this problem. Some landlords lay down rules on friends sleeping over. Make sure everyone knows the score before you move in, because there's no way you're going to change their minds once you've paid that deposit! Where do I look for accommodation? If the Oficina de Relacions Exteriores haven't come up trumps for you, it's going to have to be a DIY job, I'm afraid. A general rule when looking at advertisements; if it is written in gallego, the inhabitants of that flat will speak gallego, if not to you then amongst themselves. I would avoid this type of flat. It's great if you're a dedicated linguist, but wise up, you're a mathematician and you want to make life as simple as possible. Some places where you can find adverts aplenty are: University notice boards These should be your first port of call, as there will be shedloads of adverts, most of them from students. Bear in mind that adverts in the Maths department will be mostly for flats in the new town, and flats in the Spanish department will be mostly for flats in the old town/North Campus area. That serves as a general rule. If you know in which area you want to live, go and look at the adverts there. Shops & Supermarkets Some have adverts plastered over the front doors, some have notice boards just inside the doors. A good source of telephone numbers. Just walk around the streets and look in the shop windows. Agencies Agencies are most useful when there is a group of you who want to live together already assembled. You go to the agency and tell them you want a flat for n people (where n is a positive natural number... oh my god...maths... I think I'm melting...). One of you has to give your passport/identity card as security and then they give you 4 or 5 sets of keys. You then go traipsing round the city looking at places and if you find somewhere you like, you rent it. Simple. Well yes, it is, but remember that agencies act on behalf of a landlord, and Spaniards can't be rushed into doing anything. So imagine a Spanish agency when you need stuff doing round the flat! The weird thing about the agencies is that they only need one signature on the contract, being as they are renting out the whole flat. Try and get something sorted whereby you are all committed to the flat, it's safer for you and you're less likely to get stitched up somewhere along the line. Also bear in mind that if none of you can speak good Spanish, you’re in for a hard time. Be careful! ¡¡¡¡WARNING!!!! I got my flat through the Agencia Amor, c/Hórreo, and they were a complete nightmare, all year long. DO NOT USE THIS AGENCY! ­NO USARLA! YOU WILL REGRET IT! THEY ARE CRAP!!!! There, you've been warned, you can't say I haven't told you..... How much should I be paying? Accommodation in Spain compared to Britain is really cheap, but flats in Santiago are more expensive than most other parts of Spain. I lived in an absolute hole, slap bang on top of a night-club, and I was paying 20,000pts a month (about £80 at the time), which everyone thought was hysterical. Yes, I did get ripped off, but you'll find most flats to be around that price. If you are lucky and find a really nice flat, you could pay up to 24,000 - 25,000 pts. How much you pay depends where you live. Also, bear in mind that you’ll have to pay an initial deposit (fianza) when you sign the contract. The fianza varies, but to give you some idea, my flat cost 60,000pts (between 3 of us) per month and the initial deposit was 40,000pts. New Town Flats in this part are generally more expensive, but generally better equipped (central heating, washing machines, etc.). "Central heating, Steve?" you may be asking, "Why would we need central heating when, quote, 'we're all off to sunny Spain', unquote?" Read the section on "The Weather" and you'll see why. Also bear in mind that, after the relaxed bars of the old town, come 3am on a Friday night/Saturday morning you'll be moving down to the discotecas of the new town. And living in the new town is such a bonus when you see your old town mates hailing cabs or starting the 25 minute walk home, mostly uphill, at 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning. I lived on c/Nueva de Abaixo,11,1 A in the new town (just so you know to avoid it). This street is THE noisiest street in the entire city - beeping cars in the morning and the street literally heaving with people between about 12am & 4am on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday nights. I got used to it (well, I just went out every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night!) but if you like sleeping in peace and quiet during the night avoid this and the following streets, which have a high concentration of bars and discos: c/ Nueva (Rúa Nova de Abaixo), B2 c/Santiago del Estero, B2 c/Santiago de Chile (not as bad), B2 – C2 c/Romero Donallo (traffic noise more than bars), B1 – C1 Bear in mind that if you live on the seventh floor, the noise won’t be a problem. Old Town A beautiful place to live, you'll walk to college in the morning (probably more like the afternoon) thinking, "How lucky am I?". You are still within easy walking distance of the main shops in the new town, and you are also near the languages faculty. However, flats may be less equipped than a flat for the same price