GO TO INDIA!!! Past Review
By A student (Bryn Mawr College) - abroad from 08/27/2012 to 12/08/2012 with
SIT Study Abroad: India - Sustainable Development and Social Change
India is freaking amazing. People have such a great sense of humor.
Personal Information
| 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. |
We usually got off on tangents. Never really got anything out of lectures or discussions. The academic director graded for 3 out of 4 of our classes and included personal biases. Did not learn much about writing from her. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The coordinators really made us feel comfortable and went out of their way to attend to our needs. Plus, they were great fun to be around. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
I will never be as well fed as I was in India. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I got great confidence to speak Hindi when I was there. I wish the school would have allowed us more time to explore Delhi on our own and make friends outside of the program (which only had students of American liberal arts colleges). |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I would not recommend going out alone in Delhi at night but I never felt threatened when I was there. |
| 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) |
India is not very expensive; you can get good lunch for less than a dollar. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $10 maximum a week |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Delhi can be cheap if you want it to be. |
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? | Advanced |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Fluent |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | I did not take any courses but had watched a lot of movies. |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Speak to your host family in Hindi as much as possible. Go bargain in stores in Hindi. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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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? | I wish I studied more about Delhi. I was pretty clueless and scared the first two months about where to go. This blog helped me a lot in the last month: http://thedelhiwalla.com/ Also, the metro is amazing! |
