Program Reviews

Granada was the best city I could have chosen to study abroad in! It's the perfect size; you can walk everywhere you need, while also having the metro to take you to the bus or train station. With the Alhambra being Granada's claim to fame, there are people from all different countries always visiting the city. It has the perfect mix of old and new while also having incredible Moorish influences throughout the entire city.
I was finishing my Spanish minor while I was there, so I was enrolled in five courses related to Spanish history, grammar, and language. Also, most people only spoke Spanish, so I was really forced to learn the language in and outside of the classroom. I was super nervous before arriving but by the time I had to leave Granada I was able to communicate with anyone. The class sizes are very small so you’re able to practice your Spanish a lot and form great relationships with your professors. The classes were awesome, and the Center for Modern Language is in an adorable Spanish style building.

Overall, my experience in Granada is something I will always remember, and I can’t wait to go back.

If you're looking for a place full of adventure, a place to improve your Spanish speaking skills, a place full of natural beauty, and a place that will push you out of your comfort zone, then Chile is the place for you! While abroad, I gained so much more than I expected. I learned so much about myself, and how to be on my own. I immersed myself in the country's history and culture.
I made lifelong relationships with classmates and my host family. I made business connections through an internship in the city, and I traveled the country every chance I got I don't think there is one thing I didn't gain throughout my semester. It was the greatest 6 months of my life!

I studied abroad in Seville, Spain during the spring semester of 2019. I will cherish those memories for the rest of my life and I am so grateful for all of the time I was able to live abroad!

Living with a host family was the highlight of my experience. I lived with a older woman and her husband, but her husband was typically away living at their beach house. She only spoke Spanish- and my Spanish was not great upon arrival! We ate lunch and dinner together and that made my Spanish improve dramatically, as well as allowed us to bond. The Spanish people are very direct. I would say that it is more offensive to be wasteful of food and say you like it, than to say you don’t like it or don’t prefer it. To have a good relationship I think it is important to keep your room and area clean, to communicate directly, and to occasionally bring home little treats from travels (my host mom loved that!)

For a typical school day, I only went to school from 9-6, two days per week. I would have four classes throughout the day. They were blocks of about an hour and a half I believe! I would sit and eat lunch with my friends outside or run the track at the university.

The API excursions happened every so often, and were so fun! We got to stay in amazing places, like a Montessori! They provided educational and informational tours as well. They also arranged fun things for us to do in Sevilla, like go to the movies or attend a tile painting class.

I traveled outside of Spain quite frequently! I went to about 8 different countries, like Morocco, France, and Hungary. I would take the bus to the airport (it cost 4 euros) and then hop on a flight out of Sevilla! The flights were generally very inexpensive (like round trip to Italy for 30 euros).

I always felt safe in Sevilla. I would walk to and from my house very late a night with my roommate, and although we were on guard just in case, I never felt like I needed to be. Sevilla has more petty crime, like stealing bike tires, as opposed to violent crime. API was also so helpful when it came to safety and health. I was sick for about a week and needed to go to the doctor when I was there. My host mom called API and they arranged for a translator to be on the phone with me at the hospital. My host mom held my hand the whole time and I felt at peace because of the support around me provided by API.

Sevilla became my home, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

Barcelona is full of life. The best decision of my life was to choose this location to study abroad. There are so many fun things to do in this one city, I still have items left on my bucket list! Not to mention how amazing the entire country and surrounding countries are. I took Mediterranean culture classes and lived with a host family, 2 things I highly recommend. Being open-minded took me far on my journey, and I have endless stories I can't stop sharing! It was also fun to constantly be thinking in more than one language.

By far the best four months of my life. I spent the fall semester studying at UCC in Cork, Ireland and I was so impressed by the program and the school. When I found out I was going to Cork instead of Dublin I'll admit I was a bit disappointed because I had never heard of Cork before but I am so glad it worked out this way. Dublin feels like a large American city whereas Cork has an authentic Irish feel to it, that is not too touristy and everything is walking distance. The campus was absolutely stunning and reminded me of Hogwarts. The apartments I stayed in were a bit dirty but they will be tearing them down in the next few months and creating new apartments so future students won't have to worry about the problems I had with that! Patrick was our API director and he was so incredibly helpful and really got us immersed in the Irish culture. A lot of people had direct exchanges with their school so they didn't have Patrick or the excursions like we did, and I remember those students telling me they wish they were in API! I would highly recommend this program for anyone wanting to study abroad in Ireland.

