The Universidad Complutense is located in the capital of Spain. This is a semester or year-long study abroad. This study abroad is for any Spanish major or minor at the intermediate level who does not mind only earning elective (and not required) credits toward the major or minor.
For more information about Madrid and how much it will cost go to the ISU International Studies link.
Coming soon...
Dr. Bruce Burningham
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Campus Box 4300
Normal, IL
61790-4300
I studied at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.
My first couple of days were a little different than most I’d have to say. The group of us who went from ISU decided to arrive early in Madrid to ‘get to know’ the city. Needless to say, it was kind of exhausting! My luggage was lost for the first 4 days…we got to know where to shop and find not just clothes, but phone cards, toiletries, cell phones, and other essentials. On the fifth day we went to the ACCENT center, met our program director, and were assigned to our host family! After meeting them my host sister showed me around the neighborhood and around the house.
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I remember being really nervous about this placement exam. I had just come off of a summer with next to no Spanish in my everyday life so I thought ‘how the heck am I going to pull this one off?!’ It really wasn’t as bad as we all thought it was going to be—we all made it into the intermediate level in order for the grades to count and that what was very important (apart from the necessity of the class to be a challenge, of course!) We didn’t have a month-long language course.
I absolutely loved every one of my classes and professors. I learned so much more in the 12 weeks we were there than I think I’ve learned in most semester long Spanish courses! Hearing native speakers really affects the way you interpret the language and it was such a blessing to have that opportunity. In conversation we learned a lot of new vocabulary and our daily lessons asked for them to be applied…this reinforcement is really important in learning a language (in addition to many other subjects, as well). Our grammar class was not as daunting as some thought it would be—the teacher was enthusiastic and taught it in fun ways. Our ‘Practice’ class was just another way to apply what we had learned in our grammar class to our knowledge of the language. And our last class, comprehension, was so important…it allowed us to exam things outside of the basic curriculum and develop our own opinion that we had to share by using the language. It really allowed us to test our ability in communicating something a little more complex than: “I need a glass of water.” We talked about situations in various countries and were able to formulate a more adult conversation about them. It was fantastic.
I found the teachers to be really interested in teaching us! It’s always so nice to have enthusiastic teachers—it makes learning exciting. I never felt nervous or embarrassed about asking a teacher for help. They were very accessible and eager to help.
The other students were so interesting. Our classrooms had people from all over the world! It was interesting to see how many different backgrounds we all came from and how we all ended up in this one classroom every week, learning a different language together. They had so many different perspectives on things because they were from different places but it was so neat to be experiencing a foreign culture together.
My host family rocked. I spent so much time with them and really fell in sync with their life. I had a (single) mom and her 16 year old daughter. It was intense at times…since I did spend a lot of time with them I kind of got to know their very personal family situations and you can imagine that might seem a little sticky. I was a little homesick, though, and being able to resonate with them like family was comforting. Sometimes the mom depended on me to take care of her daughter (in a certain sense) and that was a little overwhelming, but I don’t think I would have changed it for anything. She has asked me to come back and visit and even go to her home country, Peru, when they go their next so that we can reunite and meet her family.
Hahahah…the food was good. First things first, get ready for smaller portions and a no-refill policy! While that may seem disappointing, I actually loved it! Their eating habits promote a healthier lifestyle than ours’ here in America and that was a welcomed change. The food wasn’t too exotic—so if you are ‘picky’ (which I suggest you lose that hang up before you travel—that’s a huge part of experiencing another culture and one that you should take the privilege of embracing!) you’ll be able to find something you like. I loved loved loved Tortilla Espanola. I had that everyday for lunch, in fact. Apart from that, Spain had lots of ham, sausage (chorizo), potatoes, GAZPACHO!, and so much more to offer.
Traveling to and from school was easy…just a 20 minute metro ride and a 15 minute walk.
When didn’t we travel would be a better question? 6 out of the 12 weekends we spent going ALL OVER! Toledo, Barcelona, Segovia, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona, Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, Paris (France), Rome and Florence (Italy).
Traveling was sooooooo awesome. Exhausting, but awesome. It got easier as the weekends passed by…we took buses throughout Spain and got cheap flights when we left the country. We did all of our researching and booking online and I must say that we spent a very minimal amount of time planning the trip. We picked the tickets, got to the place with just a few minutes before departure, and were on our feet the whole time we were in a new place. We always got maps of the place we were headed to and looked into our books to see what each place had to offer so we could decide what we wanted to see. If you can, travel. It’s not scary—quite contrary, it’s rather liberating. I find that here I feel like I can go anywhere any time on my own because we did so much of that—while having to deal with so many languages! Europe has so many great ways to travel and the countries are so close together (in comparison to the States) that you find your options for travel rather limited when you return here.
I felt safe at almost every turn. I always traveled with others, which is the best way, so there was always a companion.
Coming back to language classes here was frustrating. I didn’t have a teacher with a native tongue when I came back to I felt like I was really missing out with learning this language. Not only that, but I had other classes besides Spanish to work on so that took away from it.
I loved so many things about my study abroad experience…I think my answers above are clear indicators of that I loved being surrounded by the language and the culture. I loved having the opportunity to expose myself to new things…and to be in charge (and take pride!) in that decision!! I want to go back!
