Adelante Abroad, Barcelona 2016, Summer: Low Price, Low Obligation, Low Stress etc.

My trip to Barcelona was a fun one, and one that would not have been possible without Adelante Abroad's affordable prices. I would tell those looking at this program that you do get what you pay for. It's not exactly the fanciest or best internship jobs, but if you're looking to do some work abroad while also enjoying the experience on the cheap, you've got the right company. I'll list my pros, cons, and tips below.

Pros:
- Very affordable program
- Friendly staff; while small, if you call them up during business hours they are quick to help you/inform you about things.
- The people you meet on the program are all very wonderful. You have a sense of comraderie because you're all in the same boat, and going through the language school together really helps.
- The internship can often be very relaxed, which gives you a lot of time to explore where you are and really enjoy your time abroad
- I loved the language school; Kingsbrook was a great place with many new faces and people to meet, and was a great way to really gear up for my stay.
- I had a great experience with my housing. Marta was very sweet. Housing can be a bit of a mixed bag though, depending on your situation. Adelante is a smaller program than you think, so it is much more likely you'll live on your own with the apartment owner, or with one other roommate. I lived independently with the apartment owner and had a good time. Two of my other friends had to switch though because of this woman name Rosa who had previously gotten bad reviews from other people. But everyone else had relatively chill experiences with their apartment owners.

Cons:
- Perhaps the most notable of my experience was that the small staff seemed to be a bit disorganized, particularly when setting up my trip experience. I was not informed of my housing placement until 3 days before I left for Barcelona, when I was according to their website supposed to be informed no later than two weeks before I left. This goes double for my internship placement; not only was I informed late about that as well, but it turned out to be a completely different internship than I had requested. That second part was fine and partially expected (they had not promised I'd get my first choice) but it would have been easier to plan for had it not been so late.
- My internship was not as substantial as I would have hoped, but it's kind of a mixed bag depending on what you request. I worked for an LGBT group, but because it was in Barcelona, the heritage and importance of the group in particular was that it was a Catalan group. Adelante advertises Barcelona as if it is a place that Spanish is used commonly, I believe they say it is "the language of business." While I was able to communicate in restaurants and around town, don't be fooled: Catalan is EVERYWHERE and you will be having to parse it out a lot of the time. If you don't engage in Spanish first, people will speak to you in Catalan. They are proud of their culture/language and will use that first and foremost. This proved to be kind of odd at my job though, because that was a big part of their heritage and pride, so myself and my friend were the odd ones out for not speaking Catalan. That made the placement a bit weird as well.

Tips:
- In Barcelona, expect to speak Catalan and here it/see it everywhere.
- It is advertised/said that you'd probably be staying with a lot of people in your apartment, but it's much more likely you'll live on your own
- Reach out to Adelante by phone rather than by email during their office hours; it's quicker that way.
- Have lots of fun!