Overall my experience with CEA was great and I am so grateful for this experience. As I explored the beautiful city of Barcelona I always felt safe and aware of what is happening day by day in the city thanks to CEA. I think CEA did a great job at welcoming us during orientation, as well as making us know how to stay safe during our time abroad. I also think the teachers at CEA were very helpful as well ensuring your time abroad is a memorable one! The only thing I would recommend to CEA is their absence policy, because I feel that 2 absence is not enough especially while overseas. I would also recommend to take a class at UAB or UVic that is offered through CEA because the attendance is more lenient and you get the opportunity to meet a lot of locals and students from all around the world. In all my experience in Barcelona was amazing and would recommend studying abroad here!

CEA was the perfect program for studying in Barcelona because they provide you with all the support you need to succeed in your education and experiencing Barca. They make available multiple activities so you can immerse yourself into the culture. They also have an incredible staff that makes sure you are happy with your classes and housing. CEA was located in the heart of Barcelona making it central for students to explore before and after class. Overall, CEA definitely enhanced my experience abroad!

My experiences in Barcelona are second to none. CAPA provided me with an excellent internship, rewarding classes, and fantastic guides to the city. I spent six weeks in Barcelona working, taking classes, and exploring all the city had to offer. Six weeks really was not enough time to see everything I wanted to see, so I'll definitely have to go back.

The CAPA staff were so nice and helpful that I never felt alone, even though I was thousands of miles away from home. They treated us like adults, helping us when we needed it and leaving us alone when we didn't. I've been abroad with other programs and it's nice to feel like you aren't being hounded. Additionally, the other students I roomed with in the city kept the days lively. This aspect of the trip gave me the most pre-departure jitters, but after a few days of interacting, when became great friends.

I would recommend this program to anyone. Go explore what they have to offer. You're probably going to like the options.

Not to sound clichéd, but my summer abroad in Barcelona was a life-changing experience. And it is all thanks to CAPA!

I loved my courses! Learning about Barcelona from local professors really enhanced my overall experience. The CAPA directors in Barcelona were an amazing help and were always there if I needed anything. My host family was incredible! The food in Barcelona is amazing, and my host mom always made new local dishes for me to have for dinner each day. My favorites were all of the fresh seafood and definitely paella!

Interning at a local nonprofit and staying with a host family were really immersive experiences. Not knowing Catalan made it apparent that I was a foreigner, but everyone in Barcelona speaks Castilian Spanish, so I was able to communicate pretty well with everyone. I spoke Spanish in my internship and homestay, but I took my courses in English, so most of the time I was speaking with locals in Castilian Spanish. I was taking the metro and living pretty much like a local for the whole summer!

My advice if you are traveling to Barcelona: The city is extremely safe, with the only real danger being pickpockets. Make sure you guard your phone, wallet, purse, backpack, etc. at nighttime and on the metro. Never put things in your back pocket or out on the table! Also, don't eat or shop in the touristy spots if you can avoid it! You shouldn't be paying more than 1.50 euros for a café con leche, for instance, but touristy areas will charge you 2 or 3 euros! You can find a sandwich and a drink for around 4 euros if you know where to go. Barcelona can be an expensive city if you stick to just the tourist areas, but if you ask around you can find the places where locals hang out. That is where the reasonable prices are!

Everything about my experience, from the language immersion, to my internship, to my engaging courses, to my local friends, to the individualized tailoring that CAPA offers, was outstanding. 11/10 would recommend, and I would 100% do this again in a heartbeat!

The classes were a good challange and the staff was very nice and well equipped for their positions. It was an amazing time living in Barcelona and learning about local life and culture. I made a lot of lasting friendships and totally improved my Spanish speaking skills as I was immersed in the Spanish environment. Also, I found the Catalan culture so fascinating with their crazy festivities like the Correfoc, a parade in which people paint their faces, literally swing fireworks around in a crowd and play booming drums. It was so exhilarating!

This program completely changed my world-views and greatly impacted my career goals in a positive way. Throughout the quarter, we were taught to look at subjects such as history and multiculturalism from different perspectives while seeing the history of different places first-hand. Our professor was very negative and I didn't like his teaching style, but the program itself was great. I bonded with my host family and was immersed in the culture of Barcelona, as well as other places that we traveled to (other parts of Spain, Italy, France, and Morocco). After my time in Barcelona, I changed my major from Accounting to International Business so that I can hopefully travel the world as a part of my future career. One of my favorite memories was being lost in Barcelona with my roommate the first week we were there. I was starting to get frustrated, when suddenly I turned around and saw Sagrada Familia. I was in awe and realized that beauty can be found under any circumstance! From that point on, I learned to be okay with getting lost and wandering the streets while finding new sights.

The world is a book and those who haven’t traveled have only read one page. I believe that studying abroad and traveling is one of the best “teachers” in life and studying in Barcelona is one lesson i'll never forget. Being able to live in another country has given me the chance become immersed in a new culture, language and tradition. Through my experiences I learned what I wanted in life and got a taste of where I wanted to go. The program did a wonderful job putting together cultural agendas for students every single week to ensure they got the most out of their experience. The activities they put together and lead range from cooking classes to overnight excursions. The activities were also the perfect balance of education and fun; they were something that made me WANT to learn. The program itself was also very organized. Every activity and platform I could think of was updated regularly and as a big social media user I appreciated the frequent updates across all platforms. The program staff was also quick to reply to any email question I shot their way (and I always had a lot of questions) and always sent follow-up emails which was a nice touch. They also provided health coverage for students and everything I could ever want to know about anything is on their online student guide. It was nice to be able to have such amazing resources at my finger tips. They have a 24/7 emergency phone as well so anytime you have something bad happen to you, someone is always readily available. My roommates also had issues within the first week of arrival but they were quick to take action and solve the problem. I also loved the free food throughout the semester (go to all of the events, you'll be fed for a week basically)! Lastly, I think the resources and experience they gave me in Barcelona far exceeded what I researched through other programs. The price is also one of the least expensive in the city AND they offer the most for it.

The best thing about studying abroad is the people you meet. They make traveling fun, classes, and just day to day activities. Being able to meet a lot of people right away was great because you can find people like you that you want to be around. The 3 day weekends were great to travel, and the long spring break. It was a good amount of class time and work load. The professors were all very great. Lifelong memories were made in Barcelona and someday I will be back.