Barcelona: A country within a country Past Review
By Monica L (Music Business, The University of Texas at Austin) for
IES Abroad: Barcelona - Study Abroad with IES Abroad
Absolutely. My program was overpriced, but not as expensive as many programs I looked at. The 6-week program is perfect for someone looking to get the benefits of studying abroad in a short amount of time: in my case, I'm a big homebody but love to travel, so it was just the right amount of time away from home. I feel like studying abroad whether for 6 weeks or 6 months should be a requirement of any university student, because it just opens your eyes overnight about the rest of the world around you. Getting a taste of just one totally different culture lets us know how different other parts of the world must be, and gives us perspective on our identity as Americans and where we fit in. It's so important. Being in Barcelona gave me a new desire to visit South America and further my Spanish skills there. It made me realize there's no way I can become fluent without spending time in a Spanish speaking country, and becoming fluent is a long-term goal of mine for job skills and living in Texas with Hispanic culture being such an integral part of life here.
Review Photos
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. |
Great Spanish teacher - she made expectations and assignments very clear and was easy to understand in both English and Spanish. She really wanted us to do well. Moved at a good pace - wish she was my teacher here in the US! Extremely knowledgeable Art History teacher, but a bit skeptical of students' enthusiasm in the course, which detracted from my enjoyment in the course overall. But it was exponentially a better learning experience for me taking that class in Spain rather than having to sit in Austin and look at slides all day in the same class: we got to visit the museums and see the original pieces themselves! |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Once I was there, the staff was really helpful with any issues I had. I was robbed in the middle of the afternoon and they gave me all kinds of info on how to get money orders sent to me and even loaned me cash while I was waiting for help from home. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
LOVED my RA! She will probably be my favorite memory about living in Barcelona - we always talked about what life in Spain is like for her - politics, culture, her family, etc. - in English. Had I been a better Spanish speaker I think we would have spoken more Spanish (I was intimidated, because she speaks 5 languages!) Location was great, we were so close to class and famous landmarks of Barcelona. the provisions provided us were pretty bad - the furniture was sparse and in horrible condition, but at least they gave us sheets/towel/pillow: the airline lost my luggage for 5 days when I first arrived so it was great that I had a back-up set of linens! |
| * Food: |
LOVE SPANISH FOOD. didn't know that milk and eggs were not refrigerated however - that took some getting used to. |
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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: |
no matter how careful you are, Barcelona is the worst city for petty theft. You WILL get robbed. even if you don't drink or go out alone at night or put yourself in any compromising situation, it's so likely that it will happen. I was robbed in the middle of a coffee shop, at 2 in the afternoon, indoors. It is evident that you are foreign, and you must keep a hand on your things at all times. |
| 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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Getting my financial aid was ridiculous. I didn't receive it until three weeks into the program start, and before that I absolutely had to buy a) my flight b) pay tuition c) pay UT and IES program deposits and d) general expenses for the first 3 weeks. If you do not have the money yourself and your parents are not able and/or willing to loan you at least $2500-3000 up front before your aid comes in, it will be impossible to do this program with financial aid loans. Thank goodness my parents were able to help me; otherwise I would never have even gotten to Barcelona, much less paid for my program. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | SPN 508K |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
the only reason I gave this 3/5 is because my program was so short, I did not have the time to improve as much as I would have liked. I used Spanish every day in class, around town (a necessity). People spoke English but it was evident that you would get different (worse) treatment in social situations if you spoke English, so I tried to speak Spanish as much as possible. |
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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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | SAVE SAVE SAVE! keep an open mind - don't go there expecting to be comfortable and cling to the other American students - you won't learn anything about the country. Put yourself out there and make a genuine effort to learn about the country, otherwise it'll have been a huge waste of money and time. The type of student who would benefit most from the Barcelona program is someone mature enough to take care of themselves in a strange city, enthusiastic about Spanish culture, particularly music, food and art, and bright enough to learn Spanish quickly. I wish I had gone with more education in Spanish, but I did learn a LOT while I was there. I know that I would have gotten much more out of the trip had I taken the time to take more Spanish classes before I left and then taken my last upper-level Spanish class in Spain. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Spanish 201 - Intermediate Spanish I |
| Course Department: | SPN 312K |
| Instructor: | Teresa NandÃn |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | see above comments about teachers. Participated much more than I would have at home: slightly smaller class, but most importantly much more encouraging teacher who spoke Spanish at a level we could understand while still introducing new topics every day. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | not sure yet, still in the process of transferring the credit. |
