Erasmus+ Experiences

 

 Natali Hen
After a hectic registration period, and some confusion regarding the courses, I am enjoying my stay at the University of Barcelona. Most of the courses are taught in groups, which helps you cooperate with others. The good thing about taking courses in English is that you enhance your language and get to engage with a lot of international people, whom I became friends with and became more open-minded about their culture, as they became about mine.  

Being a part of the Spanish culture is really interesting, I have become more aware of the differences between our cultures as well as their traditions, values, and language. And I have taken the opportunity to travel in my holidays to different places and discover more of Europe. It was an amazing experience for me; I have become more independent and more responsible.

 Sarah and Asma
I think this is an experience for life. In addition to the educational aspect of the one-semester stay, it helps us to build new personalities and to communicate with a wide range of people from different backgrounds. The courses we took here and the way they deliver the information differs from the way we are used to. They focus mainly on practical aspects, so l think we can gain new learning methods from this experience. I think everybody could have the chance of being an Erasmus student so don’t miss such a great opportunity. We are having fun and this is an experience you will never forget.
 Hala Dahbour
I studied business administration for one semester in the University of Deusto in Bilbao – Spain, where I took four courses that I successfully finished. I would like to encourage every single student in Birzeit University to keep working on themselves and keep searching for opportunities to study abroad; it’s such an amazing experience that I have never imagined I would try.
I got to meet new people from different parts of the world with different cultures and different minds, which was an amazing opportunity because I got to look at how other cultures think, and I was able learn new things about the world that are totally different from how we do things in Palestine.

 Walaa Issam Naji Shamasna, a community and public health master’s student; Haneen Hasan Salameh, a law master’s student; and Rami Naim Abu Sa’d, an international studies master’s student, took part in the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Programmer (UNU- GEST) post- Graduate Diploma Programmer in International Gender Studies at the University of Iceland. 

The program enables fellows to develop gender-responsive projects and policies, which aim to enhance the understanding of the structures and mechanisms needed to promote gender equality and advance women‘s empowerment in their home countries. 

Sarah Sadek 
The last five months, I had the honor to do an exchange semester at Birzeit University. Due to the current situation, I, unfortunately, could not be physically present, but was welcomed to take part in their classes virtually. I have taken two very interesting classes given by highly skilled lecturers, Dr. Sa’d Nimr and Dr. Ghada Almadbouh.

In the class “Palestinian Question”, Dr. Sa’d gave us insights on the Palestinian history from the Ottoman Empire until today, giving us an insight on topics which are not being discussed in the western context, and critically viewing the Israeli discourse. In “Revolutions and Democratic transition” by Dr. Ghada, I had the chance to be virtually sitting in a class with 20 Palestinian students, working through a book for the Palestinian author Azmi Bishara, and critically looking at the success and failure of the democratic transitions in the Arab world.

I wish I would have met these wonderful people and I hope that I will get a chance to visit Palestine and Birzeit one day and be just as welcomed as I was virtually.