Immersion helped me learn Spanish extremely fast Past Review
By Zoey (Communication and Media Studies., Samford University) for
University of Salamanca: Salamanca - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
YES. I am greatful to live in such a wonderful place- AMERICA. Traveling abroad has made me more independent, appreciative, concious with my money, and made me want to travel and learn more about other cultures.
Personal Information
| The term and year this program took place: | Summer 2009 |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
A wonderful program- being immersed in the spanish culture really helped me learn the language extremely fast. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They were extremely helpful, nice, and willing to communicate with us even if we didn't speak spanish perfectly. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
We lived in a large apartment. It wasn't immaculate, but it was very nice. My roommate and I had our own room. We had a much larger room than we expected. In the den there was a TV with different kinds of videogames. The apartment was 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We shared the bathroom with other students staying there who were studying abroad. <br /><br /> We had wireless internet that always worked. We had a huge room and bathroom that never ran out of hot water. A maid came every day to clean. It was a very large apartment, so we had privacy. |
| * Food: |
Spanish people have no sense of nutrition. All we ate was white bread, pasta, and weird kinds of meat. There was good fruit. They didn't refrigerate a lot of things, so a lot of food was rotten. Our host mother kept trying to serve us food that had been sitting out all day or that was weeks old. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The field trips were great, I wish there would have been more. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Madrid is a wonderful city. It was so organized and safe- there were areas with a lot of homeless/gang type people, but every city has that. I felt safe and everyone was careful and was looking out for each and every one of us. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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? | A lot - my host mother's food was gross, but it gets too expensive to eat out every day. You can tell your host mother to buy/not buy something in particular. I bought a lot of souvenirs/clothes and spent money on the free weekend. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Free weekend- you have to pay for every meal if you travel somewhere (also transportation, where you stay.. etc). |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Since we lived with a Spanish speaking family, we HAD to speak spanish all the time to communicate. Especially at dinner. Communicating with people in stores was helpful too. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Bring a lot of spending money, bring a jacket/sweatshirt and at least one pair of long pants because it will randomly get cold even if it is 100 degrees the day before. |
