Visiting Spain was a Great Experience! Past Review
By Abigail Camero (University of Texas - Dallas) - abroad from 12/15/2017 to 01/06/2018 with
GlobalEd: Seville - Summer Internship Programs
I gained so much more cultural and language insight about Spain from my experience, and it was definitely worthwhile.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I really enjoyed the intense Spanish course at CLIC, but I've learned that I retain more Spanish when taught in English. I often have a lot of technical questions and like to compare them to the English equivalence so I can understand better through making connections with what I'm already familiar with. It is also difficult for me to understand Spanish (I speak better than I understand), so when I am being taught in Spanish, I don't fully understand what is being explained, and I am left feeling clueless. As far as the hospital internship goes, I really enjoyed the opportunities of getting to shadow a variety of physicians, especially the surgeons. However, because I am only at an intermediate-level of Spanish, the language barrier made it extremely difficult for the doctors (who didn't speak much English) to explain to me the technical and complex processes of medicine. I also wasn't able to ask all of the questions I wanted to because I didn't know how to word them in Spanish. This limited my learning experience, but I was able to learn a bit about the differences in the Spanish healthcare system compared to the U.S. healthcare system through observation. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| 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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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Intermediate |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
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? | I wish I knew how much of a language barrier there would be and just how much immersion of the language I would experience. It would have been nice to mentally prepare for that. I also wish I would have known that is actually is okay to wear tennis shoes. I saw many people wearing them while walking on the street, and it would have been nice to have comfortable shoes to use because we did so much walking. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Nearly Native or Trail BlazerCraving the most authentic experience possible, perhaps you lived with a host family or really got in good with the locals. You may have felt confined by your program requirements and group excursions. Instead, you'd have preferred to plan your own trips, even skipping class to conduct your own 'field work.' |
