Spain would be the happiest 4 months of my life had it not been for the utter incompitence of ISA Past Review
By Catherine B (International/Global Studies., University of California - San Diego) for
ISA Study Abroad in Barcelona, Spain
I am completely changed for the better.
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. |
We weren't even at the real UAB campus, it was some shitty little apartment building with no insulation and literally ONE printer for the entire student body of 300+ |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program admin's in Barcelona were rude, unhelpful, slow to respond, and generally hard to deal with. They put us in a really poor quality apartment where everything kept falling apart. When we would complain they would literally laugh in our faces. When our laundry machine broke it took them two weeks to fix it. When our dishwasher broke they NEVER fixed it and it was broken for over a month before we left the place. If we had a problem or issue over the weekend we had to wait till monday t resolve it because the program basically shut down over weekends. The program size was really large and generally I just felt like I was treated as a number. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Everything in the apartment was from Ikea. Everythning fell apart, my roomates were awful etc. Also, the place was in the middle of nowhere. When I would make friends with locals and they'd ask me where I lived and I told them. They would have no idea where it was, even people who had lived in Barcelona their whole lives. I cannot stress enough how upset I was witht he living situation. |
| * Food: |
they did not give us food |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
All of Gaudi's art in Barcelona was incredible. The architecture in general was beautiful. I love the beach and city feel of Barcelona and I love the laid back attitude of the people in Spain. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Fairly safe, I never felt scared, ut a few of my friends were pickpocket-ted. |
| 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 |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I spoke Spanish a lot and learned a lot. I had an "intercambio" which was basically like a language exchange program, and my Spanish Lang teacher was really good. |
| 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?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Try a different program or do it yourself. |
