AMPLE travel, beautiful city ugly in winter, no feeling of community May 27, 2024
By Benjamin L (Economics, Middlebury College) - abroad from 02/10/2024 to 05/20/2023 with
UPCES - Study Abroad in Prague (CERGE-EI, Charles University)
I learned a lot about the Holocaust and about how antisemitism lingers in Europe.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Should have had 3-4 per apartment for better social development. |
| * Food: |
Apartment living, close proximity to grocery. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Through my own efforts I met Czech people. But the program provided little to no opportunities for genuine cultural integration. UPCES is an American program for Americans and makes no attempt at fostering Czech-American relationships. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
Spain, Greece or Portugal would all be much better destinations for an adventurous active person. Directly enrolling in a European university is a must for a genuine study abroad experience. UPCES insulates you away from Czech culture and people, and provides a wholly American experience. I found it odd that the lovely American woman in charge of the program spoke embarrassingly ZERO Czech after spending years in the country. |
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) |
Prague is pretty damn cheap for Americans |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 100 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Cheap kebab, home cooking, planning trips in advance based on monthly searches for Ryan air flights, pregaming at home, $2 street pints, saving up during year prior to travel, do more local regional trips via train compared to visiting classic Western European destinations. If you want to see Western Europe do another program this one is not for you. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
Compulsory Czech class. Our teacher was awful, but the other one was amazing. so you have to get lucky I guess. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 400 |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | You don’t need it if you don’t want to use it. But if you have the basic desire of speaking to locals in their language, try to use Czech for all daily interactions and don’t get embarrassed when you say some something dumb. |
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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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
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? | That the group would consist of multiple pre-existing friend groups from different universities who wouldn’t hang out with each other. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Comprehending the Holocaust |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Michal Plzack |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Extremely thoughtful and philosophical investigation of the Holocaust. Michal is a very legit scholar of Jewish studies. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
