20 cities, 10 countries, and China.

This 2015 I’ve traveled more than all my entire life.

I’m Guillermo, and I am Spanish Industrial Engineering Student in my last year (I wish!), and an Erasmus grant was conceded to me last year and thanks to that, I changed my view of the world.

I could write for hours about my dream year, but I should be short:

I've been in Prague, Pilsen (Czech Republic), Berlin, Dresden (Germany), Kracov, Warsaw (Poland), Amsterdam (Nederlands), Bruge, Brussels, Gent (Belgium), Zadar, Split (Croatia), Bratislava (Eslovaquia), Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria), Coimbra, Porto (Portugal), Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong (China), and of course in my lovely city: Madrid.

Travel is not just about spend hours looking for the best low cost trip, take trains, buses and planes, visiting cities and take pictures. Traveling is to know cultures, learn how to live opening your mind and understand that in the world almost no one is like you. I believe that Erasmus is a grant that is not only for students to learn a language and they relate to foreign friends, but seeks to change the mentality of many young people who, like me until then, we believed that the world was reduced to a few meters around, as far you can see.

My Erasmus was in Hradec Kralove, a lovely city in Czech Republic where I studied courses about IT and business administration, I gave good marks and a recommendation letter from one of my teachers in my Czech University. But studies wasn’t an inconvenient for travel and try to discover everything as I could, and also I could work hard for an summer internship of a famous ICT company offered to Spanish engineers students. This was my presentation video:

China Project Video: https://youtu.be/E6OLRB1FNOk

My university New: https://www.urjc.es/nombres-propios/1397-un-alumno-de-la-urjc-seleccionado-para-una-beca-en-china

And I won! I were in Beijing studying Chinese language in the Language University and then we traveled to Shenzhen to study how this company works and how to improve our telecommunication, programming and business administration knowledge.

China After Movie https://youtu.be/EWoG_GHtKyA

I learned currencies of half Europe, I tasted the cuisine of all countries I have visited adding from my international friends. I have learned how to work in a different university, teaching new dynamic forms get students motivated and determined to go to school every day to teach them increasingly. Not to mention China, where the mentality is completely different from Europe, from the smallest thing to something big like the different forms of Government.

And there are no better way to explain something like an aftermovie, showing the greatest people you met and the awesomest places you've been:

Erasmus Video: https://youtu.be/NYIBd2S-DD8

Without this Erasmus opportunity I would never started to travel so much and, of course, I would not have known the Asian giant.

I think this Erasmus experience has only brought me benefits, great improvements in my education, my way of being friends around the world and unforgettable memories. The best experiences in life are those who do not want to end up, I think that's what happens to me, and that’s why I am a volunteer in my Spanish University who make events and trip to international students who come to Madrid to study for a year.

I think 2016 has a difficult job to beat the unbeatable!

Thank you very much-

Guillermo Martínez.