Program Reviews

My internship program located in Madrid, Spain, through Adelante Abroad was absolutely phenomenal. I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to work in an orthopedics/trauma hospital called Clinica CEMTRO, alongside some of the top orthopedic surgeons in Europe. There, I was exposed to the ins and outs of life as a surgeon, as I spent my days shadowing doctors both in patient consultations and in the operating room. As a result, I often ended up working between 9-14 hours a day; instead, of only 4-5 as I had expected. I was able leave whenever I wanted, however, I wanted to make the most of my 3-month internship. It was also by working such long hours, that I was truly able to build better relationships with my colleagues and supervisors.

Prior to beginning my internship, I studied Spanish throughout high school and then for two weeks at the Eureka language school. Despite this however, I still had great difficulty communicating with the patients, nurses and doctors. As a result, this working environment truly challenged me to improve my Spanish language abilities. Now that I have completed my program, I can confidently say that I am able to read, write, and converse at a much more advanced level The knowledge that I gained in the past three months is incomparable to that which I gained after 6 years of studying the language in school.

During my time in Madrid, I lived in a quaint apartment located in the heart of city. Constantly surrounded by people, cultures and attractions, I was able to truly experience its vibrant nature. It is often said that New York is "The City That Never Sleeps", but anyone who says that, has clearly never gone to Madrid. Whether it was going for tapas and cerveza (beer), spending the day at one of the many museums, or dancing the night away at a nearby salsa club, there was never a dull moment.

Overall, this was a truly invaluable experience, and I can now say that I certainly want to become a doctor, and possibly a surgeon due to my internship experience. I would definitely encourage anyone seeking career exploration, an adventure, and personal growth to pursue an internship position through Adelante.

I was originally looking for a program where I could improve my Spanish. I searched and searched, and came across Adelante Abroad. Not only could I improve my Spanish, but I could intern in whatever field I wanted and get real-life work experience! It was the perfect combination. Before I went to work with ecology in Oaxaca, Mexico with Adelante, I was unsure of what I wanted to study or do with my life. After experiencing plant life on a new level, I realized that is what I want to study. My experience with Adelante clarified many things about myself career-wise, and also personal-wise. I am very appreciative of my experience, and Oaxaca is incredibly beautiful!

Adelante's program in Madrid is one of the finest internship-abroad experiences one could ask for. The program has situated itself with ideal living conditions, located directly in the heart of the city (basically in puerta del sol). Madrid itself is a city with tons of things to do, people to meet, and culture to be explored, so, for one, you will never be bored. I chose to intern in the international business sector, working for a company called IFEMA, organizing international professional fairs. Working in a spanish company was quite invaluable to my maturation as an adult as well as an employee. Your spanish and language skills improve immensely and you learn how to integrate in a foreign culture. On top of that, adelante's internship hour regulations allow you ample time to explore other activities and meet new people and travel within Europe. Its an incredibly individual experience and one that, i believe, is quite invaluable to any student looking for something more, something different.

I stayed with Adelante for 2 months in Madrid, doing a placement with a local psychiatrist. I had a bit of an unusual situation therefore I have started my internship before finishing my language classes (which being honest wasn’t a smart move but there was no other option due to time constraints). Important to note, that I did study Spanish before but my level was far from fluent.
I will break review in three parts so it is easier to follow.

Internship
Internship itself was amazing! Exactly what I wanted and what I expected: to be exposed to a private clinical setting, covering a range of problems starting from family crises finishing with schizophrenia. The doctor himself and his crew were very supportive and friendly, which I think is quite important especially for a new person which doesn’t really know Spanish. During the month, my comprehension skills rocketed up as well as reading ones, doctor would ask you to read A LOT ( a piece of advice for someone doing the same placement is to read beforehand his books, it will greatly assist during your internship and in general in your future career).
During the session with a patient, Doctor will explain his/hers diagnosis, share his opinion regarding the matter and would let to ask any question. Also you would have an opportunity to be present and sometimes even interview yourself various patients, complete there profile and participate in a psychotherapy. Sometimes when Doctor wasn’t available, someone from other doctors will invite to the differential diagnosis of his/hers patients.
From the negative side, I can highlight only the fact that most of the time instead of finishing at 3 or 4, I would finish at 7 or 8 which in my opinion is a bit too much for an unpaid internship. However, I have been interning only for a month so I decided to make the most of it but someone else who would want to do this internship for longer might want to consider to clarify this. At work no one seemed to be bothered with timing at all, I was told “leave whenever you feel tired”. But at the end it looks like such attitude is common among Spanish people, they are very chilled (at least the ones I have met).
Other aspect is language, I should have definitely taken classes before because talking to the patients was tough, my Spanish was very rusty.
Also you have to be prepared that sometimes patients would not want to talk in front of you therefore you would have to wait sometimes for a good 2-3hours.

