An Eye-Opening Experience and an Opportunity of a Lifetime:Dominican Republic Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Very laid back compared to an American learning environment and teaching styles. At first the workload seemed like a lot but after the first two weeks I realized that it wasn't too bad.

On-site administration of your program

They were very good about keeping everything organized and getting information to us students. The two leaders were Americans but had lived there for quite a while. There was a time where there was a national strike when I was abroad and the program directors called each person to let us know that we would have a bus to pick us up to come to school. We were able to call them with any questions we had and they provided us with a lot of local information to help us out.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I enjoyed my host family but at times I felt like they didn't necessarily respect my space. I had a 5 year old brother and a 17 month old little sister so my house was very noisy and it made it difficult to concentrate when I needed to. My neighborhood was safe and a relatively close walk to campus. At night we would take taxis just to be safe.

I would recommend going to El Fulgon..it is where all the university students go to hang out. If you're craving American food, Square One is right across from Puerto 2. Definitely try the BON ice cream. One night we went to Lunes de Jazz which was a jazz band playing in a bar on the 5th floor of Plaza Internacional. I got very used to eating rice and beans. At first I didn't like it but after a while I started to look forward to it!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We took a lot of excursions. Although they were not all organized by the program, we had a lot of time to make our own plans. Through the program we went to Santo Domingo and toured, went out to dinner, went to a national park, and had free time to spend. Since we were learning public health we visited many clinics and hospitals throughout and around the city. We also spent a week in a semi-rural clinic to speak about public health.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Overall I would say it was relatively safe. I never once felt threatened however, since I have left, one of the support students that worked with us students was shot and killed outside of his house in Santiago. This frightened me and made me question the safety of the city because he was killed by the National Police for unknown reasons.

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

Most people did not speak English so we used our Spanish on an everyday basis. We were encouraged to speak in Spanish at all times but with other Americans it was difficult.

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• Host Family
• Hotel
• Hostel

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• Host Family

• Freedom to venture out

• Host family match-ups