6 wonderful weeks in Madrid!

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!