Appreciating all things wild Past Review
By A student (University of New Hampshire) - abroad from 06/22/2016 to 08/02/2016 with
Round River Conservation Studies: Costa Rica – The Osa Peninsula
I learned about surveying, conservation efforts, life in CR
Review Photos
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. |
Very flexible-- the instructors worked hard to balance school work with fun, local opportunities that would pop up. The instructors also worked with the students to decipher what seemed fair/unfair. |
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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? |
Thankful for a covered platform so tents stayed dry but platform and bathroom were not in the best condition. |
| * Food: |
Creative--so glad it wasn't rice and beans every night! Had some great chefs! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Had some trouble since I did not have a Spanish background, but the program does try to get you culturally involved |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Comfortable with approaching instructors and fairly quickly got medicine from town |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
Unique experience that gets you up close and personal culturally, with wildlife, etc. Since this is a new program there are still some adjustments that could make it better--ex: due dates of major assignments, scheduling, etc. |
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) |
Not many places to shop around where we were staying |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | less than $5 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Make yourself a budget and only take out money that you NEED. Also apply for scholarships and grants because there's many opportunities out there. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
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? | Since it was a new program, I believe a lot was being worked out while we (students) were here. The nature of the tropics and culture here fairly spontaneous which made planning difficult-- especially when trying to decide when to do school work. I wish I knew more about the conditions we were living in--for example: that a shower would be available more than 90% of the time. I also wish I knew how often we'd be able to go into town, as well as more details on where we'd be each day/ what we were doing there in more detail, etc. |
