Blog 3 - Nate Long

Blog 3 – Nate Long

                My name is Nate Long and I am studying abroad this semester in Pamplona, Spain.  There are many differences in terms of everything school related between Spain and the United States, first and foremost, academic differences.  In Spain, the workload on a daily basis seems to be significantly less and this is due largely to the fact that the biggest, and majority, of your grade in a class comes from one or two assignments whether that be a test or paper.  Classroom culture is also very different, this is due greatly to the fact that the relationship between students and teachers much more distanced.  Another big difference is the credit system.  In Spain they use the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) which measures time spent in and out of the classroom, so every ECTS credit is worth a half credit here.  So in order to meet the required twelve hours of credits here to stay as a full time student I will have to take twenty-four hours in Spain.  In terms of support, my host institution, and schools in Spain in general, are much less helpful when it comes to academic resources and tutoring.  Students are expected to do much more on their own instead of relying as much on others to help them when they may be behind or confused.