API Study Abroad: Universidad de Salamanca

I had a really great abroad experience with API. They helped us to travel all over Spain and made sure we knew where we were when we travelled to ensure our safety and location at all times. The director starts you off in Madrid, where you stay in a hotel for three days, explore Madrid, see several palaces and museums and get guided tours through them. On the way to Salamanca, where I stayed, the program stops in Toledo for several hours where you see some old churches and mosques and understand the Christian and Arab influences that both took place there. Once in Salamanca, you get a tour of the city and the chapels while taking class from 9-2. The rest of the time can be spent however you want it. If you need any help at school or are interested in an intercambio program, API helps you to set up this type of activity too. They even send you off with a goodbye dinner before you go! Overall, I absolutely loved my trip and met a lot of great people from Spain, various other countries and from all over America. I highly recommend them to anyone going abroad!

Salamanca is a great city to study in. There are not a lot of english speakers, so there is always opportunities to practice spanish. It is an extremely safe city and very walkable. Also it is only 2-2 ½ hours away from Madrid. The API staff there is great. They are always there to help. I even got sick and had to miss an exam and the API onsite coordinator handled everything for me and I didn't have to worry about explaining to my professor what happened. I would highly recommend staying in a host family home.

My study abroad experience was hands down the most incredible experience of my life. API made the trip amazing with their continuous support and the excursions. When I began the journey I was terrified to be going alone, but they were with me every step of the way. I made amazing friendships with people who I am still close with today. When I tell people about the cost of my trip and what was included they are blown away. API definitely beat out the competition since I spent so much time researching. I will forever remember my trip and I can't wait to someday return to Spain and Portugal!

The excursions that the staff in Salamanca had planned for the group were extraordinary. I loved all the places I go to during my two month stay in Spain. From horse backing to trips to Galicia. The excursions were simply amazing! I believe my favorite trip was to Cadiz and Sevilla.

On any given day during my brief but unforgettable life in Salamanca I would wake up at the crack of dawn in my closet sized room and stumble out to the table for breakfast with my host mom. We would watch the morning news together and she would emphatically complain that I never ate enough and insist that I take a snack to class because I couldn't possibly get through to lunch on such a small breakfast.

Then I would set off for class on foot and walk the 15 minute trek through streets older than our own country is, passing by ancient relics like it was no big deal, but always covertly craning my head to marvel at the historic beauty nonetheless.

Then I would spend the next few hours soaking up as much language and culture as possible in my classes. "Women in Spanish History" was my favorite class, followed closely by Spanish cinema.

After class I would arrive back home promptly at 2:30 and tuck into a truly massive lunch with my host family. "Lomo con salsa naranja" was my favorite. Then I would have to sleep it off during siesta because no one could possibly get up and do anything with that much food to digest.

After a quick nap I would head out for the Plaza Mayor to meet up with my friends "debajo del reloj" and we would go shopping, or chill at a cafe, or the cross the ancient Roman bridge to the park if the weather was nice.

Finally I would come back home at 9 for dinner, debate the day's news with my host brother and help my little host sister with her English homework (explaining "good, better, and best" was an absolute nightmare). Around midnight I would fall into bed and sleep like a log, dreaming the sweetest dreams because I knew I would get wake up the next morning and do it all over again.

Thanks to API, those 4 months in Salamanca were the best of my life, and I will always miss my second home.

