Granada the Great Past Review
By A student (University of Connecticut) - abroad from 01/15/2016 to 05/15/2016 with
UConn: Granada - UConn in Granada, Spain
My Spanish has improved, I love my host family (I still keep in touch), and I learned to be so much more independent and more confident about everyday life things.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Loved the school and my classes, but for the amount of work we did (writing essays) I would have appreciated at least our "culture class" to be counted as a W course back at Uconn. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
My favorite city in Spain that I had traveled too. I even traveled to other countries but Granada was still my favorite. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I absolutely LOVED my host family. |
| * Food: |
They had amazing food for the most part. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I felt at home. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
I took two trips to the hospital during my study abroad. The first time was pretty easy to have the translators come and meet me and I was given a shot and felt better. A couple days later I was in excruciating pain and had to go to the hospital immediately. I was at the point where I wanted to go home back to America. And it took at least an hour for me to even be seen by a doctor when no one was there. Also both my hospital bills were paid on my cards but when I was getting the reimbursement from CISI (our insurance) they only reimbursed me for one and did not even try to notify me that they needed another copy of the second bill. I brought it to their attention that they had not paid me back and then they decided to tell me to send another copy. In my opinion it was a bit suspicious that they did not notify me, because if I did not say anything to them I would have been short of $400-plus dollars. |
| * Safety: |
I felt very safe there. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I enjoyed about 90% of my study abroad. Obviously at time I had personal issues, director issues, or health issues but all the good overcame the bad for the most part. |
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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | in the total 4 months i spent about $3000-$3500 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Be careful with euro coins (one euro and two euros), they are easily spent by us Americans because they feel similar to quarters so we use them for unnecessary purchases because it doesn't feel like we are spending a lot. But in the end you notice it adds up a lot. |
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 |
Our families and teachers barely spoke English. |
| 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? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Span 3232 |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | A lot of people have the app "Duolingo" |
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? | 0 |
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 I knew how we would only be taking classes with Americans. If I knew that before I would have made more of an effort to get to know some locals. |
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 Outright UrbaniteA social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country. |
