Ole Ole Cai!

Participating in this program changed my life. I chose to go to a small peninsula as I thought it would be a place where I could be immersed in the language and really learn it, which turned out to be true. It’s a beautiful, magical place that will forever have a place in my heart. The people of Cadiz, better known as “Gaditanos”, and people of the surrounding areas are so proud of their land, culture, language and way of life and love showing it off. I used to love walking around the old part of the city, or having a coffee at the little bar overlooking the beach. They say that the beaches in Cadiz are the best in Spain, so that’s reason enough to go.
This is a full-immersion program. I was in classes with Spaniards and all my classes were taught in Spanish. This was not easy, but it was so gratifying to notice that by the last week of class, it wasn’t as hard to learn as it once had been. I also took a Spanish Language class with students from all over the world. The combination of the daily language class, all my classes at the University of Cadiz, and being immersed in the Spanish culture is how I learned the language. The Resident Director, a Spanish native living in Cadiz, was amazing. She went above and beyond for every student on the program. I still keep in touch with her to this day! It didn’t matter what time it was when you called her, if you needed help, she’d be wherever you were within 10 minutes; like I said before, Cadiz is a small city!
There are so many great things I can say about the program and I sometimes wish I could go back in time and relive some of the experiences I had all over again just to remember them more clearly!