Let’s Speak Spanish!

If you are serious about learning Spanish… there is no better way to become an expert than by attending a Study abroad program. Nowadays, it is much easier to learn Spanish than 20 years ago. There are multiple Spanish Schools for everyone to take Spanish Classes abroad. While surfing the internet you can find a huge diversity of programs that go from gimmicks like “Learn Spanish in a week” to serious and respected schools where academic credits is available. You’ll find classes that cost several hundred dollars a week to all inclusive programs that last a full month. In expensive European countries or affordable neighboring countries. In popular cities like Cuernavaca or not so popular like Merida.

Well I am one of those who will compare all the pros and cons before making a decision. So I spent more than 2 months doing research, reading and comparing more than 50 schools in 20 different cities in 5 possible countries. After this monumental task, I end up going to the Spanish Institute of Merida in Yucatan Mexico. I stayed there for 4 weeks and I can proudly say that I made the right choice.

But how did I come up with this result? Well, in a more realistic overview, there are different aspects that need to be taken into consideration when choosing the right place and the right school to Study Spanish at. Aspects such as location and security of the city, transportation to and from the country, exchange rate, cost of living, quality of the program and more. All this combined will translate into a satisfactory overall experience or disappointing one.

I first considered the expenses I’d incur, and the conversion rate between US Dollars and Euros is sky high at this moment, so Spain was out of the picture quite soon. But along with the expense I also took into account security, so I had to leave out countries in Central America and the border cities between Mexico and the US. I also thought about travel costs and cultural differences so I decided that Argentina and South America were too far from home and in one way or another, the Mexican culture is the one that I am more familiar with.

Narrowing down my search, I knew that Mexico was the right choice. The quality and cost of the program came next. I found more than a hundred schools in Cuernavaca and Oaxaca that claimed you could learn Spanish in a week. How can someone become fluent in a week if you begin classes every Monday? I would find myself having new classmates every week and going over and over the same material. Those cities and their schools were just “too good to be true”.

I also wanted a city I could feel my own, a special city. Then I found the Spanish Institute of Merida in the Yucatan. They offer a 4-week Intensive Immersion Program that conforms to ACTFL standards and earns you 6 credit hours. The beautiful city of Merida is considered the safest city in all Mexico. Merida is clean and inexpensive; it’s full of history and tradition. Additionally Merida has its own international airport as well as being minutes away from beautiful beaches. All of these features help make Merida and the institute the best-kept secret and one of the most treasured cities of Mexico.

By: Chris5 Chris5

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Andreas is author of this article on Spanish Classes. Find more information about Spanish in Merida here.