"Bristol, England: was a good learning experience for me. Similar yet different to America." Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

We had a new professor lecture to us each day. It was nice to have tutors from England and not american professors. It opened up my eyes to the culture and differences. The workload was managable. I liked that we had to do most of our work after we returned to the United States. That way we did not have to waste our time doing it abraod. The turors made class interactive for the students which was nice. I would have loved to have been paired with english students as well though. We had a final presentation the last day of class which I enjoyed. In England they expect you to want to learn. They do not test you all the time like in America. Rather they only have big tests at the end of a couple years. (not the case for us, just hte teaching style)

On-site administration of your program

All the professors/tutors were very helpful at the University of West England. The professors really got to know you and wanted to help. Some professors we had more than once so they really strived to get to know us. They were all acessable to answer questions as well too. They all had a plan of action and got through their plan within the alloted time limit. They all taught in a different way, but I enjoyed that. They all seemed like they knew alot about America, which was nice. Alot of the subjects the tutors taught related back to the American culture. There was about 20 students in our program, which I felt was the perfect size. My expectations were met, I enjoyed the program.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The program assigned us a host family while abroad. The neighborhood was safe. In general in Bristol, England the streets are confusing and hard to get around at night though. It was a short walk to the bus stop which was nice. They provided us with a bus pass to and from school. I did buy some food for my host familys house a couple times because she did not provide me with the sufficient amount. My host mom was actually not nice at all. She treated me unfairly and did not talk to me much. I feel like she was hosting students strictly for the money. She was not accomidating at all. I hope they do not use my host family again in the future.

The food she made us was not very good. We never got a traditional english dish either. She never gave us enough food either. For future students I think eating at a host family is fine. The program should make sure the host families are acceptable though as well.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We went on alot of field trips throughout our trip on our long weekends. In addition our program set some up. We were able to go to Bath, Paris, London, Ghent, Brussels, Bruges. They was a different type of culture at each of these places, which was nice to see.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The city of Bristol was pretty safe. Like any city there are good parts and bad parts. Do not travel alone at night, the streets get really confusing and they are hard to navigate. I did not have any incidents abroad. I did not have experience/ did not need any kind of healthcare abroad. There were not any halth issues in England I needed to prepare for before my trip.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Hostel
• Host Family

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• Host Family
• International Students
• Americans

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• Americans