Ghana: Extremely Rewarding, Difficult at Times, but very eye opening and completely worth it Past Review
By Megan G (Community Health and Preventive Medicine., SUNY - College at Geneseo) for
SUNY Geneseo: Kumasi - Global Health in Ghana
What i gained from this study abroad wasnt so much from the class, but more so what i saw with my own eyes and experienced. I think this trip is completely worth but i wouldnt go on the same program again. I felt like we were tied down very much and not allowed to experience what we wanted as much as we should have. I felt like we were expected to stay in the hotel room except for when we had class and site visit plans. To me what i enjoyed the most were what we saw on the bus rides, out the window and walking into the villages and even going outside of the University gates. This experience did though change my academic interests. To me i thought nutrition would be important factor, but i didnt see many unhealthy starving people. They seemed to have a decent amoung of food. To me the most exciting part of the trip were all the little children. And that made me more interested in Maternal Health.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Topics covered were very interesting, we visited too many hospitals so it got very boring and repetitive. It did not allow us to experience the culture as much as i would have liked to. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Lack of internet made things harder but that was part of the experience. I would have liked to do more than just seeing hospitals didnt gain much from seeing so many hospitals. To me a tour of so many hospitals doesnt really teach much. There were a few that were educational and very rewarding but it got very boring |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
housing was very nice im kumasi very comfortable, much more accomidating than i expected. One place didnt have sheets for 2 nights but that wasn't long. Other than that i was greatly suprised at house nice the hotels/guest houses were. |
| * Food: |
We were informed before the trip that we could not eat any fruits. This is a big mistake almost everybody ate fruit on our trip and it was completely worth it. Only two people got sick and they believe that it was something else that got them sick. It was hard to eat healthy becuase the main food items were rice or some form of carbs and meat. Everything is cooked in palm oil which i believe was hard on my body to digest. Before leaving, from what i heard we were going to have a hard time eating. This was the complete opposite we were bused everywhere at ate all the time. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
To me these parts were the most exciting i wished we did a little more activities like this. It allowed us to learn alot more about the culture. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
i did not have any health problems on this trip so my answers would not really apply here. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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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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? | Truthfully public health majors would benefit the most from this program, maybe bio students as well. If there were more cultural experiences then it would have been applied to everyone. I think anyone would enjoy the program minus all the hospital visits. |
