AIFS Stellenbosch South Africa: The best decision I've ever made!!! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The work load was almost non-existent, I had about 4 assignments the whole semester.

On-site administration of your program

My program was very small compared to others. I think there was only about 40 students in AIFS so the program was able to give us their undivided attention and address issues that we needed to be taken care of in an extremely timely fashion. Whenever I had a minor issue I simply emailed our resident director (Hestea De Wet) and she took care of it, usually that day. My expectations were not only met but I was very impressed at how speedy the international office was at taking care of what needed to be addressed.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My housing was in a large apartment which they call "flats" in South Africa. We each had our own rooms and bathrooms connected to a main living room and kitchen. I lived with 3 other Americans in my program and the flat came with everything we needed, including bedding. Condordia, the building where we lived was about a 5 minute walk to campus and a 10 minute walk to downtown, very do-able.

I came here a strict vegetarian for the past 7 years and left a carnivore. I do not recommend studying in South Africa as a vegetarian because a large part of their diet is meat. They also eat a great deal of avocado and feta cheese but other than that the food isn't much different than American food unless you go to a specialty African food restaurant.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Our program took us to the highest bungee jump in the world when we went on our week long Garden Route excursion. That was the most memorable and exhilarating event and it was arranged through our program.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Again Stellenbosch is like a little bubble of perfection within South Africa. The was many minor crimes like burglaries and such but I did not hear of any major issues in the area when I was there. I know that in Cape Town as well as in the townships right outside of Stellenbosch there is a lot of rape and murder but I felt very safe in our building where we lived as well as walking on campus. I did not need any vaccines for this trip because I was up to date on mine but the prevalent health issue in South Africa is HIV and Aids so we were lectured on prevention tactics in our orientation in the beginning the program.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

We practiced the language of Afrikaans with pretty much everyone who wasn't an American in the program. Almost everyone in South Africa speaks Afrikaans besides the Africans who live in the townships so we didn't really have a lot of daily interactions with them like we did with the Afrikaans speaking students on campus. Everyone also spoke English so communication was never an issue.

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• Apartment
• Dorm

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• Americans

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• International Students