If my family knew English, they did not reveal that and my roommate and I only spoke Spanish with them. This forced us to push the boundaries of our Spanish and my listening and speaking skills improved immensely because of the conversations and interactions with my host family. I enjoyed living in an authentic Spanish home and seeing the similarities and differences between my home in the United States and my host family’s home in Cádiz.
We really got to know our family well and it was sad to say goodbye to them at the end of our trip. They cooked and ate meals with us, talked with us about our days, and opened up themselves and their home to us. The homestay experience not only improved my Spanish, specifically my conversational skills but also provided another great opportunity to learn about the Spanish culture and people. Cádiz was the absolute perfect place to have this program.
It is relatively small, so it is easy to find your way around and feel right at home, but the city is also quite interesting and offers a multitude of things to do. I felt comfortable in Cádiz very quickly and could find my way around easily. Furthermore, it is absolutely gorgeous and situated right on the water, offering many beautiful beaches. It’s amazing that we were able to go to school in such an idyllic city, but the classes were engaging and the teachers made use of the wonderful city around us. Each day, in addition to normal classroom exercises, our teachers sent us out in Cádiz for various cultural and language activities.
I really liked this because the city is an amazing resource and it was both helpful and fun to go out into the city for classroom exercises. I would recommend Abbey Road’s program in Cádiz to anyone who is learning Spanish and interested in going abroad. One of the best parts of the program is the great balance between free time and planned activities or excursions.
There were many great planned program activities- including excursions to the cities Ronda and Gibraltar- but, for students who preferred to explore the city on their own, there were many opportunities for free time. Having several options was great and allowed students to do what they wanted to do and make decisions for themselves. In summary, my experience in Spain this summer was overwhelmingly positive and I am so happy that I decided to travel and stay in Cádiz.