Full Immersion, International Friends and Fun in Cordoba Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I absolutely loved my experience in Cordoba. It is great to get the opportunity to take courses at UCO alongside full-time students from all over Spain. I think that the educational experience really depends on the courses you select, however. I was incredibly impressed with a couple of my professors and learned a ton in the courses they taught. However, other professors were less impressive and less organized, and I felt like I learned very little in those classes. Some professors are more willing to offer guidance to international exchange students as well, while others expect you to understand the class structure and content at the same level as the Spanish students. On the bright side, UCO has a huge Erasmus (European exchange student) program, which helps, because for the most part the professors are used to exchange students taking their classes. The way the classes work in Cordoba also is that on the first day you learn about every evaluation you will have during the semester, so if you are shopping for classes and miss the first day of a class, you might be under the impression that there are no assignments, while in reality you have 3 papers due on the last day -- this is why it is important to check in with professors regularly. Overall, I loved my time at UCO and felt as though I got a totally immersive and authentic experience studying there.

On-site administration of your program

While the Middlebury School in Spain administration was based in Madrid, I never felt stranded in Cordoba. The program administrators would come down to Cordoba multiple times during the semester to check in, and were always prompt to respond to email and phone calls. We also had two student helpers in Cordoba who made the transition easier and helped us with anything we needed.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Housing was probably the worst part of my experience. It was difficult to arrive not knowing where you were going to live, and to have to fight for the nicer apartments amongst the other students in the program throughout the first week. I ended up living in an apartment with three European exchange students. We had some issues with people not getting along within the apartment which made it not a great place to live. However, a lot of my Erasmus friends were satisfied with their arrangements, so it definitely depends on your specific situation.

I loved the food in Cordoba -- there are a ton of amazing restaurants and food is not expensive relative to the U.S. I cooked for myself in my apartment most of the time, and lived close to various grocery stores.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Taking classes with Spanish students and getting to know them this way definitely provided an immersive experience. I ended up becoming friends with a lot of Erasmus students, however, because the Erasmus events were extremely inclusive and everyone was eager to make friends. Erasmus sort of formed a bridge between U.S. and Spanish culture -- while I wasn't hanging out all the time with Spanish students, the European students still taught me a lot about cultural differences, and many of them spoke Spanish fluently. Just walking around Cordoba as well and living and grocery shopping every day in a different language provides complete immersion. A lot of people in Cordoba didn't speak English, which was nice in that even though I was clearly American, people would still speak to me in Spanish, which you definitely don't get in other programs/locations.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I got food poisoning one night, and went to the Cordoba Red Cross. I brought a print out of my health insurance card, and they were able to treat me quickly and effectively, and the entire cost was covered by the insurance.

I always felt incredibly safe in Cordoba.

You just can't get a more immersive, charming experience in a program in a bigger city.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Cordoba housing and food costs were significantly lower than in the U.S.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Apartment

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• International Students

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• Local Students

• Complete immersion
• Erasmus presence in Cordoba
• Independence

• Housing -- arranging before arrival
• More info on choosing courses with good professors
• More student helpers

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