Belize:Home Away From Home Past Review
By Jesse B (Environmental Studies., Ithaca College) for
Ithaca College: Belize - Reefs, Ruins, and Rainforests, faculty-led tour
Gained a better understanding of societal and governmental pressures in Central America. Gained a further comfortability with traveling and immersing in different cultures. Gained an interesting lens from which to reexamine our own culture and society.
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. |
Four essays, a field test, and a conversation project. Quite a bit of work for the course but it was really not so bad. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The only weakness would be travel times but it is unavoidable. Overall super fun educational trip. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
|
| * Food: |
Lots of delicious homem made food with vegetarian options generally available. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Homestays were absolutely amazing |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
Pretty safe place besides the jungle. However, we traveled with a Mayan healer willing to help with most things. |
| 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) |
|
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Not much, most is included maybe 70 dollars a week for extra stuff. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | N/A |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | N/A |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
|
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Just talking to everybody to freshen up spanish and learn kriol |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
