Madrid: The best confussion and frustration I've ever experienced! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Teaching methods were difficult for me. My spanish was good at home, but terrible in Spain. The teachers only lectured, there were no slides, notes, or any helpful guides to succeed in class. There was very little class work. The grades were based off of exams. However there were times that there was class work, but I had no idea or how the other students knew. Their online classroom had three different platforms to sign into. This meant that one class could be on one, another on a different platform, etc etc. Setting up a password and figuring out their online classroom was very difficult. There are a lot of differences between my host university and home. I think that we take foregranted how easily everything is set up at home and do not realise it until you study abroad! I wouldn't change this experience for the world though! Experiencing the differences between cultures and struggling to adapt was an amazing learning experience.

On-site administration of your program

The abroad office at home was very supportive and helpful. If at anytime I had a question they almost always responded to me within that same day.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I went through a company OSU provided, Sal y Ven. I would recomend them for a month or two stay, but if you are a student struggling with money and need to save some, look for a place as soon as you get there. Use sal y ven for a temporary place to stay. They are expensive and my roommate and I only had one bedroom that we shared. our apartment was nice, but very little privacy and it was outside the city center. Some of our friends that we made lived in the city center and paid less than us.

El Tigre is an amazing Tapas bar by Gran Via metro stop. I would advise anyone going to madrid to stop by. Tapas are a big part of spanish culture.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

It is really hard to pick out one social experience that is memorable, because they all were! I think my favorite was the friends that I made while abroad. We would go every wednesday to a place called 100 montaditos. Wednesdays at montaditos meant everything was one euro. We would all meet up there and then head over to Retiro park. Who knew wednesdays could be so great.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I did not have any health issues abroad, but there are pharmacies everywhere and usually they could give you what you needed without having to visit a doctor. I felt very safe in Madrid. People stay out until 3 or sometimes 6am! There was not a time that I felt unsafe.

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

English was very rarely spoken by natives. My classes were taught only in Spanish. I had to speak spanish everyday.

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• Apartment

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• Americans