Barcelona - The busiest 30 days of my life Past Review
By Meredith R (Media Management, University of Miami) for
ISA Study Abroad in Barcelona, Spain
YES
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
| 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. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
ISA was excellent in how they run their program. I loved having a week prior to the start of classes to visit Madrid, Toledo, and El Escorial. Staying in a hotel with the other ISA program students fostered a sense of community among us before we got to Barcelona. The ISA faculty-led tours were excellent. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Our location was AMAZING. I was in an apartment in Barcelona that was right on the beach, and right across the street from some of the newest and most popular night clubs in the city. I was also the closest out of the ISA students to Pompeu Fabra... only a 10 minute walk to class! The biggest negative was that we were very inconvienent to a lot of grocery stores and inexpensive restaurants. |
| * Food: |
I like the food in Barcelona, but one month of it was enough... I gained about 8 pounds! Because we couldn't afford to go to restaurants for paella and other nice seafood a lot, we ate a lot of "bocadillo" sandwhiches, which I enjoyed but my diet was almost all carbs. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Field trips arranged by ISA were great |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| 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? |
Other students in program, native speakers when at school or out shopping or eating. I needed to use Spanish in most interactions, although many people in Barcelona do speak 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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