Semester In Madrid

For people looking for an atypical, rewarding experience abroad, look no further than Adelante.

I feel like most people love their time abroad, but wish they had been able to do away with classes that really didn't contribute too much to their academic growth. With Adelante's internship placement, I had the wonderful chance to immerse yourself in the day-to-day of Madrid interning under a renowned psychiatrist as well as helping out with an LGBT/human rights organization. Both the these internships gave me real world experience in sectors that I am thinking about for post-grad, but, at the same time, forced my Spanish to improve immensely.

Then, while most people would be tied up with doing classwork, I had time to explore Madrid and other places as much as I wanted to. I ended up having time to read (which is never possible during semesters for me) and finished four books in Spanish, also contributing hugely to my learning. The school that Adelante bases out of in Madrid was also wonderful about having activities and always being welcoming when I stopped in to say hi and see what was going on.

One major disclaimer for this program: I've seen this posted before and I was told by the Adelante staff as well (they were very upfront about this), but I want to reiterate that, in order for this program to work for you, you need to be quite independent and ready to take initiative in your time abroad. Since there is no structured abroad group or program, you need to fill your own time. Now, this freedom can be absolutely fantastic. Case and point: I became friends with my co-workers and made life-long friends from Spain. However, none of that would have happened if I hadn't gone out of my comfort zone a lot (and I'm already a pretty outgoing guy) and motivated myself every day to take advantage of my time. So, if you pick this program (which you should), just remind yourself to give it all you've got and to not waste time being lazy or nervous about trying new things. No one will be nudging you along, so you need to take advantage of the many opportunities while abroad on your own terms.