Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Go to Rio, it's awesome! But not through CIEE. Past Review

By (Finance, Financial Services, Indiana University - Bloomington) - abroad from 07/19/2015 to 08/16/2015 with

CIEE: Rio de Janeiro - Summer

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
As the program didn't help too much, I learned a lot about traveling on my own and planning days with the other students. I learned a lot about myself and the Brazilian culture and how they go about business. The experience was amazing and I will be returning to Rio/Brazil in the future. I also learned to not trust a brand new program to go through your own school to sign up to one so you know it is all good and organized.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Great professor, program could have explored the city more to have a more hands-on experience but I learned a lot in the classroom I suppose.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

No real guidance from the program apart from when we spoke up about not having any real guidance or help from the heads of the program. A lot of things that CIEE told us we would do on the website and orientation did not happen. There were only 3 people in my program so it wasn't hard to give us a little more help/guidance.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Great location and quality of housing

* Food:

We weren't really told that we were supposed to retrieve detailed receipts so we ended up giving them a lot of receipts they couldn't take and therefore CIEE ended up just keeping around $200 of my money because of poor organization on their end in terms of food. Food was great in Rio though!

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Had an awesome time and managed to meet a lot of locals, but the 3 of us in the summer program weren't really integrated with the semester students from the get-go which was confusing and frustrating.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Didn't have any issues personally but Brazilian healthcare in general doesn't seem to be very advanced.

* Safety:

Rio is fine as long as you are street smart and not stupid, taxis and buses are very safe to get around.

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)

The Real wasn't doing great when I was there so everything was relatively cheap compared to the U.S. and we also traveled quite a bit and also went out on weekends which was a lot cheaper than in the U.S.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Only a 4 week program so it was hard to learn a lot while we were there, but the teaching quality was good.

How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? None
How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? None
How many hours per day did you use the language? 0

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
  • Hostel
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
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?
  • Rio as a city is amazing
  • Had time to travel to Paraty and Salvador
  • Learned a lot through the class and my professor
* What could be improved?
  • Program needs to be more transparant and organized
  • The program wasn't worth what they charge
  • Better integration into the city and with the other students
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? That the CIEE Rio Summer Business Program is very unorganized at the moment and you should go through another organization.

Reasons For Studying Abroad

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The Outright Urbanite
A social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country.