Academic Year Study Abroad Programs in Madrid, Spain

Having wanted to move to Spain for the last 13 years and not getting round to it, I decided last September that it was time. However, Brexit has made it very hard. I looked around for job opportunities after completed my Level 5 TEFL Course online last Summer and stumbled across Canterbury English. I looked on their website in detail and saw the Madrid Lifestyle program, and then pinched myself thinking this was actually a possibility! I applied and shortly received and invitation for an interview with Richard. He was very enthusiastic throughout, and provided lots of detail about the program, what to expect and the culture of living in Spain. The visa process was hard, but Canterbury English provided really useful documentation on what to expect and what needs to be done. If you treat it like a project, it will go a lot smoother! CE were constantly keeping in touch throughout the process and there to answer any questions. I needed my enrolment letter changed within a day after waiting a couple of weeks from the Spain School to receive my original one, and they returned a new corrected one within the day so I could attend my visa appointment. I moved here in January and my orientation day was very informative and helpful, with useful documentation to start life here in Madrid. What I like about it most is they provide daily Spanish classes and assist with you creating a CV and finding jobs by sending your CV to schools, but it's up to you to build your life here in Spain and make it your own! I think it's the best of both! There are weekly excursions at the weekend which are fun to spend time with peers and meet others, as well as explore Madrid and surrounding areas. I am so happy I made this move and I want to make the most of this amazing opportunity!

It was a very fun experience traveling, meeting new people, and learning about other cultures. I enjoyed every aspect of studying abroad except for the school part. The commute to UC3M was a drag and I never got used to it. There came a point where I just gave up on going to my classes that didn't take attendance. I also don't like the website they use for school, which was called aulaglobal. I think canvas is set up more organized and they should switch to that. UC3M engineering is very difficult, and those classes definitely require too much effort for a study abroad student to be able to balance the fun study abroad aspects and school at the same time. I also think the professor for the class called "Measuring Instrumentation" is a terrible professor who doesn't care about his students learning or success. His name is Pedro Martin Mateos and everyone should avoid him and his measuring instrumentation class. I also think the security guard in the La Latina Mi Casa Inn needs to mind his business. He loved to order us around and tell us we couldn't be downstairs or we were being too loud when we weren't. I also didn't really like the shared kitchen aspect. But my overall experience was really amazing and I loved it a lot, I'm just going into detail on the downsides because if I went into detail on the positives this would be exponentially longer lol.