Fabulous, Enchanting, Liberating, and Unexpected Past Review
By Rosemary Wilson (University of Michigan - Ann Arbor) - abroad from 05/28/2018 to 06/22/2018 with
CYA (College Year in Athens) - Semester/Academic Year Program
I learned to be bold and ask questions when I have them. I learned that your time to figure things out will pass if you don't act fast. I learned to coordinate and be more organized in order to have a better overall experience when traveling and try to attend certain events. I learned that I love learning about the rich history of other cultures. It was absolutely worthwhile. Every single second I was there, I really did not want to be anywhere else.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
More rigorous than previously expected, but in a way that challenged every student to improve their individual skills through observing the environment around them. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Lovely arrangements! I got to stay with four other girls in an apartment for the first week and half which allowed me to get to know them very well before the rest of the program. |
| * Food: |
Incredible food. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I did feel somewhat integrated from just sitting at a local taverna and observing local culture, and sometimes I would have brief conversations with locals working in cafes or bakeries just because I had to interview locals about their lives pretty often for my writing assignments. Other than these interactions, it was pretty difficult to get to know locals, and most locals didn’t seek us out to have conversations. There were a couple instances where my friends and I had a good conversation with a person or group of people our age from Greece originally, but I wouldn’t say it was incredibly easy to make friends with locals our age there. Still, when we did have conversations with them, they were highly entertaining, usually very kind, and intriguing to talk to. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
One girl got a vaccine in Greece because a stray cat bit her finger. Although it was a bit confusing to work through at first, there ended up being a doctor's office nearby our hotel and a local pharmacy was able to give her the vaccine shot. |
| * Safety: |
Very safe! I never once felt unsafe. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
It was unexpectedly an incredible experience that gave me the opportunity to not only meet some amazing people from the United States but also to interact with people from a different way of life. I mean, we were in Greece - what's not to love. |
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) |
Looking back, I could probably have saved much more money, but the group of girls I was with liked to dine out a couple times a week and eventually that will cut into your supply of money. However, even when we dined out, we would get a bunch of appetizers and split the cost and it would only be about 10-15 euro each, which was a reasonable price for dinner. It is certainly doable to manage your money and save a lot, but it being my first time in Europe, I wasn't really up for adopting a mindset that encouraged saving money. I was in the mood to splurge, so that's why I spent what I did. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $150 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Try to eat with your program if they provide meals instead of always eating out, buy cheap things for food and save the rest of your money for traveling on the weekends, save your money early on and you will likely have left over towards the end of the program. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
It would encourage us to use the language because we were told that showing an effort to get to know their language and culture would hopefully earn us a bit of respect with locals, but it was by no means required. |
| 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? | None |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Spanish 232, but in no way did it pertain to Greek language. |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 0 |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Bring a small booklet with commonly spoken phrases for the plane ride or any metro rides or anything like that. It's helpful to know when you're at a restaurant ordering food or in an instance where you want to show a local that you care about their language and culture. |
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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| 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? | I wish I knew that I was going to get along so well with my suitemates back from the United States and that I would have been prepared for that so that I would have known earlier on to take some more time for myself and really go off on my own sometimes. I wish I had had a bit more experiences alone, just observing and reflecting on what I was experiencing. But I was so taken aback by how much I loved my new friends that I rarely took the time to go off on my own because I enjoyed being with them so much. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Nearly Native or Trail BlazerCraving the most authentic experience possible, perhaps you lived with a host family or really got in good with the locals. You may have felt confined by your program requirements and group excursions. Instead, you'd have preferred to plan your own trips, even skipping class to conduct your own 'field work.' |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Becoming a Writer: Traveling in Greece |
| Course Department: | College Year in Athens Summer Program |
| Instructor: | Christine Harrison |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Yes it was challenging. It made use of the location by offering relevant field trips that pertained to the readings that we had in class each week. The teacher was very knowledgeable about the subject, travel writing, as well as enthusiastic about the materials we used in class. She was well-prepared in that she was well-informed about the subjects we would discuss in class. I participated in class a bit more than I would at my home institution, mostly because this particular class was entirely composed of a smaller, discussion-like structure, whereas most of my classes at my home institution are much bigger and rarely allow for intimate conversation. I was assessed on three large assignments as well as a daily journal, and I could tell that my instructor not only judged on level of skill, but also on the level of improvement and obvious effort showed by each student to improve after receiving feedback. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Not at all! Very simple and all completed for me. |
