England: The Best Three Months of my Life Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

University of Chester is a full-year institution, which means I am leaving only a third into their teaching, and missing a lot of information. I am not a fan of the full-year system. The school is very unorganized and not quick to respond to anything. Because of the full-year system, there is only one paper that is due for the term, and that is what your entire grade is based on. I don't like not knowing how I'm doing. There is no way to tell because you don't hear back until July about what your grades are.

On-site administration of your program

The study abroad coordinator was never in her office when I went to ask questions. It was very frustrating to keep in contact with the study abroad office. I was enrolled in the wrong class for over a month before they fixed it. The orientation at the beginning of the school year was great and they really got us settled, but that was the only nice thing.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My dorm was actually the attic of a house that the university owns. Although I was excited at the beginning of the year to live in an attic, I soon learned that the walls in the house are very thin and I could hear everything around me, which was unfortunate. I originally had a roommate from Sri Lanka, and she was the only other international student in the house, but she left after three days, leaving me alone with 15 other British students. All my other international friends lived together in other houses and I was the only one without international students around. The house is a nice distance from Campus, although it could be closer. It's also nicely close to downtown for shopping and hanging out. I was semi-catered (even though I was supposed to be full-catered). This means I only got lunch and dinner in the dining hall on Monday through Friday. No Breakfasts or weekend meals.

The food in the dining hall was not very good at all. There weren't a lot of choices for food and it was frustrating.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The orientation at the beginning of the program was very helpful and they had a bunch of fun activities to attend. After that, I didn't really go to any events they put on, but because I was so busy. They also planned a lot of excursions, but I didn't go on any of those either.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

They gave us a long talk on safety and health when we got there and gave us many contacts for who to call and when. We had to sign up with a local doctor and dentist and were given police phone numbers.

(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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• Local Students

• Inexpensive
• Independence
• Flexibility

• School choices