Ormskirk: Small Town England Past Review
By Alexandra B (PSYCHOLOGY., CUNY - College of Staten Island) for
College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS): Ormskirk - Edge Hill University
Definitely, it was great making friends with people with completely different outlooks on life (the Northerner's aren't crazy about their royalty). And after packing my bags every other week and going places I've never been before I know that I have to continue traveling. It's going to be a part of the rest of my life.
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 biggest difference is that your entire grade is based on one or two pieces of work. At home we're used to having a few tests, a paper or two, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I was pretty happy overall, the only negative in the beginning was that most of the classes that I had chosen which had been posted on the website were actually unavailable for the semester that I was there and I had a pretty hectic couple of weeks of figuring out what to take instead. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Being in the dorm was great, there were a lot of other American students studying abroad but we were all mixed in with the local students. It was really easy to get to class and town. |
| * Food: |
I would really give it two and a half stars. It was not better or worse than any other dorm food. I know some people had trouble with running out of the credits we were given weekly for food but I found that by making healthier and reasonable choices I was able to rely almost entirely on those credits. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
This mostly came just from living in dorms and making friends with the other students. We would take day trips to other towns close by, we visited Liverpool a lot, it was only a half hour away by train. And then we'd take weekend trips to other European cities (i.e. Brussels but there were a few) but that was only with other American students. The local students weren't too interested in that. We were about 3 hours away from London by train so that was also a weekend trip. Definitely get the 16-25 railcard, it'll save you loads of money and if you're planning to take the train to a further away destination, definitely book it ahead of time. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
There weren't really health issues and it was pretty safe, it was a small town. |
| 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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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 do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If you're looking for a big city experience, choose a school close to London. This is not the program for you. I wanted a small town experience because I've lived most of my life in the city and that was what I got (and I enjoyed it). |
