An Exercise in Self-Discovery Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

For this program, there were a lot of academic papers. One aspect that I found most challenging was choosing my own research topic. For most of my academic papers at my home school, I was given a variety of topics from which to choose. However, this was the first time where almost all of my classes required me to develop my own research topic and to execute it. The deadlines also seemed ten times more intense then they may have usually felt due to the fact that every three weeks we were going to new countries on the program's scheduled trips.

On-site administration of your program

What I loved most about my host country program's administration was their eagerness to improve themselves. There were a handful of times when something wouldn't go right on a trip or there was a complaint from students on trips within Freiburg, and the administration worked quickly to get it fixed so that it wouldn't happen again. They are also so helpful and friendly--they *want* you to succeed.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My experience differed greatly from others in my program, and it's not really a reflection on the program. Much like college at home, your living arrangements are largely hit or miss. It's almost entirely dependent on who your roommates end up being, and I didn't get super lucky. Like I said, I had some friends on the program who cried when they had to leave their host country roommates. Total luck of the draw.

AMAZING. There's such a variety, too. I had never had Indian food until coming to Europe. I had never been a huge fan of sushi. All of these things changed when I did study abroad with this program.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

One issue that I ran into frequently was speaking German. I have third-year proficiency in German, and I really wanted to better my skills through practice with locals. However, Germans more likely than not know English, and if they sense that you are not a native German speaker, they will jump to English. This upset me and some of my peers who were also somewhat proficient in the language, but brought great relief to those of us who knew not one word of German.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I didn't really have any experiences with the healthcare system in Germany, but I had several friends who reported easy and friendly experiences with doctors when they got sick or had various issues they wanted addressed.

I felt super safe in Freiburg. In fact, when we found ourselves in other countries, I developed a longing for the safety of Freiburg. I have no qualms with Freiburg. However, I would advise future students to be watchful when traveling. Certain cities such as Paris might also require more attention to your surroundings. Most of the complaints that I heard from students on my program came from incidents on our trips, not in Freiburg.

Being a political science major, my studies have always focused primarily on domestic politics. This program broadened my perspective to one of a global nature. Even my friends who were international affairs majors talked about how much this program was able to offer them that their home institutions just weren't able to. I now have a very real interest in European affairs, and I owe that to my study abroad program. Through this IES Abroad program I was also able to visit 11 countries on trips that we went on as a group. I was able to hear speakers from all walks of life and visit various important EU institutions.

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

Grocery stores in Freiburg were SO cheap. I usually spent about 20 euros a week on groceries. Sometimes that sum would change depending on if I bought alcohol (rarely). Even most of our meals at restaurants were relatively cheap. However, I did not go on as many outside trips that some of my peers went on. This also made my experience a lot cheaper.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

The program utilized a lot of tools to try and encourage students to use the language. For example, there was one project where classmates had to go out into Freiburg and ask locals different questions in German and then answer questions about different landmarks. However, like I've previously mentioned, locals are quick to engage you in English.

Select all that apply

• Dorm

Select all that apply

• Local Students

Select all that apply

• Americans
• International Students

• The friends I made on the program
• The courses and professors offered on the program
• The program trips that we went on as a group

• The living arrangements; I would have liked to have had one person on my program living with me in addition to local students
• Scheduling; sometimes paper deadlines became a lot shorter due to the fact that we had a trip every month
• A full week for Easter Break would have been nice, but if it had meant sacrificing one of our longer trips, then I would not worry about the longer break

The Academic or Linguist