Program Reviews

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.

The overall entire 2 months is Spain was an incredible personal experience for me, I went out and made new friends and was very independent. I could have come to Spain and done this without Adelante, however, I thought I needed to rely on an outside organization, but it turns out the 2 things they provided: housing and school, I could have got on my own without paying them to help me sign up for it all, however them being the "middle man" did help out a lot and reduce a lot of stress I would have had doing it myself. I was looking forward to the excursions through the school but was disappointed to find out three of them were canceled because not enough people signed up. The housing was very very nice, a huge plus and conveniently located, but the school was disappointing. In the 2 weeks I was there, I learned a couple key main lessons and then was off. For ex, we spent a week learning the difference between Por and Para. I wanted a more general review of Spanish to help me boost my speech when I am out alone conversationally. This is a much better school if you are planning on attending from the beginning to end level. When I came, after taking a test, I was put in the middle of a spanish class and their grammar lesson, and was there for 2 weeks while they were on the por/para and other smaller grammar lessons, and then I was out. Didn't learn much at all.

I was not given as many hours at the language school as originally planned, but I still had a good experience and had personal growth. For anyone wanting more of a social and nightlife scene, pick a larger city. For those wanting to relax and unwind, pick Marbella :)

Adelante's study abroad program exceeded my expectations, I received equal levels of cultural experiences and academic knowledge. The program's lecturers were beyond knowledgable about their respective subjects and wanted us to have the best time possible. This is the easiest and funnest way to earn some college credit whilst you are a in another country.

The staff did struggle with communication to the students about daily activities but it allowed us to learn to be flexible. It was frustrating at times because our course paperwork was not outlined in an orderly fashion but was ultimately finished.

Overall the experience allows participants to juxtapose management systems in Scotland with those in the United States.

I absolutely loved this program! The equine classes were very interesting and informational. The fitness class was a lot of busy work (I would recommend a computer for access to typing). The instructors were very helpful anytime you needed them. Riding class was a blast and you get to ride different horses to help you develop as a rider. Both the instructors were positive and very smart. As for the culture, you definitely become more diverse. Aside from the Scottish students We got to met some French exchange students and students from England visiting for the Highland Show. Weekends were usually busy but well worth it!