Antananarivo - National Identity and Social Change Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The key to SIT is experiential learning - sometimes you might think that you have hardly any work to do (the workload seems pretty light most of the time), but, especially in the Culture and Society program, you are constantly learning. Just navigating around the city of Antananarivo, eating rice every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner with your host family (you learn to love it!), and taking trips around the country with the SIT group, you can't help but become immersed in the culture and learn about it from the inside out.

On-site administration of your program

This program is excellently planned. Every day and every minute is worked out ahead of time and things rarely don't go as planned. The academic director is very diligent and professional and takes good care of everyone on the program. He is extremely knowledgeable about Madagascar having lived there for many years including an extended term with the Peace Corps. He is also available whenever you need him - he gives everyone his address and cell phone number - and is always happy to meet with students anytime for either academic or personal reasons. I loved the size of the program (16 students) - it was easy to get to know everyone and make good friends. There weren't really any cliques either because it was so small. Sometimes everything felt a little too planned and chaperoned (especially at the beginning), but this is nicely balanced out with the ISP at the end when you're well adjusted to the culture and basically free to do whatever you want for the last month (provided you still complete the ISP)!

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

There are three homestays in this program. The primary homestay is in the capital city and you spend the most time with this family (about 6-8 weeks although not consecutive). Although not everyone's experience was the same, my city-homestay was very comfortable amenities-wise - my family was very well off by Malagasy standards and had a very modern house much like most average-sized houses in the U.S. (shower, electricity, TV, computer - no internet, etc.) I had my own spacious bedroom, which was very comfortable and private. My host parents were an elderly couple and their two sons and one daughter-in-law lived there too. They were very nice and spoke good French. They were friendly enough but also respected my privacy when I needed to study. The second homestay is in a medium-sized city (Majunga) and was considerably less comfortable amenities-wise. I was among the few students whose family had electricity and running water, but it was here that I came to love bucket showers and got used to a hole-in-the-ground toilet (not as much fun, but manageable). My host parents were middle-aged and had a son and a daughter - I got along really well with everyone, they were very warm and welcoming and spoke very good French. I shared a bedroom with my host sister (who was 14) but had my own bed. There was not much privacy in their house though. The last homestay is for 5 days in a rural village. This was the most challenging but also the most rewarding in many ways - there is no electricity or running water. I shared a bed with my 9 year old host sister. There were only two rooms in the house (made of mud bricks) - a kitchen and a bedroom which also served as a dining room and a living room. Again, warm, friendly people, but more of a language barrier (they didn't speak much French), and obviously, a bigger adjustment without electricity and running water. <br /><br /> For my homestay in the city - I very much enjoyed the homestay itself but wished it was closer to the center of the city - I had a 20 min. bus ride to school every day.

You learn to love rice, which the Malagasy eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with various accompanying dishes. For lunch in the city though, students could choose to eat at any restaurant (paying with SIT's stipend), from traditional Malagasy, to French, Asian, pizza..etc. basically anything you want. It was great!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I became very close to many people on the program and made a lot of good friends. There was plenty of free time to socialize, both during the week (especially during our long lunch breaks), and on the weekend. If we went out on the weekend in the capital city we had a curfew of midnight, which was a bit restricting sometimes but necessary for safety reasons. Many weekends though, we were off exploring some other part of the country as part of the program with the group, often staying in campsites or hotels in rural areas or smaller cities and these excursions definitely allowed for a lot of socializing as well, both amongst students and with the locals. The program arranged a number of events that involved both students and host families including a movie night, a traditional music festival (that involved a lot of dancing), and a day at the beach.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Although nearly every student became ill at some point during the trip (some more seriously than others), the academic director was always prepared with the appropriate medication and remedies, having experienced most of the typical maladies (most as a result of unclean water) himself. There was a doctor available to students in the city, but the healthcare system was fairly meager compared to U.S. standards. The capital city was pretty safe during the day - you just had to watch out of pickpockets. After dusk though, it wasn't really wise to walk around by yourself. No student had any serious problems (apart from theft) but the danger certainly does exist and you should not walk around at night by yourself. In smaller cities and more rural areas it was much safer, but still not a good idea to walk around by yourself at night, especially as a conspicuous foreigner.

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

I had previously studied abroad in France for a year in high school so I was very confident with my French language ability going to Madagascar. Many find that their French is actually better than their host family's - Malagasy is the first language in Madagascar even though French is also an official language. Every student takes Beginning Malagasy (as well as some level of French) but most of us found the course to move very slowly. My host family spoke very good French so I rarely if ever spoke to them in Malagasy which I regret. There is a rural homestay for a week in another part of the country where very few people speak French and those who do, speak very little. This would have been an excellent opportunity to practice Malagasy, but I felt under-prepared going into the week-long experience, and there was a lot of miming (and awkward silences) involved instead. Not learning and practicing enough Malagasy is my one biggest regret after completing the program.

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• Host Family

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• Americans