in the new town (there will be a lack of heating and probably a few problems with damp), and come April, the old town becomes jam packed with tourists from all over the world. North of the North Campus I haven't got a clue what it's like to live in this part of the city. There are loads of flats there, just over the road from Filoloxía (language faculty where you do your Spanish classes). I knew a couple of Danish girls who had a really nice flat, but said that apart from Filoligía , they were too far away from everything. The University The university is split into two campuses, which are about 20/25mins walk apart. Matemáticas is on the South Campus, next to the new town, and Filoloxía is on the North campus, about 5 minutes walk from the Cathedral and the main old town. There are a few departments like history and journalism scattered about the old town. Maths is located on the South Campus (A1), near the main road to Noia, right next to Bioloxía and opposite the sand football pitches. There is a cafeteria next door which serves everything from coffee to the 500pts lunch between 1pm & 3pm. The COIE is 2 minutes walk up the road. At the Maths department there are 4 computer rooms (see "Keeping in Touch"), a photocopying room (quite cheap, and you can get paper there as well) and a library with loads of desks which is quite full most of the time and impossible to get into at exam time. A word of warning about the Maths Library (open between 8.30am & 9pm, weekdays only). To get a book, you've got to look up the title or whatever on the computers just inside the doors and get the number. You then give this to the librarians and they are the ones who go and get the book for you. Don't do as I did, and go looking for the book yourself, because you will get someone chasing after you shouting in mad gallego that students are expressly forbidden to enter this area, and you must leave at once. Not that I'm emotionally scarred by the incident or anything (twitch... gibber...). To use the library, you need a library card which you apply for in the librarians office - again have a photo handy. This library card entitles you to use any of the universities libraries, including the Xeral. You can look at three books at a time within the library, and take two home for about four days. The Instituto de Idiomas is in the Filoloxía building (A5). There is a big library, and a photocopying room. Again there is a cafeteria in the building which serves most things. The COIE (can't remember what it stands for) is where you have to go to register for your Maths courses. Upstairs, there is also a general information office, and some other things, but I only ever wet in there about 5 times, so I haven't got much of a clue to be honest. It is open from 9am-2pm, but the cafeteria there is open until 9pm. The Biblioteca Xeral is right in the middle of the old town, in the same building as the Oficina de Relacions Exteriores. The entrance is opposite the Post Office. Don't ask me what's going on there, as I didn't set foot in the place once during 9 months! It's supposed to be quite nice inside though. There is no Guild or Student's Union in Santiago, or indeed in any Spanish University to my knowledge. Philistines! Courses If you are following the BSc course then the results from the year abroad DO NOT count towards your final degree mark. Thus, you can choose courses according to your own interests and what will be beneficial to you when you come back to Birmingham, rather than the worry of the exams to follow. The Maths Course During the summer before you go, you should be sent a pack containing all the courses on offer to you. They'll be from a variety of years (mainly 1 to 3) and some will be useful to you in your 4th year, some won't. Before you go, have a look at what courses will be offered when you get back to Brum, but don't make any decisions until you talk to the tutor responsible for you in Santiago. He will be able to give you the best advice (most of the time!) on what will be best for you. Modules over there are mostly lectures, with one hour of problems class. There is no coursework element though, and the worksheets you do throughout the course do not count towards your mark in that module. There are a staggering amount of people doing maths in Santiago (well, not really when you consider that there are 30,000 students in the university), so their organisation of things is different to ours. Students are either in the morning group (classes between 9am & 2pm) or the afternoon group (classes between 4pm & 9pm). Within each subject, there are two or more different lecturers who run different classes at different times. When I say "different classes" I mean that you could be doing the same subject as a friend in a different group, but be following a slightly different syllabus which leads to a completely different exam. Also, your timetable tends to be the same every day, i.e. a given subject will have the same one hour slot every day. Don't let them fob you off with trying to make you do a certain amount of credits per semester. If you listen to them, you'll end up doing the same amount of subjects as the Spanish students, and I do NOT believe you want to

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