Germany Never Disappointing! Past Review
By Brittany R (Community Counseling, Marymount University) for
Marymount University: Traveling - Counseling Deployed Military and their Families, Germany
YES! It made me more convinced that I want to work with counseling the military and their families! Especially if I could be stationed overseas :-)
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
N/A |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
We all stayed in the hotel where the conference was being held. Everyone had their own room, which was unexpected, but nice. The hotel had excellent service and staff, great food, the rooms were well taken care of. We stayed in a small town, so there wasn't much of a nightlife. But there were a few bars/restaurants that were open late if you looking for something like that. Overall, great place to stay. |
| * Food: |
The food both in Wiesloch and the surrounding towns we visited was awesome. The hotel food was delicious, but some items were a bit pricey. Breakfast was continental buffet style and complimentary, it was delicious! There were several restaurants in town ( all within walking distance) with excellent food including Schmidts which is also the restaurant/bar that is open really late and within walking distance from the hotel. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Wiesloch is further South in Germany so it rural between towns. But it has a train station with easy access to any city. We visited Rothenberg, Heidelberg, Speyer, and Karlsruhe, all of which were within 20-40 minute rides either by train or taxi. Most of the cities were small except for Karlsruhe, but I would recommend making that a full day trip because there is SO much to do compared to the other three towns. The other bigger cities like Munich or Koln were about 3+ hrs away, but if you're willing to travel its well worth it(coming from someone who lived there). People are very friendly and many speak English so if you don't speak German it can be managed, but it doesn't hurt to bring a English-Germany dictionary and familiarize yourself with basic survival things (like the Euro). Overall, it was an amazing cultural experience, I didn't want to come home! |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Totally felt safe the whole trip! |
| 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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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Like any cultural experience you should go on the trip if you're willing to step out of your comfort zone and embrace the culture your visiting. I lived in Germany for 7 years so I knew what to expect and was excited about the trip. However, there were people on the trip who did not come from the same background as me. I believe the people who were most open-minded to trying new things and experiencing the culture we were enmeshed in enjoyed the trip the most. If you're not one who's open, I wouldn't recommend it. I would also recommend especially if you are traveling with a group being flexible, that was very important in our trip. As far as cost goes for the trip, it wasn't too bad. If you have financial aide the only thing you have to pay for was your airline ticket and possibly part of the study abroad fee if it doesn't get covered with your financial aide. The actual trip itself was affordable, we only had to pay for meals (minus breakfast and the meals during the conference all of which were complimentary)and sometimes the public transportation. The only reason it wouldn't be student budget friendly is if you do a lot shopping. But if you don't I'd say you could survive the whole 10 day trip comfortably with $200 to $250. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Counseling Deployed Military and Their Families |
| Course Department: | CE-598 |
| Instructor: | Dr. Jackson-Cherry |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Considering this was the first time the Counseling Department ran this program it was very well put together. Overall, I had a great time and it was a great learning experience. I had lived in Germany for 7 years, but it was great to see it from a professional experience. I met many interesting professionals both at the site visits, ACA conference, and classmates. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | N/A |
