It's now January 28th and my first semester modules are now complete and i'm ready for different modules and more fun throughout my second semester. After going home for Christmas we had a task in each module to do before we began our new modules. This semester I am stepping out of my comfort zone a little and I am studying two marketing modules which will hopefully help me a lot in the future due to deciding I want to pursue a career within the marketing industry rather than photography.
The modules which I chose in September were ‘Corporate Identity and Brand Development’ as well as ‘Visual Creation and Development’, which I will explain more once I’ve spent some time studying the subjects.
Overall the photography modules which I took in my first semester here in Madrid weren’t as challenging as I expected. Although they did benefit me in areas I do not focus on at Coventry as they were much more technical based rather than conceptual, unlike my BA in Photography in the UK. This allowed me to practice in the dark room, to do more studio work as well as having a lot more free time to benefit culturally from being located in Spain. As well as soaking up the culture through Tapas and Sangria, I began Spanish lessons which was one of the main reasons I wanted to complete an Erasmus year. I was keen to learn Spanish, which was one of the influences in choosing Madrid over Milan and I wanted this to be dominant in what I took home from this experience.
I spent a lot of time before starting lessons studying on ‘Duo Lingo’ which is an app where you can choose a specific language to focus on and it tests you on a variety of subjects. Although this app is incredibly helpful and FREE (!) it doesn’t have as much influence as having official lessons and I would definitely recommend finding a tutor as I feel I have improved a lot already, even after a few lessons.
Fortunately, I found a teacher who is cheap and flexible. With an hour costing only €12, we aim to do 2 1-hour-lessons a week. However, if I become too busy or went home, he allows me to simply reschedule the lessons. Likewise, if I was to decide I didn’t want to do the lessons anymore I can stop whenever - there are absolutely no commitments. Whereas, the initial tutor I found was very formal, classes had to be in a minimum of 4 week slots of 4 hours a week, payment upfront and if I was to miss a lesson it was my loss! Overall, I think you have to find what best suits you. Due to being so busy with visitors, trips and university work the flexibility of my teacher is key and after a few weeks I will establish how many hours are suitable and potentially reschedule the amount of hours I do a week.
Ultimately, I finished my first semester modules with no grades lower than 8.5/10 so I was pleased with the outcome and hope that I enjoy the Spanish lessons so it doesn’t become chore. My next university based post will be once I’ve got into my new marketing modules and I can update you on attempting to learn another language!
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