Program Reviews

I loved the environment of the campus and support from the staff. Everyone here was very nice and extremely helpful. Being able to easily catch a bus to Edinburgh allows you to be able to explore the city often and see the major tourist sights of Scotland. The riding program was lots of fun and the instructors taught the lessons based on what you wanted to do. It provided a lot of variety and the horses were lovely as well. Overall I had a great experience and I wish I was able to spend more time here.

While in Eccelesmacan the group of us had so much fun riding, going out to the local pub, and taking trips to places like Edinburgh, London, and the Highlands. The school work seemed like it was going to be very easy compared to my home universities version of equine anatomy and in class that is the impression we got, but when taking the exam it was humbling to say the least so don't forget to study for the final because you will definitely need to. I loved the peopled that I was with on the trip but like any group of 15 girls and 1 boy, there was drama.

Meeting new friends from all over the US and overseas was a unique experience. Meeting people from Seville was lovely too! The culture, the food, and the beauty of the city are amazing. Having the opportunity to internship abroad is quite an experience, knowing Spanish but learning new words and of course, another pronunciation was fascinating. Adelante abroad in Sevilla answered all of my questions when I had one, they were very helpful and friendly as well. While in Seville, I also had the opportunity to travel around Europe.

My experience was unique because when I first got to Madrid I was still uncertain about how I felt about a law career. I was scared and unsure about how who I wanted to be as a professional. "Was Law really my calling?" I thought. However, I took everything with a grain of salt and decided to get the best out of my experience regardless. When I first Fernando Fanego, the attorney I was interning, I felt a connection to him. He had an attitude and a mentality that I admired as a businessman and a professional. Working alongside him was impressive, he had so many connections with people all around Madrid and I respected the fact that he took me in as his ward everywhere he went. He introduced me to countless of people and gave me an incredible experience, one that I will never forget.

I loved the ability to explore Uruguay on my own terms, which I think is unique to this study abroad program. My internship placement at a law firm was perfect, and I had great exposure to Spanish coming back to the US nearly fluent. The beach was great and I felt safe the whole time.

A complaint worth noting -- the head of Adelante, Kimberly, was hesitant at first to let me do the program solely due to my mental health diagnoses. I have been fully stable for years, so it was extremely demeaning to hear my abilities be questioned based on these conditions (and I think that's illegal too?)

I did a 4-month program with Adelante at a small software development company in Viña del Mar. Learning new coding languages while still getting used to Chilean Spanish was really hard at first, but everyone in the office was super patient with me. Of course there were some awkward moments where I couldn’t understand what they were asking me or telling me to type, but we all laughed through them together. I now feel confident that I can work in software in any Spanish-speaking country.

The Adelante program coordinator in Viña del Mar, Pamela, is incredibly nice and supportive. About halfway through my internship I felt really stressed with my progress at work, and when I told Pamela she was immediately ready to talk it through with me and adjust my role. That ended up not being necessary since I talked my fears through with a coworker, but nonetheless I felt like Pamela was really in my corner.

Viña del Mar itself felt almost like a perfect city to me. Super walkable, filled with shops and restaurants, right on the ocean, and an overall relaxed way of life. Viña and Valparaiso were great locations for learning about Chilean culture, especially compared to fast-paced Santiago. Everyone I met in Viña was kind and welcoming, from the enthusiastic teachers in my dance classes to the ice cream shop employee who memorized my order. If you’re looking to have an awesome experience abroad, I can’t recommend this program enough.

During my time studying in Spain, I was able to not only gain relevant work experience in my field, but also connect and make friends with people from all parts of the world, put my Spanish skills to the test and grow as a person. I highly recommend everyone to take the chance and go out of their comfort zone by studying or working abroad. You will learn so many new things not only about yourself, but also about different cultures. I would have to say my favorite part was meeting all these new people who will be my friends for many years to come.

The internship abroad working for a non-profit organization in Valparaiso, Chile was an incredible experience. The Director, Pamela, was responsive and helpful if you have any questions regarding any concerns while you are abroad, changes to your homestay, and travel suggestions. However, I did not like taking the Spanish courses in Chile, coming in as a graduate Spanish major, because I thought it was not worth my time, for example, learning the greetings and grammar. The professors were great, but I would have changed this if I had the chance to start over and started early with the internship. On the other hand, I liked the part about learning Chilean Spanish, the names of their food, and their culture. I thought it was helpful compared to grammar in Spanish. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Chile. I loved my time there!

Very lovey experience. Unfortunately, I was not able to get the exact internship I asked for (legal). However, I still enjoyed my internship (charity office work). I met quite a lot of new people and had a lot of fun with them. I was really worried before arriving there, but I found a page on Facebook which connected everyone on the Adelante programme. The staff in Madrid were super friendly and helpful. However, in the housing no one had air conditioning, just fans - horrible during the heatwave

I had an amazing experience in Scotland on the equine program. The anatomy & physiology course was very informative, although much of the non-horse specific content was a review from previous courses. Although initially preparing for the assessment was slightly stressful, the assessment itself was fair and Louise and Rowan well-prepared us for the assessment. Both of the instructors for the course were amazing and I couldn't speak higher praises of them! The fitness course was all new material for me but Jen and Gillian presented the information and provided feedback in a manner that helped us to grow and understand the new field! They were both amazing instructors and helped us to correct our fitness plans and complete our workbook assessment without too much of an overload of new content at once. I loved living in the Scottish countryside with ample hiking opportunities and great food (although there are a lot of chips). The accommodations were private with private bathrooms which was very nice but we still had community areas available to utilize. The temperature was warmer than I expected with an average of 60s Fahrenheit. I wish I had brought more warmer weather clothing than I did. There is no central air in the flats, but I didn't mind the temperature at all. As someone with limited riding experience, I was worried for the riding portion but Sam was always very supportive of everyone and tailored the lessons to your skill level and comfort! During my free weekends, I visited Inverness and the Isle of Skye and Northern Ireland and I highly recommend both locations! One point to note is that the Oatridge campus is in rural West Lothian and it takes approximately an hour to 90 minutes by bus to get to Edinburgh depending on the wait time. We did spend a lot time waiting on buses and taxis which showed up sporadically sometimes rather early or late. The X18 bus into Edinburgh from Uphall was particularly bad at showing up on time. Although I was able to plan my time, I do wish that the full itinerary had been released earlier to allow for more planning and cheaper prices as much of the accommodation and many tours were booked out by the time we had the schedule. Overall, I had a great experience and everyone I met from the faculty and staff to my new friends here have been great, kind, and supportive! I highly recommend this study abroad to Scotland!