Discovery through Self-Reliance: New academic experiences while experiencing personal growth Past Review
By Matthew M (Political Science(1), Illinois State University) for
Uppsala University: Uppsala - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
My experience was, though simply for academic reasons I would have chosen my other option, England, in order to take classes that lined up with my major more appropriately. The experience has not changed my future plans, simply given me different perspectives to consider while I pursue them.
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 prefer the American system because you are able to take a wider variety of classes at any given time and you are taught what you will be tested on, as opposed to this system where you stuff as much information into a month as possible and hope the students learn. For instance, I had a class where a learned quite a bit, but nothing I learned was directly on the test so I did poorly on it, reflecting bad on my grade and performance. However, I was putting SO MUCH EFFORT on that subject in one month that you don't retain a variety of valuable (and testable) information. Spreading out a class over a longer period of time leads to better retention. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Every thing was fine from the program perspective, the only problem was that I wasn't there for gen-ed's and I had to coordinate between two advisors. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Housing was arraigned by the program, it was quite well done, the only problems were with the lack of preparedness of the room (the room was a disaster when I arrived. |
| * Food: |
You can make all your own meals and it won't be any different from home, or you can eat at restaurants and go broke. I did not eat out (besides traveling) more than 5 times because of how expensive food was in Sweden. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The group trips to stockholm and the time in stockholm was great. Highly recommend one tour with them. Also, the gasques are a lot of fun, I'd definitely go to the international gasque again. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
They were mentioned, but as I dealt with neither issue I can't really comment on the execution. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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? | My weekly grocery trip would be about 300-500 Kroner a week (that's between $45-$65). I didn't have a lot of personal expenses. Keep in mind that I don't drink coffee or alcohol, both of which are EXTREMELY expensive in this country. I managed to spend about $2400 on everything that didn't include trips outside the country or my housing bill over 4 months. Again, keep in mind that I barely spend much on anything "extra," didn't have to buy any new clothing, and ate an average of 2 meals a day. So this would be very, very low end. My total expenditures for the trip was about $9,000, including housing, trips, ISU fees, and daily expenses. About $2500 of that was trips to various countries. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Don't go crazy on the drinking while you are here. I don't, so it wasn't an issue, but for those people who went to pub crawls every week it can become one. I had friends from other countries who were worried about paying rent but continuing to go out drinking every night. Just be careful in that regard. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Exchange |
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 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? | I think a general education student would benefit the most, because as a political science student, I'll just say that I believe that this program can screw with your GPA. Be careful, because while you might learn a lot, you won't necessarily have the grades to show it. Know that you'll have to learn a lot on your own (my Uppsala international buddy never even made an effort to meet me) and it will help give you a sense of independence. Take advantages of trips and excursions because there is so much to see in Sweden alone, not to mention so much in the rest of Europe that you'll have access to. |
