API: Experience Salamanca, Spain (Scholarships Available)

Salamanca was the perfect city to live in. Growing up in a small town, I wasn't looking to live in Madrid or Barcelona, and Salamanca ended up being just the right size. It was small enough I could walk wherever I wanted, but there was enough going on there that I could always find something to do. I also felt completely safe everywhere I walked, even late at night. It is a great place for students and I made friends from all over Europe, not only Spain. The international scene was fun but also made my practicing Spanish a bit harder outside of school because there were a lot of English speaking students. Nightlife was limited but fun because you always knew where you wanted to go. The countless cafes are perfect for grabbing a tapa in between classes or meeting your intercambio for a language date. I did the P.E.I. program so my schedule was dependent on my classes, and ultimately I chose to have Fridays off so I could maximize my weekends traveling.

Salamanca is only a few hours from Madrid, where you can always find cheap flights, so traveling was really easy and inexpensive. Also, visiting Porto, Portugal is a must and only a 5 hour bus from Salamanca! There are so many highlights I could gush on about my experience with API in Salamanca. If I could go back I wouldn't change a thing about my program. It was an amazing 5 months and I couldn't ask for a better time!

During my program was rebajas month in Spain, so it was more difficult to not spend a lot of money during the week since I enjoy to shop. So if you like to shop, be prepared for that if you travel there over the summer. Make sure you get a good bank account with no overdraft or over seas fees. Even if you have to open up another account with a different bank and then close it when you get home, it will be worth it. Don't bring showering items, soaps, toothpastes because you can readily by them in the local shops and it just takes up space in your luggage for things you might want to bring to Spain and bring home. BE OPEN; to anyone and everything. Push yourself to do everything because you don't want to miss out. And do not sleep when you get there, if you stay active, you won't get hit by jet lag as much.
During the week, we would wake up at 8, walk to class, have classes until 1pm, go back to our resedencias for lunch and then hang out in Salamanca at either the shops, restaurants, the local pool (there are 2), or go to the parks and relax. At night we would either have dinner at our resedencias or go out to one of the many, many restaurants in town. Then it was a fun night out with all of the new friends I had made while staying there. There experience overall was fantastic.
The teachers were very helpful and understanding and really wanted you to learn the language by engulfing you in it. The classes were easy and I learned the language easier than I would in the states. The trips we went on with API, whether day or weekend trips were so much fun. A group of my friends and I even went on a trip on our own during an off weekend to Valencia, which was great.
Besides the great experience I had with the API program, we all really lucked out with the time we chose to go. We were in Spain to experience all of the World Cup and Spain's win! Being able to be in a country that wins something that means so much to all of the people is amazing. That feeling and experience is something I can't really explain in words.

This was the most unforgettable and rewarding experience I have been fortunate enough to have. I have been home (my home in the states, I still consider Salamanca my home)for over 4 months and day after day I still think of the time I had traveling throughout Spain and other countries of Europe. I meet the most wonderful people, who I will never forget. Salamanca was so full of the Spanish culture (and they spoke pure castellano)I didn't go a day without learning something new. Of course, tapas (little plates of various foods) were incredibly tasty and not to mention, pretty to look at. Salamanca had a wonderful nightlife for any age, and as a college student, I definitely got my fill. I volunteered and taught Salamanca natives english, which was even more fulfilling. I will never forget this phenomenal time in my life and thanks to API, it was all I could ask for!

Salamanca is a great town, it is very safe to walk at any time, people are nice and friendly, and the social scene there is the best. Everyday there was something fun to do, and everything was walking distance. I think choosing Salamanca was the best decision I made, it is the most wonderful and enchanting city you will ever encounter.

I had the best five months of my life in Salamanca. API was absolutely wonderful, all the way from the pick up at the airport to the farewell dinners. Our excursions were the perfect mix of group activity and independent freedom, and over the course of the semester we all become so close with all the events API Salamanca held. We went away to Rome, Sevilla and other parts of Spain, to a wine tasting, a hike and a monastery, and various dinners. The API office was always open to us during office hours, and María or Inma were there to talk to us about anything. I was sick for almost the entire trip and they were always helpful, and took me to the doctors until I got so familiar with the system I went by myself! They talked to my family about my dairy intolerance and even did a random visit to make sure everything was up to par at home.

Then there were the classes, which were challenging but not too hard to stop us from enjoying and learning about the city and country I came to study. I only wish I had classes with more international students from outside the US (I was enrolled in cursos internationales). They also helped us sign up to get intercambios (language exchange partners) and that was a HUGE highlight of my experience. I got to learn a lot more useful Spanish and also made two great friends.

The city of Salamanca is unbelievable, with beautiful landmarks like the Plaza Mayor and Casa de las Conchas (where I studied sometimes since its a public library), el Rio Tormes and the Facade of Universidad de Salamanca. I miss the endless choices of bars and cafés where I would go for a mid-morning coffee or an afternoon tapa, the shopping on calle Zamora and my host family. API really does a great job of checking to see if everything is ok at home, and if you are getting out enough to enjoy the lifestyle!

Which brings me to the nightlife, which is unreal. Much more affordable than Barcelona, and with more choices and all within walking distance of every one's homes, the discotecas are the place to be on the weekends... and weekdays! Nights were never boring and I actually met some amazing people and became closer to others on these nights out.

I will never forget this experience, and I love API for enhancing it.

Salamanca was an absolutely amazing city to spend three months living and learning. It is a vibrant, youth-driven college town with so much to offer a perspective student. It host one of the oldest universities in Europe as well as one most well-respected Spanish language programs in the world. Students come to the "Cursos Internationales" from diverse countries and backgrounds specifically to learn Spanish "at its roots" in Salamanca.

On top of offering and incomparable academic experience, Salamanca hosts a phenomenal social scene. Its clean and well lit streets invite its citizens, young and old, to enjoy the city's night life. The plaza mayor--one of the most well-known and beautiful plazas in all of Spain-- comes to life as the sun goes down and its face lights up in a golden glow. It really is quite breath-taking to behold.

If a student is looking for a truly story-book Spanish city, Salamanca is the place to go. The "golden city" of Spain... It speaks for itself.