Exam time in Universidad de Valencia

This post is coming a bit late, I was pretty busy in the past days but here it is...

The thought of exams here in Valencia did not really cross my mind until January hit. During the year you are busy with other stuff common for Erasmus students like partying and making the most of your year abroad (although there is a fair share of studying involved too, especially if you have subjects where the lecturer asks for work every single week or where you don't have an exam, only continuous assesment).

The whole process is a lot more relaxed here (like everything else for that matter!!). In fact, when I presented myself for my first exam I felt like I was going more to a normal, everyday test and not to a end-of-semester exam. For Irish people, and especially those studying at UCD, that might seem a bit odd because the system at home is a lot stricter and complicated. While at home you cannot enter the exam hall if you do not show your student card, here in Valencia you go in the classroom and nobody even looks at you. Nobody checks your ID or student card (which does not have a picture on it so therefore anybody can show up to your exam and do it for you). Your full name is written across all the exam, compared to anonimous marking in UCD, and there isn't really anything formal to it. What shocked me the most was probably that we did not know how long the exam was going to be until we got in the class.(Which by the way, was 45minutes!!). At home, exams are 2h sharp and nobody leaves before the first hour but here anybody can leave whenever they want. Oh, and there aren't any past exams papers from which you can get an idea of how the exam is going to be like. You are going in the exam without knowing what to expect!

I remember that before coming here, the people at home who just returned from Valencia were saying that the marking in not as tough (I tend to agree to that) and that exams are easier (sort of) and that teachers tend to give you preferential treatment (I dont see that at all) for being an Erasmus student. In my opinion, that is not exactly true but I guess that also depends on where you are and what subjects you are doing. I feel like we are treated exactly like the Spanish students which can be both good and bad, depending how you look at it. I am curious how the next exam is going to be like .. I'll keep you posted amigos!