Program Reviews

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.

Hello readers! If you reading this review then you are probably interested in interning abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Well, let me begin by telling you that you do not need to look any further if you are interested in an astonishing international experience. Barcelona is an excellent destination filled with marvelous architecture, alluring beaches, delectable dishes , diverse groups of people all with colorful personalities, and an absolutely dynamic nightlife. The question isn't where do I want to travel, the question is what program is best for me to use to get there? Well in this review I will tell you about my experience with Adelante Abroad.

Let's first start off with the price. I want to mention that if you travel, prepare for it to be costly period. However, Adelante Abroad does stand by their word when they advertise that they are affordable. Affordable meaning that the price is fair not a steal nor is it a rip off. I think it is accurately priced for what you get. So the price is actually a good value.

Next I want to mention the staff. The Adelante Abroad staff gives you phenomenal service! They make the application process very smooth and easy for candidates. They are also quick and very receptive to any question and concerns before, during, and after your program. Not to mention, they are very friendly, understanding, and extremely considerate. While abroad, they make sure that everything is going well and even send you links to events or helpful tools used to adapt to your new surroundings. For customer service, the staff gets a definite 10 out of 10.

Next would the inclusive Spanish courses you will take the first 2 weeks there. The classes were held at Kingsbrook. Kingsbrook has very engaging classes for language learning. My teacher was very enthusiastic and gravitating. However the lesson plans could have more structure. It seemed as though the lessons that were covered did not flow. Although, for the second part of Spanish lessons, it was taught by a different instructor. This instructor was brilliant. He handed us worksheets and also had group activities to where the whole class was involved which was very fun. Two weeks of Spanish lesson was not enough. This is one of the flaws of the program but I am sure that if you ask for more Spanish lessons then they would accommodate.

Housing would be my next topic. The housing was lavish compared to some of the other apartments that I visited there in Barcelona. You get your own room and also there is a housekeeper that cleans the apartment and also washes your laundry. I did not need anyone doing my laundry but it was nice I guess. Also with my apartment it was in a great location as well. It was not far from the mall, the beach, and the metro/bus station. The apartment itself was small, but honestly everything in Europe will be that way, so you just will have to get use to it. Other than that housing was great. The pictures they have online can be a little misleading but not completely false. Online it looked much bigger but the apartment still had a nice layout.

Last, but of course, the most important element would be the internship. Wow, I have much to say about my internship but I will try to be concise. My internship was not bad but it had much room for improvement. During my internship I felt as though I was just an extra and I was not part of the bigger picture. The interns at my job placement did not have much rank nor responsibility. Yes, we had duties but I could not help but feel like I was a pawn. I basically did all the dirty work that the others did not want to do. I do want to mention that this does come with the territory if you apply to be an intern so I really could not complain. However, the internship itself was not entirely dreadful. There were more hits than misses. I did enjoy the staff at the two locations I worked and also I did learn much when it came to becoming a professional in my industry. I could go on forever about the pluses and minuses about the internship but overall I think that it I something that you will enjoy but also be prepared for the moments that are not really hands on with your internship experience.

I hope this review helps you your internship program search. I think just like all programs, Adelante has much potential but at the same time not perfect. I would still recommend this program to a friend. Good luck. Adios!

Hello! My name is Nancy Haro and this summer I spent two months in Vina Del Mar/Valparaiso Chile. Adelante Abroad was incredibly helpful and they were in constant contact with me before my departure and throughout my stay in Chile. The director in my host country was incredibly sweet and helpful as well which made my first time on my own in a foreign country much easier. I lived in a three-bedroom house with roommates and we each had our own room. The Spanish classes and our respective internships were only Monday through Friday, so we would take advantage of the weekends to go dancing (numerous dance clubs were at walking distance from the house). Restaurants, shopping centers, the beach, some museums, and much more, are at walking distance from the house; however, places that are not, there are many other convenient modes of transportation such as, buses, el metro, and colectivos (collective taxis). The hills of Valparaiso have some of the most beautiful murals I have ever had the pleasure of seeing!

I interned at the with the Servicio Nacional de la Mujer at the Centro de la Mujer of Villa Alemana. I was blessed to work with an amazing team and since I was the first international intern they had ever worked with, they were able to learn from me as I was able to learn from them. It was a rewarding experience to be able to study, work, and live in Chile and I highly recommend everyone to do it!! If you have never been away on your own, like me, Chile is definitely the place to go!