Housing
I lived near Puerta del Sol with Adelante and Eureka (language school)students. The location is amazing, it is literally the central centre, all the touristic attractions, shops and nightlife are hand away from you. My apartment was very spacious with 5 more people living in, this might sound like quite a lot but in fact everyone seemed to co-exist very well. Throughout 2 months no one had any problem with anyone, a very peaceful atmosphere.
The massive downside was, as stated below, an air conditioner and unbearable heat during summer. It was so hot, even inferno would look like a ski resort. When I complained about it to the landlord, I was immediately given a fan, despite being very quick to react, I personally think that at such possibility of overheating air conditioners should be installed. Ironically there were air conditioner units but they didn’t work at any room.
Therefore a piece of advice, do internship when it is not too hot and if you choose to do it in a summer, consider looking for an apartment with an air conditioner.

Language School
I have been to two language schools before in Madrid and I think genuinely speaking that it is not the best one. The director (also a landloard) is very helpful and sorts out problems instantly but if judging school I would give it a solid C, at least for the time I have spent (2 weeks).
I completely agree with a review below that Eureka would work best for long-term students or complete beginners, it is not intense enough for short-term users.

Conclusion
Amazing Internship, good housing (even despite dysfunctional air conditioner), not bad language school. I think you do get value for money here.

It's safe to say I had an unforgettable summer in Barcelona with Adelante Abroad. Working for a city guide gave me true insight as to what it will be like to work in the publication industry as well as professional experience that I will certainly benefit from once I graduate college. The intensive class at Kingsbrook Idiomas helped me immensely with my communication skills, which is something I definitely wanted to gain through this program. Over the course of the two months I was in Spain, I fell in love with Barcelona and met people whom I will remember for a lifetime. This program is absolutely for an adventurer who can handle obstacles and in no way for those who like to have everything laid out for them. If you are not an extremely independent person, I don't recommend this program at all. However, if you are, it's the perfect experience abroad.

I had a great experience. My Spanish improved tremendously after only 2 weeks of classes. The city is small and the people are wonderful. The climate is nice too; it's not too hot and there are not a lot of bugs. The city is very close to a lot of interesting historical sites, and there is so much to do in the city center! I was there during the big festival in July, the Guelaguetza, and that is the time to go! The city is hopping all the time with cultural activities and markets. The Adelante staff were very helpful and friendly as well, but they weren't constantly getting involved, which I greatly appreciated. They don't hold your hand, but they were there if you needed them, so I was able to really experience the city in my own way. I know that the work experience differs based on which internship you pursue, but personally I enjoyed my work assignment; I learned a lot and felt very involved. I worked a good amount but was not overworked. Overall, it was incredible! I can't wait to go back again!

My experience with Adelante was very mixed, with some positive notes and some negative notes.

I chose to live in the Adelante housing. The location was right next to Puerta del Sol, a great central location with lots of restaurants, shopping, and good transportation links nearby. However, as I was there during the summer, and this summer was particularly hot even by Madrid standard, living without air conditioning was extremely difficult. At one point, I came down with heat exhaustion just from laying on the couch, because the apartment was that hot. To make matters worse, there was an air conditioning unit, but it didn’t work. I asked about it, Eureka, the owner of the apartment about it, and there was no possibility of getting it fixed, so I was left to be taunted by a broken air conditioning, showing that it was possible to have air conditioning there, but yet there was no AC. In short, the Adelante housing is great, as long as you aren’t there during the summer.

The first two weeks were spent at the Eureka language school. I could tell that Eureka is a great school, and I appreciated the organized excursions during the first two weeks of my program. However, the structure of Eureka does not work for students who are there for only two weeks. It is designed for students to study there for months at a time. When I signed up for a program that included intensive language classes, I expected an intensive review of Spanish. Instead, I was placed into a class covering material I learned in high school, with people who were learning the material for the first time. So when I needed 15-20 minutes review per topic, I was instead forced to spend 4 days on it, and covered very little material in the time I was there. On a positive note, being just down the street from Eureka, who served as the landlord for the apartment, made it convenient when I had a problem, such as when the wifi stopped down and I needed them to fix it.

