USAC Lueneburg Past Review
By Sarah A (Political Science/German, University of Nevada – Las Vegas) for
USAC Germany: Lüneburg - German Language, European and Sustainability/Environmental Studies
It was worthwhile for the experiences of traveling that I made for myself, but I did not feel the program itself actually helped me. I did learn a fair amount about the German culture while I was there.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
It was good to have intense German language classes, but I felt a lot of the instructors were lacking in their ability to present the material. It was also somewhat difficult to do some of the research assignments since most of us weren't fluent in German, and the library lacked many English books. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
This program was very disorganized. The program leader did not seem to give much attention to students, and seemed very biased against American students. The assistant program leader, Ute, was amazing. She really went out of her way to provide help to students. The class sizes were good. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I did like the location of my housing assignment, as it was close to the center of town. However, my original request to live on campus with Germans was not accommodated, despite applying very early. I never got much of a chance to practice my German with locals. The landlord was very nice, but the accommodations were somewhat lonely. There was no common area, and everything was in my room so I had no real reason to leave it. It was also in a building with small children which did not make for a very good study environment. |
| * Food: |
|
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
This program did not organize many activities. I took it upon myself to get out and travel. I had to slack off on homework to make that possible, though. Had I not done that, I would have spent the whole time in my room doing homework, and not experiencing any culture. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
|
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
|
Finances
|
* 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) |
|
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I got a lot of practice since I had a German language class five days a week. Aside from that it was difficult to practice. I did not have German roommates, and I did not get a speaking partner until 3 weeks before I left. We also got a lot of homework so it was hard to actually make time to experience the culture and meet people to practice with. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
|
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program is not very well organized. It is worth going though for the chance to travel and see Europe. It's in a fairly central part of Europe, so many other places are easily accessible by plane or train. It's also not too expensive to study here. If the program was better organized, it would have been an even better experience than it was. |
