Internships in Madrid - Adelante Abroad

I had an amazing 3 months interning in Madrid and would highly recommend doing an internship with Adelante. For the first 2 weeks, I was taking Spanish classes in the language school, Eureka. The grammar section was a great refresher of my previous Spanish knowledge, although I would have loved to have more time in Eureka to do a more comprehensive review. I really enjoyed the conversation class which helped me to become more comfortable conversing in Spanish before beginning my internship. I was housed in a 6-person apartment conveniently located down the street from Eureka and in the heart of the city. My roommates and I all got along great, and had awesome restaurants, shops, and nightlife right outside our door.

The internship that I was placed in was exactly what I had hoped for. I was working 4 hours a day in a small independent pharmacy. It was an amazing opportunity to learn about the differences in healthcare in Spain compared to the US. Although challenging at first, my coworkers were very encouraging of me practicing my Spanish, and it improved significantly throughout my internship. Everyone was very welcoming and willing to answer any questions I had about various medications, how the pharmacy functions, or Spain in general. Overall, I had a fantastic experience and Madrid and can't wait to come back.

My internship in Madrid was exactly what I was looking for! My university has a co-op program where we work for a semester instead of taking classes. Unfortunately, as my school does not have a translation major, there were almost no translation co-ops available. Adelante Abroad was one of the only outside options that I saw that guaranteed that I would be actually translating for my co-op as opposed to teaching English. What's more, they quickly let me know that I could either work for a translation agency, or as a translator for a company. I quickly went from having no options to having an abundance of them! What's great about Adelante is that they are with you every step of the way. I never felt alone when applying for a visa, arranging flights, starting my internship, or at any other point during my time in Madrid.

I did a five month program working for a translation agency. It was exactly what I wanted: the opportunity to work in close proximity with other translators. As an added bonus there were always other interns working alongside me from different countries in Europe, meaning I got a lot of exposure to different languages. It was always great helping my new friends out with any questions about English as they translated into French, Italian, German, and of course, Spanish. The office environment was incredibly laid back and I absolutely loved it. Since my contract was for 20 hours a week, the agency let me have any extra hours I worked as vacation time. I worked so many extra hours I had time to go explore Germany, England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in addition to areas of Spain. They even let me finish my co-op a week early so I could show my mom and sister around my new home!

Having extensively studied Spanish both in school and abroad in Argentina, language was not much of an issue. Still, the two weeks at the Eureka school were great! It was a really helpful way to ensure that I was getting back in the swing of speaking Spanish every day. Being in the highest level class, the grammar was a little complex, and wasn't something that I ever really remember using. The conversation half class time was great however! The activities were fun, we got to meet a variety of different teachers and hear the different ways they talked, and all the teachers were really helpful with making sure we were learning. The best part for me was learning the differences between the Spanish in Spain and the Mexican/Argentine Spanish I had learned previously (things like they don't say "boletos" over there, etc). Of all the Spanish courses I've ever taken, Eureka was definitely the best, and I would recommend it to anybody, even if they weren't looking to do an internship with Adelante.

My housing was through a company that rents apartments to students, so I was with other (non-Adelante) students either studying or working in Madrid. I lived with students from Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, France, and India. None were native English speakers, but most spoke English decently (and wanted to practice), so we spoke a combination of Spanish and English. We all got along extremely well. The housing was a about a 30 minute metro ride from Sol, which was absolutely perfect for me- the neighborhood was quiet and close to my co-op. I walked to work every morning and back home afterwards, which was great exercise. The apartment was cleaned weekly and any problems were fixed fairly quickly. They even bought us new frying pans when we complained that our old ones were bent!

Adelante is absolutely perfect for getting you an internship in any field that you want, while also giving you the freedom to explore a new country or continent!

My internship program located in Madrid, Spain, through Adelante Abroad was absolutely phenomenal. I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to work in an orthopedics/trauma hospital called Clinica CEMTRO, alongside some of the top orthopedic surgeons in Europe. There, I was exposed to the ins and outs of life as a surgeon, as I spent my days shadowing doctors both in patient consultations and in the operating room. As a result, I often ended up working between 9-14 hours a day; instead, of only 4-5 as I had expected. I was able leave whenever I wanted, however, I wanted to make the most of my 3-month internship. It was also by working such long hours, that I was truly able to build better relationships with my colleagues and supervisors.

Prior to beginning my internship, I studied Spanish throughout high school and then for two weeks at the Eureka language school. Despite this however, I still had great difficulty communicating with the patients, nurses and doctors. As a result, this working environment truly challenged me to improve my Spanish language abilities. Now that I have completed my program, I can confidently say that I am able to read, write, and converse at a much more advanced level The knowledge that I gained in the past three months is incomparable to that which I gained after 6 years of studying the language in school.

During my time in Madrid, I lived in a quaint apartment located in the heart of city. Constantly surrounded by people, cultures and attractions, I was able to truly experience its vibrant nature. It is often said that New York is "The City That Never Sleeps", but anyone who says that, has clearly never gone to Madrid. Whether it was going for tapas and cerveza (beer), spending the day at one of the many museums, or dancing the night away at a nearby salsa club, there was never a dull moment.

Overall, this was a truly invaluable experience, and I can now say that I certainly want to become a doctor, and possibly a surgeon due to my internship experience. I would definitely encourage anyone seeking career exploration, an adventure, and personal growth to pursue an internship position through Adelante.

Adelante's program in Madrid is one of the finest internship-abroad experiences one could ask for. The program has situated itself with ideal living conditions, located directly in the heart of the city (basically in puerta del sol). Madrid itself is a city with tons of things to do, people to meet, and culture to be explored, so, for one, you will never be bored. I chose to intern in the international business sector, working for a company called IFEMA, organizing international professional fairs. Working in a spanish company was quite invaluable to my maturation as an adult as well as an employee. Your spanish and language skills improve immensely and you learn how to integrate in a foreign culture. On top of that, adelante's internship hour regulations allow you ample time to explore other activities and meet new people and travel within Europe. Its an incredibly individual experience and one that, i believe, is quite invaluable to any student looking for something more, something different.

I stayed with Adelante for 2 months in Madrid, doing a placement with a local psychiatrist. I had a bit of an unusual situation therefore I have started my internship before finishing my language classes (which being honest wasn’t a smart move but there was no other option due to time constraints). Important to note, that I did study Spanish before but my level was far from fluent.
I will break review in three parts so it is easier to follow.

Internship
Internship itself was amazing! Exactly what I wanted and what I expected: to be exposed to a private clinical setting, covering a range of problems starting from family crises finishing with schizophrenia. The doctor himself and his crew were very supportive and friendly, which I think is quite important especially for a new person which doesn’t really know Spanish. During the month, my comprehension skills rocketed up as well as reading ones, doctor would ask you to read A LOT ( a piece of advice for someone doing the same placement is to read beforehand his books, it will greatly assist during your internship and in general in your future career).
During the session with a patient, Doctor will explain his/hers diagnosis, share his opinion regarding the matter and would let to ask any question. Also you would have an opportunity to be present and sometimes even interview yourself various patients, complete there profile and participate in a psychotherapy. Sometimes when Doctor wasn’t available, someone from other doctors will invite to the differential diagnosis of his/hers patients.
From the negative side, I can highlight only the fact that most of the time instead of finishing at 3 or 4, I would finish at 7 or 8 which in my opinion is a bit too much for an unpaid internship. However, I have been interning only for a month so I decided to make the most of it but someone else who would want to do this internship for longer might want to consider to clarify this. At work no one seemed to be bothered with timing at all, I was told “leave whenever you feel tired”. But at the end it looks like such attitude is common among Spanish people, they are very chilled (at least the ones I have met).
Other aspect is language, I should have definitely taken classes before because talking to the patients was tough, my Spanish was very rusty.
Also you have to be prepared that sometimes patients would not want to talk in front of you therefore you would have to wait sometimes for a good 2-3hours.

Housing
I lived near Puerta del Sol with Adelante and Eureka (language school)students. The location is amazing, it is literally the central centre, all the touristic attractions, shops and nightlife are hand away from you. My apartment was very spacious with 5 more people living in, this might sound like quite a lot but in fact everyone seemed to co-exist very well. Throughout 2 months no one had any problem with anyone, a very peaceful atmosphere.
The massive downside was, as stated below, an air conditioner and unbearable heat during summer. It was so hot, even inferno would look like a ski resort. When I complained about it to the landlord, I was immediately given a fan, despite being very quick to react, I personally think that at such possibility of overheating air conditioners should be installed. Ironically there were air conditioner units but they didn’t work at any room.
Therefore a piece of advice, do internship when it is not too hot and if you choose to do it in a summer, consider looking for an apartment with an air conditioner.

Language School
I have been to two language schools before in Madrid and I think genuinely speaking that it is not the best one. The director (also a landloard) is very helpful and sorts out problems instantly but if judging school I would give it a solid C, at least for the time I have spent (2 weeks).
I completely agree with a review below that Eureka would work best for long-term students or complete beginners, it is not intense enough for short-term users.

Conclusion
Amazing Internship, good housing (even despite dysfunctional air conditioner), not bad language school. I think you do get value for money here.

My experience with Adelante was very mixed, with some positive notes and some negative notes.

I chose to live in the Adelante housing. The location was right next to Puerta del Sol, a great central location with lots of restaurants, shopping, and good transportation links nearby. However, as I was there during the summer, and this summer was particularly hot even by Madrid standard, living without air conditioning was extremely difficult. At one point, I came down with heat exhaustion just from laying on the couch, because the apartment was that hot. To make matters worse, there was an air conditioning unit, but it didn’t work. I asked about it, Eureka, the owner of the apartment about it, and there was no possibility of getting it fixed, so I was left to be taunted by a broken air conditioning, showing that it was possible to have air conditioning there, but yet there was no AC. In short, the Adelante housing is great, as long as you aren’t there during the summer.

The first two weeks were spent at the Eureka language school. I could tell that Eureka is a great school, and I appreciated the organized excursions during the first two weeks of my program. However, the structure of Eureka does not work for students who are there for only two weeks. It is designed for students to study there for months at a time. When I signed up for a program that included intensive language classes, I expected an intensive review of Spanish. Instead, I was placed into a class covering material I learned in high school, with people who were learning the material for the first time. So when I needed 15-20 minutes review per topic, I was instead forced to spend 4 days on it, and covered very little material in the time I was there. On a positive note, being just down the street from Eureka, who served as the landlord for the apartment, made it convenient when I had a problem, such as when the wifi stopped down and I needed them to fix it.

The internship was not what I was hoping for. I am interested in international relations, and was hoping for an internship that would allow me to explore career options related to international relations. I was placed at an NGO that related to my interest in international relations in name only. I worked in their marketing department, which had very little work for me to do, and I also find marketing to be extremely boring and not enriching enough for my interests. I spent many days just scrolling through news site or reading a book, feeling like I was just warming a desk. On the days that I did have something to do, it was merely translating documents to English or making Photoshop projects, bearing little resemblance to the internship that I had hoped for. I found myself in a marketing internship, which was not what I wanted, and I was extremely bored for 4 hours a day for 6 weeks.

This is what the positive element of Adelante comes in: their support. At one point, my frustration with my internship placement led me to email Adelante to ask for advice about how to handle it, and they immediately intervened in the situation. They asked Antonio, the intern advisor, to talk to my boss about it to save me from the awkwardness of talking to her about it myself. When he was unable to reach her via phone, he actually came into the office to talk to her. When she acknowledged that they didn’t have much for me to do, he arranged 2 interviews for me at other companies. Neither of the companies I interviewed with felt like a good match, so I decided to stick with my original company. Although not much ended up improving with internship placement, I really appreciated the support Adelante gave me, and it was nice to know that they tried.

It’s easy to dwell on the negative aspects of the program, but generally I had a very positive experience in Spain, but much of the positive experience took place outside of my class or my internship. It was what I made of it. I knew I wanted to be left with a positive impression of Spain, so I made sure to make it positive, by making friends and spending my time doing the things that interested me, whether that was going to see a movie in Spanish or traveling on the weekend. My Spanish improved exponentially during the two months that I was there. Even though my internship wasn’t perfect, being placed into an environment in which I was the only non-Spaniard improved my Spanish in a way that it could have never been improved from taking a Spanish class. I grew a lot from this experience, growth that I never would have experienced if I had stayed in the US for the summer.

My time in Madrid was wonderful, but what everybody needs to know and what I quickly learned is that your experience abroad depends almost entirely on what you make it. The first two weeks of classes went fine. I was placed in an intermediate class "because I had been taught Latin American Spanish and I could brush up on some basics," but I felt that I didn't learn all that much. The classes were geared towards the people that were there long term, since we spent the whole two weeks going over direct and indirect pronouns during the grammar section. I thought that we would be getting more of an intensive overview of Spanish grammar to remember the main points, but the conversation section was great to learn new vocabulary and get used to speaking Spanish again! After the two weeks of classes, I started out at one company that ended up being a horrible fit, but Adelante quickly helped me to find another placement at IFEMA (Feria de Madrid). It's a huge business, and it was an incredible experience to work at such a big company while still a student. I had a few projects to do, but I also had a lot of downtime where I browsed the internet to kill time. Some of this could probably be attributed to the slower summer season and my short time there, but if I were to re-do my summer I would probably choose something more hands on. I did a lot of Spanish writing, but I feel like I did not get to practice my spoken Spanish as much as I would have liked to. I traveled a little bit since I was on a tight budget, but I definitely want to come back to see more. Madrid is filled with endless shops, restaurants, bars, and clubs, and I tried my best to check out the most popular places and some of the more obscure ones as well.

The overall entire 2 months is Spain was an incredible personal experience for me, I went out and made new friends and was very independent. I could have come to Spain and done this without Adelante, however, I thought I needed to rely on an outside organization, but it turns out the 2 things they provided: housing and school, I could have got on my own without paying them to help me sign up for it all, however them being the "middle man" did help out a lot and reduce a lot of stress I would have had doing it myself. I was looking forward to the excursions through the school but was disappointed to find out three of them were canceled because not enough people signed up. The housing was very very nice, a huge plus and conveniently located, but the school was disappointing. In the 2 weeks I was there, I learned a couple key main lessons and then was off. For ex, we spent a week learning the difference between Por and Para. I wanted a more general review of Spanish to help me boost my speech when I am out alone conversationally. This is a much better school if you are planning on attending from the beginning to end level. When I came, after taking a test, I was put in the middle of a spanish class and their grammar lesson, and was there for 2 weeks while they were on the por/para and other smaller grammar lessons, and then I was out. Didn't learn much at all.