The internship was not what I was hoping for. I am interested in international relations, and was hoping for an internship that would allow me to explore career options related to international relations. I was placed at an NGO that related to my interest in international relations in name only. I worked in their marketing department, which had very little work for me to do, and I also find marketing to be extremely boring and not enriching enough for my interests. I spent many days just scrolling through news site or reading a book, feeling like I was just warming a desk. On the days that I did have something to do, it was merely translating documents to English or making Photoshop projects, bearing little resemblance to the internship that I had hoped for. I found myself in a marketing internship, which was not what I wanted, and I was extremely bored for 4 hours a day for 6 weeks.

This is what the positive element of Adelante comes in: their support. At one point, my frustration with my internship placement led me to email Adelante to ask for advice about how to handle it, and they immediately intervened in the situation. They asked Antonio, the intern advisor, to talk to my boss about it to save me from the awkwardness of talking to her about it myself. When he was unable to reach her via phone, he actually came into the office to talk to her. When she acknowledged that they didn’t have much for me to do, he arranged 2 interviews for me at other companies. Neither of the companies I interviewed with felt like a good match, so I decided to stick with my original company. Although not much ended up improving with internship placement, I really appreciated the support Adelante gave me, and it was nice to know that they tried.

It’s easy to dwell on the negative aspects of the program, but generally I had a very positive experience in Spain, but much of the positive experience took place outside of my class or my internship. It was what I made of it. I knew I wanted to be left with a positive impression of Spain, so I made sure to make it positive, by making friends and spending my time doing the things that interested me, whether that was going to see a movie in Spanish or traveling on the weekend. My Spanish improved exponentially during the two months that I was there. Even though my internship wasn’t perfect, being placed into an environment in which I was the only non-Spaniard improved my Spanish in a way that it could have never been improved from taking a Spanish class. I grew a lot from this experience, growth that I never would have experienced if I had stayed in the US for the summer.

Adelante's coordination of my marketing internship in Barcelona was great. The program followed through on all of its promises, and the support was clearly there if and when I needed it. Luckily, I didn't because Barcelona is such a awesome place. I am so happy I got to call it home for two months. My apartment was a hop, skip, and a jump away from the metro which could take me anywhere in the city. I worked for 4 hours a day, and that time split between work and cultural immersion made life extremely enjoyable. I met so many great people, wherher it was through school, work, the program, or a social setting. More importantly, it was a great time to get to know myself. This program was better than a study abroad expierence because I was truly free. There was nobody that forced me to do anything I didn't want to do, and there was no after-school homework. Many people assume that classes abroad will be a walk in the park, but I met more than a few people who were frustrated with class requirements. Adelante allowed me to bolster my CV in a way that I can be proud to talk about in my next interview. Barcelona itself is phenomenal city. As long as you are aware of whats going on around you, you should be safe. The city offers so many options, from being a beach bum to clubs to museums. The In the summer, it was hot and there was no AC in my apartment, but the draft made it relatively easy to sleep. The new culture provided me with a totally different set of challenges, but I feel I have grown as a person because of it. Adelante provided me with the platform to do just that.

My time in Madrid was wonderful, but what everybody needs to know and what I quickly learned is that your experience abroad depends almost entirely on what you make it. The first two weeks of classes went fine. I was placed in an intermediate class "because I had been taught Latin American Spanish and I could brush up on some basics," but I felt that I didn't learn all that much. The classes were geared towards the people that were there long term, since we spent the whole two weeks going over direct and indirect pronouns during the grammar section. I thought that we would be getting more of an intensive overview of Spanish grammar to remember the main points, but the conversation section was great to learn new vocabulary and get used to speaking Spanish again! After the two weeks of classes, I started out at one company that ended up being a horrible fit, but Adelante quickly helped me to find another placement at IFEMA (Feria de Madrid). It's a huge business, and it was an incredible experience to work at such a big company while still a student. I had a few projects to do, but I also had a lot of downtime where I browsed the internet to kill time. Some of this could probably be attributed to the slower summer season and my short time there, but if I were to re-do my summer I would probably choose something more hands on. I did a lot of Spanish writing, but I feel like I did not get to practice my spoken Spanish as much as I would have liked to. I traveled a little bit since I was on a tight budget, but I definitely want to come back to see more. Madrid is filled with endless shops, restaurants, bars, and clubs, and I tried my best to check out the most popular places and some of the more obscure ones as well.

I had an incredible internship placement. I truly enjoyed working and teaching children of all ages English. It was difficult at first because I had kids from ages 3-13 in one class however I learned how to adapt quickly. They say the best way to learn in experience and that is what I got. However my living situation sucked. My landlord did not follow any rules and did as she pleased.