Uruguay is a place like no other. I may have come here at the wrong time of year (it's winter), but if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to work at a place that really enjoy.

I'm a college student, and most internships that are out there for people at this level just have you shredding papers and getting coffee. At International House I got the polar opposite. They had me observing classes, working with teachers, running workshops, and substitute teaching. I actually have teaching experience now, which is amazing and surprising from an unpaid internship. It helped that I'm a native English speaker, but they actually had me working and were using my abilities and asking for how I felt about the classes and what my feedback was about them. I actually felt like a valued member of the school. How often can you say that you feel valued at an internship?

Overall, it's been a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

My trip to Barcelona was a fun one, and one that would not have been possible without Adelante Abroad's affordable prices. I would tell those looking at this program that you do get what you pay for. It's not exactly the fanciest or best internship jobs, but if you're looking to do some work abroad while also enjoying the experience on the cheap, you've got the right company. I'll list my pros, cons, and tips below.

Pros:
- Very affordable program
- Friendly staff; while small, if you call them up during business hours they are quick to help you/inform you about things.
- The people you meet on the program are all very wonderful. You have a sense of comraderie because you're all in the same boat, and going through the language school together really helps.
- The internship can often be very relaxed, which gives you a lot of time to explore where you are and really enjoy your time abroad
- I loved the language school; Kingsbrook was a great place with many new faces and people to meet, and was a great way to really gear up for my stay.
- I had a great experience with my housing. Marta was very sweet. Housing can be a bit of a mixed bag though, depending on your situation. Adelante is a smaller program than you think, so it is much more likely you'll live on your own with the apartment owner, or with one other roommate. I lived independently with the apartment owner and had a good time. Two of my other friends had to switch though because of this woman name Rosa who had previously gotten bad reviews from other people. But everyone else had relatively chill experiences with their apartment owners.

Cons:
- Perhaps the most notable of my experience was that the small staff seemed to be a bit disorganized, particularly when setting up my trip experience. I was not informed of my housing placement until 3 days before I left for Barcelona, when I was according to their website supposed to be informed no later than two weeks before I left. This goes double for my internship placement; not only was I informed late about that as well, but it turned out to be a completely different internship than I had requested. That second part was fine and partially expected (they had not promised I'd get my first choice) but it would have been easier to plan for had it not been so late.
- My internship was not as substantial as I would have hoped, but it's kind of a mixed bag depending on what you request. I worked for an LGBT group, but because it was in Barcelona, the heritage and importance of the group in particular was that it was a Catalan group. Adelante advertises Barcelona as if it is a place that Spanish is used commonly, I believe they say it is "the language of business." While I was able to communicate in restaurants and around town, don't be fooled: Catalan is EVERYWHERE and you will be having to parse it out a lot of the time. If you don't engage in Spanish first, people will speak to you in Catalan. They are proud of their culture/language and will use that first and foremost. This proved to be kind of odd at my job though, because that was a big part of their heritage and pride, so myself and my friend were the odd ones out for not speaking Catalan. That made the placement a bit weird as well.

Tips:
- In Barcelona, expect to speak Catalan and here it/see it everywhere.
- It is advertised/said that you'd probably be staying with a lot of people in your apartment, but it's much more likely you'll live on your own
- Reach out to Adelante by phone rather than by email during their office hours; it's quicker that way.
- Have lots of fun!

I never truly felt completely independent until this experience. My internship placement did not have much work for me so I created a lot of work for myself so that I can grow within my future career. I also wanted to branch out from the people in my program and started to use a traveler's app to meet traveler from all over the world and it helped my branch out of my shy shell. Overall being abroad has made me fearless.

