Códoba: A small city with a large offering Past Review
By Nicolas Plume (Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/31/2018 to 06/17/2018 with
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Cordoba, Spain
Language improvement. A new sense of autonomy and ability to be independent
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
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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: |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
Córdoba is a small city, which is nice in some aspects, but confining in others. Also, a lot of the people have basically never left their homes, both among locals and European study abroad kids (for whom this was their first time leaving home) |
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) |
depends on how much traveling / eating out I did. Traveling will cost a little more, as will eating in restaurants, but everything was generally pretty cheap |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 300-level course |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 10+ |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Speak it. At every opportunity. Meet people and speak the language that you want to learn |
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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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | To not be so invested in the daily occurences of the classes – that it's ok to be confused, that everything will be ok, and it's ok to do other things |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
La historia de Al-Andalus |
| Course Department: | Historia |
| Instructor: | Margarita Cabrera Sánchez |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | Completely focused on daily life in Al-Andalus; lecture-based with one final exam and one paper, which together were the entire grade. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | N/A |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Literatura hispanica de siglos XX y XXI |
| Course Department: | Filologia Hispanica |
| Instructor: | Juaquín Roses Lozano |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | A lot of reading, basically a book a week, but really interesting literatura and a great professor. A difficult class, but in the end the grading was not that hard if you had done the reading |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | haven't tried yet |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Historia del arte |
| Course Department: | Filologia hispanica |
| Instructor: | Jose Alvaro |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | Interesting general overview of western art, covering a lot of time periods. Not an interactive class. Very little work – class is powerpoint-lecture based with only a couple writing assignments and a final at the end |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Not trying for credit |
