A New Way of Living Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Classes in South Africa are much more independent than classes here in the states. You have lecture anywhere from once a week to four times a week depending on the class. Another component to class is called a tutorial which is a small group of about 15 kids who get together with a grad student and discuss the material more in depth. One of the biggest differences in the workload is there aren't many ways to build up your grade. There may be just a paper and a final exam. Most of the courses offered to international students are not mainstream classes. However there are classes offered in English or English and Afrikaans. I took a dual language class which was split into two sections. The first section was taught by a visiting professor from the states and the second half was taught by a South African professor. I struggled a lot in the second half because the teacher spoke 70% Afrikaans and 30% English.

On-site administration of your program

AIFS was located right in the international office. The staff was excellent. Hestea's door was always open and she could fix an problem. One issue I had with the program was that it was too large. There were 60 in our program and at many times it was hard to avoid the American bubble.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in Concordia with 3 other AIFS girls. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom with a shared living room/ kitchen. AIFS provided everything in the kitchen and gave us bedding. Concordia had a security door where you had to swipe your ID card to enter. The other living option is called Academia which is a large complex that surrounds Concordia. Both are available for international students. There is a snack shop out in front of the complex. The uni was a 5 minute walk and the town was 10.

Food was bought and made by you. The grocery store was a 10 minute walk. Most of the food was relatively the same. You might have to search for things the first time because they are labelled differently, but you can pretty much find what you're looking for. Ketchup and peanut butter are different than they are here. At the Uni the Neelsie Student center has a food court and it is very reasonably priced.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The excursions provided were amazing! We went to a wine festival, a whale festival, Cape Point and the Garden Route. I would recommend doing all the excursions with them. The uni also has an international student excursion program that uses a local tour company to run student trips. I went to Cape Town and River rafting with them.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I would call Stellenbosch pretty safe. If you are smart, you should be fine. Don't walk by yourself at night and don't show all of your flashy American toys. I would walk back from the town center with a small group of friends without worrying. As for health, I personally didn't need any assistance, but a girl in my group got a virus and had to go to the doctor. The AIFS staff helped out and made sure she was ok.

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

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• Apartment

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• Americans