Al-Akhawayn - Get Excited, and do it! Past Review
By A_ScottMiller (Tufts University) for
SUNY Binghamton: Ifrane - Exchange & Study Abroad Program at Al Akhawayn University
n/a
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
faculty was great, courses were interesting and informative. Moroccan students are not very competitive, so it was easy to get A's. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
tuition payment and getting local university money account was a bit difficult to set up, but no real concerns. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
non-Moroccans are paired with Moroccans, who volunteer to have exchange student room mates. they are all amazing, and almost always repeat, so odds are they will have spent a lot of time with Americans on campus before. |
| * Food: |
food at the university is very good, and food in town of Ifrane is excellent (and very affordable) |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
one great experience was a trip down to the Sahara, where we woke up real early and rode camels out into the middle of the desert to see the sun rise. all traveling around the country was amazing. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
careful of normal city stuff in the cities (e.g. pick pockets) and as said before, the buses. no major health problems. one piece of advice is that I got tired of buying water (even though it's affordable) and when I began drinking tap water, I got sick for a while (pretty much everyone does). Do this early on!! Suck it up, get sick, and get over it. |
| 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) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
the university is English speaking (all classes are taught in English), but I studied Arabic. Unfortunately the appropriate level of Arabic was not available for me. One level was far too difficult and another far too easy. So instead, I opted for the easier level, but in a class with only Moroccan students as opposed to the one designed for native English speakers, which was very cool. Also I took a Moroccan dialect course which was great. It was also really great to have friends with great French which helps when traveling in cities. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Do IT! and contact me with any questions or for advice: aaronmiller@alumni.tufts.edu |
