The best 4 months of my life Past Review

By (Tulane University) - abroad from 01/23/2012 to 05/18/2012 with

CYA (College Year in Athens) - Semester/Academic Year Program

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Yes

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 1 month - 6 months

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

CYA has strict rules regarding academics, but most of those rules weren't enforced. I felt like my semester was academically challenging because of the particular professors I had, but it would be possible for a student to have a relatively easy semester if they knew which classes to pick. Some professors at CYA are more intense than others.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

I enjoyed the staff at CYA but there were many students that felt they were too relaxed and hypocritical.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

* Food:

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

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

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)

Travel was my biggest expense, so if a student spent all/most of their weekends not traveling it would be easy to live on a budget.

* 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? $100
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Withdraw large sums of cash at one time to save on ATM fees.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? None
How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? Intermediate
How many hours per day did you use the language?

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
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?
  • The people I met
  • The beauty of Greece
  • The language component
* What could be improved?
  • Consistency of administrative rules
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? What to pack

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Art and Archaeology

Course Department:
Instructor: Steven Diamant
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Least favorite of all my courses. On-site classes were cool but the course was poorly organized and work-heavy at the end of the semester rather than distributed evenly throughout the semester.
Credit Transfer Issues: