Pacific Discovery Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

On-site administration of your program

At times, they seemed very disorganized. Ran out of money and told us we needed to buy our own food and didn't repay the full amount.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Vegetarian options not fantastic and not a good value for what we paid.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I went on this program looking for an alternative to a regular study abroad, was excited for the trekking and outdoor experiences. I was surprised to find out that the majority of my group complained of these types of activities. Many seemed to be in the program because their parents wanted them to be there. The two instructors were very young, one seemed responsible and relaxed while the other one seemed like she just wanted to brag about her life experiences. Overall, the places we went were nice, and it was cool to see the different towns in SE Asia. I felt a lot of the program was disorganized with the instructors at one point not being able to give us money for our food, (food was supposed to be paid for already) and then they lost track of how much they owed us and gave us back less money than we spent. I needed to do a presentation for my class and they wouldn’t make time for it, they didn’t seem supportive of the fact that I was taking classes with the program. They made us room with the opposite sex without asking us if it was ok and there were many problems because of this. When I came to them with problems we were having with the group, they were unable to resolve the issues for me. One of the worst things was that the program ended up being cancelled due to the COVID-19 and they wouldn't refund ANY of the remainder of the money that I had paid. That was a loss of $5000 that I couldn't recover. They refused to give any of my money back for the food that wasn't bought, the airline tickets, the hotels, none of it. I asked for at least a portion fo the money back and they wouldn't do it. THEY KEPT ALL OF MY $5000. It was a very dishonorable thing for them to do. They don't follow their so-called principles of integrity and humanity at all.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I paid for the program in advance, it was quite expensive, $12,000

Select all that apply

• Hotel
• Hostel

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Other

• Visitng the countries, trekking, hiking, the animal reserve

• They need to be less greedy

The Avid Adventurer