A short program with lots of travel Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I learned a lot from my courses and what I learned was reinforced by what we were seeing and experiencing in the host country. I normally have some difficulty remembering information but I had an easier time remembering vocabulary and such as we saw real-life examples throughout our trip.

On-site administration of your program

For the most part our program went smoothly. We had a few issues with people running late and delaying the group, which caused the program director to become frustrated but she handled it fairly well.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

For the most part our hotels were great, they varied in quality but none were of poor quality. Our host families also had wonderful homes and I'm so glad we got to experience living in a Japanese home.

The food was always amazing, I have no complaint about the food itself. When meals weren't provided at the hotel we were expected to get it for ourselves. 2 meals were provided by the program and we were given money to compensate for it but we were never given enough. I never once splurged on an expensive meal and never spent more than $10 on a meal but I still ended up paying for more than one meal a day.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

It was easier for myself with 2 years of Japanese language study to get around on my own and communicate with the locals but we mostly stayed together and spoke English with one another. Despite the week with our host families I felt like we had very little interaction with the locals and integration with the culture.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Japan is the safest country in the world in terms of crime. We had almost zero issues with safety while we were there. At one point our director went to Hokkaido and experienced an earthquake while there, but it was a low level earthquake and she was able to make it back to our location in a timely manner.

Even though I didn't get as much language improvement as I wanted, I was able to do a lot more traveling than most other programs provide. I am very glad I was able to see so much of my host country, more than most people get on their programs.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Even though KIIS provided funds for 2 meals a day, even if I spent under $10 per meal it still didn't cover it completely. I spent very little money on souvenirs in order to watch my spending but I still feel like I spent more than I should've due to paying for some of the KIIS meals out of pocket.

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

One of my courses was a language course so in class we practiced a lot but outside the class we were with many students that weren't in the class or knew very little to none of the language so our group just spoke English with one another. Often we tried to speak Japanese with the locals but many that we encountered spoke enough English to make it easier for us. Most of our host families also had little to fluent English so many students never had to speak Japanese with their families. I would have preferred a program with a better language aspect

Select all that apply

• Host Family
• Hotel

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Americans

• Extensive travel is included
• Many locations of interest were visited
• We felt very different from tourists since we were students

• Fewer temples and a wider variety of site visits
• An option for deep immersion/intensive language learning
• More money provided for meals

The Avid Adventurer