rewarding and educational but disappointed with the programs Past Review
By Kylie B (Psychology and Criminal Justice, Villanova University) for
IES Abroad: Barcelona - Study Abroad with IES Abroad
yes i learned tons about myself and the world. i got to travel so much and see so many places. i had fun and grew immensely as a person. however, i did not like my program and i recommend really researching the programs before you go abroad. i now see the world with a much more open mind and i dont feel as ignorant. it makes me understand better people who are different from me. it has also made me appreciate the comforts of home.
Personal Information
| 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. |
Too much work for an abroad program. We all wanted to travel and experience Europe and Barcelona where we were living and IES piled on the work. Especially when most of the students' schools were only accepting the credits and their grades didnt transfer to their GPA, there was no point in having us do all of that work. Especially at the end of the program- that is the time when everybody is trying to squeeze in their last few trips and seeing things that they havent seen yet. But in every class, every student had a presentation, long paper, and a final in the last 2 weeks. It was ridiculous. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Administration at IES was not that friendly or responsive to problems. For example, my roommate lost her keys and we had to get the locks changed and it took forever and IES way overcharged her and were not nice about it. The program was too big and had too many American students and many of them came abroad together so it was hard to make friends. the building was tiny, although it was really nice inside. My classes were spread apart throughout the day so I was stuck at IES all day because of that because I lived too far away for it to be worth it to go home. I did not enjoy staying there all day, I wasted a lot of time doing that. I mostly did not like how IES did nothing to integrate us into the culture. We didnt have to do anything cultural. All they did was provide the classes. They should have had more program activities where we could get to know the city and the local people living there. But instead, IES just left us on our own and only provided classes. I did not feel immersed in the culture at all. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The apartment was kind of gross. Overall, a fine size. As previously stated, IES did not tell us how many rooms there would be, if we would be sharing, what we needed to bring in terms of sheets etc, if there would be WiFi, and they did NOT tell us that an RA would be living with us. We lucked out and ended up loving our RA and she turned out to be a really good friend to have and we ended up getting really close with her and she taught us a lot about spanish culture, but I know some people did not like their RAs and it was unfair for IES not to prepare us for that. Also, IES was not responsive to things that needed to be fixed etc- which is their job!! And the dishes they provided were gross. For a big, successful program, they should be able to provide better dishes etc. |
| * Food: |
groceries were cheap and easy to buy. barcelona has restaurants with all different types of food. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
the field trips that IES provided were really good. the morocco trip was amazing- probably my best experience while abroad. they should keep doing that one but lower the price. IES overcharges WAY too much. more people would go if it were cheaper. but besides the various field trips, IES didnt do anything to get us culturally involved in the social life. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
i felt very safe in barcelona and IES prepared us well for the dangers of pickpocketing. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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 |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
We were told that we would all be paired up with an intercamibo, (a spanish student) to practice conversational spanish, but IES failed to provide that. Additionally, in Spanish class, we should have practiced conversational spanish. We should have learned useful conversational spanish, such as ordering at a restaurant, communicating at a store etc. But instead we learned grammar, which isnt that useful. We werent really immersed in the language. My spanish did not improve at all. Everyone spoke English. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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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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