"Ghana: The experience of the country was worth it!" Past Review
By Namibia L (Anthropology., Tufts University) for
Tufts Programs Abroad: Tufts in Ghana
Definitely, I think I went in a great year!
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. |
I learned more outside of the classroom than in the classroom! Particularly on our field-trips. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program's strength is definitely Dr. Bilson, he is amazing and works very hard so that we all have a wonderful study abroad experience. The program size was great, and all of us studying abroad in Ghana got along wonderfully! |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived with a Ghanaian and she practiced Twi with me all of the time, this was even more helpful than taking the class. In all honesty, I think the class should be pass/fail rather than credit, because it was not as helpful as I would have liked it to be. |
| * Food: |
Very few vegetarian options, because most things have meat or fish in it. HOwever, there are more expensive vegetarian options in restaurants. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Our trip to Cap Coast was great. I would suggest less trips to Dagbe, maybe at most two instead of three (because we could have visited many more exciting places in Ghana). I think exploring the south or north of Ghana in our field trips would have been wonderful, I left without being able to see these areas, and would have loved to be able to go there. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The city is safer than we were told, but also the fact that we were always with a group of three or more helped. I felt very safe overall. |
| 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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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | about 100-120 cidis per week. The stipend was sufficient, particularly for food and transportation which were my biggest expenses. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Buying personal items, like toilet paper , storage buckets for water, etc was definitely unexpected. I wish it would have been included into the stipend. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | I had never taken the language before. |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I learned more from speaking to people on the street and with my room mate than in the classroom. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Take enjoyable classes! |
