Kasteel Well: It's All in the Travel Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This program's academics are sadly lacking. They are non-intensive, which is convenient because of the rigorous traveling, but it's like you're just paying to travel without real academic benefit. There are 1 or 2 teachers who are interesting and popular, and it's almost like the rest were just chosen at random off the street. We hear stories about professors who are strongly disliked and constantly negatively reviewed and yet the Kasteel program keeps them on staff instead of finding a replacement or canceling the course to prevent further student dissatisfaction with the program. Students are discouraged from dropping and switching courses, so if the course description is inaccurate or a student gets to the castle and realizes that the class is not for them, they are locked into that class for 3 months.

On-site administration of your program

In terms of administrative staff, going to the Kasteel program is like going to summer camp. The counselors all have their favorite campers, and although they are still friendly and helpful to others, it interrupts the community atmosphere somewhat.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

This is a common complaint about the castle, but the walls really are RIDICULOUSLY thin. Living in your hall is like living in a large suite of 15-20 people. You can hear everything anyone does, and we all routinely waited until the last people in the hall settled down in order to be able to go to sleep. Not having kitchens or even a microwave was a nightmare! Having no other options but the dining hall's very specific hours and eating out was difficult. It's hard to balance schoolwork and travel and also be told the exact hours of the day when you need to eat - again, it's very summer camp in that way.

The food is simple and basically the same every day, which is understandable considering the amount of people it was made for. The dining hall staff were accommodating with group favorites and tried to make crowd-pleasers for dinner as often as they could.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The castle itself was difficult to adjust to, but the opportunity to travel and the experiences I had on the weekends made it all worthwhile! The only difficulty is that Well is so far from a transportation hub, it's expensive and time-consuming to take trains or cabs to the airports you have to go to in order to get low fares.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Well is a quiet town and I felt very safe the whole time I was there!

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Dorm

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• Americans