Spain meet Cyprus
What is your name, and where are you from?
What is your field of study?
What are you working as in Spain?
My name is Charis Andreou and I am from Cyprus. I am 25 years old and I have recently graduate from the Law School of the University of Cyprus. I work as an Internship for AXEL in Master Assesores through the Erasmus+ program.
Please give us a short description of your job?
My responsibility is to provide legal expertise about the European Union Law to the firm I work for. In other words, my Job is to check if and how EU Law apples in every single case i am given from my firm. I also take care of any administrative or other stuff task I am awarded by AXEL’s CEO Elio Laureano.
How long have you been here? Do you like it so far?
I have been here for almost 3 weeks and so far, I am very excited for this experience.
What interests you most about living in Spain?
The most interesting facet about living in Spain is to discover more about the language and the culture of this country, that is so similar to mine in so many ways. I enjoy to observe how people interact with others in formal and informal ways. Find out the Similarities and differences between “theirs and our way”.
How is it different from where you come from?
As a coffee lover, the first difference I noticed was about the way Spanish people drink their coffee compared to Cypriots. In Cyprus, we mostly drink “frape coffee”. It is long-iced coffee. People in Cyprus can literally sit for hours at coffee shops, enjoy their coffee and gossip. Here people mostly have a short and quick espresso.
What do you hope to achieve after this internship?
My goal for these Internship is learn the Spanish language and be able to communicate in the Spanish language in an effective way. Moreover, I want to learn how to work efficiently and cooperate harmonically with people with different cultural backgrounds.
What have you acquired so far or learnt so far?
Being alone in a foreign country provides you with the obligation and the opportunity to handle all your personal affairs just by yourself. You must be able to manage all sort of tasks in order to survive, from the preparation of necessary official documents to cooking dinner and laundry. A more particular Challenge for me here is to learn how to live in a city without a car. In Cyprus, we are used to move around the City with our own cars. In Cyprus, everybody has his own car. Here I cannot afford this luxury.
Can you describe the social life with other students?
So far I must say that my social life is going unexpectedly well. In Lugo, there is an organized Erasmus community that provides the opportunity to students to interact with each other through organized events.
What can you tell others who would like to come to Spain to study or for internship?
I would say: don’t think about it, just do it!
