A year in Cordoba and two very different home stays Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The workload was very easy compared to Wellesley. The classes with Spaniards (direct matriculation or enhanced matriculation) were easier than the program classes for me. I took an Italian direct matriculation class, barely studied for the final exam (it came pretty easy to me) and got a 10 (perfect score) on the final exam. For my art history enhanced matriculation course, I worked less than I would for a Wellesley class but it was more work than some other classes in Spain. Both professors were great and payed positive attention towards the American students. The program classes were easier than Wellesley classes (about 1-3 hours of homework per class per week). The program classes were more American - there was discussion, students usually attended all the classes and there was more analysis (ex. a thesis-based paper rather than a research, summary paper).

On-site administration of your program

The program staff members were very helpful - they helped me join a gym, go to the doctor, be a volunteer for an NGO, and anything else I needed.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in Ciudad Jardin the first semester on Avda. Aeropuerto with an older woman who had five kids but none of whom were still living in the house (they were adults). She was an amazing cook and I liked living there, but I wasn't allowed to have visitors (even to study or watch a movie) and I wanted more people with whom I could talk, so I switched second semester to a bigger family. This family lived in San Basilio and had a patio that was part of the concurso de patios in May. It was a big three generation family and the house was beautiful. The food wasn't so good but I got used to it. <br /><br /> I lived with a family in San Basilio, which was a ten minute walk from the center (Plaza de las Tendillas) and ten from the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras. I didn't need to buy anything, but I chose to buy my own breakfast cereal since I preferred eating it than toast every day. I was treated as a family member. We ate meals together, they occasionally invited me to do things with them (ex. trip to a pueblo nearby to see a traditional festival and a flamenco show), and treated my real parents like family when they visited.

There was definitely enough food - sometimes there was too much, but my mom was aware of the fact that I ate less than everyone else so she served me less. We had a soup dish usually for lunch which had meat and vegetables in it, but a lot of lunches were not that nutritious - a pile of rice with hot dogs and a fried egg, or french fries, a fried egg and meat, etc. I emphasized the fact that I loved vegetables and salad, but we usually had them about twice a week at the most. The dinners were smaller and were usually empanadas, chicken noodle soup, or something else simple. There was always good bread available. She made a traditional Cordobesian meal (tortilla and salmorejo) four times during the semester; she knew I loved the food, and it's not a difficult dish to make, but for some reason we rarely ate it. In the beginning she asked me what I didn't like, and I told her fish and seafood; she only served it twice that semester, so she listened well to my requests.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Cordoba is amazing. The patio festival, Semana Santa, la Feria, the concerts, the Jazz Festival in May, etc - there is always something going on. The Romeria (arranged by PRESHCO) was really fun, as was the day at the Feria together.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I felt very safe in Cordoba. I usually ended up walking home alone at night because I didn't go out with people who lived with me. I did this every weekend between midnight and 6 a.m. and although I was cautious, I was almost never scared. There was one night when I walked home to Ciudad Jardin around 2 a.m. on a Tuesday and a man followed me for several minutes, calling out to me "perdona" and turned onto my street; thankfully there was someone else on the street and he turned around, but that was the only incident that made me very nervous. Since there's a good night life, there's always people around at night, even at five a.m., so you're almost never walking in the streets without seeing couples walking home or friend groups walking home. Definitely walk on the main streets - at first I would walk home through the Juderia to San Basilio from the center, but then figured out it was safer to walk on the Paseo de la Victoria and then to the left into San Basilio. I took a taxi if I had a long walk alone and it wasn't too expensive. There was one incident in the program in which a female student was sexually molested but this was a special circumstance in which they were outside of Cordoba in a poligono in someone's apartment they shouldn't have been in (it turned out to be where a prostitute was living). This incident reminded us all to be aware of how well we know the people we are hanging out with and reminded us to NOT go to the poligonos to hang out and to just stick to the center (Vial, Tendillas, Gran Capitan, etc).

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

I made an effort to find my own Spanish friends - I joined a gym, took dance classes twice a week with only Spaniards, went out and met friends of friends (of friends of friends) and ended up with about 15 very good Spanish and Erasmus (who also spoke Spanish) friends. Most of the program people did not speak Spanish to each other. I made a strong effort for the majority of the semester to speak just in Spanish; people would normally switch to Spanish but sometimes would answer in English when I spoke Spanish to them. I wasn't ridiculed or isolated because I spoke only Spanish, so I would suggest if someone has the confidence to do so, that they only speak in Spanish even if everyone is speaking in English.

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• Host Family

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• Americans
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• Americans