The Spanish here is more of a regional dialect than say in Madrid, or central Spain...but in comparison with Andalucia...

Expressdance, what program did you use? I am using API. Can you tell me a little about seville and your experiences there. Were there many American students to the point where you used english alot? I am looking for total immersion. was the program at the univ of Seville?

I went with CEA. It was a really good program, and the directors of the program were great at organizing everything. The courses were at the university, but they were cursos para extranjeros. If you place high on the placement exam at the begining of the semester, you can take up to 2 normal courses with spaniards. That would be a really good option, but there are many things to consider when thinking about taking classes with the natives. All the cursos para extranjeros are taught by normal university professors. In terms of a total immersion experience, I honestly don't think that you'll find one with any of the programs like AYA, API, or CEA, casue they tend to be rather large. In my opinion, I learned the most spanish at the home I lived in, and with the spaniards I met. I also hung out pretty regularly with some american friends. CEA was a good program, and I think that you can improve your spanish ten-fold, depending on the effort you want to put into speaking. If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me, and I can give you more in depth information.

Yikes...in comparison with Andalucía, euskera almost sounds castellano! Thanks for getting my point, Kelar...obviously in a cosmopolitan area like Bilbao, you'll be fine with castellano (as you no doubt have experienced).

Actually, for someone like myself, who already has a fluency in castellano, Bilbao is perfect, as you afford yourself the opportunity to go beyond and pick up euskera (or catalán, gallego, etc. depending on the area). [Plus, the food in Euskadi is so much better than in the meseta.]

Which is the best uni in Madrid? I'm thinking of spending some time at one.