Seville: An Almost Worthwhile Experience Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Had I been better explained to the level of Spanish that would be required I probably wouldn't have gone. They should have put that being fluent was a requirement because the teacher would not answer any questions in English, and I didn't know how to ask it in Spanish. I was a 4.0 Student and have never worked so hard for B's because I didn't understand and the teacher was extremely unhelpful. She was unavailable outside of course time and the "writing center" did nothing to help my Spanish writing. I signed up for spanish for the health professions, but really it was a 3 hour grammar class with one hour of extremely basic health information. She took off points because we were supposed to give feedback on a hospital visit and I had nothing positive to say about socialized medicine.

On-site administration of your program

They lied to us about many things, many of the weekend trips that we went on were overpriced and I could have stayed in nicer places for less money and not had to do what they wanted. They did not include meals for many of it, and many of the things my host mother would make I could not eat due to a fish (tuna) or mayonnaise allergy. They also said we would be staying close together but in reality we were spread over the course of 5 miles, making going anywhere at night dangerous to walk back alone. I asked for a refund on a promised 4 hour horseback ride on the beach, which was actually half starved horses (I would know I live on a ranch) through dangerous muddy paths for about an hour and sitting around for the rest of the time, the Center refused. Basically every trip through the center was a waste of money and terribly planned. Everything that my professor from TCU planned was wonderful, as he understood the quality of things that we would expect at the prices we were paying. Most students there payed about 3000$ for the total cost, however since we were getting our credits transfered back to our private college, we payed around 9000$ and for that amount of money I expected something alot better. I have traveled around the world and know exactly how much things cost and how to get a good deal, the center did not treat us any differently even though we were paying three times as much.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The center was about a 45 minute walk away (which they promised would be 10-15 minutes) it wasn't. Our neighborhood was not safe at night and mostly I had to take taxis by myself home because it wasn't safe for a 19 year old girl to be out by herself and none of the other students lived near by. Our house was insufferably hot and we had to purchase a fan because there was not one provided. The room that I shared with another student was smaller than my closet back home, did not have a closet a desk or anyplace to store my things. I had to live out of a suitcase for 6 weeks. Our house mother was very nice and treated us like family allowing us to go in and out as we pleased. We also had to hold our shower head because there was not a hook for it.

Many times I ended up having to purchase food because I could not eat what my house mother was trying to feed me. I am allergic to tuna and mayonnaise and she literally would put it on everything. Other times she would serve us pasta, bread, and potatoes and other carbs all in one meal. It was impossible for her to make us healthy things and it would have been 100 times better if we could have used the money they gave to our house parents to cook for ourselves.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I complained extensively about the events the center planned already in the above page. Anything not planned by TCU and planned by the center I would NEVER recommend to anyone. Each was a complete rip off and I was treated like a child being forced to do things against my will instead of being allowed to explore on my own.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Socialized health care is the absolute worst, I spend a lot of time at hospitals and if you get sick i strongly recommend flying home. I didn't get sick thank goodness! There were no issues or vaccinations that I didn't already have.

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

You could practice with your host parents and others in the community. Hardly anyone else spoke English or if they did they would ignore questions asked in English that I didn't know how to say in Spanish.

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• Host Family