Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

While compared to Wellesley the work was not as challenging, the content of the courses was incredibly educational as I had never been exposed to the politics of the EU before. The teaching methods are great for the most part but sometimes too heavily depended on powerpoints and werent very discussion oriented. A lot of the work completed for the courses felt more like busywork than challenging assignments, but I could not have learned in this much detail about the EU anywhere else.

On-site administration of your program

The administration was difficult to work with as there is one office in the states and it seems disconnected from the administration on site. At times I felt out of the loop especially on trips, and I was unsure of their medical support while traveling.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I was satisfied with the dorms but did not like how far they were from town relative to other dorms that students were placed in. The tram did not run all that frequently making it a bit of a trek to get back and forth. As for the cookware, the students in my suite had completely taken over and I didn't have a good idea of what I could use. Talking with them was difficult as I spoke no German and they spoke very little English. My suitemates were also incredibly unclean, an issue which was difficult to tackle as they were unwilling to abide by a cleaning schedule. This situation was not true of every student in the program, in fact many got along well with their roommates.

We were on our own for food. Buy food at the grocery which is near the dorms or eat at the university cafeteria which is not high quality but it is low price.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

IES does a great job organizing field trips and activities, even cooking classes. They will pretty much organize anything you might want. They are great at helping you orient yourself to your surroundings.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had a horrible experience when I was ill. A male TA came to check on me which was not only embarrasing but not helpful as I needed assistance to get to a doctor which was not provided to me because the program was unaware as to how sick I was, another inconvenience of living so far away. I think they didnt err on the side of caution at all when it comes to illness which might be as much a German cultural thing as an administrative problem. Either way I was incredibly ill and I needed food and assistance more often than I received. I would suggest to anyone that the program will provide you with medical care but you need to push for it and force them to help you and accompany you to the doctor because they might not speak english. As for physical safety the town was incredibly safe and we didn't need vaccines.

(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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• International Students