Great Location, Disappointing Program Past Review

Overall, I had mixed feelings about the semester. As parts of the overall experience ranged from amazing, insightful, and inspiring, to stifling, irrelevant, and narrow minded, it's safe to say it was a real roller-coaster ride. The Balkans are an incredible place full of every kind of person imaginable, awe-inspiring sights, and interesting topics that make a student want to go back for more. Given this, it's a shame that the program itself so abysmally failed in creating a program to foster learning and exploration in favor of mindless busywork and stifled opportunities to ask questions and openly think about issues. As a brief disclaimer, in fairness to the program, I was only able to experience about half of it as the program was cancelled due to the emergence of COVID-19, through no fault of the program. However, I do not think that the problems with the program were likely to disappear over the remaining weeks, but I will clearly identify which parts I cannot review from personal experience. First let me address the good parts. The Balkans are such an amazing place with such a rich culture and history that there is no way to get a complete understanding in just 3 months or even 3 years. Belgrade is a beautiful city with a turbulent political atmosphere, plenty of places to see, and more interesting people to talk to than you'll have time for. Prishtina was the most unexpectedly amazing part of the trip, with some of the most friendly and optimistic people I've ever met, but also a political environment that changes almost by the week. The countryside was gorgeous, and the drives through the mountains were amazing. The independent research was invigorating an I had a good advisor, despite having to be conducted remotely due to COVID-19. I cannot comment on Sarajevo, as that part of the trip was cancelled. However, overall I cannot recommend the region enough. It surpassed all expectations. However, I cannot recommend visiting there with this program. For that sake of simplicity, I will break down my criticisms into a list. 1. Too narrow of a course topic. This was a extremely complicated place, yet the only thing that it seemed every class focused on was 'Memory Studies," or how the past is commemorated. The entire course was a single lesson on ethical commemoration and social activism. While this will appeal to some, there is nothing in this course for people interested in political science, power dynamics, reconstruction, or the title of the course:... Peace and Conflict in the Balkans. In class questions were discouraged or rebuked upon asking because I "wouldn't understand" given my status as a westerner. 2. Course Load and Class Construction Homework assignments consist almost exclusively of busywork. They are graded not on the quality of the writing, but on how specifically the constricting instructions were followed. (Providing no opportunity to think outside the box.) Not a brag, but I'm a serious student at a prestigious university, and I received the lowest GPA I've ever had. If you are a serious student doing all of the readings and assignments, you will simply not have time to explore the Balkans yourself. There is so much busywork and mindless reading, that you end up going to eastern Europe to read about American mishaps out of a book. 3. Condescending Faculty Be aware that there are cultural differences in how college aged students are perceived in the Balkans. Although I understand this is a cultural phenomenon, it's reflected by the teachers who should know better. You will not be treated like a responsible adult. "Spoon-feeding" and "helicoptering" are terms that come to mind. Overall, I recommend the region but not the program. I've tried to be fair in my analysis, but it is safe to say that about half of the students held similar views to mine. I only hope that this review will help inform prospective students considering this program.