Past Review
By Victoria L (Biology and Chinese, Tufts University) for
Tufts Programs Abroad: Tufts in China
It was worthwhile to see the country that I was learning the language of, and to see the cultures that went along with is.
Personal Information
| The term and year this program took place: | Fall 2009 |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The language was taught in a much more in-depth fashion than at Tufts. While Tufts glosses over the vocabulary for the most part, the classes taught abroad focused more the usage and explanation for each word. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program director was extremely attentive to our needs and provided us with a lot of resources. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Each student had his/her own room with a bathroom, consisted of a bed, a drawer, and a bookshelf, with a television and bedding provided. <br /><br /> The location was great that we had everything we needed in one building and it was close to any shopping areas. The only thing was because it was an international dorm, we did not get the chance to live amongst the local students. |
| * Food: |
Food was cheap and tasty. There are many many restaurants and local small food places within the vicinity. The locals like to smoke in these establishments, so if it annoys you, don't go to them and find a Western style place that may be considered more "high class" and people will most likely not smoke in there. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
While we did not meet as many local students as we had hoped, we got enough interactions with students of various backgrounds and made plenty of international friends. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
We had our director in close proximity to our student dorm, and whenever someone would get sick (like a cold or fever or something), he would have medicine and the like ready for us. There was also a campus hospital right next to our dorm and we could have gone there for whatever was ailing us. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
|
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? | Don't be afraid to spend on food and such, but hold back on the souvenir buying until the very last minute, just in case you cannot bring it all back and will have to throw away a lot of stuff. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
My language skills definitely improved on the conversational level and acquired a lot of colloquial terms. |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
