Autonomous University of Madrid: a program that matches your personality and goals
Alisa Artemyeva, a 2nd-year student of the “Marketing and Market Analytics” program, made her dream come true: she went on an exchange program to her beloved Spain. What surprised her at the Autonomous University of Madrid, how her lifestyle changed, and whether it’s possible to survive in Spain without Spanish — read below.
Ever since high school, I dreamed of going on an exchange program, and I had decided on the country years ago — it was definitely going to be Spain! During my trips as a tourist, I realized how deeply I connected with the Spanish culture and mentality — it’s a society where I feel completely at ease. And Spain has many great universities, plus knowing Spanish is a huge asset for an international career — it’s the second most spoken language in the world!
The Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) ranks highly among European universities and, of course, is located in the capital — not only of Spain, but of the entire Spanish-speaking world. Having lived my whole life in Moscow, I couldn’t imagine being in a small city. And in Madrid, they speak castellano — the most standard and “classical” variant of Spanish, like Oxford English, which is ideal if you’re starting to learn the language from a lower level.
One huge surprise for me was the enormous university campus, located just outside the city — it’s right at the metro station called Cantoblanco Universidad, and walking from the station to the furthest buildings can take up to 20 minutes. All of that is university territory — with parks, plenty of cafés and bars, a wide variety of sports grounds, and everything a student might need. If you live in the campus dorms, you really don’t even need to go into the city. I was also amazed by how active the student life was — almost every day there were huge banners at the campus entrance announcing events, along with art installations, flash mobs, and even demonstrations. If you care about social or political issues, UAM is definitely the place for you.
Another incredible feature of Spain is its rich cultural diversity: on a territory that seems small from our perspective, there are 17 autonomous communities, each with its own cuisine, festivals, and traditions. I didn’t even want to travel outside Spain — there was a new carnival or holiday every week just within the country.
I took courses in both Spanish and English, taught not only by Spaniards but also by professors from the Netherlands and Czech Republic — that’s when I truly felt the global nature of education! And the international mix didn’t stop there — many students at UAM came from Latin America, and oddly enough, the fact that I was from Russia surprised people even more than those who had come from Canada or New Zealand. A large part of my semester happened during lockdown, which was both difficult and interesting — I celebrated my 20th birthday over Skype with students from all over the world. How many people can say that?
My advice to future exchange nominees: start learning the host country’s language as early as possible — even if you’re planning to study only in English. Knowing the local language will make daily life and travel easier, and allow you to engage more deeply with the culture and make friends with people who may not be fluent in English. Choose your exchange country wisely based on your personality and goals — research, talk to former exchange students (I found a girl who had been to my university and bombarded her with questions) so that you’re confident the experience will match your expectations — academically and culturally. After all, that’s also an important part of exchange. That said, many of my friends ended up falling in love with croquetas and reggaeton just a month or two after arriving :)
If possible, prepare a solid financial cushion — your lifestyle will definitely change, and chances are you’ll want to try something new or go on a big adventure. For example, I unexpectedly developed a passion for beach volleyball, even though I was convinced I’d never play again after leaving sports school.
It’s also really important to be thoughtful and responsible when choosing your learning agreement and courses even before applying — make sure to have 2–3 backup options for each course and read the descriptions carefully. Even if it seems like you already covered the material back in your first year, in a foreign university the course may be taught in a completely different way and turn out to be quite challenging. That’s what happened with my macroeconomics class — I was familiar with all the topics, but the professor pushed us to connect theories and models, think critically, and apply them to news analysis — not giving the “expected” answer, but the one you genuinely believed was right. And in statistics, I realized that while I could use complex models to analyze data, I actually had only a superficial understanding of the theoretical foundations.
The exchange program not only gave me a new perspective on my major but also a chance to rediscover myself, meet friends from all over the world, see the world through new eyes, and reimagine my professional future. I truly came home a different person. I became more mature and organized, but also more relaxed and self-confident. I learned my strengths and weaknesses. If you have the chance to go on exchange — take it! There will be plenty of challenges you don’t expect at first, but the rest will be more than worth every bit of effort. And I’m already slightly jealous of those who are about to begin their own adventure :)