A few bumps, but overall awesome Past Review
By Jenny Do (Middlebury College) - abroad from 09/28/2016 to 11/25/2016 with
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Tokyo
I challenged myself and got challenged often while abroad, and I think it's made me stronger as a person and more open-minded to new thoughts and experiences.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
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 |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Accomodations were great--private bathroom, free laundry, card-only access...however, it was an international dorm, and English was freely spoken. Not a good way to integrate into the home campus' community at all, and in fact I felt very isolated from the main student body because I was in this dorm. |
| * Food: |
Fine, but the price of food was not included in the cost of attendance in the Middlebury program, requiring me to pay out-of-pocket for the entire semester without any prior warning or advice to do so. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
See comment about dorms. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
It's the only one affiliated with my college, also ICU was a great campus, and Tokyo is a wonderful city |
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) |
Once again--was not sufficiently warned about travel and food costs, not to mention we were expected to pay for our own phone while abroad. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $100 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Track how much money you spend the first two weeks and work off of that. Get a bike to save the costs of taking the bus to the train station. Making your own food is cheaper but Dialogue House (the dorm where they put 1-term students) has no kitchen so you'll be stuck buying food each meal. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| 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? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Japanese 202 |
| 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? | Don't live in Dialogue House (dorm for 1-term students) so that you can live in a dorm with the common student body and use Japanese extensively. Argue for the right to live in another dorm! |
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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| 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? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | What the general feel of a day would be, what kinds of friends I would make, the everyday use of a foreign language, and how expensive it was. |
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 Nearly Native or Trail BlazerCraving the most authentic experience possible, perhaps you lived with a host family or really got in good with the locals. You may have felt confined by your program requirements and group excursions. Instead, you'd have preferred to plan your own trips, even skipping class to conduct your own 'field work.' |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
JLP 6 |
| Course Department: | Japanese Language |
| Instructor: | Shibukawa, Hosaka |
| Instruction Language: | Japanese |
| Comments: | Would have preferred more drill time, as well as vigorous emphasis on memorizing vocabulary, which I found lacking. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
