Most Stressful Semester of My Life Past Review
By William Fendt (Georgetown University) - abroad from 08/31/2018 to 12/16/2018 with
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Hangzhou
I learned that I don't want to work in China, and I learned a lot about my own disabilities and issues, however, I learned comparatively little Chinese and do not think my time was spent effectively. While I may have grown as a person, the program was baseline worthless.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The program was intense to the point of making me and other students severely emotionally distressed, depressed, or suicidal and was only helpful in learning content while not really advancing our reading level/cognitive level of understanding of Chinese. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The administrators were unwilling to change their program in meaningful ways and thought the current state of things was acceptable despite student complaint. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Rooms and roommates were fine, no real issue here. Having a local roommate helped with transition into living in China, though there would occasionally be cultural differences or etc that could be difficult to navigate. |
| * Food: |
Depending on when and where you ate, food could be very good and very cheap, or you could end up eating not great food/unsafe food. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The program attempted to put us in community settings but almost all if not all of these attempts failed--China is also a homogenous country so true integration would be difficult. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Never had health issues of my own but it seemed adequate. |
| * Safety: |
There were never issues with safety. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
I did not expect to have my time utterly wasted by the program on idiotic requirements that did not help with language skills, and the language skills I did acquire were not up to par with what I thought I would acquire--on top of that I was exhausted and severely depressed for 80% of the program, and had only a handful of experiences where I was actually able experience the city and/or country I was in. |
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) |
You could easily survive on $300-400 a month, but if you wanted to travel or do more expensive things the cost would rise accordingly. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 75 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Eat on campus and take advantage of the program's budget for reimbursement. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
|
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
Language required to be spoken in all public spaces. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | A second-semester, second year course |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Getting enough sleep/rest time since the program drove me to getting less than 6 hours a night and that ruined any chance of retention for me. |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | How terrible it was so that I could have gone to a different program. If you try to keep up with this program's requirement's in any way, you will not have the time to leave campus and experience Hangzhou or any other part of China. |
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 Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
