EUROACE

I chose to attend classes at Euroace right from the beginning of my 9 months stay in Valencia cause I've heard good things about the school. Additionally, they were the most accommodating when it came to my language level and needs to adapt the classes to my work schedule. I originally planned on attending the course only for the first few months of my time in Spain but quickly decided to continue throughout my entire stay here, because I did not only enjoy the classes but also loved the support from all the staff members. Participating in the course makes me feel more comfortable with speaking Spanish and living the Spanish lifestyle and I continue meeting great new people who experience the same thing.

I am staying in Valencia for 7 months taking an Internship with an organization called Fundación Equipo Humano and at the same time, participating in group and private Spanish classes.

I took this program because I am doing an internship as part of my placement year at university, where I am currently in my third year of a Business Management and Psychology degree. I decided to do my placement in Spain as I have always wanted to learn Spanish and so I thought why not combine this with an internship placement, and do them together.

The internship I am doing is very interesting, with many innovation and creativity projects to collaborate on, as well as HR projects too. All the tasks are related to people and this is something I really enjoy, especially the fact that we work with people from many different countries.

My Spanish course consists of 6 hours of group classes and a 1 hour private class each week. It's nice to have the private classes as I started as a beginner so I feel it's necessary, and the group classes are also fun to get to know other people.

For my study abroad program in Valencia, I firstly chose to do an Internship in a bilingual school, where the kids learn in both Spanish and English. My internship role included helping out with English in the classroom, talking to the students in English and helping them to speak in their second language, supervising them during activities and break times. I worked with 6-7 year olds and it was a great chance to get a feel for the education field. However, I decided to change my internship after a few weeks because I wanted to try a business related internship and I also preferred something closer to where I was living, without such a long commute.

Euroace organized a second internship with me within 2 days and so I was able to join a professional football club and look into the sports business industry, and i didn't have to waste any time before getting into a new experience. I started my internship by sitting down with the Villarreal CF supervisor and discussing my interests. I decided to focus more on a graphic design and marketing role, and some of my tasks included designing brochures, video editing for the marketing department, and designing promotional banners and materials.

My course also involved taking Spanish classes every day. This really helped me to improve my speaking and listening skills, and it gave me a good amount of time every day to communicate with people on the same level as me and feel like I could make mistakes and ask if I didn't understand something.

Something that made the program a lot easier was the structure. The internship and the classes worked perfectly together, so the timetable was easy to get used to!

I loved Valencia and especially the Turia park. You can cycle, run, or just look around and find different festivals and events going on all the time. It was a great city, not too big, and with nice weather to enjoy being outside!

When I came across Euroace, I couldn't believe that I would be presented with the opportunity to gain invaluable professional experience, along with daily Spanish lessons, and it didn't fail to live up to expectations! Having 2 hours of classes every morning keeps the language ticking, which can then be put to practise at my Marketing Internship at Villarreal CF. The international nature of the different students and internships means that you are always meeting different, interesting people throughout the experience! I also chose to live with a host family for the first four weeks of my stay, and this was a great experience! You get a more cultural/Spanish experience whilst only speaking Spanish and therefore improving day to day linguistic skills.

I have completed an internship with Villarreal CF which has involved coaching a youth team in the academy and completing tasks for the International Department. This placement has been very valuable to learn more about coaching abroad in Spain and to gain experience in preparation for the future. I have had the privilege of working alongside some high standard coaches within the academy and therefore picking pick up many tips on how I can develop personally. It has also been an excellent experience having the opportunity to learn and work within such a professional setup within an elite club. In terms of my role within the International Department, I have had the opportunity to complete tasks which I haven’t had any previous experience in, and therefore this allowed me to learn new skills which I will be able to use later in life.