Program Reviews

I have to say that the internship set up was convenient and the application was easy enough to complete. The cost, in comparison to other abroad competitors, was quite affordable considering I was posted literally 400 feet from in the exact center of Madrid. I would do this again if there was another opportunity to do so. However, I immediately suggest that whoever is looking into this program to plan, at minimum, 6 months ahead to get all the requirements settled. After all, I ended up having more fun than expected. Every penny is worth it and the people I was with were nice enough to help me with anything I needed.

Loved this experience! Going abroad is something that is on everyone's bucket list, so why not learn something while you're at it? Adelante does a fantastic job providing a great experience abroad along with a great internship. The Spanish class that came with my program was a surprise but definitely my favorite part. The internship itself (medical) was great as well- very enlightening. The one suggestion I would give is to make sure to get a visa! Traveling in Europe is fairly affordable and with all the extra time you may have from work, it's worth it to get out and explore! I would do this program all over again!

Absolutely the experience of a lifetime!!! I was terrified before I left and almost bailed because of my anxiety about going somewhere totally new where I wouldn't know anyone coupled with some Visa issues. But the staff (and my Dad) were voices of reason and got me set to leave. And basically from the moment I arrived- everything was great.

I highly recommend living in the housing with other Adelante/international students in Madrid. Definitely some of my best friends were my roommates, but also there is so much going on in Madrid all you have to do is take the initiative to walk outside and you'll meet the greatest people! It's right in the center of the city by so many bars/shops/clubs/transportation hubs/gyms/etc etc etc. Some of the appliances are pretty old and sometimes don't work great (ie microwave, washer, etc), but it's well furnished and equipped with pots/pans which is great. The language school classes before the internship were definitely helpful as a kind of adjustment period.

After arriving home, all I want to do is go back and my Dad likes to remind and tease me about how I didn't want to go and thought I would be happier just doing a regular semester in Boston because the semester abroad was really the greatest one of my life. So JUST DO IT (you're aloud to be scared- but take that leap).

I was very hesitant to do a program like this but I am so happy I did! From the beginning, the Adelante staff was nothing but helpful. I had over a million questions and I am pretty sure I emailed Jeramee about 5 times a day and she replied every single time. They keep you updated (and calm) while you're in the states and continuously check in while you're abroad. The staff in Madrid is awesome as well and will always help if you need anything. For the first two weeks you're in language classes for about 4 hours a day which may seem long but they are necessary. I was slightly annoyed because I thought I wouldn't need two weeks of Spanish classes considering I took Spanish for 3 years but I definitely needed them. The teachers are great and the classes improve your Spanish, I wish I could have taken them the entire time I was here. The only critique I have is the housing situation. For me, I was only there for 6 weeks so I sucked up and dealt with it but others have been here for months at a time and it's not really fair. The room wasn't entirely clean when I arrived and the bathroom was dirty and had a few bugs so a flat mate and I had to clean it. Also it says there's a maid but there isn't so don't expect new sheets or someone cleaning the floors, it's all you. But that has nothing to with program, it's the people running the school. However, the apartment is located in the heart of Sol so you're close to everything: food, shops, metro, school and entertainment. It's also pretty easy to make friends because most people are doing this program alone. I made friends that I know I'll have for a lifetime. And as for the best part of my experience: the internship. I would NEVER have been able to get an internship like the one I have here in America. I was able to get hands on experience, work with an amazing foundation and meet the kindest people. I know I'll still remain in contact with them in the future.

Overall, I highly recommend this program. The staff, the location, the experience, it's all worth it. I feel like I grew a lot as a person through this program and learned from talented professionals. The other nice thing about this intern abroad program is you're not working all day everyday so you have plenty of time to explore the city as well as other cities which I recommend as well. If you want to do something for yourself that will benefit your professional, academic and personal life, this is the program for you.

I interned in Sevilla for 3 months in a school working with kids suffering from severe mental disabilities. It was an amazing experience, I learned so much. Sevilla is a great city with so much history and beauty. I also had the opportunity to travel around Europe because I had 3 days off a week, it was perfect! My living situation was great - living with an awesome Spanish woman. I got to practice my Spanish with her every day and it really helped. The Adelante and Sige team was incredible, especially Catherine who helped me whenever I needed something. Overall this was an invaluable experience and i would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I did the 4 month program in Costa Rica with Adelante Abroad and loved every minute of it. I graduated collge in May of 2016 and had not done an internship yet so I started to look up internships in Costa Rica and found Adelante´s website. From the very beginning eveyone was very helpful and informational. After I applied, I heard back right away and then made my plans to go. I came with my best friend from college which was very important in our serach to find the right program to go through.
Internship:
Adelante partners with Universidad Veritas in Zapote which is still technically considered San Jose but about 15 minutes outside the center of the city. It is a great location because it is much cleaner and safer. It is also walking distance to San Pedro which in my opnion has the best night life in the area because there are a lot of universities located in San Pedro therefore you can go out and meet locals your own age. I took two intensive spanish courses before being placed in my internship. Adelante was really good about questioning you on the things you want to accomplish in the work place before making your placement. I graduated with a communication degree and a minor in Spanish. I was placed in the Study Abroad office of the University I attended for the first two months which was a perfect fit. The people in my office were great and I lived super close to where I worked. I definitely feel like this internship is something I can put on my resume!
Homestay:
Absolutely amazing, I lived with my best friend in a house with a mamatica very very close to the University. She cooked great food and was very welcoming. She made it very clear that her home was our home. We were a little nervous going into a homestay because we were 22 years old and have not lived with a ¨mom¨ in over 4 years so we were worried about being able to keep our independence. We got lucky with our mamatica because she was on the old side so she was around when we needed her but stayed to herself for the most part. She was awesome because she only spoke Spanish so we got a lot of practice with her.
Overall:
Costa Rica was an amazing experience and I would have stayed forever if I could. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning a new language and culture. I am definitely going to take away so much from this experience!

