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Study Abroad Program Review of InterStudy: Cape Town - University of Cape Town

Submitted by Erin317 (Sociology & Economics,female,University of Notre Dame) on July 8th, 2010

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Academics
Language
Housing & Food
Culture & Health
Final Opinion

Personal Information

Start Date:

Jan 24, 2008

End Date:

Jun 5, 2008

International exposure prior to program?

1 month-6 months

Academics Overall

**Overall educational experience:

**Comment:

I spent a lot more time on my academic work than I had expected to, but I really enjoyed it. Some classes were not very hard at all, but two were pretty challenging and one was especially time-consuming. I was really impressed by the quality of the education at UCT and I thought that my professors were almost all as good, if not better, than most of my lecturers at Notre Dame.

Make sure to get your courses pre-approved by your University if you want the credits to transfer.

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Course Title:

African Music

Instructor:

Zweli and Desu

Please comment on the course:

This was one of the most fun things I did while in Cape Town. I looked forward to my drumming lessons with Zweli twice a week and I learned so much from him besides drumming. I would recommend this to anyone, even if you can't keep a beat.

Please rate the course overall:

Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Nope. This transferred as my fine arts requirement.

Course

**Course Title:

African Language and Literature

**Course Department and Number:

ELL2007

**Language of Instruction:

English

**Please comment on the course:

This is a huge lecture class, but you choose an additional class to go with it. You could get really lucky or not as lucky. Be sure to go and sign up as soon as you can if there is a certain topic that you are interested in. The teacher for the lecture was pretty good, but I had a hard time understanding my teacher for the smaller section.

**Please rate the course overall:

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

No, this transferred as my literature requirement.

Course

**Course Department and Number:

HST1005F

**Language of Instruction:

English

**Please comment on the course:

This was a huge class but the lecturer was great. He was able to keep everyone's attention. You go to the big class and then a small class once per week with a different teacher. We were expected to write a response paper each week, so there was some work involved, but it was not too bad. It was pretty interesting and the exam wasn't too hard either. I felt like I learned a lot.

**Please rate the course overall:

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

I can't remember what this transferred as.

Course

**Course Title:

Economics of Feasts and Famines

**Course Department and Number:

HST 3038F

**Language of Instruction:

English

**Please comment on the course:

This was the most demanding class I was in at UCT, but it was great. The class is divided into different units and a guest lecturer who is an expert in his or her field comes to UCT to teach each unit. The workload is pretty serious. You read around 100 pages per week and write a response paper for each unit. I never did too poorly, but it's definitely not an easy A. I put a lot of effort into the papers.

**Please rate the course overall:

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Nope. This one counted as one of my Economics major electives.

Host Country Program Administration Overall

**On-site administration of your program:

**Please explain the program's strengths and weaknesses:

I thought InterStudy did a really great job from start to finish. I felt like I could have leaned on them if I had needed support in any way, but they didn't watch over us like babies either. We had a "mentor" who was sooo helpful showing us around and she became one of my closest friends. My expectations were surpassed in almost every category. When I was on InterStudy, the group was maybe 60 people or so, some of who are my very best friends now. I would never take back going with InterStudy, but it is a big group, so if you are trying to steer clear of Americans, maybe its not the best choice for you, although you could work on branching out once you get there.

Housing Overall

Living arrangements? (all that apply):

Other (describe in comment field below)

Who did you live with?

Americans

**Housing satisfaction:

**Comment:

I lived in an amazing house with amazing people. I must say though that I got about as lucky as you could get. InterStudy doesn't have any terrible places to live, but I certainly lucked out.

Food Overall

**Food satisfaction:

**Comment:

South Africa has the best food in the whole world. You can eat cheaply around campus or downtown and I have so many favorite places that I can't even begin to start listing them. Go to Old Biscuit Mill market on Saturday.

Safety and Health Overall

**How well were health issues addressed through your program?

**Safety:

**Comment:

The healthcare system is easy to navigate and luckily I didn't have anything too terrible happen while I was there. There is nothing that InterStudy could have done differently, but Cape Town does have a petty crime problem, so that is why I put only3 out of 5 stars. I never felt unsafe during the day, but you have to be very cautious and mindful of your possessions, and being on the street at night isn't really a good idea, except in a few places. I think a couple of people were mugged and there was at least one break-in during my stay, but InterStudy does as good job educating about ways to prevent this kind of stuff.

Money Overall

**How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

General Assessment Overall

**Words of wisdom:

Someone who wants a different culture experience, especially one in an English speaking country. I really have only positive things to say about my abroad experience. Cape Town is incredible, and South Africa and Africa in general blew me away. I would recommend going to UCT and InterStudy to almost anyone.

**If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same program?

Yes

**Overall satisfaction with your study abroad experience:

**Was your study abroad experience worthwhile?

Absolutely worthwhile. My time in Africa had a profound impact on me, but you might have to leave Cape Town for your world to be rocked. Even if you never left Cape Town, though, you could hang out on beaches and in botanical gardens with interesting and smart people in a really amazing city and eat really fabulous food and go to the most gorgeous university in the world. It really can't be beat.

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Study Abroad Program Review of InterStudy: Cape Town - University of Cape Town

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