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Program Information
Study in the lively city of Granada, perched between the dazzling white peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the glistening blue Mediterranean of the Costa del Sol. During your stay you will see some of the most beautiful and intricate buildings of the medieval world and soak in traditional Spanish culture with the ... More
| Provider: | AIFS |
| Location(s): | Granada, Spain |
| Year Founded: | 1964 |
| Website | Take me there! |
Review By:
Erin H. (History, The University of Texas at Austin) on February 24, 2011
Overall Rating
Personal Information
| * Start Date: | 2010-09-01 |
| * End Date: | 2010-12-17 |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Paula and Inma are great people, good at their jobs, and I never had a problem with either of them. They were very helpful, and it was comforting to have such available access to them. |
| * Housing: |
My host family was generally pretty nice, if a little bit distant. I was treated somewhere between a client and a family member. Compared to the experiences of many of my friends, I think my host family was a little bit less welcoming than others. Had I stayed longer, I would have liked to have lived in an apartment with spanish students rather than with a host family. There are tons of opportunities to find roommates when you arrive, and I think it would have helped to meet people and have more interaction with locals. |
| * Food: |
Food was usually really great, and the best part about Granada is the free tapas. Go to Poë or El Espejo. Have a mojito. Its worth it. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Dirty Sixth is more dangerous than Granada. |
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* Home Institution Advising:
How well did The University of Texas at Austin prepare and support you for your time abroad? |
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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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Mostly the costs were reasonable and straightforward. I maybe would have chose to live in an apartment rather than in a homestay to keep costs down. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Sp312k |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Granada is a college town and very touristed, so there are a ton of foreign students and they are very used to having americans around. That said, a lot of the people I interacted with daily, shopkeepers, waiters, etc., didn't speak english, and these interactions helped me learn spanish the most. People in Granada are generally very patient with your spanish and don't rush to speak 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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A Look Back
| * If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same program? | Yes |
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Overall this program was a great opportunity. AIFS made it easy and painless to study abroad, and provided a lot of assistance along the way. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants an easy way to experience Spain. Granada has a real small town feel, and because of that you can experience the distinctively spanish culture, rather than a more globalized one you might get in Madrid or Barcelona. To anyone who chooses to study abroad in Granada or study abroad in general, I highly recommend finding intercambios and meeting local students. And skip the Morocco trip unless you really like experiencing foreign countries by staring out of a bus window. Go on your own. |
| * What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile? | my experience was absolutely worthwhile. I learned a lot of Spanish, made some really great friends, and, as with any experience abroad, I expanded my knowledge of new cultures and hopefully gained a little wisdom along the way. |