CIEE Reviews

By far, the best term of my college career and i've had an amazing time in college as i'm sure most others have. Sevilla quickly became my favorite city in Spain and one of my top in the world. It is rich with culture and tradition that quickly become a part of how you want to live. Classes were not very challenging but allowed for a lot of free time to wander the city, do activities through the programs, and make new Spanish and American friends. I want to go back and live for a longer period of time and so did most of the study abroad students I went with said. Highly recommended.

My title says it all. My study abroad experience with CIEE in Seville was absolutely the best summer of my life. I always knew I wanted to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country, and my university offers programs in Chile and Spain. After my friend highly recommended the Seville program, I made my choice.

I arrived in Seville and immediately met my host family. They were incredibly friendly, accommodating, and excited to meet me. They welcomed me into their home and really made me feel like I had a home in Seville. I still keep in touch with them and plan on visiting next year.

The orientation that CIEE requires was extremely helpful. My orientation guide, Ana, showed us around the city and made sure we always got back to our homes safely after each night. I quickly learned my way around the city and learned the basics of how to live in Seville.

The staff at CIEE really made my experience what it was. The program director, Virginia, is so knowledgeable, passionate, and friendly. She really cared about each student individually and got to know us all personally. The professors that taught our classes were wonderful as well.

The trips we took during the program were informative and eye opening. I saw many different parts of Spain and Morocco too! Our tour guides knew everything I could want to know, and I always felt safe.

Altogether, this program is a MUST. I bettered my Spanish, broadened my horizons, made life-long friends, and really found myself. I have already recommended this program to my friends, and one is currently studying in Seville while the other will be there this summer.

Thank you, CIEE Seville, for giving me the best summer of my life!

My semester in Sevilla was one of the best experiences of my life! When I left the U.S., I was nervous and anxious about living so far out of my comfort zone. However, CIEE offered so much support and gave me opportunities to go beyond my comfort zone and truly experience Spanish culture. I'm most grateful to CIEE for the opportunity to live with a host family. I absolutely LOVE my host family! They took me to extended family gatherings and day trips, we ate dinner together every night, and they went out of their way to make sure I had an enriching cultural experience. Some of my favorite memories are going to Semana Santa, Feria, and a horse show with my amazing host family. We're still in touch, and I'm going back to visit them in a couple months!

CIEE also hosted lots of day trips and events to make sure we had the chance to see other parts of Spain (and Morocco!). The program also connected me to an "intercambio" (language exchange partner.) My intercambio and I quickly became friends and would spend time walking around El Centro (city center) in Sevilla, eyeing which bakery we wanted to visit that day.

Overall, I gained confidence and stronger Spanish skills, expanded my worldview, and most importantly, found a second family. Gracias, CIEE!

I have loved participating in the Business & Society Program at CIEE in Seville. Not only do I get the opportunity to improve my Spanish speaking abilities with courses entirely in Spanish, but I also am provided with a plethora of resources to help me succeed. I chose CIEE because my courses transfer directly to my university as business school requirements and because everyone who has gone on the CIEE program before me absolutely loved their experience. CIEE also has detailed schedules with loads of activities and trips so that you are never bored. I love the staff and my homestay is perfect. Highly recommend.

I loved my time at CIEE in Nanjing! I thought the classes were great! I learned more in the first two days then I did in two years at my university. The staff is part of what made this experience so enjoyable. They're great teachers with a passion for teaching. They really care and want you to succeed. Nanjing is a great city. I wish I had more time to explore it. I felt my Chinese improved greatly and I would do the program again. I am sad that I only did a semester and not a full year.

Studying abroad in Barcelona changed my life. It was the best decision I ever made. I studied for an academic year with the CIEE ALA program, living with a host family and enrolling with local students at the University of Barcelona. The CIEE building is located in a great location--a beautiful cobblestone side street. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the people on my program and the local students in my classes were great. I had made friendships that will last a lifetime! Barcelona is such a beautiful city and this program has everything anyone could want: the beach, Spanish and Catalan culture, great food, historical nearby cities, awesome activities, and language immersion. For anyone that likes any of these things, this is the place and program for you! I miss it everyday and cannot wait to go back. It is truly an amazing experience.

