API Sevilla -- Do it.

I had originally chosen API because it was the most affordable study abroad program that I could find in Sevilla. However, that did not stop them from offering an inclusive, cultural program that would be very difficult to beat.

My experience in Spring 2012 was overall very positive, and I'll list some of the highlights, as well as some of my not-so-positive experiences:

1) Excursions - we were given tours of Madrid, Toledo, a bike tour of Sevilla when we arrived, Granada, Cadiz, Extremadura, Portugal, and probably more that I'm forgetting at the moment. Not only were these tours wonderful, informative, and intimate, but we were given great hotels to stay at (a monastery from the 1400's was my favorite), but we were essentially shown a side of Spain that we would have never seen from an insider's point of view.

2) Staff - API hires wonderful, caring people to work with us, and I was very impressed with them. They helped us plan trips, find churches, and gave us candid advice.

3) Housing - It was both a good and challenging experience for me. I chose a host family stay, and I was well-fed and cared for. My mom was a fabulous cook! I did struggle a bit with her timetable; my mother wanted me home at certain times for meals, and it was hard to do so with all of the activities going on. However, overall it was very good. API was very eager to make sure that we had good housing; some of my friends disliked their situations and were able to find better accommodations with API's help.

4) Academics - I took classes in Spanish but with Americans, and that is probably my biggest regret. The classes were good, and I learned quite a bit, but my Spanish would have improved so much more had I taken the classes with Spaniards option. I'd encourage anyone to do that.

Overall, a fabulous experience.