Middlebury School in Spain: Madrid

Studying in Madrid was a few of the best months of my life to date. The city is so alive. Life is in the streets. People are eating and drinking with their friends and family all night into the morning hours. And I'm talking everyone--middle aged people on a Tuesday night. In Spain, there is a presence and appreciation for the moment like nowhere else. The energy is inviting and exciting.
The Middlebury School provided excellent guidance and support throughout the entire experience. The staff is wonderful. I took the majority of my classes at the public university, Universidad de Carlos III, in Getafe. The Midd staff was continuously giving advice on how to best navigate Carlos III: tips for note taking, for speaking with professors, for talking to other students. They also gave advice for exploring madrid and how to best maximize our time there. All students in the Midd program had to take a grammar/language course at the Middlebury School, no matter where you took the rest of your courses (Carlos III, Autonoma, Midd). I loved my language professor. Hands down the best Spanish instructor I've ever had. In line with maximizing our experience in Madrid, she taught us the colloquial way. For example, she'd regularly tell us: "This is the grammatically correct way to do it, but in Madrid we say it this other way." The midd faculty and staff teaches you how to live in Spain--an immersive experience like no other.

I absolutely loved my time in Madrid. The staff members at the Sede Prim truly care about all of the students, and were there to support us throughout our entire experience. I took three classes at the Sede, and all of the professors were incredible - the classes were all only around six students! I appreciated the fact that the course content was all related to Spanish history and/or current events, which helped contextualize the place we were living. Madrid is also such a beautiful and vibrant city. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, and every day was a new adventure. I personally couldn't have thought of a better study abroad experience.

The Middlebury School in Madrid (Sede Prim) is a great program with a wonderful staff. Studying abroad is incredibly fun, but also very challenging in many aspects (logistics, culture shock, academics, etc). The staff at Sede really made Madrid feel like home from day 1. Because they have the graduate students at the same school, there was time for interaction with them which made the experience even better. I took all my courses at Sede. They were extremely challenging but manageable and I definitely improved my writing and speaking abilities. I would highly recommend this program!