I participated in 2 months of Spanish courses and 2 months of internship at Universidad Veritas. What an amazing experience! The staff at Veritas was super friendly, helpful, and accessible. The professors were wonderful both inside and outside the classroom and it was great doing my internship with the University's social psychologist.
My homestay was very clean and only a short 5 minute walk to campus. Mama Tica also made la comida más rica! On the weekends I traveled to the beautiful beaches and explored the rainforests. What a beautiful country with amazing people. I loved this experience!

I am so glad that I came across Adelante! To be honest, I was pretty ambitious when I decided to take a shot in doing an internship in Spain without hardly any prior Spanish knowledge (I taught myself for about a month before going to Spain), but I quickly picked up on the language and am now able to understand what people are saying 90% of the time. The 2-week classes at the Spanish school were unquestionably helpful and a wonderful experience overall. I have never taken a language class that consists of no more than 7 students, and where the instructors taught everything in Spanish.
As for my internship, I interned for a famous psychiatrist who has his own private clinic in Madrid, which was such an eye-opening experience for aspiring psychologists who intend to work in the clinical practice field. Not only was I able to observe what it was like to be a psychiatrist, I had the opportunity to directly interact with some of the patients (even without the presence of the doctor, but mainly only with those who speak English), and even attend special events such as lectures and the presentation of the doctor's newest book! I definitely recommend anyone out there who is thinking about going into the field of clinical psychology to try to get this intern position. (Note: be prepared to wait around because sometimes the patient just wants to be alone with the doctor). Also, this internship will definitely improve your Spanish because you're listening to Spanish all day!
Overall, the price I paid for this program is so worth what I was given. Not only was my intern position a great one, the living situation (GREAT location, big and well-furnished apartment) and support from the Adelante staff exceeded my expectations. Although I have a month and a half left, I am sad to even think that my internship will be ending soon. The past 2.5 months flew by!

It surprises me how this program continues to receive largely very positive reviews. Certainly, if everything had gone according to plan with my program experience, I might feel more magnanimous towards Adelante– despite the program’s thorough mediocrity in any case, really. In the end, my three months in Barcelona were just decent enough. The “Miami of the Mediterranean” is a hard place to get bored with, but well before I had even arrived in Spain, Adelante dropped the ball. Adelante Abroad bills itself as “a very strong, successful program right now,” but for me, it was actually more like a recklessly inattentive internship mill, hiding behind a fairly deceptive website. My main mistake was initially applying for a six-month program in Barcelona. It turns out that applying for an Adelante program longer than the 90-day Schengen Area allowance, which usually requires a visa, can send you on an exhausting and expensive journey into some shady bureaucratic territory. And Adelante is definitely not going to be there to guide you through it, whatever they may claim to the contrary.

Schengen Area countries require Americans to obtain a longer-term visa for stays of more than ninety days. Adelante was woefully irresponsible in how it prepared me to apply for a visa. It is true that for a variety of reasons, Adelante must ultimately leave the visa responsibility to the applicant, but this does not excuse Adelante from the gross negligence they displayed in failing to guide me, a paying client, through the process. Everything was going well until Adelante got back to me with my program dates; I was to spend 189 days in Spain. This proposed length of time was obviously inconvenient, as visas for longer than 180 days require a more comprehensive background check, including a medical analysis and an FBI criminal history report. Of course, I had to research this on my own; Adelante seemed clueless and unaware that the inclusion of just nine extra days would require significantly more effort and money on my part. And though I had applied well ahead of Adelante’s deadline, I found myself having to scramble to acquire all the necessary documents in time for my last-minute appointment at the Spanish Consulate in San Francisco. In total, I spent slightly over $1,000 in costs related to my visa application; much of this went to fees associated with obtaining FBI clearance.

