Internships in Barcelona - Adelante Abroad

I was with Adelante for their two-month program in Barcelona under Business Marketing. I would say I had a really fun overall experience. I met so many people all over. Most of them are from the U.S. I'm from California and everyone else was from the east coast. Those friends that I've met were my family in Barcelona for all two-months I was here. We all went out together and traveled together.

The two-week language school, Kingsbrook, is intense, but I learned a great deal and I had to start my internship right when I got to Barcelona so my schedule was jammed pack. It was my decision, not Adelante. However, I don't know the difference between Adelante program and Kingsbrook. I had more connections through Kingsbrook than I did with Adelante. I'm not quite sure. Overall, I'm thankful for the program that took the effort to find my internship. Furthermore, I had an amazing time!

During my internship in Barcelona I had a fantastic experience. The city is amazing with a lot of fun and things to do. You cannot like it in here. Housing was quite good although it was far away from my internship company.The work experience in my internship was really useful. I got a lot of contacts that will help me in my future career. I met a lot of important and interesting people. I learnt a new language and culture thanks to visiting a lot of cultural events. I spent 4 months in Barcelona. I suggest new students to do their internship for the longest time possible. You will not be disappointed . Adelante stuff was helpful, I did not have any problem and if so they resolved all of them. Also the Spanish course at the begging of the internship is interesting and useful. It helps you to get used to Spanish.

It surprises me how this program continues to receive largely very positive reviews. Certainly, if everything had gone according to plan with my program experience, I might feel more magnanimous towards Adelante– despite the program’s thorough mediocrity in any case, really. In the end, my three months in Barcelona were just decent enough. The “Miami of the Mediterranean” is a hard place to get bored with, but well before I had even arrived in Spain, Adelante dropped the ball. Adelante Abroad bills itself as “a very strong, successful program right now,” but for me, it was actually more like a recklessly inattentive internship mill, hiding behind a fairly deceptive website. My main mistake was initially applying for a six-month program in Barcelona. It turns out that applying for an Adelante program longer than the 90-day Schengen Area allowance, which usually requires a visa, can send you on an exhausting and expensive journey into some shady bureaucratic territory. And Adelante is definitely not going to be there to guide you through it, whatever they may claim to the contrary.

Schengen Area countries require Americans to obtain a longer-term visa for stays of more than ninety days. Adelante was woefully irresponsible in how it prepared me to apply for a visa. It is true that for a variety of reasons, Adelante must ultimately leave the visa responsibility to the applicant, but this does not excuse Adelante from the gross negligence they displayed in failing to guide me, a paying client, through the process. Everything was going well until Adelante got back to me with my program dates; I was to spend 189 days in Spain. This proposed length of time was obviously inconvenient, as visas for longer than 180 days require a more comprehensive background check, including a medical analysis and an FBI criminal history report. Of course, I had to research this on my own; Adelante seemed clueless and unaware that the inclusion of just nine extra days would require significantly more effort and money on my part. And though I had applied well ahead of Adelante’s deadline, I found myself having to scramble to acquire all the necessary documents in time for my last-minute appointment at the Spanish Consulate in San Francisco. In total, I spent slightly over $1,000 in costs related to my visa application; much of this went to fees associated with obtaining FBI clearance.

I drove hundreds of miles to San Francisco and walked into the Consulate of Spain on the day of my appointment. I was met with an ice-cold reception. My visa officer spoke in a haughty tone, and requested additional documentation above and beyond what I was led to believe was necessary (this documentation was not listed as necessary anywhere on the consulate’s website). Apparently in the eyes of Spain, I was some hardcore criminal intent on causing trouble in Barcelona until I proved myself otherwise, despite my perfectly clean FBI record. I never figured out why they did not like me; maybe they simply did not like the way I looked. A chat with the visa officer’s supervisor yielded the same aggressive suspiciousness (he was friendly at first, but after going downstairs to pick up my application file and speak with the visa officer, he came back with a real doozy of an attitude). There was little I could do to change this; as representatives of a foreign government, visa officers are pretty much free to exercise whatever discretion they want when it comes to issuing visas. And while this situation was obviously bad, Adelante’s response was equally disappointing. Yes, maybe the consulate was determined to keep me out of Spain for more than three months, but Adelante did not even lift a finger to assist me, their client. It did not help that Adelante messed up my introduction letter to the consulate; they carelessly mislabeled me as an “architecture” student. The visa officer told me that they would process my application once I had submitted my “Convenio.” I was somewhat familiar with this term; in the course of my visa research, I had learned to equate “Convenio” with Adelante’s “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), a contract between the intern and the company. The consulate wanted this document as extra proof that I would actually be an intern (and not a criminal) in Spain. On the phone, Adelante feigned ignorance. They claimed that the MOU was merely an “internal document,” and that mine was not ready, as they had not even set me up with an employer yet. Later in Spain, when I actually received my MOU, it was also labeled “Convenio,” and had all the appearances of being a real legal document. So much for the Adelante Director’s unconvincing defense over the phone: “‘Convenio?’ What does that even mean? I’m so sorry, Jarrett. You’ll just have go to Spain without a visa!”

