Internships in Madrid - Adelante Abroad

Absolutely the experience of a lifetime!!! I was terrified before I left and almost bailed because of my anxiety about going somewhere totally new where I wouldn't know anyone coupled with some Visa issues. But the staff (and my Dad) were voices of reason and got me set to leave. And basically from the moment I arrived- everything was great.

I highly recommend living in the housing with other Adelante/international students in Madrid. Definitely some of my best friends were my roommates, but also there is so much going on in Madrid all you have to do is take the initiative to walk outside and you'll meet the greatest people! It's right in the center of the city by so many bars/shops/clubs/transportation hubs/gyms/etc etc etc. Some of the appliances are pretty old and sometimes don't work great (ie microwave, washer, etc), but it's well furnished and equipped with pots/pans which is great. The language school classes before the internship were definitely helpful as a kind of adjustment period.

After arriving home, all I want to do is go back and my Dad likes to remind and tease me about how I didn't want to go and thought I would be happier just doing a regular semester in Boston because the semester abroad was really the greatest one of my life. So JUST DO IT (you're aloud to be scared- but take that leap).

I was very hesitant to do a program like this but I am so happy I did! From the beginning, the Adelante staff was nothing but helpful. I had over a million questions and I am pretty sure I emailed Jeramee about 5 times a day and she replied every single time. They keep you updated (and calm) while you're in the states and continuously check in while you're abroad. The staff in Madrid is awesome as well and will always help if you need anything. For the first two weeks you're in language classes for about 4 hours a day which may seem long but they are necessary. I was slightly annoyed because I thought I wouldn't need two weeks of Spanish classes considering I took Spanish for 3 years but I definitely needed them. The teachers are great and the classes improve your Spanish, I wish I could have taken them the entire time I was here. The only critique I have is the housing situation. For me, I was only there for 6 weeks so I sucked up and dealt with it but others have been here for months at a time and it's not really fair. The room wasn't entirely clean when I arrived and the bathroom was dirty and had a few bugs so a flat mate and I had to clean it. Also it says there's a maid but there isn't so don't expect new sheets or someone cleaning the floors, it's all you. But that has nothing to with program, it's the people running the school. However, the apartment is located in the heart of Sol so you're close to everything: food, shops, metro, school and entertainment. It's also pretty easy to make friends because most people are doing this program alone. I made friends that I know I'll have for a lifetime. And as for the best part of my experience: the internship. I would NEVER have been able to get an internship like the one I have here in America. I was able to get hands on experience, work with an amazing foundation and meet the kindest people. I know I'll still remain in contact with them in the future.

Overall, I highly recommend this program. The staff, the location, the experience, it's all worth it. I feel like I grew a lot as a person through this program and learned from talented professionals. The other nice thing about this intern abroad program is you're not working all day everyday so you have plenty of time to explore the city as well as other cities which I recommend as well. If you want to do something for yourself that will benefit your professional, academic and personal life, this is the program for you.

I am so glad that I came across Adelante! To be honest, I was pretty ambitious when I decided to take a shot in doing an internship in Spain without hardly any prior Spanish knowledge (I taught myself for about a month before going to Spain), but I quickly picked up on the language and am now able to understand what people are saying 90% of the time. The 2-week classes at the Spanish school were unquestionably helpful and a wonderful experience overall. I have never taken a language class that consists of no more than 7 students, and where the instructors taught everything in Spanish.
As for my internship, I interned for a famous psychiatrist who has his own private clinic in Madrid, which was such an eye-opening experience for aspiring psychologists who intend to work in the clinical practice field. Not only was I able to observe what it was like to be a psychiatrist, I had the opportunity to directly interact with some of the patients (even without the presence of the doctor, but mainly only with those who speak English), and even attend special events such as lectures and the presentation of the doctor's newest book! I definitely recommend anyone out there who is thinking about going into the field of clinical psychology to try to get this intern position. (Note: be prepared to wait around because sometimes the patient just wants to be alone with the doctor). Also, this internship will definitely improve your Spanish because you're listening to Spanish all day!
Overall, the price I paid for this program is so worth what I was given. Not only was my intern position a great one, the living situation (GREAT location, big and well-furnished apartment) and support from the Adelante staff exceeded my expectations. Although I have a month and a half left, I am sad to even think that my internship will be ending soon. The past 2.5 months flew by!

I never truly felt completely independent until this experience. My internship placement did not have much work for me so I created a lot of work for myself so that I can grow within my future career. I also wanted to branch out from the people in my program and started to use a traveler's app to meet traveler from all over the world and it helped my branch out of my shy shell. Overall being abroad has made me fearless.

My internship was with a Physical Therapy clinic in Madrid and I absolutely loved the experience. It was much more hands on learning than I could do in the United States. I was able to apply techniques like massage therapy, ultrasound, and go to observe surgeries. The physical therapists I worked with were energetic with their patients and very helpful as they explained to me each of their techniques. They were patient and understanding with my intermediate level of Spanish. If I did not know what they were saying right away they would take the time to explain more to make sure I understood. One of my favorite memories at the clinic was when one of the physical therapists asked me if I could ask the other doctors for a cushion. I misheard the word for cushion in Spanish so I went around the office asking the doctors, “Donde esta el culo?” Once everyone was done laughing at me, I found out I went around the office asking doctors where is the butt. Needless to say I was pretty embarrassed, but everyone thought it was hilarious and it will definitely be a funny story I will remember forever. Overall, I loved my time here in Madrid and I thought the program was fantastic. I learned more Spanish by speaking it everyday with the people I worked with and gained valuable clinical experience in a different culture.

