IES Abroad Madrid

The IES Abroad Madrid program was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not only was the city of Madrid clean, entertaining, and my favorite city I've been to, but the citizens were some of the friendliest I encountered during my entire stay in Europe and most of my experiences in the USA as well. The program allowed us to mingle with local Spanish students while exploring various monuments and points of interest around the city. Also, my host family made the transition to life in Spain very smooth. While they didn't speak English, the ability to practice Spanish and learn the culture in more of an informal setting was very beneficial in the long run. The first couple weeks were a little challenging, but it was extremely worthwhile in the end. Overall, I did not have many complaints about the program. One of the few was the transition to having attendance policies for classes, which is very unlike most universities here in the states, but I understand the reasoning behind it and it forced us to focus on class, but the workload outside of class wasn't overbearing and allowed us to explore and enjoy my time in Madrid.

I spent this past semester studying abroad in Madrid, Spain with IES Abroad. The program I was a part of was affiliated with the local university, therefore, my classes were taught by local Spanish professors on a variety of different topics all in the Spanish language. My classes centralized on concepts of history, feminism through international female writers, theatre and art history. During the week my time was spent in and out of the classroom, one class specifically taking weekly field trips to the Museo del Prado, I spent my time learning in and utilizing my Spanish. In my free time, I lived with a host family, explored the city of Madrid, took a flamenco dance class and learned how to prepare authentic Spanish food. A large contributing factor that made my semester in Madrid feel so special was the people I shared it with. With the common interest of Spanish, I found myself surrounded by peers with similar interests and goals, as well as those I could learn from and grow with. With no wiggle room to take the easy way out, finding myself in a home stay where the only language universally understood was Spanish, I recognized an immediate hurdle. Although I had prepared myself to face this obstacle, throughout the first few weeks I was nervous that my own language skills wouldn’t be able to match my own personality. However, I surprised myself by being able to meet this challenge and exceed it. Although I cringe when saying it, my semester abroad was a life-changing experience. I interacted with a new culture, language and community on a daily basis and was able to learn a lot about myself in the process. This experience studying abroad in Madrid allowed me to grow my confidence and practice my independence.

I absolutely loved my experience studying abroad in Madrid. I lived in an apartment with five other girls and it was great! I wanted a chance to live with peers in an unfamiliar environment, and I thought the idea of living on my own in a European city would be a very cool experience, which it was. At the same time, I had some friends who lived in a home stay too and they became very close with their families and loved the experience. I think its personal preference and what you are looking for out of the experience.

I loved everything that Madrid had to offer, the food (especially the tapas), the culture, the people. One thing I would highly recommend is to get comfortable in the city and explore new places. Madrid is a very large city with many things to see and do, the best thing (and my favorite thing) to do in a city with such a different culture is just to walk around the different neighborhoods and parks and see the day to day Spanish culture come to life! But the time really does fly by, so explore while you can and expand your cultural knowledge and language skills by just being present in the city.

This past summer, I took part in a 6 week study abroad program in Madrid, Spain. It was an unforgettable summer that I will never be able to stop talking about. To start off, I was so scared to travel alone. Although I have traveled far with my parents, taking on a new country on my own was frightening. IES, however, sent out detailed plans about how to prepare for the trip and what to do when arriving at the Madrid airport. I made my way through the entire departure and arrival with no problem thanks to them. The classes were challenging but manageable but only because I kept up with attendance and homework. My homestay situation was very nice, and I chose to live with a roommate, which made me feel so much more comfortable. I know a few students on my program who stayed in student apartments and loved it! Additionally, Madrid has one of the largest social scenes in the world, and we made sure to dip our toes into that as well! One of my favorite memories was during the celebration of the Madrid soccer team winning the champions league. The streets were packed with locals singing the team songs! During our IES orientation, the staff warned us about areas to avoid so that we would always remain safe. Me and my classmates formed such strong bonds with our teachers, and on the last day, everyone was so sad to leave. But, I've made connections that will stay with me forever, and I am so excited to encourage other students to have the same amazing experiences as I did.

To begin with, IES covers the very basics that you can expect from a good study abroad program: excellent housing options, great classes with wonderful professors, an opportunity to explore your host city/country, good health services (including mental health counselling), etc. Now, beyond that… IES is incredibly fun! I took part in the program in the Summer of 2018, and we would have classes from Mondays to Friday mornings, meaning we had an early start to the weekend. This gave people who wanted to travel outside of Madrid (or even Spain) an opportunity to travel and have enough time to enjoy the places they were visiting. If , however, you are a student like me who is more interested in learning more about the host city, then IES is also great at helping out with that! There were many IES Madrid organised trips to local museums or famous places accompanied by local tour guides, making our trips more than just a matter of sight-seeing, but also culturally enriching activities. The staff were very friendly and always willing to make conversation or give advice whenever we needed it, whether that was regarding where to do the cheapest shopping or which bars to go to for late night tapas! I spent an incredible 6 weeks in Madrid, and if you can do so too, please go for it!

I couldn't have chosen a better program to pursue my studies abroad.

Center: The IES Madrid Center staff, particularly Angel, Yolanda, and Elvira, made my experience. Imagine going to a country where nobody speaks your language and where everyone you know is thousands of miles away! Angel immediately put us at ease and made us feel safe and at home. They take such good care of your health and safety; have no fear! At the same time, they coordinate extensive Spanish language learning and immersion opportunities, allowing anyone to come to Madrid and be at least a conversational speaker by the end.

City: A modern European city, with an exceptional walkability and subway system, where you can learn the second most spoken language in the United States. The diversity of Madrid is exceptional! You can talk to citizens of China, Germany, Syria, and Canada in the same hour. Locationally, the airport enables inexpensive travel seamlessly to the rest of Europe.

Academics: Universidad Carlos III is one of the top Engineering schools in the world. It is challenging, and going through IES means that you'll have a ton of support to help you succeed. IES arranges tutoring sessions for each of your classes, and they're thrilled to give you more if you ask for them! The courses at the center are even better. My intensive Spanish course brought a 100-level Spanish student to fluency, and my Religious History class used the city as a classroom, involving intense study of primary sources at museums and churches throughout the city.

There is no better place to study than the capital of Spain, the adventures are endless! Why would you study anywhere else in Spain when you could study in the heart of the country!? I have great things to say about my whole experience. IES Abroad is such an amazing program! The whole process from start to end was smooth and easy. They were very good at communicating details that were needed and made sure that we had all the proper resources before departure, during our stay, and upon arrival back in the USA. The program itself was amazing. I improved my Spanish while learning so much about the culture and history. The entire faculty was amazing and supportive while I was there. We went on various field trips as a program, and there were also so many other opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom. There were cooking classes, free tours, flamenco classes, and many other exciting events that we were able to sign-up for! I would highly recommend this program if you want to improve your Spanish, while being surrounded by the Spanish culture. IES provides with opportunities to interact and learn with Spanish students, and volunteer in schools helping teach English to elementary schoolers (one of my favorite memories! Overall, this experience was everything that I hoped for and then some!

Being in the IES Abroad Madrid program was truly a unique experience for someone who hadn't travelled much in her life, and suddenly was given the opportunity and funds to travel Europe! Madrid was absolutely perfect for me as a city girl because I felt 100% safe there, I had a great home, three dogs and delicious food every day (shout out to my host mom!), access to quick and easy transportation, and I lived a short 15 minute walk away from my school. Being in this program exposed me to being a true 'madrileño' due to all the events IES hosted, and all the resources they gave us when it came to exploring night life or traveling. I miss Madrid every day, and it will always feel like home to me.