My spring in Seville was amazing. I was definitely nervous about the language barrier before I left. I had taken Spanish in high school and thought I was moderately fluent. However, you do not really know how fluent you are until you are immersed in the culture. It was definitely not an issue that I was not completely fluent. The other API students I met were very nice and I had a great host family. My host family made sure that I was well taken care of and prepared 3 meals a day. I took 5 classes at the University of Seville. I had a language course, a healthcare and voluntary work course, the theory and history of Flamenco, Spanish Cuisine, and Literary and Cultural Traditions of Spanish Speaking Countries. The classes were very interactive and we even took some field trips in order to dive into the content deeper. The scenery is beautiful and it is a nice city to go for long walks.

Choosing to study abroad in Leeds with API was the best decision I could have made. I studied in Leeds for the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. API is absolutely wonderful with making you feel comfortable while being abroad. My program director ended up becoming a second mom to me and was always available to answer any questions I had. I took two sociology classes and one history class at the University of Leeds. I thought that the professors were very engaging and I enjoyed attending my lectures everyday. There were approximately 150-200 people in each of my lectures.
For a housing accommodation, I stayed in an off campus residence hall with four other flatmates. In our flat, there were five individual rooms, with a shared bathroom and kitchen. We frequently had flat dinners together, which was really nice and helped all of us bond. Three of my flatmates were from England and one was from France. I loved that I lived with English students because I was able to learn a lot about the English culture from them. I ended up becoming really close with one of my flatmates. I still FaceTime her regularly and she is planning on coming to the US to visit this summer.
The residence hall is a beautiful and easy 30-40 minute walk to campus and about a 15 minute bus ride. The bus is very easy and convenient to use, especially when it is raining. The University of Leeds campus and the city center has so much to offer and is absolutely beautiful. I ended up exploring a different part of Leeds every day that I was there. Everyone in Yorkshire is incredibly friendly and I always felt welcomed no matter where I was.
The API excursions definitely made my experience truly memorable. Some of my favorite memories are from the excursions we went on. If you are someone who wants to explore England but might not do so on your own, the excursions are a wonderful addition to this program. Studying at the University of Leeds allows you to completely immerse yourself in the life of a UK University Student. I highly recommend studying in Leeds. If I had had the opportunity, I would have studied there for an entire academic year, or maybe even longer.

Studying abroad in Florence for a semester was by far the best decision I could have made. The fact that you're able to leave the US for a semester and immerse yourself in an entirely different culture than your own is so exciting. From the minute I got to Florence I felt this sense of home away from home and was surprised by how quickly I was able to pick up on my surroundings and able to navigate the city on my own. That was very comforting to me, especially being so far away. API helped tremendously with feeling comfortable during this transition and was with us every step of the way until we were settled in. I was shocked by how equipped and nice our apartment was, it was very clean and spacious for an apartment right in the city. It came with all the supplies needed for cooking and cleaning. My apartment was so close to the Duomo and I always felt safe both in my apartment complex and whenever I was walking outside. If anything breaks or isn't working properly, API is on top of it! They were always quick to respond and fixed any issues in a timely manner. All of the program directors were awesome, they helped in any way they could whether it was getting in contact with parents, academics/home universities, or finding out what restaurant to eat at, they were always happy to help. The API program also included amazing weekend excursions to various cities outside Florence so you got to see other parts of Italy. This was definitely a highlight and something that's really unique to the program. Overall this was an experience I will never forget and the best semester of my life. It truly changed who I am and I can't wait to go back to the city that has such a special place in my heart.

I cannot lie when I tell you that this was the best semester of my life. Florence itself felt like home right away. From the program directors to my professors to my fellow program members, everyone was so welcoming and kind. I immersed myself as much as I could in the culture with the help of all the extra programs and activities that API offered. My apartment was very spacious and had supplied us with all the essentials. The program includes many excursions (weekend and day trips) in which were so enjoyable. Our program directors were so funny, and always were smiling! They also were always there to provide guidance or recommendations! I felt that they were always accessible both on excursions and in Florence. It was easy just to stop into the API center to ask a question or just say hi! Overall, living in the city center of Florence, Italy can never be topped. It is truly surreal to see pictures and just think "Oh I lived right off of this street" or "If you're looking at the Santa Croce church you can see the door to the apartment where I lived". This program allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and truly immerse. Best. Semester. Ever.

ORIENTATION
The first weekend, API provided seminars for blending in with the Polish population, provided meals, and made efforts to get SIM cards activated.I think the most prominent error I found with the orientation was its length. It was about three days long and it was the immediate weekend following my arrival, which meant I had about half a day or less to settle in. I usually maintain a "go with the flow" attitude, but it's hard to do that when you are jet-lagged and in the midst of experiencing many new cultural behaviors (as well as the new faces of my colleagues in the API group). I partook in each orientation activity so I could understand Poland better. Looking back, orientation provided me with important advice I could not find online, yet my independent travels to about six cities in Poland helped me to understand the culture the most through my experiences.

