"Barcelona, Spain- One of the best decisions I have ever made" Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The school system in Spain had many differences and similarities to my home University. The workload was about the same. I had homework, tests, quizzes, projects, and presentations just as if I was sitting in a classroom back home. Their grading system is very different in the sense that they want you to do well but they do not want you to think that if you don't get an A+ then you didn't properly understand the subject. It's more of a learning through experience and absorption rather than reading out of a textbook and taking a test on it. The teachers are very nice and provide you with a syllabus on the first day of class and you can distinguish right away what needs to be done and how it has to be done. Overall the education system was an easy transition and I had no problems with it while I was over in Spain.

On-site administration of your program

My program was excellent. Our program leader was always there for us and provided us with everything we needed. He took us all around Barcelona and Spain and always gave us new and interesting ideas about what to do and where to go. I never experienced one problem with the program or a problem that the program wasn't willing to help with. Our program size was perfect because it was just the right amount of people to get to know everyone and be able to do things together while we were abroad.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I chose to live with a host family on my CIS application acceptance packet. I had always wanted to do that from the beginning. My host mom was the nicest person you could ever imagine. She lived in a very good neighborhood and it was about 20 minutes walking distance from school and only 1 minute walking distance from the Metro, which made it very easy to get around. I didn't need to buy anything other than food or something to drink occasionally. My host mom and her family were terrific and treated me as if I was part of the family. I loved living there and would highly recommend it to anyone.

The food in any culture speaks for itself. Barcelona has an infinite amount of places to go an eat. I never actually had a favorite place in Barcelona that I always went back to but the food was excellent and pretty much anywhere you went to get it was a good place to go.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

As a group in our program we went to Tarragona, Girona, and Granada and many trips around Barcelona together. There were about 15 of us total in the program so we all knew each other and that made it very easy to get along and it also made it a lot of fun to have any type of social interactions together. All of the cultural experiences were amazing whether I was with our program or not.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I didn't need any vaccines or anything to prevent me from going to Spain. I never had any trouble with health issues other than being sick with the flu for a couple of days but I was able to take care of myself in that situation and that happened on its own, not because of anything related to the country. As for safety, I never had a problem with it. As long as you were smart and used common sense you were fine. Just like in America, you wouldn't wander off at night on your own or go down a street you didn't know. The only safety issue I would talk about is that Barcelona is known as one of the biggest pick-pocketing cities in the world. It happens all of the time and it was burned into our brains the first couple of days to watch out for it. I personally never got pick-pocketed because I always left my hands in my pockets and kept my stuff in front of me but it can happen to anyone and so you always have to be aware of it.

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

I went in with a lower intermediate knowledge and understanding of Spanish. I left with an upper intermediate knowledge and understanding of Spanish. I practiced Spanish with my host mom, with the students in my program, and with the general public overall when we went somewhere and they only spoke Spanish. I did use Spanish every day that I was there and I am glad that I was able to do that because to me a true study abroad experience involves a language barrier. Most people did speak English but I tried to stay way from that because I wanted to improve my Spanish as much as I could.

Select all that apply

• Host Family

Select all that apply

• Host Family