IES Barcelona - A Program to Remember

IES Barcelona is a great program that accomplishes a lot. Barcelona in of itself is an amazing place to live– the city is rich with culture, opportunities, great people, fantastic food, and has an international airport to take you all over the world when you have time. The IES Barcelona Administration is great, everything is well organized, and they work hard to provide a great time for the students – from a mandatory trip we took to Tarragona in the beginning of the semester to trips you can sign up for. Even though I prefer traveling with a small group of people and booking my own stuff to do, hostels, and so on, I loved the IES trips I went on. They were fun, well planned out, and great experiences.

Yes, a lot of the fun of study abroad is what you do outside the classroom, but you do spend time in a classroom so it's important for me to note what classes are like. I had a few classes through IES that fascinated me. One of them – Self and Identity in a Postmodern World was one of the best classes I think I've ever taken in my career as a student. Other I took to satisfy general requirements, and while they weren't quite up my alley, I learned a lot from them. I found I was gaining a lot of knowledge about the architecture and the city, and it made my stay in Barcelona even better.

Overall, this is an awesome program. Suggestions for you should you do this program – a) live in a homestay or a dorm because either will likely immerse you more in Barcelona culture in terms of people (trust me so worth it), b) take classes related to the city, you'll be surprised what you retain and how much better it makes your time in the city, and c) travel everywhere and explore Spain, and if you leave Spain don't just go to European cities – Marrakesh, Morocco was without a doubt one of the best places I went.