Guest post by Marion: Hola, I'm Marion, I study social work here in Görlitz and spent last winter semester (15/16) in Barcelona, where I started my personal planning six months before the semester began. It is certainly advisable to start earlier, but in my case it went very well. The various staff at the universities are very helpful and my professors were also very supportive. In addition to the language certificate, I took care of the international insurance, account and various address changes, as well as the storage of my furniture, and I also took care of my accommodation a few months before the start of the semester abroad. I was lucky and found a nice one-room apartment that wasn't too expensive. It's best to look for a shared flat with people who speak Spanish, English or other languages. Just by listening to and using the language(s) a lot, you will make rapid progress and, above all, gain a feeling for the language in everyday life. studying in Barcelona at the Universitat de Barcelona is structured differently to in Germany or in Görlitz. It is more academic and has a more fixed plan. Everything is organized via a "virtual campus" on the internet, both the timetable for the seminars and the assignments for any group work, which is available in almost every course. You also have to work on something for almost every lesson, which is then uploaded to the virtual campus. I had difficulties finding my way around this virtual campus and managing the tight schedule in terms of content. On the whole, I had a good semester at Ub, as I found the content very interesting, especially because of the "packaging" in the new language. There were comparatively many exams (2/course/semester), group work in addition to the other work you had to hand in.What I find special is having the sea and the mountains so close.In general, the costs of daily life are similar to ours, only the coffee is much better and there is fresh fruit and vegetables everywhere and at all times!"One of the best experiences for me was a neighborhood festival where all the residents brought tables, chairs and dishes to the narrow street. There was a huge vegan paella, which was also cooked outside on a gas stove in a pan at least one meter in diameter. This was all organized by residents of the district, who also ran a city garden. This was so nice for me to see that in the middle of the hot city there are little oases where vegetables, herbs, fruit trees and flowers grow![caption id="attachment_155" align="alignnone" width="800"] urban gardening in Barcelona[/caption] Supported by: