Adelante Abroad

Meeting new friends from all over the US and overseas was a unique experience. Meeting people from Seville was lovely too! The culture, the food, and the beauty of the city are amazing. Having the opportunity to internship abroad is quite an experience, knowing Spanish but learning new words and of course, another pronunciation was fascinating. Adelante abroad in Sevilla answered all of my questions when I had one, they were very helpful and friendly as well. While in Seville, I also had the opportunity to travel around Europe.

My experience was unique because when I first got to Madrid I was still uncertain about how I felt about a law career. I was scared and unsure about how who I wanted to be as a professional. "Was Law really my calling?" I thought. However, I took everything with a grain of salt and decided to get the best out of my experience regardless. When I first Fernando Fanego, the attorney I was interning, I felt a connection to him. He had an attitude and a mentality that I admired as a businessman and a professional. Working alongside him was impressive, he had so many connections with people all around Madrid and I respected the fact that he took me in as his ward everywhere he went. He introduced me to countless of people and gave me an incredible experience, one that I will never forget.

I loved the ability to explore Uruguay on my own terms, which I think is unique to this study abroad program. My internship placement at a law firm was perfect, and I had great exposure to Spanish coming back to the US nearly fluent. The beach was great and I felt safe the whole time.

A complaint worth noting -- the head of Adelante, Kimberly, was hesitant at first to let me do the program solely due to my mental health diagnoses. I have been fully stable for years, so it was extremely demeaning to hear my abilities be questioned based on these conditions (and I think that's illegal too?)

I did a 4-month program with Adelante at a small software development company in Viña del Mar. Learning new coding languages while still getting used to Chilean Spanish was really hard at first, but everyone in the office was super patient with me. Of course there were some awkward moments where I couldn’t understand what they were asking me or telling me to type, but we all laughed through them together. I now feel confident that I can work in software in any Spanish-speaking country.

The Adelante program coordinator in Viña del Mar, Pamela, is incredibly nice and supportive. About halfway through my internship I felt really stressed with my progress at work, and when I told Pamela she was immediately ready to talk it through with me and adjust my role. That ended up not being necessary since I talked my fears through with a coworker, but nonetheless I felt like Pamela was really in my corner.

Viña del Mar itself felt almost like a perfect city to me. Super walkable, filled with shops and restaurants, right on the ocean, and an overall relaxed way of life. Viña and Valparaiso were great locations for learning about Chilean culture, especially compared to fast-paced Santiago. Everyone I met in Viña was kind and welcoming, from the enthusiastic teachers in my dance classes to the ice cream shop employee who memorized my order. If you’re looking to have an awesome experience abroad, I can’t recommend this program enough.

During my time studying in Spain, I was able to not only gain relevant work experience in my field, but also connect and make friends with people from all parts of the world, put my Spanish skills to the test and grow as a person. I highly recommend everyone to take the chance and go out of their comfort zone by studying or working abroad. You will learn so many new things not only about yourself, but also about different cultures. I would have to say my favorite part was meeting all these new people who will be my friends for many years to come.