I interned in Madrid for the past two months through the Adelante Abroad program. Adelante essentially sets everything up for you prior to arrival including your internship placement and housing and then you are basically on your own. My girlfriend and I both took part in the Adelante program and were able to live together in an incredibly nice apartment set up by Adelante in a very nice neighborhood of Madrid. It was definitely a relief having an apartment with zero issues, making Madrid instantly feel like home.
The adelante program starts off with two weeks at the Eureka language school where you are completely immersed in Spanish, with zero english speaking allowed in the school. Having very little Spanish background prior to this summer I was definitely overwhelmed in the first 15 minutes at Eureka, but that went away by the end of the first day and I really enjoyed the school and lessons. I actually wish there was someway that the program could work in additional time at Eureka into the 8 week program rather than just the two weeks in the beginning, but I understand that would be difficult with the internship hours the last 6 weeks.

I have a fairly unique major in college, making it somewhat difficult to find an internship placement in Madrid, but Adelante placed me with Sotavento Consultores, a financial consulting firm doing market research analysis and I was very happy with my experience at Sotavento. I was basically independent on my own projects for the entirety of the six weeks interning at Sotavento, allowing me to take on as much as I wanted in terms of workload. The work place is certainly different in Spain than the United States, but Im very grateful to have had the opportunity to see how business is conducted in Spain and to give insight on business in the United States.

I did a significant amount of research before traveling to Spain and decided to purchase an Eurail pass for traveling on weekends and I am incredibly glad I did. I was able to spend two weekends in Barcelona, a weekend in Valencia, San Sebastian and Granada as well as a day in Segovia all without worrying about the cost of point to point train tickets. My time traveling on weekends was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and I would recommend other Adelante candidates do the same as you will have plenty of time to explore Madrid during the week days after your internship and in the one or two weekends you spend here when not traveling. Spain is a beautiful country and each region looks and feels entirely different, definitely something worth experiencing.

While Madrid was not my favorite city I visited in Spain, I was very glad I chose to do the Adelante program here rather than another city for several reasons: 1)Spanish is much more common in Madrid than other cities. From my experience, it appeared that Madrid had much less English speakers which made learning and speaking Spanish much more important and necessary, something I definitely wanted from an abroad program. While in Barcelona I felt like I heard more English than Spanish or Catalan, definitely not the case in Madrid. 2) Madrid is centrally located in Spain. It was very convenient to be within a 5 hour train ride of every city I wanted to visit, making it possible to see as much of Spain as I did. 3) Madrid is the heart and hub of Spain. From a professional point of view, Madrid definitely had the feel of a big business city most similar to what a businessman is likely to encounter while leaving home for work in the U.S, giving me additional experience in how best to navigate big cities, which is infinitely different than what I grew up around.

The Adelante program is definitely not the typical summer abroad experience from what I read about from other programs online prior to choosing Adelante, but that is not a bad thing. The cost of Adelante was definitely cheaper than any other programs I came across, and this is probably due to the independence the program includes. You will feel as connected to Adelante or as independent in a foreign country as you choose. My girlfriend and I essentially had no contact with Adelante aside from the weekly or biweekly emails they send, and I was completely okay with that, while I understand others may want more of a structured program. If structure is what you are looking for than Adelante probably is´nt the right program, but if you want to get a real world experience in a foreign city where you can basically do what you want when you want to do it then I would recommend Adelante. I was a big fan of not having oversight while abroad as it forced me to figure everything out on my own. Adelante was definitely the best program for the best price for what I was hoping to get from a summer abroad, and without a doubt the most valuable experience I´ve had in my life. Having never been abroad aside from the Caribbean, I was very nervous to leave the U.S, but as im getting ready to leave Spain in another day I cannot wait to figure out where I will travel to next.

This summer I was able to intern in Madrid through Adelante Abroad who set up my placement & housing in this beautiful city. Even though my original placement was not what I wished to do, they were able to find me another placement that fit my needs better & that I could intern at. Overall, my experience was great & I would recommend interning at Madrid because of its great atmosphere & enriching culture!

I had an incredible experience through Adelante! They organized all the details of my internship and placed me at Clinica Cemtro where I had the privilege to work alongside some of the best surgeons! The staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming and I found myself working 12 hour work days because of how much I loved being in the hospital setting. The required amount of hours is 4-5 but I was able to make my own schedule and choose the days I wanted to come in. I was able to scrub in surgeries, not only watch but participate, attend consults, and through this I feel as though it has prepared me and given me a close insight of what it would be like in the medical career.

Aside from the internship, the best suggestion I could provide would be to live with Spanish roomates as opposed to Adelante candidates. It gives you a chance to branch out, practice your Spanish, and explore so much more!