Spain: Learning Spanish, experiencing the culture, and living in a vacation spot Past Review
By Jane L (Government, Harvard University) for
IES Abroad: Madrid Summer - Language & Cultural Studies
It was fun, but academically speaking, my Spanish would have improved a lot more if the program was more structured and rigorous.
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. |
The workload was easy and the grading system was relatively similar with that of Harvard's except they did not give a numerical grade for the essays. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program very strongly promoted the use of Spanish among students in the program building and in classes, so that was the strength of the program. The weakness of the program is the lacking rigorousness of the courses. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
Spanish food is very oily, despite the use of vegetable oil, and many times I could not finish the meals that my host mother had made. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Trip to Valencia |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
What to do in case of emergencies was much drilled to us from the beginning. |
| 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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Food and transportation cost a lot more than I had expected. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Spanish 40: Advanced Spanish II |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I used Spanish with the instructors and my host family. As a result, I used Spanish everyday and although all students participating in the program were Americans, I interacted a lot with local Spanish people in everyday life. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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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 did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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