Valencia, Incredible But True Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

1. students are divided such that all those belonging to a group (AB for example) have the same weekly schedule and class. As a result, students tend to get to know each other better as they spend more time with each other, share notes, etc. 2. Forget about percentile grading, students are in competition with themselves not each other. Grades are posted publicly with the names of each student so perhaps there is pressure to perform well from your peers. 3. Public university campuses tend to be more integrated into the neighborhoods or city and campuses are divided by specialisation. Humanities and related studies had one campus, law and economy another, and sciences and medicine another. 4. Get ready for botellon.

On-site administration of your program

didnt have one

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

i was about 6 minutes walking from my university in a flat. I paid 150euros a month which is pretty low, rents tend to be 160 to 190 per person sharing with 4 or so. I lived with 3 girls from towns around valencia and a gay guy from granada. it was like an episode of the real world and a good time. i really enjoyed the neighborhood and the location. if you go to valencia perhaps consider living in benimaclet. its a hippie student neighborhood i would also have liked to live in.

apart from kepabs bocadillos and fast food popular among students when the socialize the cuisine in the valencian community and in spain in general is high quality and healthy. far better than anything in the uk or us and less fufu than somewhere like france. arroz la banda and anything else containing seafood were my favorite dishes. fideua must be eaten as well. there is a nice place next to the tarongers campus called com a casa where you can get home cooked food to go for cheaper than a hamburger and burger king and much more tasty, healthy, fulfiling. I dread returning to the US mainly becuase of the food. Im going to miss good tasting tomatoes.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

ive mentioned some things before above. people in valencia are happier than where im from. i thought the quality of the people was high but then you have groups of ¨chungos and chonïs¨ some really disgusting spoiled brats of people. they are the nini generation, they dont work or go to school and they just compare cars, tatoos, and hang around like losers. the girls in these groups are only concerned with their image and are as braindead as the guys. luckily they are easily picked out and hang together so you can avoid them.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

health care in spain was better than in the us. i paid nothing to go to the hospital, medicaton was cheap ( a few dollars for eye drops when i got an infection). the lifestyle was healthier i was always active.

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

Best advice I can offer is to live with people from Spain! Not Italy or France or Germany! Watch out for native Valencian speakers as living with more than 1 means they will probably only use valencian while talking with each other making learning spanish more difficult. Be outgoing and enjoy. Keep a book where you write new words you learned, sayings, and things you would like to learn. Review it each night. Valencia has the most erasmus of any city in Europe of which the majority are ITALIANS. You can easily learn Italian instead of Spanish if you find yourself always in the International crowd so make sure you decide beforehand what your language goals are.

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• Apartment

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• Local Students

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• Local Students