I drove hundreds of miles to San Francisco and walked into the Consulate of Spain on the day of my appointment. I was met with an ice-cold reception. My visa officer spoke in a haughty tone, and requested additional documentation above and beyond what I was led to believe was necessary (this documentation was not listed as necessary anywhere on the consulate’s website). Apparently in the eyes of Spain, I was some hardcore criminal intent on causing trouble in Barcelona until I proved myself otherwise, despite my perfectly clean FBI record. I never figured out why they did not like me; maybe they simply did not like the way I looked. A chat with the visa officer’s supervisor yielded the same aggressive suspiciousness (he was friendly at first, but after going downstairs to pick up my application file and speak with the visa officer, he came back with a real doozy of an attitude). There was little I could do to change this; as representatives of a foreign government, visa officers are pretty much free to exercise whatever discretion they want when it comes to issuing visas. And while this situation was obviously bad, Adelante’s response was equally disappointing. Yes, maybe the consulate was determined to keep me out of Spain for more than three months, but Adelante did not even lift a finger to assist me, their client. It did not help that Adelante messed up my introduction letter to the consulate; they carelessly mislabeled me as an “architecture” student. The visa officer told me that they would process my application once I had submitted my “Convenio.” I was somewhat familiar with this term; in the course of my visa research, I had learned to equate “Convenio” with Adelante’s “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), a contract between the intern and the company. The consulate wanted this document as extra proof that I would actually be an intern (and not a criminal) in Spain. On the phone, Adelante feigned ignorance. They claimed that the MOU was merely an “internal document,” and that mine was not ready, as they had not even set me up with an employer yet. Later in Spain, when I actually received my MOU, it was also labeled “Convenio,” and had all the appearances of being a real legal document. So much for the Adelante Director’s unconvincing defense over the phone: “‘Convenio?’ What does that even mean? I’m so sorry, Jarrett. You’ll just have go to Spain without a visa!”

Faced with arrogant obstruction from the consulate, lazy incompetence from Adelante, and with just weeks to go before my flight to Europe, I made the difficult decision to abort my visa application and shorten my program to less than ninety days. Once again, I had lost $1,000 in failed pursuit of this visa, and I had moved to a shorter-term Adelante program, which is charged at a much higher monthly rate. I did not think I was paying several thousand dollars for Adelante to basically say: “Okay man, let us know when you get the visa. Good luck! You’ll need it! LOL.” Adelante’s emphasis on the “independent traveler” is a subtle way of shirking responsibility when things go wrong. It became clear to me why sleeker internship companies do not even usually offer programs for more than three months– it is simply irresponsible to send unprepared applicants blindly into the bureaucratic hell that can be the visa application process. And after going through this disaster, my shortened internship experience did little to relieve my disappointment with Adelante. As other reviewers have noted, the actual internships that Adelante arranges can be unsatisfying at times. Adelante sent me links to the websites of glamorous hotels, and told me that I would go through a rigorous training process at one of them. In reality, I spent a lot of my days just cleaning rooms and waking people up at a simple hostel. I met another Adelante intern in Barcelona who actually called it “false advertising.” As for lodging, I was placed in an old apartment with no air conditioning and dysfunctional Wi-Fi. It was definitely not a truly horrible situation, but it certainly did little to change my impression of Adelante as a fairly lackluster internship company. My contact at Adelante did reliably check in with me over email, but these short and generic messages seemed like a cheap way of creating the illusion of real customer service.

I suppose you get what you pay for. My Spanish skills did improve, and I did gain work experience. Considering Adelante’s affordable, bargain basement prices, I might have been basically satisfied with my barebones internship and lodging experience in Barcelona, were it not for the fact that Adelante’s clumsiness regarding bureaucratic realities cost me a great deal of extra time and money. And although I cannot forgive the Spanish Consulate for its bizarre and inexplicable suspicion of me, I was absolutely unimpressed with Adelante’s weak and evasive response to that challenge. So, I must place equal blame for this episode with the consulate, and with Adelante for failing to look after me as a client. Probably the best aspect of the program was the vibrant city of Barcelona itself, but obviously Adelante is not the only internship company that can take you there. Going forward, I would strongly caution American applicants against opting for a longer-term Adelante program, as these may require a visa, and Adelante may just abandon you, should trouble arise in your visa application process. Shorter programs, however, do not have the same low per-month rate that attracted me to Adelante over its competitors in the first place. To improve its service, Adelante needs to put more effort into assisting its clients through the visa application process, and to be more prepared when its clients encounter a hostile bureaucracy. Adelante should also warn prospective clients about the unpredictable risks, costs, and significant efforts involved in the visa application process.

Teaching English in Chile was wonderful! My experience was great from the beginning. I had a really nice driver from the Santiago airport to my apartment in Vina del Mar. Once I got to Vina, I had a really nice stay at a large apartment with two roommates. At my internship, the staff was really nice and helpful, and so were the students. I was really able to focus on teaching the material and helping students master English. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone.