Study Abroad at Corvinus University Past Review

By Sean O (Economics., Tulane University) for

CIEE: Budapest - Business + European Studies

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

This was very worthwhile, and its highly recommended. I would only consider recommending against it if you are a minority, as Hungarians can be very racist, and they aren't shy about showing it.

Personal Information

If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here:	Corvinus University
The term and year this program took place:	Spring 2009

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Overall very good, as the courses are not something you could really find elsewhere.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	Very helpful staff, took care of everything very well.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Hungarian roommates who only spoke Hungarian, terribly maintained shared kitchen, rarely available laundry facilities...just plain bad.
* Food:	Cheap and good.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	As a whole, the city/country and program are all great.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	I had to go to the hospital in Hungary. Try to avoid having to do so. Its about as high quality as a 1950s American hospital...I had a guy die the next bed over, and the nursing staff didn't know about it until the next day because they have nothing monitoring heart rate, breathing, etc even for the critically ill.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	No

Finances

* 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)
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	Not much. Inexpensive.

Language

How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program?	None
Language acquisition improvement?	Went from no Hungarian to basic, so definitely learned some.