Salamanca: Find the frog! You won't regret it ! Past Review
By Kristen Marie D (Spanish Language and Literature., SUNY - Binghamton) for
University of Salamanca: Salamanca - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
it was worthwhile, although i experienced some tough situations it helped me grow and made me a better person. I understood a little more about Spanish culture and the people.
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. |
Although we attended class for almost five hours a day the workload was extremely light compared to the workload I have back at my home school. I think they did this to so that you could still explore and learn about Spain through your own personal experience. It would have defeated the purpose of me studying abroad had I stayed in my room the whole time studying class notes. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Overall it really is a good program but maybe students' ethnic backgrounds should be released to the resident director so that students can be placed in proper home stays. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
In the beginning my first home stay was fine, beside the fact that my host mother was distant my host dad would go over vocabulary with me he was very nice...at first. But I think because they were having personal problems; health issues with both of their parents, a few neighbors had died, daughter was sick, marital issues. They were pretty mean towards the end and the host mom (the entire time) was very prejudice, she had the only two ethnic girls out of the entire group. We ended up moving to another home stay. I felt safe in my neighborhood walking home at night from the bars but there are certain parts of the city were a female should not be walking home alone at night. Salamanca does have a huge nightlife, mostly on thursdays and saturdays. surprisingly friday night is pretty dead. |
| * Food: |
I'm a vegetarian, over in Spain a lot of the señoras don't understand this concept of not eating meat. Basically everyone over there eats some sort of meat and pork is a staple. A lot of times they'll cook your soups with meat for flavor and then take it out, but I couldn't eat the soup because it was cooked with meat. You have to specify that your dish can't have any type of meat in it. If you miss home you can always go to a Mcdonald's or Burger King. A lot of there kebab places are great. They look like little wholes in the walls but they offer great falafel kebabs. The biggest meal in the day is lunch, so if you feel hungry a couple of hours after your "non-existant" breakfast don't worry! The senora's make up for it with lunch. It's some times so much food you'll be shocked. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I loved the excursions we went on and the trips we made by ourselves to other countries. It was awesome. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Before we even started classes our resident director Sherri went over safety issues in depth and we could always talk to her about health issues. I went to the doctor's about two times, she was there both times to help. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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? | I think it averaged around 80 euros a week, but that included going out to the bars and planning personal trips. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | If you spend any money when you are at your home college then expect that to be doubled; prepare to spend a lot especially if you don't want to worry about expenses. Bring ample amount of money for excursions, buying souvenirs, eating out, buying clothes, going to the movies, personal trips around europe, juventud card, etc etc. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
We could practice the language with intercambios from the city and we could also practice it in our home stays and with our teachers. Yes I used the host country language in everyday interactions practically no one spoke english except for our resident director and our group. Although some people at the bars, like bar promoters and people who owned the bars spoke almost perfect English. I guess because there is always a lot of foreign exchange students in Salamanca. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | don't be afraid just do it! |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Cine español e hispanoamericano |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Yolanda Perienes |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | Awesome instructor but wish we could have seen more movies, She talked a lot, which was fine but because of that she would over explain things and then we wouldn't have time left in class to view whole movies. She showed us a lot excerpts. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | no |
| Course Name/Rating: |
El mundo arabe en el mundo hispanico |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Dolores Roson |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | this was a very challenging course. If not because we were learning about the arabic language through spanish then for the simple fact that she crammed a lot of information in one lesson and when it came down to testing, she never specified what we should be studying. Most of the time I found myself studying the wrong things. It was an interesting course but she was a boring teacher. I know students that were in a different section than I said that they loved the course. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | yes, if you want to take this course talk to an advisor prior to make sure there is a course like this offered in your home school, or if it could transfer over as a culture course. |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Literatura hispanoamericana |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Antonio Fernandez Conde |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | It was a great course, and he was very enthusiastic about literatura. Surprisingly he made me love Pablo Neruda, His course work is fairly light just readings and his test were very fair. As long as you pay attention in class and take brief notes on the writings you'll be fine. He was very big on class participation but he wasn't anal about it. I liked his class a lot and at the end he dedicated a poem to our class it was sweet |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | not at all. |
