Cape Town: More Expensive Internet, Less Expensive Friends Past Review
By Kate W (Environmental geoscience, DePauw University) for
CIEE: Cape Town - Arts and Sciences
I want to go many more places in Africa now, and I really appreciate what I have now, not that I didn't before, but I now know how some people can truly have nothing.
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. |
Grading system was much different and difficult to get a grasp on, they expect much more from students in different aspects of study than in the states but do not tell you how to go about improving on work. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
We were very safe while in Cape Town which is a dangerous city but I feel like we were almost sheltered from meeting many South Africans, but that could just be because many South African's don't really care to meet Americans. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My housemates made my South African experience. I needed to buy a top sheet (they don't use these in SA, gross) and I brought towels, cookware was there. We were well protected by our awesome security guards at night. |
| * Food: |
Most restaurants in Cape Town are delicious, the service quality is just not good in South Africa as a whole, but my favorite place to go by far was the Eastern Food Bizarre in the city. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Wine tasting and soccer game was fun with my program. But I organized trips with friends outside of Cape Town to Stellenbosch and the Kalahari which were incredible. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Not too safe travel with men, and never ever alone unless it is a couple blocks during the day. |
| 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? | About $100 a week on food and going to bars, I maybe spent $1000 on the things mentioned above. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Cooking with your housemates is a great idea, I lived with 9 other people and we took turns in groups of 2 cooking dinner Sundays through Thursdays and it saved us a lot of money I think. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
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? | Bring clothes to stay warm and give yourself an hour to print a paper before it's due, you will need it! The security guards also probably taught me the most about South Africa, they were the bomb |
