#health

During my free time in Granada, I did many different things. I was lucky enough to stay for almost a year (11 months), so I was able to discover the region (and the country) when the weather was good (or even very good !!) but also when it was cold in winter. Yes, Granada is located very close to the Sierra Nevada mountains, at about 800m above sea level... So I did a lot of hiking (accessible by bus or we sometimes rented a car with friends): there are great places to run and/or walk with beautiful landscapes, in summer and winter. I was also lucky enough to arrive the year the ESN section was organising a lot of open mic in a night club. We were a whole group (the "erasmusicians") of international and Spanish people playing music ! It was really nice ! We rehearsed in parks, in a music studio, but also outside the city, at the Mirador San Miguel Alto (for me, the best viewpoint in the city where I spent a lot of time admiring, relaxing...), by the sea, etc. I also went to the sports sessions that the university offers (tennis, football, dance, and many others), I recommend ! Because you meet local students who are not necessarily close to the international world and so you meet different people and you can learn more about the local culture :) Because my goal was really to integrate myself as much as possible in the local life !

The Université de Lorraine has an extremely good sports programme for every student in Nancy! Its name is SUAPS. It consists in paying 10 EUR (maybe more expensive nowadays) per year to have access to a lot of sports classes such as volleyball, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, martial arts and even circus jugglery. Normally, every Thursday at afternoon students don't have any classes so they can practice a sport or do some physical activity in any sports centre in the city thanks to this programme!

When you move to Spain for a while, you have to register with a Health Center - un Centro de Salud - where you can choose a doctor. This takes a few minutes and can be very useful if you have health problems. In Malaga, there are many Health Centers. There is one for each neighborhood. If you type on the Internet: "Health Center or Centro de Salud Malaga", you can easily find the one closest to you ;)

While I was in Salamanca for my Erasmus, and back from my Christmas holiday, I started having severe pains in my uterus and stomach and a high fever. Therefore, I decided to go to a semi-private hospital close to home for a first check-up and a gynaecological clinic for a second one. In the end, I was hospitalised for a few weeks for examinations and treatments due to an infection found in my bladder. Thanks to the insurance taken out through the university at the beginning of my mobility (compulsory and for a modest cost of 19 euros per year), the two private examinations were covered directly and entirely by it, as well as a rather expensive medicine. Therefore, I was very grateful to the university for making the insurance compulsory and thus guaranteeing me free access to treatment. But I am also grateful to my Italian health insurance card, also valid as a European health insurance card, which guaranteed me access to free hospitalisation in the public hospital. Hence, my personal advice is to check that your National health card (if European) is valid throughout Europe, or then obtain the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) before departure. From that day on, whenever I leave abroad and especially for long-term stays, I always take out insurance and find out about the local health system.