I’m looking to study abroad next summer in 2017 in Spain and I want to pick the best city, but I’m having a hard time. I’m going through ISA and my top 5 choices are Valencia, Salamanca, Santander, Madrid, and Sevilla. Have any of you been to these cities, or specifically traveled through ISA to any of these cities? I’m not looking for anything super specific, but I want to learn the language well (Castillian is what I learned in high school but I’m open to other forms) and have a good variety of activities and experiences. Thanks in advance!
I can’t speak for the other locations, but my D is studying abroad this fall at Univ. of Salamanca and is enjoying it very much. Emory University has a campus center there and has been running a study abroad program there for many years.
Salamanca is among the oldest universities in Europe and one of the highest regarded academically in Spain. The campus may be a UNESCO historical site (it’s beautiful) and well set up for students. It’s relatively safe crime wise; Madrid and Seville have higher crime rates, esp. for pickpocketing. Madrid is very expensive compared to Salamanca, my D said. Emory arranged long weekend trips to Valencia, Seville, Portugal, and other notable Spanish historical sites from Salamanca.
thank you so much for the response! crime rate is something that i didnt think about before but is definitely important, especially for a college female
Ive been to madrid, barcelona, segovia and sevilla but i studied in salamanca. Many students from around the world go there to study spanish you will meet lots of different people, everything is next to the plaza mayor. I lived about a 5 min walk from it so i had everything at my fingertips including bars/clubs. It has a small town feel i cant recommend it enough even though barcelona is my favorite city in the world i think salamanca is the perfect city to study in lots of history. what i did was buy my plane tix separate from the group so i arrived 3 days early to madrid so i could experience it and then once the trip was over i took a bus to barcelona and spent about a week there before i flew home i would recommend you do that if you can so you can experience the othere cities, but i would say salamance 100% for an abroad trip 100x
Castillian Spanish is spoken in all of the cities that you mentioned, @puc2019, what is different is the dialect.You’d find Sevilla, with it’s Adalusian dialect, the most difficult, as the “accent” is rather thick. Only in Catalunya, whose capital city is Barcelona, is another language spoken, and there, the state is bilingual Catalan/Spanish.
Hi there,
I can highly recommend to study Spanish in Alicante. It is a very nice city on the coast. There are no dialects. I have studied in Elcano Spanish school. There are good teachers, the prices of the courses are very favorable. They also organize a lot of activities and trips and they can offer you accommodation in a shared flat or in a family.
Gustavo Woltmann
I would say Sevilla! It is suuuuch a beautiful, vibrant city. Also: money-wise, Andalusia is just SO MUCH cheaper than cities like Madrid, which you might want to consider. I just love Andalusia - Granada especially, but the advantage is that from Sevila you can take the local bus service to any of the beautiful surrounding cities: Cordoba, Malaga, Nerja, Granada.
It depends on what kind of experience you want to have. The northern parts of Spain (includes Barcelona, Madrid, etc) are more cosmopolitan cities and will seem more like Europe. On the other hand, the southern cities (includes Sevilla, Granada, etc) have more of a moor-ish/arabic influence and aren’t as cosmopolitan (also they are just smaller cities in general). So it really depends on what kind of “feel” you want the city to have.
Hello!
I’m going to study abroad in Salamanca this coming fall semester, so I may be a bit biased in pushing you towards Salamanca as well, but there’s a few things that would make it a good location for you.
- Academic standards - As others have said, the University of Salamanca is very highly regarded. I'm acquainted with another girl on campus who studied there last year and she loved the quality of the education she received there.
- Safety - Salamanca isn't a tiny city (150,000 pop) but it isn't anywhere near as big as Madrid (3 mil), Seville (700,000) or Valencia (800,000). Crime is lower and (according to my acquaintance) it is much easier to navigate than the larger cities. There is no where near as much crime as there is in other parts of the country, and it is not notorious for pick-pocketing like Barcelona is.
- Language - The Spanish spoken in Salamanca is very easy to understand from what I've heard from several students who studied there. The clarity of the spoken language is the best way to learn it in a total immersion environment. Plus, if you're milk-white and blonde like both I and my female friend are, people won't automatically look at you and speak English like they would if you were in the larger cities (Madrid), where English is a much more common second language that people are often dying to try out on native speakers.
Overall, I think Salamanca would be the best choice academically, but like I said, I am biased. I’m going through API, so our providers may differ somewhat, but I believe that many different provider programs (ISA and API included) offer national excursions in their programs, so you can still visit other Spanish cities. If you select Salamanca, you can receive the academic and linguistic benefits as well as travel benefits (independently or with your program) to the other tourist sites in Spain.
