"study abroad in Alicante Espana was the BEST experience of my life~!!" Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Some of the professors were professional and I did a good amount of work for. One of my classes was a waste of time. The professor seemed new and did not know how to speak to the class. It was disappointing. The class did not do much. The classes were 2 hours long each which is pretty long. IUP only gave me 2.5 credits per class I had taken which was not fair. I had to fight for 3 credits. Because the classes are more than double the length of an american class I think they should be worth 3 if not more than 3 credits. The teaching methods were of the same. I had projects, lectures etc.

On-site administration of your program

A weakness is that they are bad at responding emails in a timely matter or even at all. The program had also cancelled one of the classes I really needed and failed to inform me. I found out myself and called them about it. other than that all my expectations were met. We also miscommunicated with a roommate situation.I had thought we needed to have a roommate and they encourage students to live alone. I had selected a roommate and they assumed I knew her previous to the program and wanted to live with her when in fact I had never met her I simple thought we needed to select a roommate.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

my roommate and I had a few problems with food. Out house mother would prepare the same food everyday for dinner and it was becoming unhealthy. We were able to confront her with the help of CEA with a food guide they had printed for us. they were so understanding as they have delt with many students that were being fed poorly. CEA has the BEST location in Alicante compared to any other program. I was the closest to the barrio which is the nightlife. No items needed to be bought. my house mother supplied everything including towels. Toiletries however needed to be purchased. My host mother treated me like a guest everyday and cooked the most amazing lunches. She did not get along with my roommmate but she was very rude. even though my roommate was rude my host mother was still very polite and kind to her.

Our lunches would be amazing but the dinners were very heavy and unhealthy and the same thing would be given to us very often. The quality of the lunches that my senora made was amazing. She bought the best of the best and cooked it to perfection. she had snacks and fruits at all times for us to help ourselves with. She would not however let me use any of her kitchen besides a microwave that I convinced her to purchase. They have awesome very affordable chinese restaurants. The eggs roll are the size of my face! I loved eating at 1000 bocadillos or lizarans. There is also a Valor chocolate shop that has the best churros.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The program includes two excursions with mini excursions as well. We went to Granada and got to see real flamenco dancing and in Madrid we went to a popular museum called the Prado. There were many cultural events we went to and attractions such as the Alambra. We were also kept updated with upcoming events in Spain we could go to such as Las Fallas, our school had chartered buses we could have used.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

We had insurance cards on us. I injured my foot and after getting lost on campus attempting to find the doctor for an hour, I finally found it and was given a prescription right away.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Host Family

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• Americans

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• everything!!!!

• communication with Alvero