Rome: The Best Experience of my Life! Past Review
By Lindsay B (Interior and Environmental Design, Illinois State University) for
Lorenzo de' Medici – Florence
It definitely opened my eyes to another culture and taught me to appreciate a lot of things I have in my life and the opportunities I have been given in my life.
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | none |
| 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 classes were very easy, there were papers which were the most difficult part. Much easier than classes at my home university. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The library and computer lab could be improved. There were not many resources available to us. Some parts of the program were very unorganized and sometimes it seemed that the staff wasn't aware of what was going on or what they had to get done. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
Basically I ate pasta and pizza everyday, which at first was good but after a while it got old. There was not a lot of variety available. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Our trips to other parts of Italy were always so much fun and we got to see and experience a lot of things we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Rome is a big city so they had crime as in any other city, but as long as you were careful it was pretty safe. |
| 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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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | About 100 euro |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | The weekends were always when the most spending takes place, because you are going out to eat and going out to bars. But other than that its basic spending on food and trips and shopping. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | none |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
Try talking to locals in their language as much as possible, the more practice you get the better you will be and it helps you to pick up the language much more quickly. |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
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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