Past Review

By Laura M (PSYCHOLOGY., Boston College) for

CIEE: Prague - Central European Studies

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

It was a wonderful experience. The Czech Republic is definitely a lot different than studying somewhere like London, and the people are really different. But I loved learning about their history and exploring such a unique place.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	0-2 weeks
The term and year this program took place:	Spring 2009

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Coursework was comparable to home university. Had a lot of opportunities to take classes on Czech history, politics, and culture which was great because it's always best to know as much as you can about where you're living
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	very organized
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	AMAZING apartments in good areas. We lived with 2 other CIEE students and 1 Czech student, who helped to familiarize us with the city and program.
* Food:	Czech food is very different, but the city had tons of different eating options from Mexican to Italian so it wasn't hard to find things you would like.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Prague has great nightlife!
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	We had health insurance, and I usually felt pretty safe.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes

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)

Language

Language acquisition improvement?	Czech is a very hard language to learn, but we had two weeks of intensive czech at the beginning of the program and then took classes regularly throughout the semester as a requirement.