Zachary Heller
Class of: 2014
Name of Program: Rassias Summer Language Program
When they did the program: Last Summer
Location: Cities in the South of Spain
Type of Program: Travel, Homestay, Spanish
Short Summary: The program consisted of lot of
traveling and seeing tourist sites. It was fun for a while, but I got tired of
seeing cathedral after cathedral. By the
second week we could explore the cities by ourselves, but we did not spend more
than 2 to 4 days in each city. It was a fun Spanish Immersion program, but I
did not learn very much actual Spanish; the classes were not taught very well
and no one actually wanted to learn. Your experience is mainly defined by how
active of a homestay family you get (mine never went anywhere, and we only saw
each other at meals) and who the group is composed of.
About how many kids were in the summer program? 18
Who were the adults and what role did they play in
your experience? There were two teachers who traveled with us, and the leader
of the program who sometimes came in and talked. We also had home stay parents.
How much free time did you have and what did you do
with it? We did not have any free time at the beginning of the program, and too
much free time at the end with the homestays. There were no activities in the
cities besides bowling and watching movies in Spanish.
Did you have room and board or a home stay in
another country? If so, what was your experience like? Yes, it was boring in
the house, so I would walk around Segovia.
What were the other students in your program like
and how were the relationships that you formed? A lot of them were cliquey and
I did not know half of them because they would disappear into their small
groups. I had about 3 really good friends and some good friends in the large
group.
What kinds of activities,
social events, and trips were organized for the students? Some
activities we did were kayaking, movies, and a scavenger hunt.
If you had academic classes or homework, how many hours a day did you
spend on schoolwork? There was a three hour
program every morning during the last two weeks. The only homework that we had
to do was to Google the paintings that we were going to see at museums.
About how much of your own
money do you think you spent on gifts, food, transportation and other things
not provided by the program? $200
Did you have a curfew? If
so, what time? The curfew was 12:00, but many people stayed out
later. Some even stayed out until 4 AM, but the leader of the program got
really mad at them.
Did you have internet
access? If so, how much time did you spend using it?
Not at home, but when we were in hotels or in cafes we did.
How organized was the
program? How much flexibility was there with the agendas? How much of a say did
the students have in this? The program was very
organized.
How was the food? Rate from 1-5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best) 3
What is at least one thing you would do to improve the program? I
wish there was less scheduling and people who wanted to learn and not be disruptive.
Who would you recommend this program to? Who would this program not be
best suited to?
I would recommend this program to people who want to
have a good time in Spain and practice conversational Spanish. This is not a
hardcore Spanish training program.
Rate your overall experience (from 1 to 5): 3
(average)
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