good cultural experience, but not very educational Past Review
By A student (Utah Valley University) - abroad from 05/01/2012 to 05/23/2012 with
Utah Valley University: Traveling - Business Marketing
I learned a lot culturally and gained a lot of good friends from the girls we went with. It was worthwhile to get all the experiences.
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. |
This program was suppose to be about Business with an emphasis on fashion, and most of the appointments we had were museums and clothing stores that we could have done on our own without Letty. We had maybe 2 Business appointments that i would actually say were very informative and thats it. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
It was not organized very well, and Letty who was the advisor was very overwhelmed all the time which put a lot of pressure on the students and many times I felt like she would take her frustrations out on us. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The housing of the first place we stayed was not the best, but it was doable. The second place we stayed which was in Paris was like a student housing dorm kind of place and it was pretty fun to stay there although the showers were terrible and there was a button that had to be pressed every 30 seconds in order for it to stay on which ended up being quite annoyig. |
| * Food: |
The food that was provided through the program in London was a complete joke. We were told that we were going to be getting a wonderful continental breakfast each morning, and it was very far from that. Every morning they would give us a basket of bread and that was it. The food that we could purchase ourselves was a lot better. London has some great restaraunts and their food is amazing. Paris was a little bit of the same situation, but we were provided with Breakfast and Dinner which was a big help for our wallets. The food was not the best, but most nights it was pretty good. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
London I absolutely loved and everyone was so nice and easy to get along with. In Paris it was a little different because of the language barrier, but there were some people that were exceptionally nice, and then there were some people who were exceptionally rude but overall I loved the cultures of both places. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
There wasnt a lot of health care issues but there was one incident and Letty took care of it pretty well. |
| * Safety: |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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) |
It was very hard because everything is almost twice as expensive there and food was not included in London at all so a lot of our money was going towards food. |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 200 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Make an extra money budget because that is definitely where most of your money will go and there are a lot of new things you will want to try! |
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 |
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| 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? | Nothing |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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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? | I wish i would have learned more of the language so i could have spoken more fluently with the locals. |
