It's been a bit over a year since I flew off to Barcelona with Adelante. Barcelona is an absolutely…read morebeautiful city. I would go back if I could. Personally, there are two main criticisms from me: 1. The first week was incredibly full of hiccups--to an extent, to be expected. The housing situation that I was initially faced with, however, was truly horrendous. I was placed in an apartment with two other Adelante girls (who are great and I still keep in touch with to this day), but the apartment belonged to a stranger we did not meet until we got there (it would have been nice to know who I was going to live with ahead of time--I don't see why this could not have been arranged sooner for the peace of mind for any intern). The guy that lived with us was nice, but it was a bit unusual to place three girls in their early 20's with a 30 year old male we had never met until we actually arrived. There was supposed to also be another stranger in the apartment not part of Adelante. The apartment itself, although in a good location, was not in good shape. It was very, very dirty (there were roaches in the bathroom) & my bedroom was not an actual bedroom. Someone had put up a fake wall ON A BALCONY and called it a room. The door did not close. You could not fit a person, a bed, & one suitcase all at once. It was a nightmare. The door didn't close--which was also a glass door, there was a curtain rod in front of it for "privacy". The rod also FELL ON ME when I tried to move the curtain. So the room was so small I couldn't fit my suitcases in it, the room was obviously not weather proof, the window was a window looking into the bathroom, it didn't have a real door... I tried emailing our Adelante contact in California about it initially, & I was basically told to "put up with it because of the location" (which was a 10 minute walk from my internship). This is probably the most infuriating part, & I can't stress enough how much of an unfair & dismissive response this was. I consider myself a well-seasoned traveler, I am more than aware of culture shock & how different architecture is in Europe... This was far beyond that. By the end of the week, however, I had already moved. I got in contact with Andrea, who was one of our contacts in Barcelona, is the person who plans housing, and works at the Spanish school that we go to for the first two weeks. She immediately had me look at other apartments. I thank Andrea for taking my concerns seriously & having me relocated so quickly. She understood that my housing situation was unacceptable and unlivable & was more than apologetic for the situation. I am grateful for her responsiveness to the situation. I ended up moving in with a woman who I absolutely loved. It's been a year & I still miss her. 2. Internship contact: While we were in BCN, we were put in contact with the lady who does all the internship coordination for all of Adelante's interns in BCN. Although I did not personally have any issues with her & she is a nice lady overall, I did notice something that I think Adelante should address. On my internship placement, there was another intern from another company also from the US. We were both supervised by the same supervisor at our internship & we had similar "jobs". We worked together a lot of the time. However, her and our supervisor had previously zoomed before the beginning of this internship and were able to talk about the experience that came with the internship, what was expected etc. Why didn't she coordinate a Zoom call like that with me & my supervisor as well? I spoke to my supervisor about it, who said she had attempted to reach out to her multiple times (before the beginning of the internship & throughout as well) & never got a response. I was happy with my internship placement itself & I gained good experience from it. I knew 3 other Adelante interns that were there same time as me. One was happy with their placement, one was unplaced for one month but then liked it once they got one, & one didn't like theirs, ended it early & decided to go back to the Spanish school. Overall consensus: I loved Barcelona sososo much. I cannot truly stress it enough. Were there hiccups? Yes. Were they resolved? Yes. I will say, however, they were resolved because I took the initiative to reach out and make things right for myself. It's a good immersion program, with a fair amount of hiccups. Adelante Abroad is there to set up the basics for you so you can fly off to Barcelona (or whatever location you choose) & do your own thing (which is why it is so much less expensive than most programs). This program is for the independent-traveler. If you have the opportunity to go to a foreign country & immerse yourself in another culture, please do it. However, be mindful that there will be difficulties and that you WILL need to stand up for yourself throughout. It's all part of the process, and it's a learning curve. Trust yourself and you'll be fine.

This place is more like a 3.5. I went abroad last summer with Adelante and had a mixed experience…read more ORGANIZATION/SERVICE - 3/5 If you do your internship abroad, the program is divided into two parts. The first two weeks of your program, you are in a school learning the language. I did my program in Spain so I was immersed into an beginner advanced Spanish class. The second part of the internship program is the actual internship. Adelante will do their best to place you in a field that is of your main interests. They do not guarantee it. While you are in America, the service is phenomenal. The Adelante staff answer all of your questions quickly. They give you a lot of information about how your time abroad will be and what to expect. They send many forms and are willing to have many conversations with you. While you are in Spain, the service is poor. There were several times when my roommate and I tried contacting Adelante about the weak internet and the MAJOR ant problem that we had. INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT - 4/5 I really enjoyed my internship. The people were very friendly and were patient with me. They helped me grow in my Spanish speaking abilities. My internship was in fashion marketing. I helped a lot with the social media, taking photos, Photoshop, etc. I would STRONGLY recommend having a high fluency in a language if you will be doing an internship abroad. If you are doing the internship during the summer, confirm with Adelante that the owner of the business will not be closing his practice/store for his vacation. This happened with one of my friends. She had one month of having no internship because the doctor she was working for went on vacation. HOUSING - 2/5 As I mentioned earlier, we had serious issues with ants in our apartment and horrible WIFI. The apartment was pretty decent. Each of my roommates got their own room and we shared the living room. We were right in the center of Madrid on Calle Mayor. At times, it was very noisy outside of our apartment. Overall, it was pretty great living in the center of Madrid. My friend got such a horrible arrangement with her room. The room Adelante gave her was the size of a walk in closet. There was only enough room for a bed and a small closet. There was one window that was right above her bed. It was not suitable to go in her room during the day. It was boiling hot in her room. When she confronted Adelante about it, they did nothing to help her. It was really a disgrace. The worst part of the program was the housing. It was horrendous. FINAL WORDS: Adelante is a great immersion company. I really liked my internship and really grew in my Spanish. There were some negative aspects in regards to housing and customer service. This program really is for the independent traveling soul. You will be immersed in the culture from the beginning! Good luck!