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Barcelona:The best experience of your life
CIEE: Barcelona - Business & Culture
Program Information
This program is designed for students at any language level with a strong interest in business and economics (classes taught both in English and Spanish). Students who are motivated to develop their Spanish language skills and learn about Spain and Europe through living in the unique and beautiful city of Barc... More
| Provider: | CIEE |
| Location(s): | Barcelona, Spain |
| Year Founded: | |
| Website | Take me there! |
Review By:
Chris T. (marketing, Providence College) on July 29, 2011
Overall Rating
Personal Information
| * Start Date: | 2011-01-03 |
| * End Date: | 2011-04-15 |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I did not care for the grading system |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
My experience was great but my experience with the CIEE directors was very negative and had a detrimental impact on my academic experience |
| * Housing: |
I loved my family! They were so nice and caring and helped me learn spanish. They cooked amazing meals every night and were more than helpful whenever I needed them. Cannot express enough how happy I was with my family. |
| * Food: |
Great spanish dishes |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Other than academically which was very negative experience with the lack of respect given by the director, everything was amazing. I visited 7 countries as well as many parts of Spain. Too many memorable trips to count, the trips the program provided were also fun; really learned alot about many cultures |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
there is not much violence, everything is pretty safe. The violence they tell you about is overblown; you just cannot be stupid. Many people I know got pickpocketed because they were not smart about where they kept their wallets, ect. but even with that you just lost your stuff it was never violent and most of the time you didnt know what happened. never had an experience with healthcare |
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* Home Institution Advising:
How well did Providence College 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? | travel costs alot |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I practiced with my family so I needed to use spanish all the time. Most of the people spoke Catalan. |
| 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?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same program? | No |
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | do it! but avoid CIEE if you can. Everyone should go somewhere; might not be able to travel later on |
| * What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile? | very worthwhile; learned many things I could never learn without experiencing them. Wish I could go back again, (just not with CIEE) |