Study Abroad Granada

I'm from Southern California and I have never traveled to Europe before. I did not know anyone in the program and was a little worried about being out of my element abroad. API made it VERY easy and convenient to get from the airport to where they had arranged for us to stay in Madrid. The hotel was in the middle of town and it was absolutely the best. We spent a few days in Madrid and went to Granada via bus, which was like a charter bus in America.

My housing was in the center of Granada and my roommate and I could not have been better paired. Being from the opposite side of the country I was slightly worried we wouldn't get along, but we are not the closest of friends. API gave us a tour across the city and showed us how to get to the school. They took us up to the Alhambra, which would have cost about 12 euro (about 15 dollars) and provided a guided tour. It is one of my favorite parts of Granada. Daily a few of us would go and get a drink and FREE tapas which only Granada offers.

The University is really nice, although it is almost 100% other American students. I would like to have more opportunities for intercambios to meet and chat with Spanish people my age.

I stayed with a host family and it worked out very well. I'm a pretty picky eater and she catered to my taste very well but still gave us some freedom to pick what we wanted for breakfasts and dinners.

When picking which city to go to, I knew I would have more opportunities to travel if I lived in a big city. But it is only a short ride, about 10 euro to get to Malaga. In my 1 semester abroad I went to 8 other countries and it was a very reasonable price. When I traveled to the bigger cities there was definitely more pick pocketing and other urban life problems. I compare it to where I live at home. I live in San Diego, and as nice as it is to go to LA, I really like and would promote slightly smaller cities that have a less crazy urban life vibe but still have so much beauty and fun.

API helped me pick my city and do all the processes from my transcript, getting my Visa, any and were there if I had any issues abroad (which there were none).