Salamanca and the World Cup Win! Past Review
By Allison E (Psychology, Seton Hall University) for
API (Academic Programs International): Salamanca - Universidad de Salamanca
Yes, yes, yes. I would recommend this program and specific city to anyone. I learned to be more open to different cultures. I understand the Spanish language so much better now. The API is well organized, the people are nice, and you just get so much out of the money you put into it Its definitely worth every penny.
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. |
The professors were fantastic, very understanding, and took their time making sure everyone understood the material. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program was great. If you needed help at all someone was always available. The size of the program was great and the people were fantastic. My expectations were more than met. The trips we were on were also great. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Living in a resedencia was great. Our laundry was done and we got 2 meals a day cooked for us which was great to be able to have traditional Spanish meals. Salamanca was a very safe city. The people are friendly and its very easy to get around by foot to anywhere you want to go. It felt like home. The walk to class from my resedencia was about 10 minutes, but the walk was not bad at all. The only thing I bought was snack foods to keep in my room and bathroom items that I did not pack. Our house mom was great. |
| * Food: |
The food cooked by our house mom was great and really showed us what traditional meals were like. The food around the city is also great, you can find just about anything you want to eat. There is even a 50's type American restaurant for when you're missing french fries and burgers from home (along with a Burger King and McDonalds). |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Well the main cultural event would be that my program was during the World Cup and we were able to watch every Spain game with the locals and experience their excitement when Spain won! A bunch of us also went to Madrid the day after the World Cup finale to celebrate with the parade. Every weekend our programs had extensive trips for us and we had mini trips once during every week. The program trips were great and we had so much fun. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
When we first arrived in Spain, we stayed in Madrid for the first couple of days. This is where our program advisors went over all the health and safety issues. Salamanca is a very safe place. It does take some people a little bit to get used to the food over in Europe. I did get food poisoning a few times and lost quite a bit of weight even though I was eating everything given to me. If there were any extensive health issues, then the program was quick to step in and help you out. I did not need to get any vaccines before the program start. |
| 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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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I learned and understood more Spanish in the two months there than I did in 7 years of learning in a school environment in the states. It really helped being around people who only spoke Spanish. |
| 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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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | During my program was rebajas month in Spain, so it was more difficult to not spend a lot of money during the week since I enjoy to shop. So if you like to shop, be prepared for that. Make sure you get a good bank account with no overdraft or over seas fees. Even if you have to open up another account with a different bank and then close it when you get home. Don't bring showering items, soaps, toothpastes because you can readily by them there and it just takes up space in your luggage for things you might wanna bring home. BE OPEN. To anyone and everything. But also protect yourself. Because once you feel at home, that's when something can happen to you. Push yourself to do everything because you don't want to miss out. And do not sleep when you get there, if you stay active, you won't get hit by jet lag as much. |
