AIFS Abroad Reviews

I come from a very small town and when i arrived in Barcelona i was very out of my element in the city. Soon, i grew to love the hustle and bustle of city life, although never really got over the metro. Walking around the city; to class, shopping, and random walks, has let me discover many hidden gems that i would never have stumbled upon. I love how independent i have become, much to city life and this study abroad program. It is an experience i wouldnt change for the world.

I enjoyed staying in student apartments with other students that I had not met before. It was necessary to create new friendships and helped with integrating us into the social scene in Barcelona. This also encouraged us to explore more.

The most difficult adjustment I had to make was living my day to day life without a cell phone it would be helpful if the program offered rental phones. Other than that the staff is extremely helpful, the housing options are excellent, the excursions are great, and the city of Barcelona offers fun around every corner.

Coming to Barcelona I did not know what to expect or how I would survive being in a new continent and country for the first time. I quickly felt more comfortable when I went out with the other students in the program. Although from different backgrounds, we could all relate somehow. When I learned how to treat Barcelona like home, I became more comfortable. Here in Barcelona, I became comfortable with speaking Spanish even when I realized I made mistakes. I eventually learned how to survive on my own as an adult. Barcelona has taught me a lot about the European culture and the Catalan culture, as well as who I am in this large world we live on.

my experience in barcelona has been extremely amazing, i have noticed changes in myself as a person and have grown a large amount. the friends i have made in barcelona and eurpoe both in and out of my program are people that i believe i will maintain contact with for a large period of time in my life. my spanish has improved, however in a city such as barcelona it is difficult to learn spanish becuase of the whole catalan thing.

The experience in Spain was amazing. Definitely the best semester I´ve ever had. I would reccomend this program and city to anyone. Wish I didn´t have to leave so soon. Improving my spanish was a highlight as well as the frequent trips throughout Europe. Loved the apartment living and I got along well with all of my roommates.

These past four months were amazing. It was a great experience and I definitelñy do not want to leave. It was a lot of fun and I would not change a thing about it. I traveled a lot and ended up going to seven different countries while I was here. We went to Florence, Munich, Amstersdam, Andorra, London, and Paris. All of these places were incredible but Barcelona was by far my favorite place. We have been here for four months and my roommates and I most definitely took full advantage of the experience. After being here for four months we are stll exploring and finding cool new places around the city. My Spanish got so much better over these four months and it really helped coming here. I made some great friends and we are already planning to do more trips together in the future. This definitely gave me a different outlook on other things, especially on other aspects of home. It was a great four months and I already have friends from school signed up for the summer program with AIFS in the summer program. When I go home I plan on trying to motivate other people to study abroad as well, I was already able to convinvce my girlfriend to go abroad next year to florence for a month long program.

For starters AIFS was very accommodating from the start. They give you multiple tours of the city from the jump and make sure you´re comfortable with your housing situation. The excursions they provide for free are great as well. They bring you places that you might not have been told to see before hand and help you see more. AIFS also keeps you updated via newsletter and emails on local holidays and safety tips. I lucked out with a great apartment through them located centrally in the city and any time we needed something fixed or had an issue in the apartment they handled it immediately! Overall the expirience with AIFS in Barcelona was awesome and I´d definitely recommend it to anybody looking for an easy central travel hub (where you can get cheap flights to many places in Europe) and a good time as well.

-loved everything about this program!
-AMAZING experience
-LOVED MY PROGRAM DIRECTOR!!
-I would definitely recommend this program
-Im really happy about my barcelona experience
-I would definitely do this program again
-I had an unbelievable time here
-Everything went perfectly
-My roommates were awesome! we got along great
-the apartment was nice and i felt super safe
-

A typical day includes class, hour 40 minutes each, starting around 11 o´clock. Classes are small enough to interact among students and get to know your professor. I normally would walk back to my apartment just 3 short blocks from campus and cook myself lunch before walking back to campus for my last class of the day. After my final class I would meet up for dinner at my apartment with my four roommates where would normally all cook our own meals. Our apartment was spacious and overlooked a very busy part of the city. We had two bathrooms, one big kitchen, with an even bigger living room, and I experienced the luxury of my own bedroom. After dinner it was normally a cheap bottle of wine until around 10 o´clock, when we would prepare for the long night ahead. We would offically head out to a bar close to one of one million clubs around 12 o´clock before finally arriving at our club of choice before 2 a.m. The night would end hours later early into the morning. If it was a thursday night, we would enjoy a long sleep in the morning and an even longer weekend of fun.