Whatever you choose, good luck! I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve lived in Spain…would highly recommend Salamanca for all the reasons others have given…plus, since it’s not a particularly big city, a higher % of students aren’t from there, & are more social. At universities in a place like Madrid, a lot of the students are from Madrid, they live with their parents, and at university they socialize with their high.school friends who attend the same university.
Santander & valencia are ok … Nothing special. Seville is a very special place, and a lot of the traditions and things we associate with Spain are more prevalent in Andalucia…the bull fights, the olive groves, the cafe life , the carefree spirit, the traditional dancing, the Moorish influence, & unfortunately the crime are all more obvious there. The accent is a little harsh, but u can still learn Spanish.
Seville! There is nowhere in Spain like it. The experience of living in a city without the craziness of Madrid or Barcelona. The culture in Seville and the “Spanishness” is so rich there. Beautiful city. I had no problems with crime there, and I doubt you would either if you’re smart (wear a crossbody purse, don’t leave your phone out of sight, don’t carry your passport if you don’t have to, don’t walk home alone at night, don’t get into a car with a stranger, don’t accept a drink you didn’t see the bartender pour, don’t bring credit cards with you on a night out if you don’t have to…pretty standard “city living” stuff). The only crime me or my friends experienced was petty theft like phone stealing, and in both cases my friends left their phones unattended for 10+ minutes in a bar, so I’m not sure what they expected. I would take these precautions in ANY city in Spain…the recession there is no joke. It’s cheap and student friendly with great weather. Easy transport to other cities (though the trains are expensive so I would recommend busses or blablacar). The accent takes some getting used to but once I got accustomed to it I actually really liked it.
I personally wouldn’t recommend Madrid, it’s too large IMO and is less “Spanish” than other cities on your list. Salamanca would be my other choice; great student city though much smaller than the others on your list besides Santander. I haven’t been to Santander or Valencia so I can’t give opinions on that.
Seville is perfect! Cordoba is even more fabulous. I would go back to Spain at every opportunity.
Mexico is wonderful and very diverse in millions of ways. From north to south, you would be hard-pressed to see it as a single country. Aztecs, Mayans, and…Mexico has more resources than almost anyone. I hope they can use them better some day in behalf of the people and country.
As much as I love Spain, I think of Mexico is more accessible to me than Europe. Additionally, Mexico is our neighbor with whom we have commonalities (families, language, history,) and differences in those same areas and others. Your options are wonderful, but your choice is a horror. Could you do Spain for the year and Mexico during summer(s) in different locations?
Best place in Spain? Andalusia!
Thank you for your response! I have done a lot of thinking about study abroad, and I would definitely like to go more than once. My school offers smaller week long trips to Nicaragua and Cuba, so I was thinking about studying in Spain in the summer and then possibly Nicaragua or Cuba for spring/fall break, that way I can experience Central America and Europe. And i honestly don’t know how I’m ever going to choose a city, at this point I’m considering pointing at a map and going to the closest city that I point to! However, it is comforting to know that whatever city I choose, I always have the options to travel to some of the other cities that I don’t choose.
I would suggest researching the average daily temperatures for summer. From what I have heard Seville and Madrid can be quite hot in summer. Also you can look into whether the classrooms have AC. The accomodations probably do not, but it is worth checking if that is important to you. From the list you have selected I would pick Salamanca and Valencia. Salamanca because of the high student population and
Valencia because it’s a beach town. I would suggest studying up on the beaches and making sure you only swim where there are lifeguards present. Some of the beaches can be trecherous due to riptides and such. Hope you have fun wherever you go!
Tution for this one is about $1,500:
http://www.studyabroadinspain.com/liberal-arts-modular-program-university-salamanca-fall-semester/
Semester in Seville for about $1,700
http://www.studyabroadinspain.com/university-integration-program-universidad-pablo-de-olavide-seville/
Semester in Madrid for about $2,600
http://www.studyabroadinspain.com/fall-semester-madrid-spanish-language-linguistic-cultural-immersion-universidad-autonoma-de-madrid/
Of the cities you mentioned, I would cast my vote for Salamanca. I spent an academic year there and I absolutely loved it.
i spent 3 months in Madrid. Liked it, but it´s a big city with a lot of hassle. But it has plenty to do and lots of culture. I wouldn´t want to spend a year there, though.
Salamanca is better for Spanish than Valencia. In Valencia they speak a lot of Valenciano, which is like Catalan. Look it up on youtube and listen to it. Not a big deciding factore, but something to consider.
Let me re, re-peat that Salamanca was wonderful. It´s lss wonderful in the summer, because everyone leaves and the vibe is way less than during the school year.
If you go in the summer, I would choose Valencia.
