SIT Spain Past Review
By A student (Policy, Law, Regional Autonomy, Brandeis University) - abroad from 09/02/2019 to 12/15/2019 with
SIT Study Abroad: Spain - Social Movements, Democracy, and Cultural Identity
This was definitely worthwhile in that I have gained so many life experiences from doing this. From traveling to different to countries, living with a host family, and writing a research program.
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. |
SIT is unlike many other programs abroad. It really was about learning from experiences than from the classroom. Classes were not overly difficult by any means. Every class was taught by a different professor, so a lot of the information was repeated as professors were not aware of our prior knowledge. |
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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? |
I was very happy with my housing, however it should be noted that in this program you do not actually live in Bilbao but in a smaller city that is about a 20 minute metro ride outside of it. |
| * Food: |
Food culture is definitely a lot different in Spain. There portion sizes are arguably larger than in the United States and they also eat at very different times than in the US. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
It was very hard with this program to feel integrated into the culture. Within the program, we only took classes with students from the program and had very little exposure to other students within the University. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Bilbao is definitely a very safe city. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
This program was definitely not what I expected in that it was not as rigorous as anticipated. However, the experiences that I had through this program were amazing and because of that it was worth it. |
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) |
As this differs from student to student, I did spend a quite a bit of money, but one definitely did not have to. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 50 |
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 |
The program did have a foreign language component however many came into the program with very little Spanish-speaking skills. We had a spanish class in the beginning of the program, but that was really all of the Spanish that we got. Other than that we mainly spoke in English when all together, but this may be due to people's prior knowledge and the fact that many did not know much Spanish. |
| 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? | Intermediate |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? |
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? | I wish that I knew that we would not actually be living in Bilbao, but in a smaller city outside of Bilbao and would have to metro to school everyday. As well, that it was not as rigorous as it may seem online. |
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! |