I took 2 tourism classes, a Spanish class, and an internship class to go along with my internship in a 4-star hotel on the beach.
The island is a very unique place to study abroad because while it is touristy, it is not a big city. There is easy access to beaches, mountains, the school, city life, shopping restaurants, and anything else.
All the homestays are well-equipped and centrally located. The bus brings you right to school and most other places you would want to go.
There is a great orientation at the beginning and optional group activities throughout the semester.
The classes are a good amount of work to feel like you are in school while still having plenty of time to live life and explore the island and take trips.
There is amazing support and the directors are very helpful, nice and welcoming.
My Spanish has definitely improved, but it is up to the student to make the effort because it is very easy to speak English here all the time other than with the homestay and one Spanish class.
You really have to make the experience your own and make the effort to explore, make foreign friends, and speak Spanish but the program is extremely well run.
Some things to note that surprised me:
They have their own version of Catalan called Mallorquin which most people are bilingual in with Spanish. 3 out of your 4 or 5 classes are run by CIEE, meaning they are only with the American students in your program.

The academics are as hard as you want them to be, i.e. you can challenge yourself or you can breeze by (but you won't get as much out of it). They are accommodating to schedules and I traveled frequently and easily. The UB classes are cumbersome but overall a good learning experience and being uncomfortable in a class of Spanish students was one of the more formative aspects of the abroad experience. Further, in order to have the best experience possible, make sure your Spanish speaking and reading skills are up to par.

I mean, it was incredible. Absolutely amazing. I knew I wanted to study in Spain because I wanted to practice my Spanish, but I also wanted to be able to travel through Europe. I went abroad during my fourth year (out of 5) of college, and hadn't really taken many Spanish courses since high school. After my time in Seville, living with a host family and taking classes in Spanish, I can now put "Spanish (Conversational fluency)" on my resume without it feeling like a lie.

The host family I was paired up with was incredible, and we're still in touch and I love them dearly. And the support given by CIEE was so incredibly helpful. When it came to choosing classes, traveling around Europe, or general in-class support, the staff and professors went above and beyond to make sure all my questions were answered. I couldn't imagine a better group of people to studied under/with. The program director even began to help me search for opportunities to stay in Spain another semester after I mentioned to him I was thinking about it! They all really truly cared about the students and what they achieved, especially in the smaller CNMJ program.

The program also brought us on multiple excursions (Córdoba, Cádiz, Morocco...) and showed us around the cities in a fun and interesting way. And they struck the perfect balance between watching us/giving us support and also letting us explore the cities on our own.

Oh, and DUH I made some of the best friends of my life. I'm still in contact with some of the people from my program, and I'm actually living with one friend now! CIEE really knew how to establish a community.

I loved my time in Seville so much, and I really hope this review does a good job capturing that. I loved my time in Spain so much, that I'm actually living here again now that I've graduated from college! I'm so grateful for the opportunity CIEE gave me to learn about myself and my obsessive passion for travel and living abroad (sorry, mom!)

I spent a whole academic year in Seville through CIEE's Liberal Arts program and leaving was not easy. Seville is such a prime location to study abroad in if you're looking for language immersion and culture. I really enjoyed the classes I took at the CIEE study center because all of them involved outside of the classroom learning and getting to know the city in different ways. In the cultural history course I took, we would spend the first half of the class in our classroom learning about a topic and then the second half walking around the city seeing what we had learned, for example we were learning about the Roman empire and right around the corner from our study center there were still Roman columns standing. One of my favorite things about Seville was that so much of the Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic structures from the past centuries still remain. You can get lost in the city's narrow streets or climb the Giralda to check out the view or do like the locals do and hang out along the river for hours or go for a beautiful run along Parque Maria Luisa! The Sevillanos are also a big part of what makes Seville so appealing. Their way of living, their passion for their art and dance, and how friendly they are made it easy to always want to be surrounded by them. Overall, every one's experience abroad is unique and it's what you make it but the CIEE Liberal Arts program definitely kept me interested in the courses and I had so much valuable information that even my local friends didn't know about their city! The staff at the study center was also very supportive and made me feel comfortable as well as helped me make local friends! I'd go on a CIEE program again because they really care about the individual student's experience and have so many great excursions and activities available for the students!