Student review [#13820] for Spanish and Latin American Studies
at Royal Holloway - RHUL

My experience at Royal Holloway has been fantastic and has suited my degree perfectly. When studying a foreign language it is important to have as many opportunities as possible to practice, and the community feel at Royal Holloway allowed me to do just that. The student body is very culturally diverse and international, which made it easy to meet people from Spain and South America to practice with and learn about Hispanic cultures outside the classroom, which no doubt contributed to my understanding of cultural contexts in class. Also, the language department is fairly small so I knew everybody on my course, which meant that there was no need to worry about being watched during presentations because they were all my friends. We all had a fantastic relationship with the professors too and often would have social events where we would come together and speak only Spanish in a more informal setting. My one regret would be that the cultural modules are not taught in the target language, as these courses are open to people that do not study languages, but it meant that language ability would never get in the way of understanding key texts or obtaining a good mark in these modules. It has also allowed me to study art, literature, film, photography and other types of visual arts that were unexpected on my course but definitely a bonus. Royal Holloway is a little isolated, you won’t find a ton of clubs or bars within walking distance other than the Students Union, but the train into London only takes about half an hour, the SU holds 3 club nights a week, and the local pubs are great for a chilled drink with friends, so I definitely haven’t suffered socially. Overall, I feel that I have reaped the benefits of choosing a smaller campus uni over a larger city uni as this decision has been the most supportive of my studies.