Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Prague and FAMU Past Review

By (Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/31/2012 to 05/25/2012 with

New York University: Prague - NYU in Prague

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Definitely. Gained a lot of perspective and understanding about what I want to do with my life. Gained a ton of new friends who I'll now see every time I go home for break, and just had a great time. Coming back to Midd, I'm so happy and excited to be going back, but with a fresh perspective. It had gotten a bit routine last fall, and I'm happy to have new energy in going back there.

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.

There was a lot of class, 9am-6pm most days if not more, but we didn't learn much. A couple classes taught me some basic things, but I really only learned with hands-on set experience.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Vera was great, she's the administrative head of the FAMU-Tisch program. However our director Michael Gahut was the most disorganized, inefficient man. Truly frustrating when you felt like everyone else was working hard to teach you things.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Loved loved loved housing. Lived with 6 other girls who were all really cool in an amazing apartment-style dorm building. It got a little messy towards the end, but that's to be expected (unfortunately) when you live with 7 people. Great people, great apartment.

* Food:

Czech food is not all that good. I like pasta, but not that much of it, or that much chicken. Eating healthily (i.e. salads) did not exist. However I got to cook my own dinners, and if you went to nicer restaurants, the food was better, or at least an experience.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt like I knew the city really well, but did not get to know many Czech people. They're hard to get to know and we didn't have any cultural integration except with our professors and production people.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

RAs were really good about helping people to the hospital if necessary, for whatever reason, at any time.

* Safety:

I felt very safe in Prague. Amazing city.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

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)

Pretty easily, except because of our class schedule, we had to eat lunch out nearly every day. You could've brought lunch, but we often had time to fill if we had a couple hour lunch break (not enough time to go home, but way too much time to just sit in the classroom and eat). it was a social thing too.

* Was housing included in your program cost? No
* Was food included in your program cost? No
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $50-80 depending.
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Realize the exchange rate. Even in Prague, where things are incredibly cheap, it could add up easily.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
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?
  • Loved the city. And I liked the intensity of being in class, focusing on film all the time. I didn't like that it was so inefficient, I feel we could've learned a lot more in the time we were there/in class.
* What could be improved?
  • How class time is used.
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I wish I'd known that classes were so badly represented on their website. I'm still glad I went, and the other programs with international students at FAMU were just as badly represented, which is frustrating, but what it means is that I don't think I would've learned much more at CIEE than I did at NYU. I could've looked into other NYU or film studies programs around the world, and maybe I should have, but I really loved Prague so overall I'm glad I did it. Friends for life, and I made a cool film, what more can you ask for?