"¡Éste es Madrid!" Past Review
By Peter R (Romance Languages, DePauw University) for
IES Abroad: Madrid - IES Abroad in Madrid
Yes, I would say it was. I learned a lot about Spain and America's relationship as well as their place in the world, as well as a great understanding of Spanish culture. I also became a lot more aware of the way that different people live and think, as well as the way they see Americans.
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid |
| 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. |
I thought the workload was pretty decent, and the professors were pretty fair for the most part. The grading system was slightly different, but it gave a little more leeway than the American system does. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I loved the program's administration, they were all very nice and extremely helpful. They were also put on some amazing excursions, which were absolutely fantastic. With that said though, it seemed like some of the day-to-day things were a bit unorganized, but once I got past that I didn't have much of a problem. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The neighborhood I lived in was great, very safe with a huge park very close by. There wasn't a whole lot of night-life there, but with the Madrid Metro I could go anywhere in the city. I felt like I was treated pretty well by my host mother, but at the end of the semester I had to move to a new homestay because she decided she was going to leave the country for a week instead of a few days (which she had told me before), and didn't want to leave me in the house alone. |
| * Food: |
My program only allowed us to have 2 meals a day with our host families, which I never really understood, since we were paying all this money for me to go to Spain, but I could only have those 2 meals. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
All the excursions we went on with our program were absolutely amazing, they did a really excellent job of putting those together. They also brought us to several theatrical and dance productions, which were really cool to see as well. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Overall, Madrid was very safe. There were some park that you didn't want to walk through at night, but other than that I always felt safe walking around. However, I was always very careful, especially when it came to my valuables. I always put them in my front pockets and kept my hands in them, especially while on the Metro. |
| 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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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I had around $1700 going into the semester, and I literally spent all of it. And Spain is even one of the cheapest countries on the continent. Europe in general though is very very expensive. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Ten euros may not seem like a lot, but in reality it's closer to 15 dollars, so with the exchange rate everything costs almost 1.5 times as much. Also, I would have liked to have known beforehand that I only got two meals a day from my homestay, because I ended up having to pay a lot of money for food. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 390 |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I practiced it mostly in class and with my host mother, but other than that it didn't seem like many people in the program were very interested in practicing Spanish. I needed the language a lot in everyday interactions, since not a whole lot of people in Spain really spoke 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?
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
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Bring as much money as you possibly can, and budget it. And the type of student that would benefit most is someone with not a lot of confidence in their language abilities, because by the end they will be a lot more confident about it. |
