I Miss Shanghai! I'll Definitely Be Back! Past Review
By Megan C (Chinese Studies., Trinity University) for
IFSA/Alliance: Shanghai - Intensive Chinese Language
YES. I'm looking into ways I can get back there for the summer!
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
AMAZING. Teachers were very encouraging and supportive. Professional when they needed to be, but also fun and easy to talk to. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I felt very comfortable leaving school. Trinity really helped and was very available through email if I needed to contact anyone. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
We all lived with a chinese student and a student from our program so that we could study together and also practice chinese at home! |
| * Food: |
They even had a couple vegetarian restaurants around school!Shanghai is a very diverse city so i feel like i could get any type of food i wanted there |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Shanghai is a GREAT place to socialize and meet new people. There were endless amounts of things to do there |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I didnt get sick once and for my friends that did, our program was very helpful in getting them to a good hospital to get medicine. Whenever there was something that could threaten our safety we were informed immediately |
| 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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | very affordable in US dollars I probably spent max $5 a day (thats for breakfast lunch and dinner!) any on the weekends probably a little more $10-15 if you plan on going out or eating at western restaurants. shopping in western shopping malls were comparable to shopping here. but shopping in the markets you can save a lot of money from bargaining |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | bargaining is fun if you get into it :) be careful how much you spend because everything seems so cheap that you just want to keep spending, but it CAN add up to a lot |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| 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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| Language acquisition improvement? |
I improved A LOT. I left trinity at level 2 chinese, and came back in chinese 4 second semester and Chinese literature! I started off my trip not being able to communicate with people in chinese and left pretty conversationally fluent |
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 do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Go where you really want to be, not where people expect you to go. Studying abroad is an amazing experience and a great opportunity to explore new places. |
