A wonderfully unpredictable rollercoaster Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I personally felt like I could have been much more challenged in the classroom. We were told that we would take an entrance exam to determine our Spanish abilities, but that exam never happened. So instead, 23 people with very disparate Spanish levels all took the same classes, and the teachers had to try to accommodate all of the levels. I felt as though in my grammar class I reviewed information I already knew, while some people were learning new materials too quickly. This program really could have benefited from being divided into levels

On-site administration of your program

I felt that the program director did as best a job as she could, but could not provide as much support or knowledge as someone who grew up in or had lived in Spain for an extended period of time. Because this was her first time in Spain, she couldn't provide us with that much cultural information and was learning along with us. I think she did a good job, but it would have been nice to have a program director who knew Spain better.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had a very unique housing experience. I lived with my first señora, María José, for about a week before it became clear that I would need to move. As I stated earlier, this woman had a lot of problems. She needed a caretaker, not a student. The factor that really provided the impetus for me to move, though, was when I talked to a student who had lived with this woman the previous year. She said that she had the exact same problems as I was having, and that in her evaluation of the woman she said that she was unfit to be a host mother. But, for some reason, I was placed with her the following year. When I moved, the housing director, Teresa, made me feel very guilty about changing homes. She asked me why I couldn't have just said no when María José asked me to shop with her or help her with her coat. I was shocked because in my mind, a student should not be put in that very uncomfortable position of refusing someone help when she clearly needs it. Then I moved to my second home, and within a half hour of getting there I asked for the wifi password and the woman said that she did not have wifi. She had stopped hosting students a few years ago and thus had gotten rid of her wifi because she had no need for it. I couldn't believe it. I had just left one household and gone to another that was not equipped for an American student. Without wifi, you are very isolated from everything. I couldn't talk to my family, the only people I wanted to talk to after going through the very painful ordeal of leaving an upset/delusional woman, and I momentarily broke down. I had been in Spain for about a week, and felt so alone. No one else was having the housing issues I was having. I felt like a stereotypical American for freaking out over the lack of wifi, but in this situation wifi wasn't just a method to access Facebook or Netflix-- it was the only way to talk to my family, the only familiar thing in this completely unfamiliar country. After I had calmed down, I told the woman that I was sorry for crying and that we would just need to figure out how to get wifi, something that is guaranteed in every home according to the UConn guidelines. But instead of agreeing to set up the wifi, she told me I needed to find a different home. She told me that she did not want to deal with a student who was going to cry over every little thing. She called Teresa and informed her that she needed to start looking for new families. I spent about a half hour trying to convince this woman of my sanity. She just kept repeating that she had no need for wifi without students and didn't really feel like setting it up. She said she'd had plenty of students in the past who enjoyed living with her and didn't cry. She said we could still be friends, bu that she didn't want me to live with her. So, Teresa found me yet another family, and that evening I moved for the second time in one day. On the way over, Teresa asked me why I couldn't have dealt with not having wifi for a couple of days. Besides, there was (weak) wifi at the school about 2 miles away. I didn't even bother to try to explain myself because I knew it would be in broken, pitiful, teary-eyed Spanish. I arrived at my third home that night. The woman's name was Mary Pepa. She was very sweet, and at first the wifi didn't work but eventually we got it running and I got to call my family. That night my program director said that she hoped I was settling into my new home and that I should keep an open mind about it because, "this was really the last thing they could do for me." That is another statement that stung when I first heard it, and continues to bother me. I did not choose to leave the second woman-- she literally told me that I needed to go. I also would never have been in the whole situation if the housing director had ensured the the first woman was stable enough to live with in the first place. Things with Mary Pepa were wonderful, and I was there for about a month or so. Then one weekend when I was on a trip and she was staying in her town house, she left a stove on overnight and received severe carbon monoxide poisoning. She was in a coma, and then woke up but was still in critical condition. That week I lived in the apartment alone and went downstairs to the first floor where Mary Pepa's cousin lived to eat my meals. When Mary Pepa returned a week later, she seemed fine. For about 2 weeks, life resumed as normal. But, suddenly, there was a stark change in her personality, and she became forgetful. She was taken back to the hospital where it was discovered that she had delayed brain damage. It became very clear that I could no longer live with her. Luckily, her cousin Rosa offered me her extra bedroom in her apartment, even though they were already hosting a student in another program. And that is where I lived for the last month and a half of the program. I am well aware that the situation with Mary Pepa was a fluke, an unpreventable, unfortunate accident. I am very grateful for Rosa's hospitality and kindness. However, the first and second women with whom I lived briefly was not a fluke. Both of those situations were preventable. If Teresa had ensured that every single family (and I am not the only student on this trip who had housing problems) was stable enough and healthy enough and fully equipped to take on a student, then I would not have moved four times. While I fully believe that going through the whole ordeal has made me a stronger person, it did affect my study abroad experience immensely. For weeks I was very anxious, sure that at any minute I would be uprooted from my home yet again. I feared that the program would run out of options for me. I felt like I had done something wrong, that I should have just stuck it out with the first woman even though living with her would have been difficult. I considered going home very strongly, because it seemed like I was just not meant to study abroad because I was the only one having so many housing problems. I am sharing all of this information with UConn because I believe that my story needs to be heard. I don't want any other student to go through what I went through, and my situation can be avoided if the host families are adequately screened. I really hope that this review is looked at and not filed away in the depths of a computer system, because no student deserves to have his or her study abroad experience tainted in the way that mine was.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt like I integrated myself well with the culture, but that the program didn't do a great of job of aiding in that integration. If you wanted to get involved in the culture, it was entirely up to you to do so. That is fine, but I know that other programs had required intercambios, and I think that UConn's program could benefit from something like that.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

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

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• Cost of living
• The city itself
• Ability to travel

• School trips
• Housing
• The way the school works

The Academic or Linguist