Amazing Pamplona! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Everything depends on the classes you pick and the relationships you establish with your professors. For my university I had to take journalism classes in Spanish, which can quickly make the workload harder. However, the classes that I ended up picking, such as Visual Communications, were not more difficult than my classes at home. The courses taught in English are mostly ridiculously easy. I enjoyed the Introduction to Linguistics class taught in English, but it was one of the easiest classes I've taken in college. Even for the harder classes, if you keep in touch with the professors and give everything a reasonable and honest try, you will probably not fail.

On-site administration of your program

My home university's advising office was excellent. Although some things came up with credits etc that we were unprepared for initially, they were great at being accessible to me and knew a lot of little useful details for me.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in an apartment with another American girl, an Italian guy, and a Spanish woman who was our landlady. Sometimes the four of us had a lot of fun together, other times I got annoyed by a little too much in-your-face Latin culture. Also, I ended up paying more than most of my friends did for similar apartments. The location was excellent, safe and close to the university. We didn't have to buy any bedware or cookware, everything was already there and in great condition.

Spanish food is fantastic! It's better if you like seafood and/or pork, but there's a huge variety and I think everyone can find something they enjoy. Restaurants are pretty cheap so there's a big going-out culture.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

To my mind there was tons to do in and around Pamplona - more than enough to fill a semester! Every weekend there was something going on - a Club de Montana excursion, a seafood festival or medieval market downtown, sports day at university where you could play paintball etc, and so on. Travelling, both across Spain and just within Navarra and the Basque Country, is highly recommended. People are partying pretty much every night at the various clubs throughout Pamplona - you'll never be the only one out on the street. Although summertime is supposed to be fiesta time, even in the fall and winter there were several festivals in Pamplona where you could see traditional dances, parades of giants, etc.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Pamplona is a very safe city. I don't remember anyone having any problems at all with theft/robbery/assault etc. The university didn't do a great job of explaining what we should do if we got sick, and I was glad that neither I nor anyone I knew became sick enough to need a doctor while there. That said I think there is some plan for if you do need one, and Spain has fine medical facilities so it probably wouldn't be a big issue.

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

Some of my friends barely spoke Spanish, and they managed. That said, I constantly wondered how. I think knowing Spanish infinitely enriched my friendships and other interactions. All of my classes except one were taught in Spanish, and I was one of only 2 international students that enrolled in those classes. I also lived with Spanish speakers. Through all of this my Spanish improved a lot.

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• Cuisine
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