IES Abroad Salamanca – Advanced Spanish Immersion

I had a great experience studying abroad with IES. It was amazing to experience a new culture, and I had a great support system while doing it. The IES Salamanca staff is helpful and well-organized, and gave us the chance to go on some cool field trips within Spain, included in the cost of the program. I stayed in the residence hall, where I enjoyed living in a single in close proximity to other students, but I know that those who stayed with host families also had great experiences. Salamanca is walkable, beautiful, and rich with history without being very Americanized like some other cities. For me, it was the perfect city to study abroad in.

As a first-generation latina student abroad, it was definitely a new experience in general. Although the ability to interact with people from all over the world and, therefore, learn about not only Spanish culture, but other cultures as well as I went to school and practiced a Spanish that was different to mine was such an awesome experience.

Salamanca is such a relatively small but beautiful town with a lot to offer for abroad students and IES did a pretty good job in terms of support and guidance for my time in Salamanca. More likely, because I was coming from such a big city like Chicago, it definitely felt very different and kind of odd, but now that I'm back I can't stop thinking about how great my experience was. I do not regret choosing such an amazing location to study abroad and I hope to visit Salamanca sometime soon and see my local friends and the beautiful and historical University of Salamanca all over again.

Thank you for opening my eyes to history. You have taught me that world history is not just a series of important dates, but rather that it can be a key resource to both look into the future and understand more about who we are as people. You challenged my understanding of the world and truly opened my eyes to a series of new worldviews. Thank you for everything over the course of the last month and a half, you all made this experience the best of my life.

IES Abroad Salamanca runs a good program. All of the staff members know their stuff and will be there to help you with all the practical details of life abroad. At the same time, the staff are personable and put a lot of effort into getting to know you as an individual. I particularly appreciated the efforts of the staff when my computer and wallet got stolen (Salamanca isn’t dangerous, I was just being stupid); due to the timely help I received from the staff at the IES center, I was eventually able to recover all of my lost items. The academic programs provided by IES are fairly easy but generally interesting, but you can also enroll at USAL (the public university) or UPSA (the private university), which is a big plus for those looking for maximal cultural and linguistic immersion. Salamanca is also a great city to study in. The size is perfect, the Castilian Spanish is easily comprehensible, and there is a big student population which keeps things lively. The only downside might be the winter weather, which is quite cold.

Salamanca was a fantastic experience, and I can’t wait to go back and visit again. I am really grateful to the IES program for giving me a strong basis for exploring Spain and Spanish culture. The homestay was one of the best experiences-living with a local family, being immersed in the culture almost 24/7 helped me adjust quickly and start experiencing Spanish culture less as a tourist and more as a temporary resident.
I do have a couple regrets though. In taking classes at the University of Salamanca, I met a lot of Spanish friends, and got to know them and Spanish people my age better, but I wish I had spent more time with them. I think that one of the best ways for me to improve my Spanish is to spend it surrounded by native speakers, and my friends were always enthusiastic to spend time with a foreigner. Of course, I did enjoy my classes at the IES center, but there I wasn’t as immersed in Spanish culture as I wanted-my classmates were fellow Americans, and the classes were presented in an American style. Although we did have Spanish teachers, and the American style was to help us adjust, I would have preferred taking more classes at the Spanish university.

I have absolutely no complaints about this program. The city itself is a truly magical place to be, it's the perfect mix of a college and residential town with stunning architecture. There are tons of places to eat, museums to visit, and seats to people watch. As far as academics I recommend taking classes at the University of Salamanca in addition to IES courses. This is a better way to get a feel for the true Spanish student culture. I lived with a host family and spent a lot of time with them during meals and free time. I still keep in touch with them, as well as foreign friends I have made almost every day!

Wow... thanks to IES Abroad I had an absolutely amazing semester in Salamanca, Spain. Upon returning from abroad, many classmates who had gone to other places with other programs mentioned the difficulty of truly feeling like they were experiencing their host country's real culture. In contrast, IES Abroad did a great job of helping me experience an authentic semester in Salamanca through their mentoring programs with local university students, amazing host families, as well as opportunities to explore the culture in Salamanca as well as Spain at large. I would recommend this program to anyone who really wants to feel immersed in a different culture and learn to appreciate it. While it sounds cliche, I have a much more global perspective upon returning from Spain and appreciate the subtle differences of each culture even more. Neither the US culture nor the Spanish culture is better... they are simply different, each with their own pros and cons. To this day, I continue to talk with both American and Spanish friends I made while abroad, WhatsApp my host mom, read El País, and listen to Reggaeton. I made so many unforgettable memories while abroad, and can't wait to visit Salamanca once again.

Making the decision to study with IES abroad in Salamanca, Spain during my spring semester of 2016 was one of the greatest decisions of my life. Having studied abroad with a different institution in Madrid during the fall semester of 2015, I was well prepared to start the second semester of my abroad experience in a totally different city that carried with it a very historically unique college-town vibe. Being just one of two incumbents familiar to the study abroad experience, I enjoyed my role in being able to assist other students with their endeavors alongside the incredible teaching and administrative staff of IES abroad Salamanca.

Granted I knew what to expect in regards to studying abroad and its learning process, Salamanca itself was a city that I had visited just once before and was not all that familiar with. The administrative staff and group of Spanish student mentors at the local university assisted myself along with the other study abroad students in every step of the way, from picking us up at the airport, to walking us through orientation to hosting our fare-well departure ceremony at the programs end. At times I did feel as if my freedom was cut short to meet this program’s expectations, however, these mandated obligations such as frequent meetings with IES abroad teachers and administration regardless of need did nothing but bring out the best in me over the course of this program.

Though I did not get as many opportunities to travel Europe as I had the semester prior, there is nothing I would have changed about my overall experience with IES Abroad. In electing to directly enroll in the University of Salamanca and to live in the dormitories with Spanish natives, I was assured to have the most authentic, culturally immersed experience possible over the course of this 16-week program.

The most difficult part of this experience was not the beginning, but rather the end. Finals were difficult and adaptation can be rocky, but saying goodbye to some of the best friends I had ever made and leaving the peers who enabled me to achieve what
I had achieved was the most difficult of all. Nonetheless, on the plane ride home in reflection of everything that I had accomplished it was evident that this experience was without a doubt beyond worthwhile.