Fell in Love with Lima for all it´s complexity and difficulties Past Review
By Anne R (Global Studies and Spanish, Providence College) for
IFSA: Lima - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
It was certainly worthwhile. I grew a lot as a person and learned about the world of Perú, of which I had been completely ignorant before. I hope to return to Perú to work with an NGO that my director connected me with.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was fairly light, and largely lecture based. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The final project was incredibly unclear and we were given minimal assistance in placement with our NGOs. However, because of the small size of the office, it was incredibly helpful with any personal problems or problems with host families. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My house was in a relatively safe neighborhood in Lima (LIma in general is not very safe). It was an hour from the university, but this was common to all study abroad students and many peruvians as well. My host mother was far too attentive and found it difficult to accept my independence, so we had several clashes, but I didn't change houses because it came more at the end of the program. |
| * Food: |
Holly's coffee was my second home! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
We had excellent trips, most of all to Cusco, where we not only saw Machu Picchu but also several rural areas. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The city is not very safe and several students were robbed, but it was non-violent. I didn't have any problems;as in any city, you just have to take precautions. Many students had stomach issues, but medication is easy to acquire from the pharmacies and there are free health services in the university. |
| 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) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Laundry |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
It's really important to emphasize always speaking the language, even when you're with program members who speak English, because it's harder than you might think to make friends from the host country to speak the language with. therefore, if you don't speak the language with your gringos it's likely you won't speak it much at all except by necessity. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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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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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? | If you are unhappy with something, say something about it! HOlding it in will drive you crazy and there are always people to help you. |
