Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Great experience and people - not very challenging June 15, 2023

By (History, Middlebury College) - abroad from 01/24/2023 to 05/05/2023 with

SIT Study Abroad: Switzerland - Global Health and Development Policy

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I gained a lot of independence and improved my research and time management skills.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 1 month - 6 months

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Great resources and staff. Valuable courses/subjects, and field trips. Grading wasn't too hard.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Helpful staff, took care of all legal/residency paperwork and fees for us and gave useful recommendations.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived with a host mom and loved it.

* Food:

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

As my host mom was not Swiss, I had a bit less exposure than some other students. It would have been nice to have better-facilitated ways to integrate with local culture (this was also made harder by living a good distance from the city centers).

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The program was helpful as they covered insurance and provided a list of english-speaking providers.

* Safety:

Felt super safe everywhere I went, even taking transport and walking home late at night.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Yes because I loved my host family and found the program interesting. However, much of the value in my time abroad was in excursions I planned on my own and the other students I befriended (who were all American, so in that sense there wasn't much cultural immersion).

Finances

* 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)

Switzerland is expensive but they provided us with lunch money stipends, as well as public transport cards, which was very helpful. Any extra spending was for outside travel/etc that I chose to do.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? 0-50

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?

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

How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? None
How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? Beginner
What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? Prior, I had not taken any French
How many hours per day did you use the language?

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
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?
  • students
  • location
* What could be improved?
  • academic rigor
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I wish I knew going in that I would be living about an hour commute from any city center.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Research Methods and Ethics
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Very relevant field trips and guest speakers. I learned a good deal about research and paper writing when it comes to healthcare, though I did not feel incredibly challenged.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Beginning French
Course Department: French
Instructor:
Instruction Language: French/English
Comments: Really great professor who provided a nice general overview of French. I had never learned any French before and felt that by the end of the semester I had learned a lot of the basics and was able to use it regularly in Switzerland.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Perspectives on Global Health
Course Department: Global Health
Instructor:
Instruction Language: engish
Comments: I really enjoyed this course as we discussed a lot of geopolitics issues - which I had learned about prior, making these lectures less challenging but still interesting. We also talked a lot about ethics in general and the various methods of addressing global health issues. I feel I learned a lot about the development of the 'global health' concept/field, as well as about various perspectives on its implementation.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Development Policy & Health
Course Department: Global Health
Instructor:
Instruction Language: English
Comments: This class also had interesting field trips and lectures, though at times it felt that there was no overarching theme as we discussed different specific issues every day. However, I learned a lot about various issues and how they are interrelated.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Individual Study Project
Course Department: global health
Instructor:
Instruction Language: english
Comments: This was challenging in that it relied a lot on individual responsibility and time management, which I struggled with at times. However the staff were super supportive in helping me to find a topic of interest and provided advice as I went through the process of researching, structuring, and writing a huge paper as well as sourcing interviews for the paper. It was a lot of work but there was plenty of time and good resources.
Credit Transfer Issues: