I am interested in spending part of my summer in a Spanish-speaking country, preferably Spain, and am currently looking for programs that do this. Have any of you had any experiences with this or know anyone who has? Do you know any good programs? Any advice you would like to give me? By the way, I’m currently a sophmore in high school and taking Spanish IV.
~monica
I spent a semester in Spain (Valencia) when I was in college. I haven’t a clue about programs for high school students, but assuming you have a choice, try to find a program where you’ll be living with a Spanish family rather than spending all your time with other foreign students. You’ll have terrible culture shock for the first few weeks, but it’s worth it. Also, it’s a good sign if the program offers some activities geared toward helping you meet Spanish friends.
No matter how good your classroom Spanish is, getting used to the accents and slang is hard. Don’t be discouraged, it does get better over time. Again, assuming you have a choice of programs, you’ll get more practice if you go somewhere other than Madrid or Barcelona (not that you shouldn’t go to Madrid and Barcelona, but do it as a weekend trip and expect to be surrounded by English speakers).
Oh yeah, and I think the drinking age is technically 16, but this is highly theoretical. Have fun!
The English speakers in Madrid and Barcelona are easy enough to avoid if you just stay out of (a) the really touristy areas and (b) the Irish pubs.
However, you should definitely not go to Barcelona to improve your Spanish, as the daily language of the city is Catalan, which is very different.
I spent a summer studying at the University in Cadiz. It was a college program, but oddly, there was a high-school age student there (and she lived maybe 1/2 an hour from me back home, weirdly enough). I dunno if she was able to sneak in through a college or if she pulled some other scam. But hey, it never hurts to call a few universities and see if you can sneak into a study abroad program.
I agree with Porcupine on the accents and slang. The accents are particularly rough: it’s weird when you suddenly realize that nobody speaks “high school Spanish.”
If you’ve learned Latino Spanish in school, you might find it easier to understand the accents in Andalucia than in the other parts of Spain.
Youth for Understanding is a popular and well-respected organization for high school aged people to live and study abroad. Check out their link at http://www.yfu-usa.org/.
They have two summer programs to choose from, either Spanish Language & Culture or Discover Spain. Both require two years of Spanish experience, which you have. Their site doesn’t let me link directly to the Spain program, but you can get there quickly from that main page by following the links as follows:
American Students > Countries & Programs > Spain
Looks like it costs around $5000 bucks for a summer program (or maybe that’s just tuition).
Ask your Spanish teacher; he/she may know of something. I second the advice, big time, about staying away from other English speakers if you want to improve your Spanish. Small(er) towns may be more helpful for this purpose.
Also, I shold warn you that my personal favorite method of improving language fluency is to fall head over heels for someone who speaks no English. Your parents may not be crazy about this idea, however. And yes, Castilian Spanish is very different than what you’re used to; be prepared to learn the *vosotros *form (yes, they do use it), and to have pepople thing your Spanish is, well, cute and amusing, but not proper.
Eva Luna, NYU in Madrid alum, Spring 1988
A few of you have brought up the fact that there are differences between high school and Spanish spanish. I realize this. My mother speaks Spain Spanish fluently, and has been talking to me in that recently.
Also, I would very much like to live with a family and am looking for programs that do so.
ruadh, I already am aware of the fact that they speak Catalan (sp?) in Barcelona.
Eva Luna, knowing me, I’ll probably end up falling head of heels for a hispanic guy. sigh Oh well.
~monica
Please, keep the advice and suggestions coming. 
my sister au paired in france for 6 weeks when she was 17 and had a wonderful time with a really nice family.
would au pairing for a family appeal to you?
you’d get room, board and pocket money, and as long as you don’t mind looking after small children and doing household chores, you’ll be fine.
i think you may be too young, but it could be worth looking into.
I recommend traveling around Spain with a Spanish lover who doesn’t speak English.
Irishgirl, I think I’m too you to be an au pair.
JillGat, although your suggestion sounds VERY appealing, I don’t think my parents would go for it…After all, I will only be sixteen. 
There’s no more reason to avoid Barcelona to learn Spanish than there is to avoid Montreal for learning English. Anyway, I took a course this year, a three-week course in Valladolid, and it was just a wonderful experience.
I disagree, Matt. When I did this in Madrid (the school was called Madrid Plus; they weren’t bad, but monica can probably find better), some of the things I found very helpful were the fact that all the signs around me were in Spanish, and that all the conversations I eavesdropped on (in the Metro, queues for public toilets etc.) were in Spanish. It wouldn’t kill monica to do without these, but it would lessen her experience of being truly immersed in the language.
And as much as I love Montreal, I certainly wouldn’t choose to go there to learn English either.
Well, I think I found a program that looks perfect for me. It’s in Salamanca and the company running it is American Institute for Foreign Studies (AIFS). Have any of you heard anything about them? Any comments on Salamanca?
Salamanca’s meant to be lovely. A high student population, I think. I never made it there myself but a lot of my friends in Madrid did (it’s fairly close) and all of them raved about it.
I disagree with this completely. I am Spanish but have been living in Mexico for many many years. I went on holidays to Sevilla recently and had a lot of difficulty understanding people speaking. By the way, what do you mean by “Latino Spanish” anyway?
As for the OP, the programme in Salamanca sounds great. It is a nice city, close to Madrid, but be aware that it is not a huge “party place” given it’s smallish size. I loved it, and one of the oldest Universities in the world is there, wich is a great sight to behold. I agree that it is not your best bet to go to Barcelona or anywhere in Cataluña or the País Vasco, since the main language is not Spanish, but Catalan or Vasque.
Espero que la pases muy bien en España y que aprendas mucho, Monica.
Yes, I know that there are many different varieties of Latino Spanish. I was talking primarily about the “ce” / “ci” / “z” and “ll” sounds, the major pronunciation difference between Latin American Spanish as a whole (which mirrors Andalucian Spanish in this regard) and Castillian Spanish. I for one found it very difficult to get used to the Castillian pronunciation of these letters, but YMMV.
En sevilla no hay naranjas, Ni tiene madrid amor.
…just remember Federico Garcia Lora. He came to NY to learn English, never did, but penned some of the most beautiful poems in Spanish.
This means to say, whatever you do have a good time.
And damn those fascists for executing him.