Learning to Let Lose & Get Lost Past Review
By Kirsten J (Social Work & Spanish, Illinois State University) for
CEA CAPA Education Abroad: Granada, Spain
Extremely. I can't wait to go back abroad later in my life.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was practically nonexistent except when it came to exams. For the midterm and finals, they expect you to know a lot. Depending on the professors you could have an open essay test where any information you knew would help you or ones that asked you very very specific questions (after the professor had claimed that they would not do such a thing). You really need to study throughout the semester, which is hard, because it doesn't feel like school the same way an American university does. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I think our program was too big. There were only 3-4 people for a whole program of 90+ kids. That's too many. Especially when you only have 1-2 going with us on excursions. I also feel like there weren't enough activities going on in Granada. Even something simple like organizing going out to dinner, still with everyone paying for themselves and stuff, would have been welcome. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I loved my host mom. She really helped to improve our spanish and would explain a word if we didn't understand or was patient with us when we were speaking to her. |
| * Food: |
It was really good food, just a different diet than I was used to. It took some time to adjust, but I love it now. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I never felt in danger there. There were sketchy looking streets I wouldn't walk on here that I walked over all the time. I never felt unsafe or in danger. In general, it was an extremely safe community to live in. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Maybe 10-20 euro a week. And that's stretching it. I didn't buy my own food, so it depended if I went for drinks or went shopping that week. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Limit yourself. If you want to drink, fine. But just know you won't be able to travel around as much then. Pick which you want more, and then moderate and work around it. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | I had taken three classes of a 200 level caliber prior to leaving for Spain. |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
My host family, professors and classmates. With locals, you needed to speak Spanish everyday, and in classes. But as most students were American, lapsing back into English was very very hard to resist for everyone. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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