Faced with arrogant obstruction from the consulate, lazy incompetence from Adelante, and with just weeks to go before my flight to Europe, I made the difficult decision to abort my visa application and shorten my program to less than ninety days. Once again, I had lost $1,000 in failed pursuit of this visa, and I had moved to a shorter-term Adelante program, which is charged at a much higher monthly rate. I did not think I was paying several thousand dollars for Adelante to basically say: “Okay man, let us know when you get the visa. Good luck! You’ll need it! LOL.” Adelante’s emphasis on the “independent traveler” is a subtle way of shirking responsibility when things go wrong. It became clear to me why sleeker internship companies do not even usually offer programs for more than three months– it is simply irresponsible to send unprepared applicants blindly into the bureaucratic hell that can be the visa application process. And after going through this disaster, my shortened internship experience did little to relieve my disappointment with Adelante. As other reviewers have noted, the actual internships that Adelante arranges can be unsatisfying at times. Adelante sent me links to the websites of glamorous hotels, and told me that I would go through a rigorous training process at one of them. In reality, I spent a lot of my days just cleaning rooms and waking people up at a simple hostel. I met another Adelante intern in Barcelona who actually called it “false advertising.” As for lodging, I was placed in an old apartment with no air conditioning and dysfunctional Wi-Fi. It was definitely not a truly horrible situation, but it certainly did little to change my impression of Adelante as a fairly lackluster internship company. My contact at Adelante did reliably check in with me over email, but these short and generic messages seemed like a cheap way of creating the illusion of real customer service.

I suppose you get what you pay for. My Spanish skills did improve, and I did gain work experience. Considering Adelante’s affordable, bargain basement prices, I might have been basically satisfied with my barebones internship and lodging experience in Barcelona, were it not for the fact that Adelante’s clumsiness regarding bureaucratic realities cost me a great deal of extra time and money. And although I cannot forgive the Spanish Consulate for its bizarre and inexplicable suspicion of me, I was absolutely unimpressed with Adelante’s weak and evasive response to that challenge. So, I must place equal blame for this episode with the consulate, and with Adelante for failing to look after me as a client. Probably the best aspect of the program was the vibrant city of Barcelona itself, but obviously Adelante is not the only internship company that can take you there. Going forward, I would strongly caution American applicants against opting for a longer-term Adelante program, as these may require a visa, and Adelante may just abandon you, should trouble arise in your visa application process. Shorter programs, however, do not have the same low per-month rate that attracted me to Adelante over its competitors in the first place. To improve its service, Adelante needs to put more effort into assisting its clients through the visa application process, and to be more prepared when its clients encounter a hostile bureaucracy. Adelante should also warn prospective clients about the unpredictable risks, costs, and significant efforts involved in the visa application process.

Hello readers! If you reading this review then you are probably interested in interning abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Well, let me begin by telling you that you do not need to look any further if you are interested in an astonishing international experience. Barcelona is an excellent destination filled with marvelous architecture, alluring beaches, delectable dishes , diverse groups of people all with colorful personalities, and an absolutely dynamic nightlife. The question isn't where do I want to travel, the question is what program is best for me to use to get there? Well in this review I will tell you about my experience with Adelante Abroad.

Let's first start off with the price. I want to mention that if you travel, prepare for it to be costly period. However, Adelante Abroad does stand by their word when they advertise that they are affordable. Affordable meaning that the price is fair not a steal nor is it a rip off. I think it is accurately priced for what you get. So the price is actually a good value.

