198 reviews
4.18 / 5 based on 198 reviews
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Melissa B
Student life
Describe host city:
Students interact with the local community without much university involvement
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Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Activities, Nightlife: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment
Personal social experience
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Melissa B
Housing
Type of housing: On campus
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: With a family
Why?
It would have helped me to integrate more into the city and use my Spanish more often. I felt like I missed out on the relationships that other students who did live with family's had with their host families.
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Personal comments
I didn't get the housing I requested at all. In my housing questionnaire I asked to live in a dorm with 8 students, including international students. I wound up living in a three person dorm, with two other students from the University of California. I felt isolated from the Spanish students and felt that my Spanish didn't really improve with respect to more mundane things, only academically.
The dorms are also nowhere near the classes and I felt like I wasn't near the local students either. The housing situation could have been much better.
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Melissa B
Languages
Language of instruction: Spanish
Was learning Spanish a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my Spanish
How much did you improve your Spanish?
My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
I had a lot of opportunity to use Spanish in my daily interactions with people outside of my dorm and I felt like my Spanish improved a lot, but most specifically in academic contexts.
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Melissa B
Academic
Course recommendations
My best course there was the drama course that I took, where we acted it provided the most interaction with the local community and the most practice with my Spanish. It was an amazing class.
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
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Melissa B
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
Family<br>
Personal savings<br>
Government assistance<br>
An ERASMUS grant
Work opportunities:
I didn't want/need to work
Personal spending habits
With food, the rate of exchange made a difference, but with travel and nightlife it was simply because I was going out more and travelling more often.
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Food, Travel, Nightlife:
was more expensive than at home.
Housing, Overall, Telephone:
was the same price as at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
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Melissa B
Overall
I wish I had known...
Bathrooms in Spain Spanish are "aseos" not "baños". Suerte.
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In my opinion:
I loved it but I'm not sure everybody would.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
Get yourself out there. It was really easy for me to become more isolated from the people there and just hang out with Americans because there's *so many* Americans there. Go meet other people, meet other exchange students meet Spaniards.
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
Get yourself out there. It was really easy for me to become more isolated from the people there and just hang out with Americans because there's *so many* Americans there. Go meet other people, meet other exchange students meet Spaniards.
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