Learning by living sustainability with an amazing community : ) Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Our work load was pretty light, much less readings and essays than at our home institutions. The majority of what we learned was through hands on activities, visiting farms, visiting world heritage sights, working on our own independent study projects (isp) in our own preferred areas of study, all while living in way that was thoughtful of the environment, never keeping sustainability out of mind. There were several very informative and engaging lectures and workshops, and a few less engaging and informative lectures and workshops, but overall, the way we learned about the environment hands on was life altering.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The living arrangements were nice, if you do not like camping, it's probably not the program for you because we did spend a good amount of time camping. When we stayed at hostels, they were very clean and nice. We loved the apartments we stayed in while in Byron, the people who worked there were awesome and it's a great location, 5 minutes walk from the beach, 2 blocks away from the center of town, across the street from an awesome vegetarian indian food restaurant (Heart and Halo), we had a great time there. We all stayed with different families for 2 weeks, I personally loved my living situation, a family with four children living in a sustainable gardening commune. There was a large variety of living situations during home stay, families with large houses and flat screen tvs, a family that lived on an alpaca farm, more sustainably focused families like my own, but everyone seemed to be very happy with their situations. During ISP you arrange your own living situation with the stipend the program gives you, many of us found the stipend money not to be enough, especially if your living in Sydney or Byron.

We mostly cooked for ourselves, if your a good cook, you'll be satisfied. Every once in a while the program took us out to dinner at nice restaurants.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The program organized a few things, like a camping trip hosted by a few aboriginal men in which we learned about their cultures, and an aboriginal food dinner. Both of those were great.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

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

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• Host Family
• Apartment
• Hostel
• Other

Select all that apply

• Americans
• Host Family
• Other