Barcelona SAE: Academic Center (SIS) Semester Program

From the first day in this beautiful city, the Barcelona Study Abroad Experience makes every student feel like family. Two moments in particular stood out to me, exemplifying the care and consideration that this program provides. Firstly, the inaugural tapas lunch was a fantastic welcome. The school brought us to a restaurant on the beach and treated us to an extensive meal of local cuisine. Sharing a delicious lunch with new classmates and academic mentors proved to be a great opportunity to make friendships that lasted the entire semester and beyond. Secondly, following an international trip, I suffered from a respiratory infection and had to miss two consecutive days of classes. On the second day, I received a personal email from the Senior Coordinator of Student Life checking in to make sure I was healthy and taken care of. This kind of attention to detail and personalization is precisely the service that makes this program so irrefutably excellent. Having attended seven schools in my life, I can confidently attest to the attention to detail and opportunities that this program consistently provides, and I would be eager to recommend Barcelona SAE to any of my fellow students.

I studied abroad my last semester of college and it was one of the best decisions I made because met amazing people from different parts of the world and learned to be on my own. Most of my classes were all well oriented around learning about Barcelona, which gave a lot of insight on the city and the Catalan culture. The program events and day trips were great, and well planned. From someone who hasn’t traveled Europe and came to Barcelona with no idea what to expect, I would definitely recommend studying thru BSAE to be part of your study abroad journey!

I really enjoyed this program and couldn't ask for anything more. I felt super supported by staff and my professors. I enjoyed that the class sizes were not that big so that I could connect with my classmates one on one. During the first few days of the program, I felt super out of place because I come from a HBCU where everyone is African American and looks similar to me. As classes went on I began to open up to the students and create genuine connections. I really appreciated the activities during integration week although they were early lol. It gave me the opportunity to network with other students before classes even begun. I enjoyed all the program activities, my favorite one was the cooking class and also the weekend trips. In the beginning I was living in a homestay and felt super isolated and lonely, I found that once I moved to the apartment I made stronger connections and was able to cook for myself which I enjoyed. Academic wise I enjoyed my classes, mostly my psychology one. I will take the route in becoming a psychologist so it was cool to go on field studies and talk with therapist about their daily lives. I enjoyed the program and my mentor, I would do this again if I could!