Independence and dealing with active opposition. August 26, 2022
By A student (Business, Texas Lutheran University) - abroad from 08/26/2021 to 12/16/2021 with
University of Evansville: Grantham - Study abroad at Harlaxton College
I gained a lot of traveling experience, but I do not think my experience at the manor had to be how it was in terms of staff interaction.
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. |
Most of the classes were great with the professors that were not from Evansville. The Evansville professors were extremely biased. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Terrible. Absolutely horrendous. Anytime there was an issue with housing, classes, or more serious concerns such as safety, the staff just told us there was not a problem. My experience with the safety issues were handled terribly and they told me it was all in my head, refused to get me in touch with the police, actively kept the students uninformed, swept all the issues under the rug, and lied to me about school policies to the point of being threatening. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Housing was great at first, but as people started having issues with wasps (some were deathly allergic) the administration refused to switch rooms despite the fact that most of the manor rooms were empty, putting multiple students in uncomfortable and dangerous situations. |
| * Food: |
The food staff definitely tried, and was willing to make multiple accommodations. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I felt like I had integrated, but the culture of the closest town was dangerous and extremely sketchy. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
When my friends and I had significant problems the manor made us miss study time during finals to go to the local hospital and stay for an hour only to find out they could do nothing for us. |
| * Safety: |
Grantham had a host of unsafe characters, some that threatened to rape and kill people at pubs, other people tried to coerce women, and there were many knifings. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
That some people in authority positions do not care about my safety or well-being, and are just looking to make money. |
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? | 60 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
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? | How dangerous Grantham was, that I would be living with only Americans, that the staff was extremely sexist and did not care about student safety. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
ACCT102 |
| Course Department: | Business |
| Instructor: | Martha Stilwell |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Professor was highly biased against anyone from the "South" (including Latino students) and hardly ever talked about class topics, instead focusing on her personal life, her student's personal life (sometimes insulting students for personal beliefs or identities), complaining about her work and her boss, badmouthing other professors and getting mad at students for not agreeing that other professors were bad, hugging and touching students during class, getting drunk with her students and badmouthing other students, "checking up" on her favorite students at night, showing distinct favoritism in allowing certain students grace on assignments while being rude to other students for requesting extensions saying the only way to get an extension is "immediate hospitalization or death," then allowing her favorite students to take extra hours on the exam unsupervised. I hated going to her class because of how unprofessional and rude she was to me or anyone who disagreed with her on any level. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | No issues with transferring. |
