Program Reviews

When I first decided that I wanted to do an internship abroad, I was skeptical about the programs. I was very hesitant to join Adelante, but it ended up being such an amazing experience! I interned in Madrid for three months in the summer doing Digital Marketing. The Spanish classes at the beginning of the course were so helpful, and the internship itself was great experience. I met so many amazing people during my time in Madrid, and many of us were able to use our weekends to travel around together. I highly recommend this program. If you are having doubts, I completely understand, but I have 0 regrets about doing my internship with Adelante. My boss was great, and the program coordinators were always helpful. My housing was also in an amazing location - I could not have asked for better! It was truly one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had - for both interning and traveling!

When I first decided that I wanted to do an internship abroad, I was skeptical about the programs. I was very hesitant to join Adelante, but it ended up being such an amazing experience! I interned in Madrid for three months in the summer doing Digital Marketing. The Spanish classes at the beginning of the course were so helpful, and the internship itself was great experience. I met so many amazing people during my time in Madrid, and many of us were able to use our weekends to travel around together. I highly recommend this program. If you are having doubts, I completely understand, but I have 0 regrets about doing my internship with Adelante. My boss was great, and the program coordinators were always helpful. My housing was also in an amazing location - I could not have asked for better! Madrid is absolutely beautiful, and it is definitely a place I will want to return to in the future. This internship was truly one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had - for both interning and traveling!

I was in Madrid from mid-May until the end of July doing the Event Planning Internship. I didn't know quite what to expect from Madrid and the program but I had an AMAZING time, better than expected. To begin with, I couldn't imagine meeting such awesome people and I was fortunate enough to meet friends I would consider life-long friends. The program is small enough that you have the great opportunity to meet and become close with people you would not have ever expected to meet from all of the world! Adelante places you in the heart of Madrid which was also a wonderful experience to be surrounded by such liveliness, there was so many things to do at all hours of the day/night. The internship was a cool experience! it was interesting to see how work is done in Spain and expand my skills abroad. It helped me figure out what I want to do as a career back in the states. The program was a great amount of freedom but also they check up on you and Angel, the intern advisory for Adelante was so kind and helpful! I highly recommend this program! Best of the best!

I chose this program due to its affordability and because I only had to be at an intermediate level of Spanish before starting my internship. I got so much more out of this program than I expected! The first two weeks, I took Spanish lessons in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. My teachers were friendly and inviting, and my host was always eager to show me around the city and provide me with recommendations for things to do. As a vegetarian, I was extremely happy with how accommodating my hosts and program directors were. I made two new friends one week into the program, and we had a wonderful time exploring the city. Our teachers took us on excursions once a week to see more of Quito and to practice our Spanish. My internship focus (medicine) took me to Ambato during the third week of the program. Working and living with people who speak Spanish and are eager to help their volunteers learn added exponentially to my ability to speak the language. The people who live here are extremely friendly. My work assignment was very flexible, and allowed me to travel on the weekends and take the occasional day off to extend my weekend excursions. I would highly recommend this program to others. For my first time traveling to another continent, I was very comfortable here. The staff of Adelante Abroad was always there to support me and answer my questions.

Wow! I can officially say I've fallen in love with Seville, Spain, and Andalucia in general. I'm so grateful to Adelante Abroad for helping me have this incredible experience. The staff was very friendly and timely in helping me through the application and interview process, and the in-country contact, SIGE, was always around to answer my questions. I asked for an international business internship, but what I really received was a marketing internship. Although I wasn't able to gain experience in a field I'm interested in pursuing, I did gain some useful knowledge, although I did get lots of "intern" jobs like organizing and researching, which was expected but not necessarily great experience. However, my company was amazing because they were very accommodating with the fact I was visiting and would want to travel, and my coworkers were super friendly and funny. I also had unlimited free coffee and fruit, which was amazing. Something that was both a pro and a con is that my internship was in English. I wasn't proficient in Spanish, so it was good I could communicate with my coworkers and understand my tasks, however, my main goal was full Spanish immersion, so working for 5ish hours a day in English didn't help! And I didn't know the internship would be in English beforehand. However, if you are intentional about working on your language skills, there are a variety of other opportunities such as intercambios, language classes, and talking with locals (all of which I recommend). Overall, I did enjoy my internship - mostly because of the environment and the coworkers rather than the actual jobs I did - and I felt as if I did learn more about business!