On our excursion to Budapest, I asked about their orientation and was shocked that it lasted two weeks. (Maybe they included their two week intensive period?) I understand that the education systems work differently and that the size of the cities may determine how long an orientation lasts, but I do think a longer orientation for Poland would be helpful to students, especially those who have never traveled abroad. All information provided was helpful and I think that with a couple more days students could adjust to the city without feeling rushed.

Alternatively, this setup does push students to discover the culture on their own (with the option of asking the RD for advice) which is important for taking in the culture rather than trying to maintain a lifestyle of comfort that mirrors a person's home country. Had our orientation been two weeks long, I feel that my colleagues and I may have become too comfortable with purely interacting with each other rather than interacting with the people in Kraków.

I think that transportation around the city could be covered a little more extensively, but the app Jakdojade helped my colleagues and me a lot.

LIVING CONDITIONS AND FOOD OPTIONS
I honestly have never lived as well as I did in Poland. The living situation was very spacious with three bedrooms (usually 2 with balconies), 1 full bathroom, a kitchen/dining room, and a front lobby area. The rooms had a bed, desk and chairs, two closets, a dresser, and two outlets along with a surge charger. I only plugged in 2-3 things at a time to prevent blowing fuses. The kitchen could have either a gas or electric stove and usually there was an oven. My flat did not have an oven so I just asked the students next door to use theirs. There was a fridge, a freezer, and a lot of cooking equipment. The washer was in the bathroom, and there were drying racks in the lobby closet--no dryer since they use too much energy.

Next to the building I lived in there was a market (Nowy Kleparsz) across the street or you can walk less than 10 minutes to Stary Kleparsz. There are other markets that can be reached by tram and the żabka stores (convenience stores) are abundant. My flatmates and I also found the Lewiatan stores to be a good place for food. There were students who decided to eat at a new place every meal and they were able to walk or take a tram to those places. Concerning classes, you can walk (about 15 minutes) or take a tram part way to classes for IPHSS.

The apartment is in a safe place, although I found all of Poland to be safe. There is a highway next to the complex so it can be slightly noisy, but other than the occasional horse-driven carriage the noise is not noticeable, especially at night.

RESIDENT DIRECTOR
My RD was wonderful. I could always contact him about anything (i.e. registering for non-program courses, figuring out the fuse box at 10 pm, activating my data for my SIM card, travel advice for friends or relatives who were visiting, even helping me to get an item mailed from an excursion city when I had run out of time to buy the item). I was impressed by his diligence to help me with even some of the most bizarre requests. I do know that some of my colleagues had some troubles, but I think that if you have patience, plan accordingly (a.k.a. work ahead), and maintain an attitude of acceptance for what can be done then acquiring help is no problem. In the instances where I could not get a problem solved the way I would have liked my RD worked with me to find a new solution. For instance, my non-program science course was canceled and I had to find a new course the same day. It was extremely stressful and I was unsure about how accepting my RD would be about this registration change. He was empathetic, understanding that I could not have helped this situation, and he helped me register promptly for a different course.

CLASSES
Classes can be once or twice a week. For Polish language, the two-week intensive met about 3 hours every weekday morning, but the language course during the semester met twice a week (2 hours each session). Most of my classes met once a week for 1.5-2 hours, although I did have a history course that was 3 hours.

I think most of my group took 3-5 classes, but you can take more if you would like. Also, API allows students to take courses outside of Humanities and Social Sciences (IPHSS) as long as you have at least 2 IPHSS courses. Your site director will help with this process if you want to take courses outside the department.

All of my professors taught differently using powerpoints, taking field trips, speaking to the class with or without visuals, having student demonstrations or presentations, or using lesson books. I only had to buy books for language courses.

Just in case you are interested in taking any of the classes I took, and have questions, I have them listed here: Polish Cinema, Polish Language Breakthrough A2 + Intensive Course, History of Polish Culture, Poland in Europe in the 21st Century, Polish Literature in the 21st Century, Tropical Ecology.

ACADEMIC RIGOR
I study at a small, private school (Wilkes University) and my courses are rigorous especially since I am a biology major. The courses here are much easier and do not require as much effort (equivalent to my general education courses at home). I am accustomed to math, chemistry, and science courses with one or two electives (i.e. English, art history, music). This made it somewhat difficult to gauge how much effort was appropriate for each assignment. I didn't want to spend loads of time on something that might not even be graded and then spend little time on a project that was graded. To best judge this, you must talk directly to the instructors. It was challenging to change from a classroom setting of STEM courses with instructors that explained how natural systems work or how to complete calculations based on repetition and memorization (and some intuition or critical thinking). In Poland, my courses were more open to opinions and debate; they were also in topics that I had not been exposed to at all or had not been exposed to for at least two years. Although I could only complete one semester abroad, I think a year would be better to truly adjust to this type of learning. As a biology student, my critical thinking skills have been more developed by Jagiellonian University.