The Best Experience of My Life, to date. Past Review
By A student (The College of William and Mary) - abroad from 01/01/2012 to 05/19/2012 with
Arcadia: Galway - National University of Ireland, Galway
It was the best decision of my life and even though the transition back to America is rough, it is still completely worth it. I learned that I really want to go back to Ireland and live there or elsewhere abroad.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
it was very different from the US - extremely easy for the first weeks but then exam period is quite stressful |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
really accessible and willing to do pretty much anything for us! A few of us got mono and they were checking up on us all the time to see if we needed anything, and also contacted the university for us when we needed to miss class. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Great because we lived with Irish students; not so great because the Irish students were overall messy and did not care about keeping the really nice apartments working. |
| * Food: |
totally depends on your own cooking and how much you budget for food/cooking. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Living with Irish students really integrated us. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
there were a LOT of health issues for some reason, but the health center at NUIG is pretty solid and Arcadia made sure we were taking the right steps. |
| * Safety: |
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| 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? | No |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | About 50 Euros (65 dollars?) on food/alcohol per week. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Buy alcohol at the grocery store instead of many drinks at pubs. Don't buy plane tix before finding out the exam schedule - it costs a lot to change tickets. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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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? |
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 much extra money (aside from the program cost/tuition) I would be spending on food/alcohol/traveling/souvenirs etc. |
