Open Question: What are some good study abroad programs?

5 February 2012, 6:21 pm

Currently, I am a Freshman (age 15; I will be 16 in April, if that helps) in Boston, MA. I am taking Spanish II at the moment and, next year (my Sophomore year), I will be taking Spanish III and I will do my best to take Spanish IV during the second semester. That way, by my Junior year (the time that I want to go abroad to Spain), I will have taken all four years of Spanish and should be able to converse with a native speaker, relatively normally. That brings me to my next point - I would like to go to Barcelona, Spain (and if I can't go to Barcelona, then Buenos Aires, Argentina would also be fine but Barcelona is my #1 choice). If neither of those are available, then Havana, Cuba would be good too (since Cuba is an embargoed country, Panama would be a fine alternative). I have spent the last few days looking for good foreign exchange/semester away/that kind of thing and I couldn't find anything incredible. I found maybe four or five good programs but I just want to check other options in addition to those. So my question is: what are some good foreign exchange or semester abroad services that aren't incredibly expensive (around or under $10,000 for the whole year) and are in Barcelona? I am also probably going to be flying into Barcelona from Bosnia (and from Barcelona to Bosnia, too) so it would be nice if the airfare wasn't included in the price so I don't have to pay that and not use it (if it doesn't work like that, tell me please). Also, if you know of any scholarships or anything like that, do share it with me. If you have any other advice, please share it with me. NOTE: I don't want to do a foreign exchange in the traditional sense - I don't want someone coming to my house because, well, I don't know anything about their hygieneeic habits and I'm somewhat of a clean freak. SECOND NOTE: I heard that in Barcelona (where I want to go), all the public schools are tought in Catalan, and not Spanish. Is this true and, if so, are they very similar? Like, could a Spanish-speaker under Catalan easily? Is it a real language or just a dialect (like American English, British English and Irish English) or is it like Portugese and Spanish? LAST NOTE: If they speak Catalan in Barcelona and a Spanish-speaker can't understand it, then Madrid instead of Barcelona is fine but I really want Barcelona).... Read More »

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