Housing was a slightly different deal. First of all, I was in the neighborhood Los Remedios, which is very nice, but was a good 30 minutes by foot or bus to pretty much anything I did. However, public buses in Seville are great and easy to navigate, so that was a fun experience! Although I would have sometimes appreciated being in the city center, it was nice to live in a different area. The apartment itself was functional - private room, no AC (do NOT expect AC in Europe, but fans and strategically-timed adventures to air conditioned locations make it bearable) but I did have a fan (after a couple of weeks), a small kitchen (no stove), a small bathroom (with little hot water), and a small living area. A few things were broken, but my landlord was good at fixing them (he even bought a new toaster when I told him the old one was broken). However, my roommates were a bit of a mess. My landlord wasn't always great at communicating when new people would be arriving (I texted him first to ask if a new roommates would be replacing the old ones, and was told one was arriving the next day), nor did he tell me I would have a male roommate after the first two female roommates left. It would have been nice to know co-ed housing was possible. Two of the three roommates were perfectly fine and quiet, but one roommate didn't follow the house rules and brought several guys over, practiced flamenco dancing and singing loudly after 11pm, and never cleaned the kitchen. But roommates are always a gamble, so just be flexible! Honestly I mostly just slept in my apartment because there was so much to see and do in the city, so it didn't ruin my experience.

The language classes at Giralda were wonderful, and a great way to explore the city with the organized (but not always free) activities and a great way to make friends. I was sad they were only for 2 weeks, and I ended up taking more Spanish classes my last month at a different location (Sevilla Habla, near my internship) because I wanted to improve my Spanish. I highly recommend this, as it helped me make new friends after those I had already met left.

As far as the city itself, I 100% recommend interning in Seville! Barcelona and Madrid have the "big city appeal," but the Andalucia region is incredibly friendly and fun. And it's lively in its own way - most people stay out to between 2am-6am, although I don't recommend making a habit of that. Also, the city is very walkable (unlike Barcelona which is spread out and transportation is expensive) and there is so much to see for every person - theaters, shopping (literally everywhere), bars, museums, music concerts (and so many amazing street musicians!), historical buildings, the Isla Magica Theme Park (highly recommend), parks, and an aquarium. I don't really like going out and partying, so I found friends to walk alongside and kayak in the canal, visit the theme park and the aquarium, and eat at sushi joints, tapas bars, and Italian restaurants with me! I was never bored, and even though I traveled almost every weekend, I always looked forward to returning "home" to Seville every single time! The only downside is that flying out of the Seville airport/getting to some other places is a little harder or more expensive than Madrid or Barcelona. However, I visited Paris, Lisbon, Cadiz, Carmona, Granada, Barcelona, and 3 cities in Morocco (via We Love Spain - I highly recommend) during my three months! But there are so many things to see in the city and in the Andalucia region that you don't need to travel very far every weekend! Although I enjoyed my weekends traveling, my weekends in Seville were just as fun!

All in all, here is my advice: Do it! You'll be nervous and unsure, but you will grow so much. Also, I recommend longer programs! I really started to feel settled after the first month, I felt at home after the second month, and I didn't want to leave after the third month! I made dozens of friends from around the world, went on many adventures, took thousands of photos, got lost, said the wrong thing, learned how to shop and order in Spanish, watched soccer games with locals, ate waaaaaaay too much food, gained confidence in my navigational skills, learned how to communicate despite a minimal vocab, and so much more. And I loved every minute of it. Spain is so very different from what I am used to, but I can't wait to return in the future!

