The Princess Life Past Review
By kim.ann.miner (Acting., Emerson College) - abroad from 09/13/2012 to 12/11/2012 with
Emerson College: Kasteel Well: The Netherlands
I gained a huge amount of self confidence. I now know that I know how to handle myself in situations that I'd never experienced before and it's really satisfying.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The teachers try to keep assignments to a minimum, due to travel, but there is still significantly more outside of class work then at the home school in Boston. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
OSA was excellent, they took care of everything except academics. The only problem we had was when one of the teachers scheduled a huge field trip on the day and time when the majority of sophomores needed to register for the next semester. That was not cool at all. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived on the top floor of a tower in a 14th century castle. I'm pretty dang satisfied. |
| * Food: |
The food in the dining hall tended to get very repetitive, and the things that were repeating were, well, gross. Mystery meat-pseudo-sauce over pasta, burritos made with meat that hadn't been properly drained of its greasy cooking water, both of these things were served at least once every week. But there were some things I loved, like the chicken in cream sauce we got our second day there. And the vegetable soup was good! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I felt the citizens of Well tolerated us, but perhaps they didn't quite like us. At the grocery store, the bakery, Everything Under One Roof, and the Pancake House, I always felt they were very aloof. However Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general was very rich culturally and I felt quite at home there. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
It is the safest place I can think of to study abroad. It's a tiny village in southern Netherlands, very close to the German boarder. The closest thing to crime is getting your bike stolen. |
| 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) |
Now bear in mind I was traveling every weekend and so airfare and lodging adds into the number, but I had money left over when I got home. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $500 approximately. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Don't order water at restaurants. Bring a water bottle, or ask for tap water. Eat one sit-down meal a day, the rest can be walking meals like crepes or something from a bakery. And decide before you go out how much money to spend on drinks, and take exactly that much with you (plus of course your hidden cab fare). |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
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? | 0 |
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? | To bring waaaay more underwear. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Outright UrbaniteA 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. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
European Lit |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Richard Chetwynd |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This class was a good lesson in tolerance for me. It was set up to be a discussion class, we would read a single Dystopian novel a week and then have a two hour class in which we were supposed to discuss and explore the topics brought up by the books. Instead it became a class that you would sit through half-listening to Chetwynd instruct/rant about how the government is watching our every move. I received a good grade in this class, for which I am happy, but I love Dystopian literature, and I feel this class was a waste of my time. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