My day to day experience in Salamanca was overall amazing. Whether it be a day of exploring the small city that was easy to navigate yet intriguing as well due to the small holes in the wall that we discovered little by little, or the amazing people who welcomed you as a member of their city and encouraged you to learn their culture, it was always an experience. I absolutely loved the city overall and found it to be very safe (I felt the safest here than I did out of all the cities I had traveled to). I also was very much able to practice my Spanish, and my professors played a large role in helping me to perfect the language by the time I left. The people of Salamanca were also great and I met many new and interesting friends throughout my time there. I was also very lucky to have Maria and Inma, the program directors, by my side. They were perfect directors in that they introduced us to the Spanish culture (and others as well) while providing us with the perfect amount of independence and assistance when needed. I know that if I were ever to return (which will hopefully be soon) I will definitely be paying them a visit. I also lived in a residencia in which I had the most amazing Spanish mom I could ask for. Despite the fact that she didn't live there, she still spent ample amounts of time with us and I felt like I was actually living in a home stay. However, due to the fact that I lived with many other native English speakers from the program, it was difficult to practice Spanish in my residencia all the time. But I did love getting close with other students from my program, and it did provide a nice break every once in a while. I couldn't have asked for a better experience and I will recommend API Salamanca to anyone considering study abroad.

This program was great for me, because I chose (and was accepted to) the immersion with Spaniard students option. If you can't get into this program, Salamanca might not be the place to go. API is great, but if you want to meet students from there, the best option is to take class with them. If you're looking for rewarding but tough academics, this is also your only option (although the spanish classes that API provides are great, because the teachers really know what they're doing and try to make class interesting).

API allows for a lot of travel, and even takes you many places which is a plus, we went to Paris for free as well as Barcelona. It was so exciting. And the directors and counselors we had contact with were so welcoming and understanding and always available for anything we needed. This was definitely the plus of the program.
Salamanca itself is a great, but small city. You can walk literally everywhere. So if you're a big-city person, you might like Madrid more, but I personally felt safer than ever in this city and no taxi fare ever!
In general, the problem isn't with API, its with the level of spanish you go with on this program. I would recommend it for high level spanish speakers who want to improve their 'Spain' spanish, and take classes seriously.

Salamanca was the perfect city to live in. Growing up in a small town, I wasn't looking to live in Madrid or Barcelona, and Salamanca ended up being just the right size. It was small enough I could walk wherever I wanted, but there was enough going on there that I could always find something to do. I also felt completely safe everywhere I walked, even late at night. It is a great place for students and I made friends from all over Europe, not only Spain. The international scene was fun but also made my practicing Spanish a bit harder outside of school because there were a lot of English speaking students. Nightlife was limited but fun because you always knew where you wanted to go. The countless cafes are perfect for grabbing a tapa in between classes or meeting your intercambio for a language date. I did the P.E.I. program so my schedule was dependent on my classes, and ultimately I chose to have Fridays off so I could maximize my weekends traveling.

Salamanca is only a few hours from Madrid, where you can always find cheap flights, so traveling was really easy and inexpensive. Also, visiting Porto, Portugal is a must and only a 5 hour bus from Salamanca! There are so many highlights I could gush on about my experience with API in Salamanca. If I could go back I wouldn't change a thing about my program. It was an amazing 5 months and I couldn't ask for a better time!

During my program was rebajas month in Spain, so it was more difficult to not spend a lot of money during the week since I enjoy to shop. So if you like to shop, be prepared for that if you travel there over the summer. Make sure you get a good bank account with no overdraft or over seas fees. Even if you have to open up another account with a different bank and then close it when you get home, it will be worth it. Don't bring showering items, soaps, toothpastes because you can readily by them in the local shops and it just takes up space in your luggage for things you might want to bring to Spain and bring home. BE OPEN; to anyone and everything. Push yourself to do everything because you don't want to miss out. And do not sleep when you get there, if you stay active, you won't get hit by jet lag as much.
During the week, we would wake up at 8, walk to class, have classes until 1pm, go back to our resedencias for lunch and then hang out in Salamanca at either the shops, restaurants, the local pool (there are 2), or go to the parks and relax. At night we would either have dinner at our resedencias or go out to one of the many, many restaurants in town. Then it was a fun night out with all of the new friends I had made while staying there. There experience overall was fantastic.
The teachers were very helpful and understanding and really wanted you to learn the language by engulfing you in it. The classes were easy and I learned the language easier than I would in the states. The trips we went on with API, whether day or weekend trips were so much fun. A group of my friends and I even went on a trip on our own during an off weekend to Valencia, which was great.
Besides the great experience I had with the API program, we all really lucked out with the time we chose to go. We were in Spain to experience all of the World Cup and Spain's win! Being able to be in a country that wins something that means so much to all of the people is amazing. That feeling and experience is something I can't really explain in words.

