Final Project Received National Attention Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Overall a great experience, ended the semester a capable Spanish speaker with an award-winning independent project. My semester had an interim Academic Director, which may or may not have affected some lax classes and lack of supplementary material that i've heard was better with the past/present ADs.

On-site administration of your program

Interim AD was sometimes difficult to work with and unresponsive to student's requests, but from my experience the rest of the staff was great.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Main host family in Managua was a highlight, really got the chance to experience daily family life in Nicaragua for the fun parts and the challenges. Homestays in the rural area and Caribbean Coast were great as well.

I had no problem with food or budget. Not the fault of the program, but Nicaragua is not an easy country to be vegetarian or vegan, which several students in my group had to deal with, as there will never be a variety of options especially in the rural areas.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I formed close relationships with my host family and Nica friends, especially during the month of ISP, where I was the only student in the group living on the Caribbean Coast. I couldn't realistically expect a better cultural integration experience from a study abroad program. It is up to you to make an effort to break away from the student group and spend time with your host family and make friends. The program gives ample opportunity, so if you take the initiative it is pretty easy to dive into Nicaragua, explore towns and neighborhoods with new friends and have a great time.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had a couple digestive tract things during the semester that required antibiotics, it was nothing major just required going to the clinic and getting the prescription, which cleared it up right away. If you are traveling from the States, expect to get sick a couple times in Nicaragua just because of the different climate and bacteria.

Managua is a big city, so staying safe requires the same common sense as any other big city. Managua, and Nicaragua as a whole struck me as quite safe in terms of crime, there is unfortunately a catcalling problem that seems to be mostly verbal. For what it's worth, I worry more about safety and harassment at home in Philly than anywhere I visited in Nicaragua.

Couldn't ask for a better experience of intercultural exchange, Spanish immersion and opportunities to go off on your own and create a great project. The work I produced over the semester has won awards and funding to return to Nicaragua to continue the project this fall. Only obvious weak point of my semester was the academics, which may easily be improved now because we had an interim Academic Director.

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

I had probably C700 left over at the end, I managed to find very affordable housing for my ISP through a friend in the region. I am a thrifty person anyway, but unless you are spending extravagantly I see no reason why the student budget wouldn't cover the costs.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

I had to speak Spanish all the time, every day. All but one of the staff spoke primarily Spanish, and English is pretty hard to come by in Nicaragua. I started out barely able to form sentences on the fly, and struggled mightily to communicate during the first month, but I really learned how to speak and navigate society by the end. The student group gradually used more English among ourselves as the semester went on, but given the nature of my project I spent a lot of time on my own with Nicaraguans.I am very pleased with how much my Spanish improved over the semester.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• Spanish Immersion
• Independent Project
• Host Family

• Rigor of classes