Barcelona: The NYC of Europe! Past Review
By Shamus N (Management, Providence College) for
CIEE: Barcelona - Business & Culture
The best 4 months of my entire life, and I am going to strongly recommend it to other possible students considering it.
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. |
Grading system was fine, attendance policy was a bit harsh. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Program was very solid overall, and I thought the workload was very fair. The only negative was that we had classes on Friday, which most other programs did not. Typically, students only have Spanish class early in the morning on Friday and that is it. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Don't travel on your own, always make sure you are with at least one or two other people. |
| * Food: |
You need to look up online where the good deals are and where to go in the city to find certain food. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Seeing an FC Barcelona soccer game was awesome. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Saftey was fine, and crime was low, but there were a lot of pick-pocketers. |
| 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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Whatever you have in mind, bring double that. You are going to spend ALOT of money, and a lot of it is just day to day expenses, such as food and transportation. |
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? |
Interact with native people as much as you can outside of the classroom |
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? | Make sure the classes you are taking are worth taking abroad, and also if possible try and travel with someone you know, it makes it much easier to fit in. |