My internship was with a Physical Therapy clinic in Madrid and I absolutely loved the experience. It was much more hands on learning than I could do in the United States. I was able to apply techniques like massage therapy, ultrasound, and go to observe surgeries. The physical therapists I worked with were energetic with their patients and very helpful as they explained to me each of their techniques. They were patient and understanding with my intermediate level of Spanish. If I did not know what they were saying right away they would take the time to explain more to make sure I understood. One of my favorite memories at the clinic was when one of the physical therapists asked me if I could ask the other doctors for a cushion. I misheard the word for cushion in Spanish so I went around the office asking the doctors, “Donde esta el culo?” Once everyone was done laughing at me, I found out I went around the office asking doctors where is the butt. Needless to say I was pretty embarrassed, but everyone thought it was hilarious and it will definitely be a funny story I will remember forever. Overall, I loved my time here in Madrid and I thought the program was fantastic. I learned more Spanish by speaking it everyday with the people I worked with and gained valuable clinical experience in a different culture.

I interned in Madrid for the past two months through the Adelante Abroad program. Adelante essentially sets everything up for you prior to arrival including your internship placement and housing and then you are basically on your own. My girlfriend and I both took part in the Adelante program and were able to live together in an incredibly nice apartment set up by Adelante in a very nice neighborhood of Madrid. It was definitely a relief having an apartment with zero issues, making Madrid instantly feel like home.
The adelante program starts off with two weeks at the Eureka language school where you are completely immersed in Spanish, with zero english speaking allowed in the school. Having very little Spanish background prior to this summer I was definitely overwhelmed in the first 15 minutes at Eureka, but that went away by the end of the first day and I really enjoyed the school and lessons. I actually wish there was someway that the program could work in additional time at Eureka into the 8 week program rather than just the two weeks in the beginning, but I understand that would be difficult with the internship hours the last 6 weeks.

I have a fairly unique major in college, making it somewhat difficult to find an internship placement in Madrid, but Adelante placed me with Sotavento Consultores, a financial consulting firm doing market research analysis and I was very happy with my experience at Sotavento. I was basically independent on my own projects for the entirety of the six weeks interning at Sotavento, allowing me to take on as much as I wanted in terms of workload. The work place is certainly different in Spain than the United States, but Im very grateful to have had the opportunity to see how business is conducted in Spain and to give insight on business in the United States.

I did a significant amount of research before traveling to Spain and decided to purchase an Eurail pass for traveling on weekends and I am incredibly glad I did. I was able to spend two weekends in Barcelona, a weekend in Valencia, San Sebastian and Granada as well as a day in Segovia all without worrying about the cost of point to point train tickets. My time traveling on weekends was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and I would recommend other Adelante candidates do the same as you will have plenty of time to explore Madrid during the week days after your internship and in the one or two weekends you spend here when not traveling. Spain is a beautiful country and each region looks and feels entirely different, definitely something worth experiencing.

While Madrid was not my favorite city I visited in Spain, I was very glad I chose to do the Adelante program here rather than another city for several reasons: 1)Spanish is much more common in Madrid than other cities. From my experience, it appeared that Madrid had much less English speakers which made learning and speaking Spanish much more important and necessary, something I definitely wanted from an abroad program. While in Barcelona I felt like I heard more English than Spanish or Catalan, definitely not the case in Madrid. 2) Madrid is centrally located in Spain. It was very convenient to be within a 5 hour train ride of every city I wanted to visit, making it possible to see as much of Spain as I did. 3) Madrid is the heart and hub of Spain. From a professional point of view, Madrid definitely had the feel of a big business city most similar to what a businessman is likely to encounter while leaving home for work in the U.S, giving me additional experience in how best to navigate big cities, which is infinitely different than what I grew up around.

The Adelante program is definitely not the typical summer abroad experience from what I read about from other programs online prior to choosing Adelante, but that is not a bad thing. The cost of Adelante was definitely cheaper than any other programs I came across, and this is probably due to the independence the program includes. You will feel as connected to Adelante or as independent in a foreign country as you choose. My girlfriend and I essentially had no contact with Adelante aside from the weekly or biweekly emails they send, and I was completely okay with that, while I understand others may want more of a structured program. If structure is what you are looking for than Adelante probably is´nt the right program, but if you want to get a real world experience in a foreign city where you can basically do what you want when you want to do it then I would recommend Adelante. I was a big fan of not having oversight while abroad as it forced me to figure everything out on my own. Adelante was definitely the best program for the best price for what I was hoping to get from a summer abroad, and without a doubt the most valuable experience I´ve had in my life. Having never been abroad aside from the Caribbean, I was very nervous to leave the U.S, but as im getting ready to leave Spain in another day I cannot wait to figure out where I will travel to next.