Waste of Money

I was so excited to be going and spending a summer in a new country, improving my Spanish and adding some new skills to my resume. However, the internship I was placed in had almost no relation to any of my future career goals or my academic track. I was assured that my offer would be perfect for me when I expressed skepticism but trusted ISA and accepted the position nonetheless. This was a mistake as I picked up zero new skills from my internship and was bored most of the time because I completed tasks too quickly. Many of my friends were also disappointed in their internship assignment whether it was a bad placement, weird hours, or that it was an hour train out of the city. The housing they provide is subpar, not terrible it was livable but they could do a much better job when screening their host families. My host family made fun of my roommate almost every day because she struggled with Spanish.

Valencia was an incredible city and the friends I made were incredible and I cherish the adventures we shared. But the summer was not worth even half of what I paid for it. I don’t even list it on my resume unless I have extra room to fill in extra activities. I was extremely disappointed in the lack of support and activities from ISA as well. I recommend you spend a summer in Valencia but do NOT go through ISA if you do.