GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND HEAD TO GREECE January 11, 2022
By Leslie (Wellesley College) - abroad from 08/31/2021 to 12/17/2021 with
CYA (College Year in Athens) - Semester/Academic Year Program
Everybody in the program is on the same boat, don't be shy or sacred, we are all on the same boat. Try to make friends with locals you see everyday.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Apartments are great size and you get your own room, all apartments are close to the city/downtown area. |
| * Food: |
Very good!, can become repetitive. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Greeks can seems to themselves shy or mean but they so are not! Especially not the young crowd you just often have to be the first to initiate the conversation. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Staff were very helpful with accessing health care resources. |
| * Safety: |
City was very size, night life is almost always active so not much to worry about. |
| 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) |
We would very often go on study trips where food was to be bought on our own, the trips were about 4 days, where we needed to buy snacks for the bus, and cover all our meals and fun activities at the end of the day. School lunch could also get boring so eating out or exploring the city and wanting to try new foods and grab a bite always meant extra spending. You must spend to try to new things .....be prepared to spend or ask your school for extra $. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 300-400 on study trips. 50-100 on a regular school week |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | just use your money for food and trying new things which will mostly be food, don't spend money on drinks just ask for tap water......also, just please bring extra money |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| 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? | Beginner |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| 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? |
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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? | Greeks are awesome, don't be scared to converse, don't be scared to converse in Greek. |
