Quite the Experience Past Review
By Genevieve N (Business Administration, Austin College) - abroad from 02/02/2012 to 05/25/2012 with
IES Abroad: Shanghai - Economy, Business & Society
Learned a lot about the Chinese and will remember this experience forever. I look at life in a different aspect and am more appreciative. It was definitely worthwhile.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The Chinese intensive language program was great, the business classes were not, the teachers were more focused on trying to spit english words out than on the actual content. Plus everyone is brainwashed with communist thinking... |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
For the most part they were helpful, but the way they went about everything was so Chinese and just arguing with me all the time and just saying thats how it is with no real reason or excuse. Plus they would always read feedback that was for them and then pull us individually and get mad at us for things we said...very innapropriate |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The housing for American standards wasn't that great but for Chinese standards it was doable. For the price I paid it was definitely not worth it and my classmates on a lower floor paid the same amount and got hot water in the sinks and newer everything so not too happy about that |
| * Food: |
Food was really good, but everyday I had to go find it on my own |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Love the culture here. All the people are great and nice and willing to help. Habits that Chinese men do are absolutely discusting and some other things but as far as adapting I'm just used to it now. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
No problems |
| * Safety: |
Always Safe |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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) |
1...I like to spend a lot of money and especially being in China will all the knock off goods I was always spending so I didn't manage money well |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $300 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Don't think in American Dollars...think in RMB if something is expensive or not |
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 |
Best language program ever really learned a lot. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 201 |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Go make friends in the community and try to go places without native speakers so you don't rely on them to speak for you. Hang with the locals for sure |
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? | More Chinese |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Chinese |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Mei Laoshi |
| Instruction Language: | Chinese |
| Comments: | Actually learned how to make sentences in CHinese and have legit conversations with others. By far the best class I have ever taken and was helpful and I learned a lot for only being here for 5 months. The pace was great and the information was useful. would definitely recommend the language program. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Marketing |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Professor Tong |
| Instruction Language: | Englsih |
| Comments: | Great class the professor had great english slang and always asked for our input and was giving us unbiased information. Thoroughly enjoyed this class, would recommend |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
China Economic Giant |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Professor Heng |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | WORST CLASS EVER. Everyone always slept or was doing something else because the class was so boring and for three hours every week we would listen to the professor say ummm ummm english word ummm and so on...absolutely terrible and the class had zero structure. Really bad class |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
