Opening My Eyes in Tanzania Past Review
By Caitlin M (International Studies, University of California - San Diego) for
CIEE: Iringa - Community Development, Language + Culture
Honestly, I feel comfortable traveling by myself and I'm not sure I needed most of the babying that is inherent to any study abroad program. People who have never traveled before and people who have traveled extensively would find Tanzania fascinating and it was great to get to know life here on a deeper level by actually living at the same level as the local students.
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. |
The academics were overall pretty terrible, whenever the professors did actually show up they usually did not even teach material that was relevant. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program size was small but not quite small enough to be one really tight knit group. The program director was helpful and knowledgeable. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The dorms are pretty terrible and my roommate didn't even live here so I was by myself. The safety on campus is not great and you can't walk alone after dark. It's about a 15 minute walk to class and a 30 minute bus ride to nightlife. There is also no access to kitchens....and that was a big problem. |
| * Food: |
The cafeteria food is not great and gets old quickly. Vegetarians are extremely hard to accommodate here. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
fascinating cultural experience. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Overall safety is fine if you're not stupid. Got robbed twice but only change in my pocket because I kept big bills in my bra. I got a severe eye infection and the program director took me to a good hospital early the next morning. There are definitely adequate healthcare systems around. The only annoying thing was that pink eye is going around the university so a lot of people got it and that was pretty terrible. I needed vaccines specifically for this program but I had already had them from a previous trip to Africa. |
| 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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Language
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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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? | Just be open to completely change the way you think about the world. In a very positive way. |
