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The Best Time of Your Life
IES Abroad: Barcelona - IES Abroad Barcelona Center
Program Information
Study abroad in Barcelona—capital of the autonomous province of Catalonia. The IES Abroad Barcelona program provides students with opportunities to learn or perfect Spanish while studying business and liberal arts.
| Provider: | IES Abroad |
| Location(s): | Barcelona, Spain |
| Year Founded: | |
| Website | Take me there! |
Review By:
Alejandra H. (Political science, The University of Texas at Austin) on August 25, 2011
Overall Rating
Personal Information
| * Start Date: | 2011-05-23 |
| * End Date: | 2011-07-23 |
| 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. |
The workload was very manageable, and the grading system was fair, and the instructors were excellent and very knowledgable about the city and its culture. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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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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* 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? | traveling expenses |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I spoke in Spanish everyday in class as well as my Internship. I made some Spanish friends, and my RA was also from Barcelona so I was able to practice Castellano a lot more than I thought possible. |
| 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? | spend your money wisely, use it to travel around, and for basic living costs. Everything else is irrelevant. |
| * What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile? | I learned so much about the Spanish culture, and the language that I now I feel more prepared to go back some day and live in Spain. The internship helped me assimilate into the culture and make friends so that I did not feel alone in the foreign country. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Advanced Writing |
| Course Department: | SP 400 |
| Instructor: | Josep Contreras |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | I participated a lot more in class because I felt more comfortable asking questions and becoming more involved with class discussion. The professor was very knowledgable and made the class fun and relevant. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Yes i had transfer credit of 6 hours and I would definitely recommend it to other UT students. |