This program will change everything

I had already studied abroad once my first semester freshman year in London before deciding to study abroad again in Barcelona. The first time around I somehow was less anxious than when I packed my bags to move to Spain. I was nervous to leave my friends, my city (Boston), and feared that the classes taught in Spanish would tear apart my GPA. I was wrong for worrying. This program changed so much for me. Barcelona is the most amazing city I have ever been to, and the friends I have made in the 30 person program I embarked on are people I still visit (I made a trip all the way to Nashville to visit my study abroad besties), FaceTime with, and talk to everyday.

The staff at CIEE is absolutely amazing. In my Catalan Art class we visited a new museum almost every week, and coming from someone who isn't an art enthusiast, this was my favorite class because I learned so much about the city I was living in and the buildings I would pass by every day, making the experience of living in Barcelona an even fuller one. I am a fluent spanish speaker, so moving to a spanish speaking country wasn't necessarily a stressor for me. However, I had never taken a spanish class in my life until CIEE. The spanish class I took at CIEE was for spanish speakers and I ended up learning so much about grammar, accents, and writing in spanish. I went from someone who had never read a book in spanish to someone who was studying clinical psychology at UB in spanish and submitting essays on gender roles and the media in my second language. Overall the academic component of the program (relative to the US) is relaxed, and adventurous while still challenging and a bit uncomfortable (in a good way).

The staff at CIEE is young and alive and always trying to make your time abroad the best it can be. I asked them for restaurant recommendations, which bars the locals go to, and which clubs I should go to on which nights and they would research for me, ask their friends, and tell us about places they had gone to and loved. It's homey atmosphere makes it cleat that it is called "la casa" for a reason.

The only negative part about the CIEE/UB program, if I'm being honest, is scheduling your classes. It is a complete disaster and probably the only stress you'll experience in Barcelona. Alberto (the program director and the nicest man in the world) helped me calm down "Nicole, no te preocupes, vamos a solucionar todo" he would say, and in the end everything worked itself out and all of my credits came back fine. The classes at UB are harder in a sense than the CIEE classes since the professors are not necessarily used to teaching American students and you are not used to the Spanish system. But as long as you put in effort and show them that you are trying they will be very accommodating to the difference in culture education wise. I was always able to ask for help from CIEE and they communicated efficiently with my professors when it was a problem bigger than I could handle.

I laugh now at how nervous I was to leave Northeastern University, unsure of how I would immerse myself into a new city, with new people. Because, as I reminisce on my time in Spain, studying abroad with CIEE was hands down, without a doubt, the best decision I ever made in my collegiate career. This program will change everything for you- in Barcelona and when you return home. You will look at the world in a new light, you will feel as though you have grown as a person and a spanish speaker, and you will return home, back to all of your friends with an experience so valuable that no one but you and the people that ventured on such an incredible semester with you, will understand.

Caution: you may never want to leave.