USAC Reviews

No matter where you go, studying abroad is going to be an incredible, life-changing experience, but the USAC program in Alicante has to be one of the best.

The on-site staff is one of a kind. They made it really easy to get involved and meet everyone else in the group. Luis, the program director will undoubtedly be one of the greatest people you ever meet. He even gave me the chance to appear on the most popular radio station in Spain! I doubt any other programs would offer an opportunity like that.

I can also tell you that USAC offers the best housing in the city. I met students from other programs that lived on the outskirts of the city, but USAC will put you right in the middle of everything. Trust me, this is where you want to be.

Studying in Alicante was one of the best experiences in my life. The USAC staff were such wonderful, generous, helpful, friendly people. I feel lucky to have been a part of their program and to have studied in such a fun, beautiful, and memorable place. I would highly suggest studying abroad with USAC in Alicante. I miss it very much now, looking back and sorting through photos. Thank you to all who made it an adventure of a lifetime.

I can't say enough wonderful things about my experience in Alicante. I attended the Universidad de Alicante for the Spring 2012 semester and my only regret is not staying longer! Alicante is a beautiful city full of life, with a size that made it realistic to explore thoroughly. I loved being able to walk almost everywhere, as well as having the ability to utilize public transport (bus, tram, and train) throughout the city. It was a great big-city experience with the convenience of a small town! The people were more than friendly, my apartment was huge and beautiful, and I was ten minutes walking distance from everything in town (including the beach!). Also, being on the Mediterranean, the food was incredible.

My classes were engaging and challenging and my Spanish improved tremendously as a result of the accelerated pace of USAC language tracks. I also took some fantastic extracurricular courses (Spanish cuisine, sailing, and rowing) and had an amazing time in all of them! These classes outside of the university are the best way to get a feel for the culture and the local environment.

Another great perk of Alicante is the ease of travel to other cities in Spain and throughout Europe. Plane travel is cheap, fast and easy, and the trains are a great way to see the landscape. There are dozens of small towns near Alicante that are within an hour or so on the tram and are truly hidden jems on the coast. I never got enough of traveling while I was abroad.

All in all, living in Alicante was the greatest experience of my life. I learned more about myself in a semester than I have in all of my 21 years before that, and a huge piece of my heart will always remain in that city. My advice: pack light, travel often, try everything, and never say no to an opportunity! Get immersed: speak the language, try the food (and the wine), visit Tabarca by boat, hit the beach as much as possible and learn the Spanish way to enjoy life! You will be astounded by how much you change.

Sitting upon Zurriola Beach the evening before I departed back home in the deserts of Nevada for the summer, a new sense of sadness seeped into my heart, and made me feel sick. In five months, I had made this new place, of foreign people and strange culture, my home.

I'd become a person, an adult, I never thought I'd discover. The first few weeks, struggling to speak the language, I began to feel frustrated and disliked the world I'd--for what I thought was some dumb reason--engaged myself in. But, as I continued to engage, the culture immersed itself around me. Strangers became companions. San Sebastián became as comfortable as the hard soil, bitter sage, and my mother's voice was several thousands of miles away.

Growing up in the desert, I never quite understood what it meant to relax at the beach. By that spring, the beach was as close to my favorite past time as was years of playing baseball back in the US. Days after classes were spent on the playa, challenging locals in volleyball, conversing in a newly discovered tongue. We surfed the soothing waters of the Atlantic's Bay of Biscay. Sips of Sangria were as silk and sweet as pollen on a rose's pedal.

The days I lived were days of eternal love. And not another passes that I still don't feel the lust for the land of experience that forever changed my life.

Everyone talks about what's "truly Irish," but this experience captured it all. Fantastic history class with field trips to forgotten places of real historical impact; theater class where we got to participate in the Galway Arts Fest along with locals; in-depth Dublin tour; it's hard to list everything that made me feel like an honorary Irish citizen before I came home! (And it made me want to become one for real!)

Wonderful experience, best choice ever! Amazing service learning and volunteer experience. Great staff, beautiful university. Do your research before you go! The more you know, the better prepared you'll be! university!

Great experience. It taught me independence, language, culture, budgeting skills, took away life long friendships. Great location, staff, housing, university, courses etc. I couldn't say enough wonderful things about this program.

I learned so much French during my semester! I made friends with locals, international students, and other Americans; all of whom i still keep in contact with. I was able to travel all over Europe. I feel like i got exceptional value for what i paid.

The professors were wonderful and made sure that we received the best possible learning experience. The staff abroad was wonderful and extremely helpful. They took us on amazing field trips to places that most tourists do not get the chance to see. I met many friends and it was the most wonderful summer I have ever experienced!

This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. My time abroad was enlightening. I learned about culture, language, travel, and life. I was happier in Torino than I've ever been. It's more difficult to go home than it was to leave the US in the first place.