Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Morocco: Beautiful country, tough people Past Review

By (Economics, Grinnell College) for

AMIDEAST: Rabat - Summer Intensive Arabic

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Yes, I learned a lot about myself, not only language.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Good amount of workload. Good mix of travel, using travel experienes to talk in class, music and stories. The teachers at AMIDEAST were nice, but one was overly impressed by the student that went to Princeton becuause she went to Princeton. Another was also unfairly preferential about her treatment of students and at the end of semester presentations, asked for volunteers but then ignored my volunteering and told her favourite to do it.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

On-site, everyone was helpful and friendly. Strengths - personal attention by teachers, small classes small student groups.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My host family was really unfriendly after a while and it was clear that I was there only because they were paid to do it. They stopped giving me food at the end so I just went out to buy it myself.

* Food:

Good food in the country (apart from my host family's house). I especially loved the freshly squeezed orange juice everywhere!

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I loooved traveling around everywhere! That was amazing!

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

It was relatively safe, apart from boys hounding.

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?

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • That I went to Morcco and met some wonderful teachers and smart smart professors.
* What could be improved?
  • Host families could be asked to volunteer isntead of straight up get paid for it. (then upon volunteering some financial aid could be given)