Great Safari, Mediocre Education! May 21, 2024

By A student (Environmental Studies, Brandeis University) - abroad from 01/31/2024 to 05/10/2024 with

The School for Field Studies / SFS: Tanzania - Wildlife Management Studies

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

It was definitely worthwhile. I did not go in with any real expectations, but I learned a lot about sustainable development which is something I had never really learned about before.

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.	The quality and expectations of the courses varied wildly depending on the professor. Some courses had clear expectations when it came to grading and assignments, others not at all. Many assignments were not returned until the last day, preventing students from gaining meaningful feedback to improve the next time around. I would say time in the classroom and in the field was split about 60-40, with more time in the classroom listening to uninteresting and remedial level lectures. Field exercises and lectures were great, but they were jam packed over a few days a month. This left us in a cycle of exciting but tiring field work and boredom on campus.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	Faculty and administrators were always able to assist when a problem arose.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Great facilities, western style bathrooms. The power went out sometimes without warning, but there was a generator.
* Food:	Food was amazing! They can't accommodate some diets (vegan, kosher, etc) but vegetarians got plenty of protein.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Aside from one week where we visited Maasai bomas, an Iraqw elder, and local families, were not really integrated into the community or exposed to the cultures. it just kind of felt like we were drinking from a fire hydrant that week.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?	I needed vaccines to go, which was no big deal. The staff was VERY caring and attentive when it came to medical issues.
* Safety:	The only safety concern was drunk people in town, but as long as you're in a group you're safe.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes I went to see wildlife and I did that. I did not learn anything new during the actual courses but I did during DR.

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)
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Things are VERY cheap in Tanzania. I would recommend buying souvenirs from the Maasai Market in Mto Wa Mbu rather than Safari Land or any of the other mzungu traps.

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	Unfortunately, the Swahili course was only about a month and a half long. I feel like I only got good at Swahili in the last week of the course and would have benefited from further instruction. When were asked to thanks speakers or other people outside the program who provided instruction, we were seldom told to do so in Swahili.
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
How many hours per day did you use the language?	0
Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants?	Learn how to conjugate with noun classes early and really practice at it. Also, it helps to find someone in town who is willing to practice Swahili with you, especially over text.

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Dorm
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Americans
* 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?	0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?	DR Expeditions Connecting with staff and students
* What could be improved?	Community integration Expectations for assignments Connecting with faculty.
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	You will spend a lot of time on campus and will get restless. Also, bring a power bank. Also, some of the faculty are hard to connect with, some never even learned everyone's names. The faculty also tends to be a bit old school in their approach to teaching. I never felt in danger for LGBT issues, but misogynistic microagressions (and not so micro) occurred with relative frequency.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Directed Research
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language:
Comments:	I chose a very physically demanding DR Project. It was very emotionally taxing to be out in the water logged field for ten hours straight, especially when it was just me, my partner, and local rangers escorting us who did not speak English. Still, I really valued getting to see a research project from start to finish. I do wish we knew earlier in the program that we didn't have free rein when picking our DR projects, but choosing from a predetermined slate.
Credit Transfer Issues: