NEVER LEAVING BARCELONA Past Review
By Julia D (Marketing., Villanova University) for
CIEE: Barcelona - Business & Culture
Studying abroad was the best thing I have ever done. I really enjoyed learning about international companies (I am an international business co major)
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | ESCI |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
CIEE was overall not a good program. We had to take a class at ESCI (a spanish university) and the teachers could barley speak english. The CIEE classes were interesting though and I think I learned a lot. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Programs weaknesses were the lack of internet and the mandatory group projects. I do not mind group projects however there was no where to meet with our groups because the study center would close at 7 every night. And during the days we usually had class for very long (every class was 2 hours). On a typical day I would leave my dorm at 830 and not get home until 8 at night. This did not give me time to see Barcelona during the week. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Safety was not good, people got jumped right outside where we lived, however it was close to the center of Barcelona. |
| * Food: |
Tapas were pretty good,and overall Barcelona was not too expensive. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Barcelona night life is unreal. However this does not have to do with my program. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
There is a lot of pick pocketing in Barcelona |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
my friends and I spoke more English than Spanish. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Spain as a country can become very frustrating because they are very slow and inefficient. |
