Spain: A pleasant surprise! Past Review
By Stephanie K (Spanish Language and Literature., Towson University) for
USAC Spain: Alicante - Spanish Language, Linguistics, European, Mediterranean, and Gender Studies
I have learned a lot about a new culture, and also lots about the United States as well. I've learned that there is a whole world out there that knows more about our country than we do, and we need to really make an effort to integrate ourselves more.
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. |
I'm not going to lie my least favorite part of the whole experience was having to go to class, but I wouldn't trade a second of my abroad experience. You will notice differences in the education and especially the textbooks that were used. Towards the end of the semester I got slammed with three papers and it caused a lot of stress because our spring break fell at the end of the semester as well, but the timing wasn't the professors faults. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Carnaval was amazing. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| 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? | It all depends on how much you want to travel. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | The exchange rate is what hurt most. Also, the flights weren't as cheap as I expected. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | A 300 level course. |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I used the host country language everyday. It was needed since we were in a smaller city in Spain. Also, my program had an intercambio program where we would have speaking partners from Spain who wanted to learn English, and since we wanted to learn Spanish we would practice each language. Some people did speak English, but most places did not which was great for all of us. And one of my roommates was a Spain native so whenever I would interact with him (which was daily) we always used Spanish because he didn't know any English. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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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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Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Culture and Civilization |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Veronica |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | I learned so much about Spain as a whole in this class. I would recommend it to anyone studying in Spain. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | I still do not know if my credits will transfer. |
