A Smashing Time in London Past Review

By A student (Film and Media Culture, Economics, Middlebury College) - abroad from 09/14/2015 to 12/11/2015 with

King's College London: London - Direct Enrollment & Exchange

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

Definitely worthwhile! It helped me to put life in the US into perspective--I found that I like aspects of British and European life more than aspects of American life, which was enlightening.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Enough work to be intellectually engaging but not too much to have a fun abroad experience!
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	Switching modules upon arrival to campus was a bit confusing
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Moonraker Point was awesome! So much better than Middlebury housing!
* Food:	Only lunch was provided by the college on-campus, but it was good and not too expensive. London's not the best city for food, but there is a lot of great stuff!
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Did a lot of sightseeing (the location was great for this), but lived in my dorm suite with other abroad people, so mostly met people from countries other than the UK, which was actually awesome because they were all also interested in sightseeing and traveling.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	A friend who I met there got mugged once, but I never encountered any problems.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes Great location (right in the middle of London), which was a big plus. Great classes--intellectually engaging and similar to Middlebury classes but not as much work day-to-day, which was great for being abroad. My favorite thing was the people I met--I suppose this isn't specific to the program I did, but I met some great people who I'll never forget!

Finances

* 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)
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	Uh, probably like 400 dollars. But it would have been possible to spend less.
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Definitely get an Oyster Card for the Tube.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Dorm
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Americans International Students
* Who did you take classes with? Select all that apply	Local Students Americans International Students
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?	The location The classes and professors The people I met
* What could be improved?	The process for switching classes at the beginning of the semester could be a bit clearer
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	History papers at King's College take a lot longer to write than papers at Middlebury (although I've never taken a history course at Middlebury). While King's college generally assigns less reading than Middlebury and therefore has less work on a day-to-day basis, my papers for King's generally took longer to write than Middlebury papers. Also, I kind of wish I would have done more research about London and made a list of things to do before traveling there.

Reasons For Studying Abroad

To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you.	The Outright Urbanite A social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Film Genre: Hollywood Musical
Course Department:	Film Studies
Instructor:	Martha Shearer
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	This class was really fun and I learned a lot--perfect for Middlebury film majors! The reading load wasn't super heavy, but most of the stuff was really interesting. The movies we watched were super fun and interesting to think about in an intellectual context. There were two paper; each took a little longer to write than would a paper at Middlebury.
Credit Transfer Issues:	Haven't completed this process yet.

Course Name/Rating:	Chinese Cinemas
Course Department:	Film Studies
Instructor:	Christopher Holliday
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Fun and interesting class and Christopher is an awesome professor! However, I wasn't crazy about all the films we watched--a lot of them were either too "artistic" and slowly paced or to mainstream and light for my taste. Also, I found a lot of the theory that we read to be kind of abstract and jargony; it may have been nice to learn more directly about the history of Chinese film rather than constantly questioning what "Chinese film" and "China" are. However, it was an intellectually engaging and fun class.
Credit Transfer Issues:	Haven't completed this process yet.

Course Name/Rating:	Ethics I
Course Department:	Philosophy
Instructor:	Clayton Littlejohn, David Garrard
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Great introduction to the philosophy of Ethics! Professor Littlejohn was funny and great at explaining things in an engaging way. Reading load wasn't too bad, and papers weren't terribly time consuming. Discussion sections perhaps didn't get as intellectual as they could have, but the class was still definitely intellectually engaging.
Credit Transfer Issues:	Haven't completed this process yet.

Course Name/Rating:	Worlds of The British Empire I: The Making and Contesting of The British Empire 1700-1900
Course Department:	History
Instructor:	Vincent Hiribarren
Instruction Language:
Comments:	Great course! The lectures were a little boring sometimes, (I did have it in the morning, so maybe I was just sleepy), but discussion section was always very engaging--Hannah was a great seminar leader! The reading load was a bit much, but luckily Hannah would pick out the readings that she thought were most important for us to do. A great class for American students in London to learn about British culture!
Credit Transfer Issues:	Haven't completed this process yet.