ThisWorldMusic's trip to Ghana = FIVE STARS Past Review
By Miles A (Jazz Studies, New York University) for
ThisWorldMusic: Traveling - Study in Ghana: Music, Arts, Culture
I have become more aware of enjoying life, making sure to relax a little bit every day and not worry so much. It is hard to maintain the values that I did while in Ghana, since New York life can be so overbearing. But I am confident that the values instilled in me on the Ghana trip will always be there, since the lessons I learned were indescribably valuable.
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was manageable. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and Jeremy's teaching and leading methods were fantastic. Looking back, I would not have felt nearly as comfortable there without Jeremy. I learned so much every single minute of every day. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
There were no weaknesses for this program. It was exactly my speed and coincided with my comfort levels pretty much all the time. Thanks to Jeremy I felt knowledgable and smart about how to act in Ghana, and how to interact with other people. The size of the group was at first a little bit disappointing, but I quickly realized that I would MUCH rather have a small group than a huge group. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I was fine with the housing. It was extremely nice to have my own room. I didn't need to buy anything for my room or change my situation at all. |
| * Food: |
The food was simple but solid. I ate a lot of rice and tried to stay away from anything I didn't trust. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Seeing the funeral... the Borborbor festival... waking up every day to greet the Dagbe staff... going to the Accra market... pretty much every single thing we did was an amazing learning experience. Jeremy did a good job of gauging the group's comfort and energy levels in making decisions about where the group was to go, so everybody seemed happy! |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Luckily, our group was pretty solid healthwise. Towards the end of the trip it seemed like there were a couple people feeling sick, but I felt fine. Jeremy and Jahara were supportive and I knew that if I started to not feel good, they would be there. |
| 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? |
There were opportunities to learn traditional Ewe songs, which I took advantage of. It was a great way to learn the sounds of the language. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If you want to get inside Ghanaian culture with people who have studied it and have been there countless times, go on ThisWorldMusic's trip. It was exactly my speed, and I enjoyed myself every day. It was an adventure that I didn't want to end. I took away so much from it, and I plan on going back. |
