The Most Amazing Semester of My Life Past Review
By A student (PSYCHOLOGY., University of Arkansas - Fayetteville) - abroad from 01/11/2012 to 05/04/2013 with
AIFS: Florence - Richmond in Florence and Internship Program
I gained a sense of independence and learned how to travel on my own in both a smart, safe, and budget friendly way.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They were so loving and kind and knew us all by name within the first few days. If you ever had a question about the city, or where to go to dinner, or even how to travel someplace, they were always there to help and give incredible insight. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I actually had a lot of issues with housing simply based on roommate conflict and then actual issues with the apartment itself, but all in all, they got solved and the program administration helped us work through all of the issues that were at hand. |
| * Food: |
I absolutely loved having meal tickets. Although it would get frustrating at times given that there were only a certain number of restaurants that would accept the tickets, they were all very good and there were enough choices so that nothing got old very quickly. Having meal tickets also helped everyone in terms of money since we could actually enjoy a three course meal with wine if we wanted to without feeling bad about spending extra money. If anything, they helped us to enjoy the culture a little more without the worry of budgeting our meals. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
AIFS had an amazing list of activities every month for an extremely low price. They would range from cooking classes, museum visits, soccer games, gelato tours, wine tasting, leather making classes, and sometimes even weekend trips. They did a great job with finding cultural activities that students would be interested in and I was very thankful to them for making it so easy to integrate myself into the culture. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
AIFS has an emergency hotline that you can call if anything occurs, which is always comforting. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $100 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Be smart when you travel. Never just go with simple, look for deals. That may mean changing trains or taking a bus or even eating a couple sandwiches each week, but it's well worth it in the end because not only are you saving money, but you are actually getting an even more in depth experience. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | None |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | It might actually be a good idea to look into online videos or get some tapes from the library. Being thrown into a culture where you don't know the language is not exactly an easy thing, and when you know at least a little, it does increase your confidence in being there. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | How to travel around Europe with ease and on a student budget |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
History of the Italian Mafia |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Lorenzo Picchi |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This was an amazing class led by an amazing professor. Professor Picchi knew everything there was to know about the history of the Italian Mafia and taught us through class readings, movies, and site visits. He made the class extremely interesting and was very interactive in his teaching style, which definitely helped the class learn and understand the material. I would recommend this class to everyone, as it is extremely interesting and such a unique course. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Italian Renaissance Architecture |
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| Instructor: | Angela Oberer |
| Instruction Language: | |
| Comments: | Although this class was challenging at times, it was also very interesting and the professor was probably one of the most insightful and most entertaining professors I have ever had. We went on site visits almost every week which was seriously great because we got to explore even more of the city than most people within our program, all in the time that we would be in class. It is also really cool to learn about the things you see every day in the city and understand the architecture and the history behind it. Even if one is not incredibly interested in learning about architecture, the professor alone makes the class worth taking and who wouldn't want to explore an amazing city all during the short period of a class? Definitely a class to look into taking. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
