The Los Rios Community College District annual semester-long study abroad program is heading to Barcelona, Spain this fall.
Students will study in Barcelona for 13 weeks with classes held Monday through Thursday. They will learn about Spanish life through culture classes as well as experience it through museum visits and site seeing.
“The students will get the opportunity to take four classes while they’re there,” said Folsom Lake College Professor of music Philip Angove, a faculty member teaching on the trip. “They get to take a Spanish life and culture class and they get to select three other classes.”
The classes are three unit general education transfer level courses and students can pick from music, history, humanities and biology classes this semester, Angove said.
Classes are structured to allow students to learn about the culture and they get to experience it after.
“So let’s say the first Tuesday we get there, somebody comes in to talk about Barcelona cuisine,” Angove said. “Then on Thursday, we go to a restaurant and the whole class goes and has tapas.”
Students will get three and a half days to travel anywhere they want in Europe or visit other countries in and around Spain, said Angove.
Students will also have the opportunity to go on trips to places like Girona which is a medieval town, the mountains of Catalonia and an optional trip to Onalucia which is a longer trip, Angove said.
They will get to see FC Barcelona matches as well and visit museums with a free pass one admission each, Angove said.
While the priority deadline of March 7 has passed, the final application deadline is June 6 and all fees for the trip are due by July 18.
To apply for the trip, students must be 18, have a 2.25 GPA and have completed 12 college units by the time the program starts, study abroad assistant Katie Palisis said.
A $450 deposit is required after students fill out an application on the Los Rios Barcelona page.
The trip cost a total of $9,125 which includes the shared apartments and the administrative fee, however tuition isn’t included, said Palisis.
Tuition is $552 unless eligible for California College Promise, according to the Los Rios Study in Barcelona, Spain website.
The AIF fee will pay for housing, orientation, cultural activities, a metro pass, excursions, museum entry, study center access, student services and medical insurance, Palisis said.
Students should budget about $700 to $1,000 per month for meals and personal expenses, according to the Los Rios Study in Barcelona website.
Students also have opportunities to apply for scholarships to pay for the trip.
Students will depart on Sept. 13 and stay in Barcelona until Dec. 12, Angove said. Libardo Cassilas, a 23-year-old architecture major, joined the study abroad program wanting to experience living in Barcelona for three months after previously visiting there for vacation.
“I feel like it’s very different studying abroad than studying around campus because it’s a different country with different culture and even different infrastructure,” Cassilas said.
Cassilas has studied abroad before in Florence and Kyoto, Japan and is now preparing to go to Barcelona and Paris.
One thing Cassilas said he wishes he knew when studying abroad is that it can be lonely at times being far away from home, family and close friends.
Students should anticipate a whole new perspective on the world, culture, life and seeing the world through a different lens, Angove said.
“Why Barcelona? Why not?,” Angove said.