Best Time of My Life and I Can't Wait to Return Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The work load for me was a lot heavier because I was in advanced classes based on my level of Spanish. I spent a lot of time on my studies and felt as though my semester abroad was my hardest college semester thus far. I didn't like the grading system (scale 1-10) because it's really only a scale of 5-10 since 5=failing. I also didn't like the frequency, or rather lack of, performance assessment. For example, for one of my classes, my grade depended solely on my final project - I had no other grades for that class throughout the whole semester. For me, that felt like a lot of pressure being evaluated for the whole course based on one project. I found that the teaching methods were relatively similar with the exception of my law class in which we had numerous debates on polemic issues such as euthanasia, abortion, etc.

On-site administration of your program

I really liked the CIEE program because it was a small group and the staff got to know the students well and made themselves available for anything we might need. However, I felt as though sometimes they went a little overboard in trying to put together group activities - I didn't like that they made numerous events mandatory

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I loved the location of my home stay with the exception of its location with regard to the university (~1 hour commute). But otherwise, it was a great place and I enjoyed my stay very much. The host family welcomed me as if I were part of their family and made me feel very comfortable

I was very satisfied with the food overall, no complaints

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I got to see the running of the bulls which was awesome, spent a day in Toledo, and took a weekend trip to the Canary Islands all with my program

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The safety in Spain is pretty good although there were times at night when I felt uncomfortable because the men are somewhat aggressive so if possible, girls should try to not travel places alone. Robbery is very common (on the street of purses, wallets, etc. - not in houses) but there's typically no violence involved. I personally didn't have any safety related incidents nor an experience with healthcare. No, there were no prevalent health issues

(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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• Host Family

• The staff and activities planned by them

• orientation - too much all at once during the worst time (everyone was jet-lagged and overwhelmed)