A Good Bit of Craic Past Review
By A student (ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE/LETTERS., Trinity University) - abroad from 01/01/2012 to 05/19/2012 with
IFSA: Galway - National University Ireland
The way of interacting in a different culture, and I daresay it was worthwhile.
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 classes, while interesting, lacked a sense of challenge. This was compounded by the fact that few of the home students bothered much about attendance and their assigned work. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Friendly and supportive, although it could take some time before issues were addressed. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Off-campus housing, while fairly basic, provided all necessities and was within a five-minute walk to grocery stores. |
| * Food: |
While most food I ate while abroad in Ireland was hardly gourmet, little could be found wrong with it. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Ireland, when I visited, required no vaccines or other extra health precautions. Thankfully I never found the need the test out health services otherwise. |
| * Safety: |
While I was careful about where I kept my wallet while it was on my person, I felt safe at just about all times and doubt my wallet paranoia was necessary. |
| 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) |
If one was careful not to buy anything superfluous, it was possible to live on a reasonable budget. Still, the conversion rate between the U.S. dollar and the Euro still tended to make me cringe whenever I spent any money. |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | No |
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?
Select all that apply |
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
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? | The general way of interacting with and getting to know Irish students. |
