If you were giving me advice at the study abroad office what would you like the study abroad offices at the universities to inform you of before our students come to you?

The most important information is about the reality of the students.  Incase one of the students needs some special attention or they need some special counselor or something special during their stay here it’s very important to know in advance for different reasons.  The most important reason is its not easy for every student to study abroad and usually they have good and bad days and to learn another language is difficult.  Sometimes you feel a lot of frustration to live in a new condition, with new people it is something incredible but not easy sometimes.  Everything is new for you.  We try to do more easily that experience.  So when a student needs something special it’s better to know in advance because we can be ready for helping to get the student the correct support.  I’m thinking right now about students who need to take special medications, or a student with some psychological problems.  Sometimes they hide the information and when they are here they don’t take the medications or they need to visit a specialist and after a week or after the first month they don’t feel good but we don’t know what the problem is because they didn’t give us the information.  So this is very important to know because when we take that the student is acting strange they are too happy or too sad maybe we can try and talk with the student and try to give them support. 

Have you had specific examples of students with a psychiatric problem?

In the last 4 to 5 years we have had many students with that kind of problem.  A few times they have told us in advance and from the first moment we try to make sure that the student has everything they need.  If they have to sit for the whole period of the program or if a student is taking medications but in the past we have found many student who didn’t tell us.  And I remember last year during the summer session we have very nice students and after the first week here in Barcelona one day the student disappeared the host family called me because the student didn’t answer her cell phone and when we realized something had happened I tired to find the student other students tried to find the student the police called the family and asked for the student because one person found her bag in that moment I tried to find the student in a hospital so I called to every one of the hospitals and finally I found the student her description was exactly as the person there didn’t have her passport or id card or something like that.  She did not remember her name.  So that was a student with some psychological problems who needs to take medicines.  But after 2 weeks in Spain in a very good weather very nice people everything was fantastic for her.  A new boyfriend a new host family.  She was in love with the city she decided to give up taking medicine and after a few days her mind changed.  In that case I called to our center office and we tried to find something in her medical file but her file was incredibly good nothing about psychological problems nothing about medicines and the doctor here in Barcelona told me that this person had taken medicine for that kind of problem.  We didn’t have the information.  We called to her parents and her parents told us her health was perfect that she never had any problems she didn’t need any medications.  The doctor insisted we need to know what she is taking because we need to start with the process.  After 2 days the parents told us that she has some problems she needs medicines.  The situation was horrible especially for the student.  It was terrible for the parents; it was terrible for all the students in the program, for us, for the host family, for her teacher.  In that limited situation they didn’t give the information because the doctor tried to help the student but it was too late.  So finally the student had to go back to the US .  Her psychologist had to come and work with her for a week and that was really pity.  If we have that information we can check and see if everything is correct and if something is wrong we can explain to the doctor what is her problem what she needs and its easy to find a solution. 

Her home university did not notify you at all that there was a problem?

The thing is when that happened her home university wasn’t allowed to give us that information.  Only her or her parent could inform us. 

Have you had any other problems?

We have had students with eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia and a few times we had information that said that that student had that problem in the past but now everything is going well.  In some other cases we don’t have that information.  After a while the host family told us because of the behavior of the student in the house is very strange.  Something like they eat a lot in the night or the meal in the fridge disappear suddenly or different kinds of obvious situations that the family can know that there is a problem.  That situation is very difficult for us because usually the host family calls us or ask us about what can they do.  And for us it’s very difficult to sit the student and talk about this issue.  Sometimes because the student doesn’t recognize the problem.  It’s difficult to manage the situation because you never know if the student will be effected when you talk with them.  We are not a professional so we can find professional people for helping the student but its very important that the student talk to us and try to find help.

It would be very helpful for us to know this kind of situation because we can find professional people to help the students.  We can find psychologist that speak English.  We can talk to the family about the situation.  We can check to see if the student has the correct medication because usually the student is taking some medicine the name in Spanish is different so sometimes we need the receipt from the doctor in the US and the doctor to translate the receipt.  So all the information that the student give us in advance is tip to meet the goal a good experience for the student. 

Are there any other students that you want to tell us about that you remember?

Students with learning disabilities very often they know their problem and they know what they need.  So many times they try to have tutors and have counselors check the information with us.  We offer tutors for the student from the very beginning of the program.  So many times the come here everyday and check the information.  But in some cases the student doesn’t say what they need or what is happening with them and after they receive their grades and it depends on the grades they tell us this disability and I need something special for my final test for my papers or for the class information or something like that.  I think it’s very important that the student knows what they need and give us the information because we can talk with the university and try to find any tools that they need.

Concentration or orientation problems we try to put very close to a family near the university so when we have the information its very easy to help the student and try that everything was the best but we don’t have the information its very difficult especially people with an eating disorder or a psychological disorder.  That does not help the student or us.