Guiri Trivia! Almost 2.200 higher educatioN institutions in 31 countries participate in the ERASMUS EXCHANGE PROGRAM. the european commission
THE BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE
the legacy of
donerasmito THEY GET THEIR OWN NIGHTS AT SPOTS LIKE LA OVEJA NEGRA AND CAN PUMUKI.THEY HOOK UP MORE IN ONE SEMESTER THAN YOU HAVE IN THE PAST EIGHT YEARS. AND THEY HIT THE BOOKS...ONCE... MAYBE. BY
Joe Littenberg
‘don erasmito and the holy grail’ l i t o g r a p h y, c i r c a 2 0 0 6 a d
O RI G I NA L L I T O G R A PH Y BY A L B E RT DU RE R ; B E E R C OU RT E SY O F E S T RE L L A
They come every winter, every spring, summer, and fall. They come in droves…in packs. They come from France, Iceland, Germany… Europe. They come from the Americas — North, South, and Central. They have a few things in common: they’re all students, they’re all here temporarily, and they’ve all been given a free folder with their program name proudly plastered on the front. Erasmus — WHAM! — here’s your free folder, welcome to Barcelona. Erasmus is just one program — the most famous perhaps, but there are more: Institute for the International Education of Students (IES), Leonardo, Pioneer, Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA), in addition to general masters and doctorate programs — SMACK! — bienvenido, temporary guiri! Each year, these programs bring more and more and more foreign students into Spain. Since 2000, the number of Erasmus students in Spain has climbed steadily from just over 17.000 in 2000/01 to over 23.000 in 2004/05, and that’s just counting students from the European 18 which are nations that enjoyed full EU member status at the time of the survey. Erasmus’ fields stretch even farther, however, including crops of students in many other countries such as Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and more, pushing the totals for Spain up above 25.000 students per year. Inevitably, a large portion of these traveling academics fancy a tour of duty in Barcelona.