Santiago de Compostela: a great place to have fun but, not to study

Find our about my experience at USC!

Santiago de Compostela is a great place to travel and have fun, but definitely not to study! I came here for a year to study Economics and as I was told by my program, I took classes in English, without knowing any Spanish. When I came here, no one spoke english, except at the international office.

The professors were awful, there are some exceptions. They were not helpful at all, especially when you do not know any spanish. At the beginning of the year, I still remember, how one of the professors just ignored me when I came to her after class to ask if I could do some extra work, her words: "no english, only spanish! why would you come to spain without knowing spanish! " Well, that was a disappointing first impression of the University.

So, my recommendation is: if you come to study Economics or Business you should definitely know Spanish at a level of B1 or simply don´t come.

I have heard a lot of Erasmus experiences from friends and all of them were saying that joining an exchange program it is just a "party year". After having my experience at Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, I can say for sure it is not. I´ve had a pretty good experience with exchange programs, having studied in the United States, Turkey y Kazakhstan, but have never seen such an awful educational system. I love the country, Galicia, and Santiago, they are just precious, amazing places and people just wonderful, although I would never come back to Spain to study again.