Salamanca Fall 2015

If you really want to improve your Spanish, come to Salamanca. I came to this city not having taken a Spanish class in the year before I arrived and was extremely nervous about my four months abroad! The wonderful thing about Salamanca is that the locals here WILL speak Spanish to you- we tried using English our first week and quickly discovered that we would be culturally immersed, whether we liked it or not! Fortunately, my entire experience in Salamanca was absolutely incredible and unlike any other. I lived in a homestay and got along really well with my host parents (not to mention that my host mom was an amazing cook!). The classes offered by IES were surprisingly rigorous, but really forced you to learn and think in Spanish. The lengua class in particular deviated from a "standard" grammar class, and it was really cool seeing both my level and my classmates' levels of Spanish grow throughout the semester. I took 2 classes through the university as well and got to experience an entirely different academic culture with Spaniards and other international students.

Aside from academics, Salamanca is a fun, fun place to be in. There's always something going on, and Thursday and Saturday nights are full of students going out. There are lots of opportunities to meet other students from all parts of the world. USAL has student groups and clubs for all sorts of activities- I played volleyball while I was abroad and had the greatest time ever!