too short time to Berlin! Past Review
By A student (Art History, Germanic Studies, Clark University - Worcester) - abroad from 01/04/2013 to 04/29/2013 with
CIEE: Berlin - Open Campus Program
I learned and gained something inexpressible in this textbox. It was very worthwhile to go though, I hope everyone ends up studying abroad at some point in their life.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
We covered a lot of information, but the FU Best curriculum was very WWII focused and we were given SO much busy work. The professors were great people, and all very enthusiastic about us and their subjects. But the syllabi could have ben better. If they insisted on having us do so much work, I would have appreciated it to at least not be just busy work and summarizations. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They took us on a lot of expeditions, were very involved in what we were doing to make sure we were all ok, and took care of our problems quickly. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I liked the space, but it was insanely expensive for what it was, even by Berlin standards. And it was so far removed from the rest of the city. It was nice to be with other students though. |
| * Food: |
The food is SO cheap and delicious and amazing, and there is so much to try (Döner!)...and the programs provided us with a lot of free meals at expeditions ;) |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The program is actually what made it so hard to integrate into the local society because there was so much time spent in school (with only other Americans, there weren't any German students to interact with at all), we lived so far away, and any free time we would have had on weekend and whatnot was taken up by mandatory school expeditions or field trips. Any integration into the culture was done by a huge amount of personal effort for everyone on the program I talked to. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
They were addressed quickly. I had a lot of dental problems abroad that I hadn't had time to address at home, and I ended up being referred to a dentist by one of the FU-Best student assistants. The dentist spoke very little English, but she was so nice and really made an effort for me. Everything worked out fine, they were very conscious about making sure whatever they did fit into my insurance coverage. |
| * Safety: |
I found Berlin incredible safe. Especially where the apartments were located, it was a very suburban area. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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) |
it was pretty easy, Berlin is a cheap place to live. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Maybe 30 euro per week for groceries every week at the markets and stores. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Just be smart. You don't need nearly as many groceries as you think you do, everyone ended up throwing a lot away. As for club and drink expenses, that can add up, so just set a budget and try to flirt your way into free ones haha. |
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 |
Within my German course, we could ONLY speak German, and I learned so much! The rest of the classes were in English though. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | German 104 - Intermediate 2 |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Talk to strangers on the street, and embarrass yourself all the time by attempting German, even if it's 10,000 times easier to just speak English to them (because they will want to practice their English). Even outside of class, speak to other students from your class in German. Then you can just mess up together. And text in German when you can, it helps. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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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? | I wish I would have known that the FU-Best program is so American focused. I would rather have been immersed in the German schooling and culture more, it's why I wet to Germany, after all. CIEE was fantastic though, but they wren't involved in our academics so much. |
