Living broad without a broad Past Review
By A student (Austin College) - abroad from 01/09/2012 to 05/27/2012 with
Arcadia: Edinburgh - University of Edinburgh
I learned more about myself, Scotland, how other cultures view Americans, living on my own, and maintaining friendships.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The math courses I took were alright, and they offered compiled course notes online, which I found to be more helpful than my class lecture notes. The lecture notes had more proofs and seemed less organized in style. The sociology courses I took were half lecture and half discussion. The discussion was not always very directed. The courses were not always clear about what exactly they wanted in essays. In all courses you are expected to put in a decent amount of work. A stable low level for most of the term, with spikes for projects and midterm essays (for sociology). |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The administration was good enough, there were a variety of events offered. But beyond the attendance of those events and the initial orientation it was hands off. Although they made themselves available if there were any problems. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Self-catered flats are quite nice, the only downside is that it isn't quite as saturated with people as the normal dorms are. Nonetheless, nice. |
| * Food: |
Seeing as I cooked for myself most of the time, I think I did alright. The food around Edinburgh is quite good and there's a decent variety if you know where to look. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I had a slow and steady integration into the culture, I think. Yet I mostly hung around with other university students, quite a few who were from other countries other than Scotland. So it seemed very multicultural at times. But with a bit of a walk away from the university center you can find much more of the local culture. I would have liked to have explored that much sooner. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
I didn't have any health issues while I was abroad, so I can't honestly rate this one very effectively. I did register with a medical center with ease, though. |
| * Safety: |
Edinburgh is very safe. It may be a little scary to walk around by yourself at 2am though, but from experience, there's not much to worry about. Asking for directions at 2am works as well. |
| 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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| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | No |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | ~$50 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | The less you eat out, the more you save. That's about it. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
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? | Just how limited your time is, and so, to take the chances you can as soon as you can. |
