SAI Study Abroad at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)

Studying abroad in Barcelona was a phenomenal experience. Not just because of the beautiful city, but the SAI program genuinely made my entire semester so much more enjoyable. The staff in Barcelona was always so extremely helpful with any questions we had or if we wanted to do an activity. I joined the club soccer team through SAI and met some of my best friends. Cannot recommend this program enough!!

I studied in Barcelona the summer of 2022 and it was incredible. Prior to this, I only traveled out of country to Canada and the Bahamas with my family so it was a brand new experience going to Europe by myself. I wanted to take the jump so I did, chose random roommates and decided to go to Barcelona. Right off the bat, I was greeted by some of the SAI on site team and driven back to my apartment. They helped me up and introduced me to my roommates. We got to know each other immediately. I had that weekend free and then started class that Monday. One of my roommates was in my class which was amazing so we commuted about a half hour on the metro together. My apartment was directly next to The Sagrada Familia (most beautiful location ever) and the campus was near the beach. My class was from 6-9pm Monday - Thursday. We would take the bus right after class to the beach every day. My class had students from the US, local students, and other international students. It was a film class and the premise of the class was to create a film on your own. We decided to film a local festival. This was an incredible way to immerse myself directly into the culture. On the weekends, I traveled from to Madrid to visit family one week, Ibiza one weekend, and the other weekends I just explored the city and local beach towns. By far the best summer of my life!

Overall my experience in Barcelona was amazing! From the school to the programs administration, it was all incredible. I had support from the moment I completed my application now. The administration from the headquarters in the US and in Barcelona still keep in touch as are so friendly and helpful. The activities they provided were also amazing, especially the day trips to other local towns. My University was great and I really enjoyed the class I took. I took a film and documentary class! It started off slow but picked up as we started shooting our own.

My experience studying at UPF with SAI in Barcelona was incredible. I would choose it over and over again. UPF - UPF is the top ranked school in Spain, so the classes were definitely challenging, but in a good way. I didn't feel like I was wasting my time with school, I really was learning important information. It is also a very historic and culturally Catalan school, so it was perfect for getting the local experience I wanted!! Beautiful and peaceful campus just a 10 minute walk away from Barceloneta (the beach). Be prepared to do school work, but also have really cool professors and learn a lot. Totally worth it. BARCELONA - I'm probably biased but I think this is the best city to study abroad in. Absolutely beautiful, so much to do, awesome night and day life, and super easy to travel out of / access the airport for weekend trips. SAI - SAI was the best decision I could have made. They were SO accommodating, quick to respond, and settled any worries I had going into it. The apartments we were assigned were really nice and fantastic location. SAI gave the perfect amount of independence but also security and excursion opportunities. The staff were all so welcoming, easy to talk to, and made you feel right at home. They also planned great events and were fun to hang out with!! We went to Monterserrat, had a flamenco dancing workshop, ceramics workshop, Catalan cooking night, weekend trip to Seville, and more ... the staff made all of the excursions so great!! I really felt like I got a local experience in Barcelona and that was my main goal for studying abroad. So much of the local experience I was given was from SAI excursions and their Global Leadership Certification, where I had the opportunity to earn an additional certification through making a presentation on a subject related to Spain, write a thesis statement, meet with the advisors, attend academic seminars, and volunteer weekly at a local school to help teach the kids English. Overall incredible experience!

I had the most amazing semester studying in Barcelona, Spain. The SAI program organized many activities and trips for my program which was all a lot of fun. These activities and trips included a scavenger hunt, many dinners, a cooking class, a trip to Montserrat, a trip to Sevilla and many more. When I wasn't doing activities with my program I was traveling with people in my program every weekend.

SAI was the most amazing experience for me and my friends. We go to the University of Florida and were the pioneers for SAI specifically with UPF and we could not be happier. The apartment we were assigned to was perfect, immersed in the real Barcelona culture while also being 10 minutes away from Sagrada Familia. UPF was an outstanding school with fantastic and passionate teachers who taught us alongside with UPF students, UCLA students and even Cambridge students. We made so many new friends in such a fun yet academic environment. Miraeia, our program director, was the most welcoming and kind woman that I have had the pleasure to meet. I wish I could relive that entire summer again. I will surely be returning to Barcelona soon.