Where is better to study in Spain?

Where in Spain should I go to study abroad?

• I am a high school junior and I want to study abroad this summer in Spain. I've already been taking Spanish for 5 years, since 7th grade. I have 5 city choices in Spain: Granada, Malaga, Salamanca, Santander, and Sevilla. For each city I would be taking classes at the local university. Has anyone been to these cities? Which do you recommend that I go to? I would love to learn about culture through art and museums, but would also love to immerse myself into the local culture doing active things like rock climbing, swimming, shopping, surfing, whatever each city offers. I am a very adventurous person and am pretty open to anything. Any input is much appreciated.

• Answer:

  I've been to all except Malaga. Visited Granada and Santander, studied in Sevilla and Salamanca, live and work in Salamanca. Having said that, I think your top 3 choices should be Sevilla, Granada, and Salamanca. Those three have a lot of Spanish history which makes them very interesting cities to study in from a cultural/historical standpoint. They are all very walkable cities so you don't have to worry about using metros/subways. Granada and Salamanca have big universities so they are cities with a lot of young students. Since you will are probably 17-ish, that will make the experience a lot better since you are able to mix and mingle with fellow international/local college students. Salamanca has one of the best Plaza Mayors in Spain...everyone walks there to meetup before going out (under the clock). It's said that Salamanca has one of the purest/easiest to understand accents. Granada is in a great location because it's 30 minutes from the mountains and 30 minutes from the beach. Sevilla is awesome because you will be in the heart of the Andalucian culture filled with tapas, canas, siestas, bull fights, and flamenco...to name a few. You should consider a private Spanish only school. The class sizes are much smaller than university classes...don Quijote has a max class size of 8 students. Sometimes university programs have 15 or more students. You will appreciate more attention and time to speak in smaller classes. don Quijote also allows you to study in more than one city during the summer...so you could do 4 weeks in Salamanca and 4 in Granada...best of both worlds. So I think you can't go wrong with Sevilla, Salamanca, or Granada