I came to Oaxaca for 2 weeks to study here. The campus is beautiful and Lucero was sweet during my…read moreorientation. She took time to show me places I was interested in on a map and made sure I knew how to get there. My instructor Miguel was also great. I was in a class with 2 other women. The classes are HARD so be prepared. One of the other students was a lawyer and I am a former college professor and we both struggled. Study a lot.
Unfortunately, the school ended up being my least favorite part of the trip.
My complaints are 1. The location is on an extremely busy intersection that had protests or parades often. Even without that, there are almost constant horns and megaphones blaring with ads coming from the street. Some days it was almost impossible to concentrate. There are big windows that cool down the rooms that are parallel to the street, closing them helps, but on warm days it gets too hot. I eventually asked if our class could move to a quieter room. They did move us and the new room that wasn't as noisy. It's unfortunate that the school is on that intersection.
2. The registration fee you pay online DOES NOT go toward your tuition which was sketchy as it is not specified on the website. You pay the tuition in full on the first day or during orientation.
3. I signed up for a tour. An employee at the school took my money and said to be there by 9:45am, no other instruction. Turned out I needed extra cash for 2 tariffs (entry fee's) and lunch. It would have been helpful to know how much extra I needed in advance. My other complaint with the school in regard to the tour is that they didn't mention that we get dropped off at the Zocolo, not back at the school, which meant 30 min walk back to my hotel. We also arrived back at 8:15pm but were told we would be back at 7pm. All this should have been mentioned when the school took my money. The tour itself is through an outside company, not sure the name, and it was lovely.
The city of Oaxaca, the people and the food are incredible. If you come, research other schools or a private tutor (same price). They will teach you Spanish while visiting local spots to sit and learn outdoors or at cafes. I wish I would have gone that route.
One last note- there are mosquitos everywhere at the school so if you're prone to bites, get repellent at a pharmacy. Being swarmed by them prior to getting repellent, while the horns/parades/protests were blaring and trying to focus on Spanish verb conjugations was pretty rough.