First Weeks at UAX - How to Start

New faces, thousand names, an endless labyrinth, millions of open questions, and everything in Spanish. What to do first? Lean back and chill out! Or better wake up and go out! Right after the Introduction Day, you can choose to discover Madrid yourself or join the ESN UAX activities that start right away, ten days in a row. It is a great opportunity to get to know the Spanish coordinators and other ESN students from all over the world.

During the first two weeks you can do whatever you want. But like every new student, you’ll need some time to find your way and see how the cookie crumbles.

Therefore I prepared a short checklist for you.  

1. Go to the International Relations Office (ORI – Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales), which is open from Monday to Friday (9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.) http://www.uax.es/ori/presentacion/donde-estamos.html.
2. Say ¡Hola! to the ORI ladies, register yourself and hand in a copy of your European insurance card or another certificate of your insurance.
3. Check out the courses online (http://www.uax.es/ori/ects/oferta-academica.html).
4. Go to building A or D and read the printed schedules. Note: Schedules are only available on the internet once being enrolled for the chosen courses.  
5. Create a schedule, in my case, for a semester starting in autumn. Note: I could choose courses from the first to the third year, asignatura anual and primer cuatrimestre. Each year is divided into three parts: Asignatura anual, Primer cuatrimestre (Sept-Jan), Segundo cuatrimestre(Feb-Jun). The credits of the courses of asignatura anual only count half if you stay for one semester.
6. Discuss this schedule with the departmental coordinator and ask him as many questions as possible. Note: Office times can be quite confusing and short. Therefore I advise you to send an E-Mail and visit the coordinator during or after his lectures at the classroom. To know who your personal coordinator actually is, you should ask the ladies at ORI.  
7. Take your time to go to every class that seems interesting to you.
8. Enrol for the courses at ORI before the end of the second week.
9. Start.

Now that you know that the ORI ladies and your coordinator provide you with all information, you are prepared for the first two weeks. In the following post I will describe more about the study life, lectures and lecturers. ¡Hasta luego muchachos! 

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