Next I want to mention the staff. The Adelante Abroad staff gives you phenomenal service! They make the application process very smooth and easy for candidates. They are also quick and very receptive to any question and concerns before, during, and after your program. Not to mention, they are very friendly, understanding, and extremely considerate. While abroad, they make sure that everything is going well and even send you links to events or helpful tools used to adapt to your new surroundings. For customer service, the staff gets a definite 10 out of 10.

Next would the inclusive Spanish courses you will take the first 2 weeks there. The classes were held at Kingsbrook. Kingsbrook has very engaging classes for language learning. My teacher was very enthusiastic and gravitating. However the lesson plans could have more structure. It seemed as though the lessons that were covered did not flow. Although, for the second part of Spanish lessons, it was taught by a different instructor. This instructor was brilliant. He handed us worksheets and also had group activities to where the whole class was involved which was very fun. Two weeks of Spanish lesson was not enough. This is one of the flaws of the program but I am sure that if you ask for more Spanish lessons then they would accommodate.

Housing would be my next topic. The housing was lavish compared to some of the other apartments that I visited there in Barcelona. You get your own room and also there is a housekeeper that cleans the apartment and also washes your laundry. I did not need anyone doing my laundry but it was nice I guess. Also with my apartment it was in a great location as well. It was not far from the mall, the beach, and the metro/bus station. The apartment itself was small, but honestly everything in Europe will be that way, so you just will have to get use to it. Other than that housing was great. The pictures they have online can be a little misleading but not completely false. Online it looked much bigger but the apartment still had a nice layout.

Last, but of course, the most important element would be the internship. Wow, I have much to say about my internship but I will try to be concise. My internship was not bad but it had much room for improvement. During my internship I felt as though I was just an extra and I was not part of the bigger picture. The interns at my job placement did not have much rank nor responsibility. Yes, we had duties but I could not help but feel like I was a pawn. I basically did all the dirty work that the others did not want to do. I do want to mention that this does come with the territory if you apply to be an intern so I really could not complain. However, the internship itself was not entirely dreadful. There were more hits than misses. I did enjoy the staff at the two locations I worked and also I did learn much when it came to becoming a professional in my industry. I could go on forever about the pluses and minuses about the internship but overall I think that it I something that you will enjoy but also be prepared for the moments that are not really hands on with your internship experience.

I hope this review helps you your internship program search. I think just like all programs, Adelante has much potential but at the same time not perfect. I would still recommend this program to a friend. Good luck. Adios!

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!

I participated in Adelante Abroad's international internship program from September 2015 to November 2015. I can say that it was a very very very beneficial experience in personal growth as well as gave me a great way to diversify myself when searching for jobs.

If you don't know much Spanish, this program includes 2 weeks of class, for a total of 40 hours. I thought I would be ok and the classes wouldn't teach me a lot of new stuff, boy was I wrong. Upon arrival I realized I needed to learn more. The classes definitely helped. I wish I would have continued to take them after the two weeks was up.

My internship(s) went quite well. I originally was working with a sports company, and my MOU and documents stated my duties would be working on marketing campaigns for FC Barcelona. Needless to say, I was excited and told everyone. Upon beginning work, I wasn't really doing what I was told, and when I brought this up, Adelante realized they made a mistake and sent me the MOU for a summer student. I was quite disappointed as my expectations were crazy high going into this. I told them I would have selected the other option they gave me, had I known I'd be working the afternoons (not allowing me much time during the day to discover and do things in the city) and had I known what I would be doing(lots of busy work)I would have chosen the other internship they discussed in my preliminary phone calls over summer. I stuck with the internship for a few more weeks, as Alicia worked with me to find me another company.

She found me another, which I transitioned into. For a few weeks I was working both internships, so those were long days. Once I worked myself into just this company, my days opened up a lot more and I could experience the city better. I had a wonderful experience with this company and was very sad to leave when the day came.

Housing was great, the apartment was quite large and Luisa was such a wonderful lady. My roommate was awesome and we still keep in touch. I also met people at language class who were in other internships, students who were studying abroad, and my going out and experiencing what the city offered.

My weekends I spent with my roommates, friends, or solo, and explored the city, the surrounding areas, and did some traveling (Oktoberfest, Paris, Rome) and there was never a shortage of something to do.

