Now that the global travel industry has become so advanced, we literally have the world at our fingertips, and this can make choosing just one country to study in a very difficult process. Well not to worry, I am here to help! Today I will be explaining to you why Spain should be on the top of your list right now
Deciding to study abroad is a long process, and one that can be very daunting for potentially globe-trotting students. One of the reasons why this choice is so intimidating is the ridiculous amount of options that we have when it comes to choosing! Now that the global travel industry has become so advanced, we literally have the world at our fingertips, and this can make choosing just one country to settle on a very difficult process. Well not to worry, I am here to help! Today I will be explaining to you why Spain should be on the top of your list right now, a country that I moved to two years ago myself and never looked back!
1. Studying abroad can boost your career prospects
Now, let’s begin with the obvious: Studying abroad is great! Ever since travelling abroad became an option, students across the world have opted to pack up their textbooks and take their education elsewhere. While many do this for fun, adventure or to just generally “find themselves”, many make the choice because it can actually make a meaningful difference in their career.
While the advantages of studying abroad often come to be more anecdotal and opinion-based, there is a large amount of research done on this. Studying abroad can make a noticeable boost to your career, both by looking at the employability statistics and the overall consensus of students who have taken part in such programs.
Out of the sample of students in the study, those who took part in study abroad programs had a whopping 24% higher chance of finding employment post-university.
Interestingly, the study found that this difference was most pronounced among students who came from a more disadvantaged background. The reasons for this, is that students from this type of background would be able to gain a large range of skills during their placement that they wouldn’t normally have access to (e.g. intercultural competence, global awareness, foreign language skills).
id="docs-internal-guid-afbc174f-7fff-ef2b-7509-ee5ac4e05d4f">Therefore, if you think you could use a boost of these types of skills to your resume, a study abroad program is the way to go! However this does not mean that you should pack up your things and move to the next country that catches your eye. When choosing a location to study, you should always try to find a country that either matches (or preferably improves upon) your home country’s standards of education.
Accordingly, as a founding member of the EHEA, the Spanish government has set itself to the highest standards expected of European education, and boasts one of the highest populations of international students in the world!
2. Spanish is the language to learn in 2021
So we have established that studying abroad is great, now why should you do it in Spain? Let’s start with the language: the official language here is Spanish. Aside from being considered one of the most beautiful languages in the world, Spanish is also on the rise to becoming the most useful for your career.
Currently, Spanish is the second most natively spoken language in the world and the fourth most widely spoken language overall. With the majority of Latin America speaking Spanish, multiple European countries and even a sizable portion of the USA, Spanish has comfortably secured its position as a titan of business language. Anyone who has Spanish on their resume can expect a huge step up from the rest of the crowd.
As the birthplace of this globe-trotting language, Spain is the perfect place to learn Spanish! With a language school on almost every corner of the main cities, a friendly population who will forgive your linguistic mistakes and neighbourhoods just begging to be explored, you could not ask for a better classroom!
Within a few months you will be able to ditch the language dictionaries and order your Tapas and Sangria solo in no time, which brings us to...
3. Food, Fun and Festivals!
Ahh the 3 F’s which make Spain such an amazing country to live in! One could spend hours and multiple blog posts as to why Spanish culture is truly incredible, but I am going to restrain myself and try to sum it up.
Let’s start with food. Food in Spain is not only a meal but an experience! In any city or town in Spain you will be able to see groups of friends and families enjoying their food outside in the sun. No trip to Spain (or even Europe!) could be complete without sampling the Spanish way of dining and at the forefront of this are tapas.
For those who don’t know: tapas are small dishes of food to be shared with a group of friends, often with a beer, wine or sangria. Generally a group would order a couple of plates each and the members at the table would help themselves (if you don’t like sharing, then this might not be for you!) before making their way to the next stop to sample more.
Aside from tapas, there are numerous culinary options for the hungry traveller to choose from and each region of Spain has its own unique style of cuisine. From the decadent little pintxos (one bite snacks, similar to tapas) of Catalunya to the simple but delicious Bocadillos de Calamares (baguettes stuffed with golden brown fried squid rings) of Madrid, you will never run out of things to try when in Spain!
Speaking of trying new things, Spain has some of the most unique street festivals in the world for the fun-loving expats reading this article. Here is just a few of the more famous examples:
Feria de Sevilla (Sevilla): In what can only be described as an explosion of Spanish culture, La Feria de Sevilla is a yearly festival in April celebrating the beginning of Spring. Filled with music, flamenco and extravagant dresses, it’s a must see for anyone in Andalusia (South of Spain).
La Tomatina (Valencia): No one can speak about Spanish festivities without mentioning La Tomatina! A festival in the little town of Buñol outside of Valencia, involving thousands of strangers pelting each other with tomatoes, what a glorious time of the year!
Festes Major (Barcelona): This is actually a collection of festivals that happen all across the month of August in the various neighbourhoods of Barcelona. The most famous of which is in Gracia, an already beautiful neighbourhood, which becomes transformed into a multicoloured paradise of the senses during the festas, as each street competes to be the most impressive using elaborate displays of cardboard and paper-mache. You can see what I mean in the video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=tyX_jzPpkD8&feature=emb_logo
4. Spain: Living in Europe for beginners!
Another reason why we should all love Spain is because it is so darn easy to live here! It is a perfect combination of the accessibility and development of Western Europe without the obscenely high costs of living it’s famous for.
Spain is, by all definitions of the word, a very developed country, meaning you can expect to live very comfortably within it. With a robust transportation system, universal and high quality healthcare and a wide range of commercial outlets, it is very unlikely that you will be left wanting more, no matter where you live in Spain.
In addition to its high availability of services, Spain is (for the most part) very cheap in comparison to its neighbours. While it’s hard to give you an accurate monthly budget of the country (as the price of goods vary greatly from the cheaper South to the more expensive North). I have taken the liberty of comparing the average price of a meal (a fairly universal unit of measurement in my opinion) in Spain’s capital, Madrid, with some of its neighbors using the cost of living calculator Numbeo
|
City |
Price of a meal (inexpensive restaurant) |
|
Madrid |
12 euros |
|
London (UK) |
16.20 euros |
|
Paris (France) |
15 euros |
|
Rome (Italy) |
15 euros |
|
Lisbon (Portugal) |
8 euros |
While most of us do need much more than restaurants in order to survive in a country, you will see that in most aspects, Spain ranks much lower in costs in comparison to other countries of similar economic status.
5. One of the global capitals of hospitality
Now we have seen how amazing Spain actually is, it should come as no surprise that it attracts a large number of tourists every year. In fact, according to the UN World Tourism Organization, Spain was the second most visited country of 2018, earning 74 billion USD in revenue in the calendar year. With so much money going into it, the tourism industry of Spain is one that requires a lot of workers to maintain and the hotels are always looking towards the domestic universities for their recruitment.
On this note, it is worth mentioning that Placement International continues to have a partnership with one of the fastest growing hospitality schools in the country: Hospitality Academy. Through this school, you will be able to get an accredited qualification and take part in paid work in Spain without having to worry about the visa, how? Well...
Through the allowances of the Spanish student visa, international students are able to obtain traineeships in the country without applying for a separate visa. If said student wishes to remain in the country after their study program finishes, they will be able to apply for a residency visa if they have stayed in the country long enough. While the hospitality industry after COVID-19 will look much different than before, it is likely that the countries that will come out on top will be those who already have had an established industry before the crisis and one that is combatting the virus effectively, such as Europe. So if you are wishing to gain a hospitality career in Europe, Spain may be the best choice for you.