Adelante truly is a wonderful program from beginning to end! They were very prompt in responding to my initial interest and setting up a first phone call, followed by comprehensive guidance before my arrival in Spain. I told Adelante my field of interest and they found a perfect internship for me in Sevilla! The two weeks of Spanish class prior to the internship were also excellent; the school had wonderful professors and organized free, fun cultural excursions we could participate in after class. The Adelante staff was incredibly supportive and checked in with me regularly. The on-site people provided airport pickup, accompanied me to the first day of my internship, and organized a flamenco show excursion for all Adelante interns. They care a lot about each individual intern and were very helpful in resolving any questions or concerns promptly. The program is perfect for people who enjoy independence with accessible support when needed. I felt very comfortable in Sevilla and enjoyed the opportunity to shape the experience around my interests.

I spent my summer in Madrid doing a pharmacy internship and it was one of the best experiences of my life. This was my first time traveling outside of the United States and I have never felt more comfortable. The first week was a little rough trying to adjust to the new culture and way of life here in Madrid, but with the 2 week class that they enroll you in and also the apartment that you live in, there are so many opportunities to meet new people. I was fortunate enough to make so many great friends while I was here and if it wasn't for this program I may have not met anybody new for a little while. The 2 week class in the beginning is so laid back, however, you learn so much and it definitely helps knowing that the professors know your situation so they talk a lot about cool places to visit and things to do while you are in Madrid.
The program also allows you to be independent and gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. Having the freedom to buy my own groceries and not having to worry about a curfew or stuff like that definitely made it feel like I was living on my own. The program advisors are here at your disposal,so if you have a problem you are not completely alone.
Overall I would rate this program as one of the best. It helps facilitate relationships and gives you the freedom to be on your own, while also having somebody a phone call away to help whenever you need it.

I did a two month journalism internship through Adelante with an English language magazine in Madrid called Guidepost Magazine. Overall, my experience with Adelante and my internship was excellent. The housing provided was great and the logistics such as airport pickup went smoothly. An internship with Adelante is great for someone who does not need someone checking in on them constantly. While I always knew the Adelante staff were available to help me with any problems, I had very minimal contact with them and felt very independent during my stay. Also, the two weeks of language classes that were included were incredibly helpful. As someone who went into the internship with a high level of Spanish, I was skeptical at first about the required two weeks of classes. However, the staff at the language school are great and they have classes for all levels. All classes are 100% in Spanish, and there are other international students there who are learning Spanish as well so it's a great environment to feel comfortable practicing your language skills. As far as my actual internship is concerned, I did not completely get what I wanted out of it, but it was still a great experience. My goal for this program was to be put in an internship where I would be in a Spanish-speaking environment every day, but it was more of a freelance journalism type of job. I had to go around the city and attend events, but didn't necessarily have the constant language emersion that I wanted. Nonetheless, it was not that big of a deal for me because I already went into the internship knowing how to speak Spanish, and I was able to have several articles published in English that will look great on a resume. However, I would not recommend my specific internship for someone who really needed to learn Spanish. I do not blame Adelante for any of this though, as I think they did in a way give me what I asked for. All in all, I think Adelante is a great and affordable program for independent students looking for valuable work experiences!

Living and working in a new environment is definitely a good experience - provided that you are personally ready for it. This program is best suited to individuals who are self-motivated and are independent workers who can work for periods of time without supervision responsibly. I took part in the Psychology program, and found the work to be straightforward and relatively clear. The biggest challenge to future participants will be learning to adjust to a new living environment - be prepared to make mistakes and learn to problem solve for yourself.

This program was absolutely amazing! The classes are very helpful, and gives a different perspective on the horse industry, especially the Fitness class. All of the instructors (both class and riding) are so nice and extremely helpful. The program planned several outings to help see some of Scotland's tourist spots without having to pay or get there on our own. There was still a free weekend, for which the instructors helped us plan a two day trip, and get to the airport/train station/etc. The riding classes are so much fun, and all of the horses have such unique little personalities, and clearly love their job. There was a slight bit of miscommunication between Adelante and our housing, but hopefully that will be fixed for future programs! The dorms we were in were still very nice and clean, but it was a shared bathroom for each floor, and they were smaller than expected. But like I said, they were clean and livable. Over all it is a fantastic opportunity to bond with the girls on your program, and the locals as well! I would highly recommend this program for equine students.