Awesome Summer in Barcelona Past Review
By Jordan A (Electrical Engineering, Business Administration, University of Southern California) - abroad from 06/06/2011 to 07/31/2011 with
CISabroad (Center for International Studies): Intern in Barcelona
Had the best couple months of my life, improved my Spanish, etc. You grow up a lot when you work and live abroad, become much more resilient because you need to roll with the flow.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Great Spanish classes for the first two weeks. Internship was what I wanted as I was doing business development for a new social networking site, great boss and work schedule was very flexible, though I wish he had spoken less English so we were forced to use Spanish more in the office. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Great once in Barcelona, but not the best communication leading up to my arrival, felt in the dark for a while as far as internship placement and housing were concerned. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Great location just a few metro stops outside of the city center, very safe area. Room was nice and host madre only spoke Spanish which is what I wanted. But my 'host family' was just a single elderly woman, and I would have preferred a family with kids to hang out and speak Spanish with. |
| * Food: |
Tapas are great, paella is great, lots of great typical Spanish food. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Mostly hung out with the kids in my program, Americans, because that's who I knew. Wish there had been a way to meet and kick it with more Spaniards. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Never had any problems. |
| * Safety: |
Barcelona is a very safe city as far as violent crime goes. I was out late all over the place and never felt unsafe. But watch out for pickpockets- they are the craftiest. |
| 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) |
Traveling is expensive though. |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $200 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Don't eat out all the time, go to grocery stores. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | university level Spanish 3 |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Find a way to meet and befriend locals so that you're not just hanging out with the Americans in your program the whole time. You need to be in social settings with people speaking the native language if you really want to improve. |
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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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Take an effort to make friends with locals. |