This was the most unforgettable and rewarding experience I have been fortunate enough to have. I have been home (my home in the states, I still consider Salamanca my home)for over 4 months and day after day I still think of the time I had traveling throughout Spain and other countries of Europe. I meet the most wonderful people, who I will never forget. Salamanca was so full of the Spanish culture (and they spoke pure castellano)I didn't go a day without learning something new. Of course, tapas (little plates of various foods) were incredibly tasty and not to mention, pretty to look at. Salamanca had a wonderful nightlife for any age, and as a college student, I definitely got my fill. I volunteered and taught Salamanca natives english, which was even more fulfilling. I will never forget this phenomenal time in my life and thanks to API, it was all I could ask for!

Salamanca is a great town, it is very safe to walk at any time, people are nice and friendly, and the social scene there is the best. Everyday there was something fun to do, and everything was walking distance. I think choosing Salamanca was the best decision I made, it is the most wonderful and enchanting city you will ever encounter.

I had the best five months of my life in Salamanca. API was absolutely wonderful, all the way from the pick up at the airport to the farewell dinners. Our excursions were the perfect mix of group activity and independent freedom, and over the course of the semester we all become so close with all the events API Salamanca held. We went away to Rome, Sevilla and other parts of Spain, to a wine tasting, a hike and a monastery, and various dinners. The API office was always open to us during office hours, and María or Inma were there to talk to us about anything. I was sick for almost the entire trip and they were always helpful, and took me to the doctors until I got so familiar with the system I went by myself! They talked to my family about my dairy intolerance and even did a random visit to make sure everything was up to par at home.

Then there were the classes, which were challenging but not too hard to stop us from enjoying and learning about the city and country I came to study. I only wish I had classes with more international students from outside the US (I was enrolled in cursos internationales). They also helped us sign up to get intercambios (language exchange partners) and that was a HUGE highlight of my experience. I got to learn a lot more useful Spanish and also made two great friends.

The city of Salamanca is unbelievable, with beautiful landmarks like the Plaza Mayor and Casa de las Conchas (where I studied sometimes since its a public library), el Rio Tormes and the Facade of Universidad de Salamanca. I miss the endless choices of bars and cafés where I would go for a mid-morning coffee or an afternoon tapa, the shopping on calle Zamora and my host family. API really does a great job of checking to see if everything is ok at home, and if you are getting out enough to enjoy the lifestyle!

Which brings me to the nightlife, which is unreal. Much more affordable than Barcelona, and with more choices and all within walking distance of every one's homes, the discotecas are the place to be on the weekends... and weekdays! Nights were never boring and I actually met some amazing people and became closer to others on these nights out.

I will never forget this experience, and I love API for enhancing it.

Salamanca was an absolutely amazing city to spend three months living and learning. It is a vibrant, youth-driven college town with so much to offer a perspective student. It host one of the oldest universities in Europe as well as one most well-respected Spanish language programs in the world. Students come to the "Cursos Internationales" from diverse countries and backgrounds specifically to learn Spanish "at its roots" in Salamanca.

On top of offering and incomparable academic experience, Salamanca hosts a phenomenal social scene. Its clean and well lit streets invite its citizens, young and old, to enjoy the city's night life. The plaza mayor--one of the most well-known and beautiful plazas in all of Spain-- comes to life as the sun goes down and its face lights up in a golden glow. It really is quite breath-taking to behold.

If a student is looking for a truly story-book Spanish city, Salamanca is the place to go. The "golden city" of Spain... It speaks for itself.