As I write this, I only have one night left of my 3 month stay here in Barcelona. At this point my only regret is not planning to stay for longer. While getting used to hearing and speaking Spanish was difficult at first, Kingsbrook language school was a huge help. The teachers are extremely helpful and the classes were always a fun learning environment. Besides learning Spanish, the school was also a great way to make friends quickly. Through Kingsbrook I was lucky enough to make great friends from all over the world.

In terms of the internship, I was not quite sure what to expect prior to my arrival. One week after starting at the company however, I already found myself very happy with the placement. The internship had me learning about global sourcing, an industry that piqued my genuine interest in international business. They treated me as a full member of their team and provided projects that challenged me to learn on my own while they were always available to help. Overall, the internship left me with practical knowledge of an industry I had known little about prior to working with them.

Finally, a review of my stay here would not be complete without mentioning that Barcelona is absolutely one of the most amazing cities I have ever been to. Barcelona has everything someone could ask for. Beautiful landmarks and architecture, nightlife, the beach, fine cuisine, mountains to climb, people from across the globe to meet, and more. There is hardly ever a boring moment in this vibrant city.

I'm an 19y.o. Indonesian that is studying in Australia. For my 2015 summer break I chose to do something I've never done before - living in Europe by myself, in a country where I do not know anyone and which language I did not speak, while having my very first (unpaid) office job. This has been the scariest and life-changing experience I have ever had, and most certainly one I'll never forget. :)

Barcelona is the right place for you if you enjoy going on hikes and getting some fresh air from the city on weekends (it certainly was the right place for me!). Whenever I'm not sick or working, I'm out having excursions and meeting new people. I went horseriding several times in very beautiful and memorable places. I went trekking and hiking and took trains to medieval villages. And the best of all, I get to travel while meeting new people from all over the world and especially Europe, which for me is the most important part of the whole experience. :)

I spent 3 months in Barcelona. During the first 5 weeks I had difficulties in adapting to the environment and I got sick many times - stomachaches, colds, fevers, you name it. Afterwards it got better but I still got sick at least once every two weeks - usually minor, but sometimes I could be immobilized in bed for hours. I have Asian friends who found the same problem - getting a lot of colds and stomachaches, hair falling out, etc,. Maybe the environment is more difficult for Asian people to get used to (lol, who knows). During those times I had to cancel excursions I have planned with my friends - and despite not being able to do anything about it, I regret it very much. I wish I had spent more time in Barcelona.

I loved my job in the office. I interned in a publishing company which also published the FC Barcelona's official albums, which is awesome. I designed banners and book covers and a lot of things for the company. During the process, my coworkers were very honest in giving me feedback and they were very patient with me when I do not understand something. However I think the company lacked communication with me - for example, I had to find out myself (from my friends who were working) that there was a public holiday the following week and that I did not have to be in the office. Other than that, though, it was great. They were patient when I made mistakes and were very understanding. As it was my first office job, I learned so many things from it. It was quite satisfying.

A tip for future interns: Adelante is DEAD SERIOUS when they say that this program is only for independent travelers. You are on your own to decide where you want to go and with whom, and you have to be able to find your own way to be able to meet new people. The Adelante representative in Spain did not meet or greeted me until almost 2 weeks after my arrival, and that was only to talk about work and if I have any other questions, which in my opinion was a bit late to ask about... The pre departure orientation packet was not very updated and helpful about the metro tickets - Make sure to enter your ID number when you buy one or you will be fined! (During the time I bought my ticket, a local who was helping kinda put random numbers onto it and I thought that was what we were supposed to do because it still works - but when the need to renew your ticket arises, you won't be able to do that.) another tip is to NOT go to the hospital that Adelante recommends you to. Contrary to what I expected, I was not given an English-speaking doctor regardless of my request, and the price to just see the doctor for less than five minutes was ridiculously expensive. If it's a minor problem, then just go to the local pharmacy and ask a pharmacist what to get. A final tip is to always be careful with your belongings no matter where you are. So many of my friends have had their things stolen. The hype is real.

The bottom line is, this program is simply a bridge. What you get out of it is your own choice. You will be handed a free rein to make your own experience and make it life-changingly awesome. For me, it certainly was! ;)