The best experience of my life has a name: Erasmus

Erasmus is the programme so well-known that people think its only purpose is for students to go partying and drinking. However, anyone who thinks this is totally and absolutely mistaken.

There are an endless number of reasons to take part in this program other than to drink and party. In my opinion, it is one of the best cultural programs that to exist to this day. Sure, you go to parties, but not everything revolves around that. For a year you live away from home, many many kilometers away from the place where you've grown up, where your life, family and friends have always been. All of a sudden you find yourself in another country, with different people, a different language and way of life. And, of course, this is where the real adventure starts.

I'll never forget my year abroad with Erasmus. I was working for quite a few months to save money to be able to set off on my trip with a financial situation that was more or less normal, as the bursary assigned to me was pretty measly. It's well known that if you want to be able to participate in this program, you're going to have to part with most of the money you've got in your pocket. However, for me, rather than a hindrance, this was yet further motivation to make the most of this opportunity.

I got to Ljubljana around 10 pm on 21 September 2011, arriving to pitch black, with no hostel or anywhere for me to sleep... Arriving, in other words, to adventure. There were four of us from León, and thanks to the help of someone working in a McDonalds we arrived at a hostel and - by chance - heard music playing and the sounds of partying not far away. We headed out and realised that we were in Metelkova (which we hadn't heard of at the time), a site where abandoned army barracks have been occupied illegally. And believe me, seeing this for the first time having just arrived, not to mention that it was late at night, freaked me out a bit.

The next day it was time for paperwork (a big part of Erasmus revolves around filling out forms, forms and more forms), setting off with suitcases in hand, and, after a couple of hours, securing somewhere to live. It was just in front of the Economics Faculty (Ekonomska Fakulteta) and seemed nice, with bedrooms for two, and a kitchen and bathroom shared by the two rooms. We arrived... The first impression was that, for the 85 Euros each month we were paying for it, it was ugly, small and old... But after a week or two you see it as your house and you wouldn't change it for the world, because it's the best. There's too many stories to tell, so I'll give you the one that stands out the most. Within those walls I met people who I never would have imagined I would meet, incredible people who become your family, as you spend at least "25 hours" with them a day. Living just in front of the faculty, it was easy to get to class as you just had to cross the road. And, believe me, with the cold winters, it's a big help knowing that in a minute you'll be in a place with heating again.

At the beginning, you go to class and don't understand anything. Everything is in English and us Spanish people are famous for our precarious level of English. But as time passes, things start to change. You start to work, study, and go to class every day, and one day, without you realising it, the moment arrives when you can hold your own perfectly in this other language. It is what I would call "learning in order to survive". And you get to final exams and see that all that you've learnt is incredible. You get by totally in a language other than your mother tongue, and you've passed all your exams satisfactorily, which of course is a great pleasure.

Obviously studying isn't everything. You always have time to take trips, spontaneously decided upon at the last moment, when between departing and arriving you get lost a minimum of one or two times (and this doesn't sounds like much to me). Trips where you look for the best and cheapest hostel, preferably not ten kilometers out from the centre of town. On these kinds of days you don't sleep much, as you want to see everything, enjoy every moment as much as possible, see these incredible places that you've seen on TV and never thought you'd be lucky enough to see in real life. Countries that up until recent years have been at war, which you see are being rebuilt little by little (I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Bosnia). Countries with a long and sad history on their shoulders like Poland (IIWW, Cracow, Auschwitz). You see in real life what you studied in history years ago when you were at school, and you can't describe with words how this makes you feel inside.

But, it has to be said that everything comes to an end, and you see the months slipping away and wish you were able to stop time in its tracks, wish that this year that has been so amazing will never end. But, of course, the fact that it ends is what makes it special. You will always remember those vivid moments, all the people you met and that you might never get to see again. But, however far away they may be, you will still have them in your memory.

And when you come to the end of the year, you've evolved as a person, you have met new people and experienced new cultures. And you realise that ever since that moment when you stepped on the plane that would take you to this place, your life will never be the same again.

Also, if you're interested in finding out how to navigate the Erasmus grant system, take a look at this guide!

Photo gallery