INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING FELLOWSHIP PROJECT

Studying abroad in:

Granada, Spain

Spring 04'

    Created by:
    NAME - Bernardo Figueiredo
    MAJOR - General Engineering (minor in International Engineering)
    YEAR WHILE ABROAD: Junior

    PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

            The program consisted of a semester abroad in Granada, Spain. The city has approximately 300,000 habitants and is located 45 minutes away from the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Spain. This program is very popular among students since the city is known to be very historical, cultural, and at the same time full of life, since has one of the major universities of Spain. American students, which for the Spring 04' were of about 80 students, attended a private school managed by University of Illinois. The school, called CEGRI (http://www.cegri.com/), is located in a 3 storage building with a very relaxing atmosphere. All courses are offered in Spanish and taught by Spaniards. Anything in the city is pretty much with a walking distance. Students are placed in a hostal upon arrival for 4 days in order to get situated with the city and to go through orientation at CEGRI. Students with advanced level of Spanish can attend the local university. After these 4 days, students are picked up by their families and moved into their host family's houses, where they have their own room. They receive 3 meals a day, and laundry done once a week. The program provides 2 paid trips, which in this case were to Cordoba and Alpujarras (Sierra Nevada). Granada has a noticeable influence of the Arabic culture. Also, the city is famous for its many bars, where there's tapas for free, for the Alhambra (last muslin city/fortress conquered by Catholics in Europe), for Sierra Nevada (great skiing place), for the Arabic baths, for the Cathedral, and  for the hospitality of the locals.

    PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
   
            The semester not only helped get fluent with my Spanish skills, but also provided me with an experience that I will carry throughout life. I visited places and met people that in some way changed my life and opened my mind to what studying abroad has to offer. It was a great experience to get to know a family and their culture, to become friends with your teachers, and to meet people my age, being them either Americans or Spaniards. Other than visiting everything that Granada had to offer, I also traveled to: Cordoba, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Cadiz, Tenerife, Dublin (Ireland), Rome and Florence (Italy).

    PICTURES:

Alhambra - City/Fortress/Palace

Me, with my host mom and brother

Myself at CEGRI

Class presentation

Trip to Valencia - which included a bullfight

Formal dinner offered by the program to celebrate the end of a great semester

    PROGRAM BUDGET:

        The program budget is a complicated issue since involves the conversion from Euro to Dollar, and records from a whole semester of random spending. However here is an approximated estimate for the entire semester: 
    - program fee: 7,200 (dollars)
    - round-trip plane ticket: 600 (dollars)
    - cell phone cost plus air-time fee: 150 (Euro)
    - entertainment: 600 (Euro)
    - trips to Tenerife, Ireland and Italy: 1,500 (Euro)
    - transport: 100 (Euro)
    - others: 200 (Euro)