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December 21, 2006
Samantha in Seville!
My experience in Seville, Spain has been amazing. At first I had wanted to hop on the next flight home and forget about it. But then before I knew it, the first month went by and I was having a great time.
It was a little frustrating at first because I could understand and speak only a little Spanish. Soon that changed and I was able to talk and understand my host mother and we would talk about stuff that appeared on the news, which is all she ever watches.
While in Europe it is more affordable to travel while abroad. I have been to Tavira (Portugal), London, and Paris. This doesn't even include the other places I have visited in Spain, which include Ronda, Cacéres, Merida, Trujillo, Barcelona, Cordoba, and Madrid. All these places are amazing. It was great to live with a family over here because I got to know more of the customs and practice Spanish much more than if I had lived in an apartment (I also got corrected a lot more as well).
The best thing about this is that Seton Hill helped me get here. Many of the other student talk about how their schools don’t help with the financial aid and they had to fight to even get some. Seton Hill didn’t cause any problems and even helped with a study abroad scholarship. It is amazing how helpful everyone has been and the hardest part was actually getting the courage to get on the plane to come. I went on this study abroad with a company called CEA, who is affiliated with Seton Hill, and at each of the cities they have an office with people to help adjust and talk, not to mention plan activates.
Posted by AshleyHoffman at December 21, 2006 11:58 AM
Comments
Thank you for sharing your experience with us Samantha!
Kim
Comment by: Kim at December 21, 2006 1:24 PM
Differing from Ashley's wonderful experience in Seville (Seville is truly wonderful and accessible in many ways.), our experience with CEA causes us to suggest seeking alternative programs.
Caveat Emptor with CEA, "Cultural Exchange Abroad". Our experience suggests that anyone wanting to study abroad should absolutely seek out other alternatives. Their focus seems to be on business enrichment not on student education or experience. This was clearly demonstrated in their attitudes experienced by me. Their focus and pride on business public relations seems to trump concern for student relations.
On their website they document the achievements of their public relations department, but not the quality of affiliate institutions or their testimonials.
Their web sit declares that “For the second year in a row, CEA has been ranked as one of the fastest growing organizations in the U.S. on the prestigious Inc. 500 Award List, published by Inc. Magazine. CEA was also the recipient of the ACE Award, recognized as the 13th fastest growing organization in Arizona, and has twice been presented with the American Marketing Association Award for "Best Printed Collateral" for the Academic Program Catalog.” These recognitions are business plaudits achieved by aggressive public relations departments, not student focused recognitions of which I find little if any at all on their site. This is consistant with our experience.
Based on our experience with CEA, caveat emptor with CEA.
Comment by: Karl Friedman at March 30, 2007 10:28 AM
I'm writing from italy and I'll spend a period of study in spain but in jaèn,here in europe many univerities partecipate to an exchange programme called ERASMUS,and is a great opportunity for us.
Comment by: lexis at October 12, 2007 11:54 AM