Challenging, but well, well worth it. Past Review

By Miles Meijer (Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/14/2018 to 06/01/2018 with

Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Madrid

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

I learned a lot about being patient and what I need to be healthy and happy in a time of intense transition. My Spanish speaking abilities did improve. I learned about living relatively independently in a city. I gained some really wonderful friends. Even though it was really difficult sometimes, it was a really worthwhile experience.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	2 weeks - 1 month

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Very rigorous program. Middlebury expects a lot of their students, which is demonstrated by the emphasis on the language pledge and the constant emphasis on immersing oneself as much as possible into the host culture. They do help as much as possible to make the transition as smooth as possible.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	I found the administration quite helpful in any problems that came up. For example, I wanted to stay in Madrid for the summer and the administration helped me to find opportunities and reviewed my resume and supported me throughout the process. I gave this rating because sometimes communication was pretty slow (i.e. week-long delays in getting back to my emails). Also, I know some of the other people on my program had some negative experiences, but I never experienced any of that.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	I chose to do a home stay and my home stay was one of my favorite parts of my experience. Very very satisfied.
* Food:	Spanish food is good. I can imagine it would be difficult to be a vegetarian and even more difficult to be a vegan here. Difficult yes, impossible, no.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	One of my goals was to integrate myself in the Spanish culture so I really tried to do that. It was really hard and lonely and not easy at all, but in the end it was so worth it. I have a group of great friends from Madrid and all over the world and because of that, I feel as if my language capabilities increased dramatically.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?	I didn't have any issues, but the communication about the health care that existed was communicated effectively.
* Safety:	I did not have any negative experiences, but a few of my friends did get pick-pocketed and some of my female friends did get catcalled a few times. Living in any major city has some risks, so you just have to be aware of your surroundings and be relatively alert.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes I would do it again, but I should qualify my answer. There was a time where I really wished I chose a smaller program that required me to integrate myself more in the local culture. The Madrid program is always one of Middlebury's largest, which means that there are always a lot of students from the U.S. on the program. Also, because of Spain's location in Europe, a lot of people come to Spain with the goal of traveling a lot, as well as attracting students from all over the world who come with different goals for their study abroad experience. My goals before my trip to Spain did not include traveling or spending all my time with the other students from the US, so in the beginning of the program, when it was really easy to just spend time with the other U.S. students and speak English with them, I felt like I was failing in my abroad experience. It was then where I wished that I had chosen a smaller program so I wouldn't have the fallback option of hanging out with the other U.S. students and would be forced to get out and make friends with the locals. In the end, I'm really glad I did the program because I gained some really wonderful friends, both people from Spain and from other parts of the world. I also really love Spain, the variety of Spanish that they speak here, and the city of Madrid.

Finances

* 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)	This really depends. Madrid is not the most expensive city in Europe, so you can technically live relatively inexpensively, but that might mean making choices that don't fit with what your friends are doing or what you feel like you "should be doing" while abroad. For example, if you eat out every night and go a lot to the big clubs that charge 20€ to enter, you're going to spend a lot of money. I tried to eat with my host mom as much as possible to both save money and get more time practicing Spanish to save money.
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	40€
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Don't feel like you always have to go out to a club on every Friday and Saturday. Don't eat out every night. Use the metro or train instead of Uber.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language? 0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language	The honor code is in my opinion, the cornerstone of the program. The honor code stipulates that while you are in Spain, you will only speak Spanish with everyone, including your American friends. How closely you adhere to the honor code is up to you, but Middlebury encourages you to only use Spanish pretty much all the time.
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program?	Advanced
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?	Spanish 300
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?	1. Lower your expectations. If your goal is to get fluent in the language after only 4 months in Spain, that unfortunately isn't going to happen. I don't think anyone can get completely fluent in only 4 months, no matter how much they're involving themselves in the language. If you go in with this perspective, you are going to constantly be disappointed by your language progress. Yes, you are going to improve A LOT if you put in the work and the effort. But I think it's important to be realistic about your goals so that you don't think you've failed in your time here. 2. You have to obsess about the language a little bit. You only have a few months here, so I think it's important to really take advantage of your time here. When I say obsess, I mean spend time with Spanish as much as possible -- watch Spanish t.v shows instead of english ones, listen to spanish music instead of american music, read spanish books instead of english ones. Obviously your brain is going to tired and need a break occasionally, but in the times when its not, I would recommend trying to stay in Spanish as much as possible. 3. To get better in the language, you have to speak it. And speak it a lot. That means try to to talk with Spanish speakers as much as possible, even if that might mean not hanging out with your friends from the united states.

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Host Family
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Host Family
* Who did you take classes with? Select all that apply	Local Students Americans
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?	Intense language expectations Flexibility with helping students create the abroad experience that that student wants to have
* What could be improved?	Explain more about how things can sometimes be really hard. I feel like the majority of things I heard about the program was that it was going to be great all the time and really fun and I didn't hear as much about how hard it was going to be -- so more balanced commentary on the experience Communication between Midd in Spain and the students
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	How emotionally hard the experience was going to be.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Sintaxis superior
Course Department:	Español
Instructor:	Beatriz del Valle
Instruction Language:	Español
Comments:	This was a very challenging course, but I attribute that to the course content more than anything else. Yes, we had to do some various excursions, but I found those to be my least favorite parts of the class because it forced students to interact with Spaniards in a way that was so forced and fake that I don't feel as if it helped my Spanish abilities at all. The teacher was incredibly knowledgeable, but sometimes struggled with communicating the material and adapting to the various Spanish levels of the class. I participated about the same amount as in my host institution, even though the class structure did not favor participation. We were assessed through papers, exams, and homework assignments.
Credit Transfer Issues:	I have not tried to transfer credits because I don't need any.