Kunming the city of eternal Spring, I will miss you. Past Review
By Jennifer R (Anthropology and East Asian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin) - abroad from 06/04/2012 to 07/23/2012 with
SIT Study Abroad: China - Community Health and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Summer)
I learned to makeover how I think about health and medicine. I loved learning that there was this vast, complicated, and intricate alternative medical system that was considered legitimate and working. It was so different from the American and Western perspective on health, disease, and medicine. I took home a lot that helped out my mother with chronic pain conditions. It was super worthwhile.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | We had lectures at a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital, but there were many sprinkled lectures that covered many different areas and locations all over Yunnan. |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The academic rigor and intensity was really up to the student: you could go as deep or stay as shallow in learning TCM as you wanted. It was a general and basic seminar, but the materials they provided for us gave us a lot more information if we wanted to look more into it. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The staff of the program is STELLAR! I loved them all!! |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The hotel was spectacular and very fancy. We had room service daily and free breakfast. All the the places we stayed while on our excursion were simply lovely and charming as well. |
| * Food: |
Anytime we ate out with Luyuan, it was a never ending cuisine adventure. I had so many delicious, wonderful, belly-stuffed meals under her watch. It was magical! I love the food in Yunnan. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The summer went by pretty fast and we didn't really have a lot of time to make too many friends. There wasn't a homestay for the summer like there is for the Spring. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Actually, getting sick on this program is a good thing as you actually get to experiment with TCM on the spot. |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
It was a lot easier as they had budgeted most of it for us. |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Very little outside what they gave us, unless I was also having drinks on the weekends. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Drink and eat cheap! Beer is quite inexpensive at the local convenience shops. You can buy a cheap bowl of noodles nearly everywhere for about 1$ to 1.50$ (in American money). Buy small portable trinkets as gifts, or just postcards. Make a personal budget. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Beginner I, but I still just tested back into Beginner I at the end of the semester |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Make Chinese friends! Practice speaking all the time with everyone. Review your grammar and vocabulary at the end of every week. Consumer lots of Chinese media also. |
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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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? | I believe we learned all we needed to during the course of the program. I was already pretty familiar with China by then, so it really wasn't too difficult to adjust to the host culture or anything, but most of the other students were brand new to the country and the more you know about Chinese culture, the easier it is to adapt. |
