Beautiful Kunming, Beautiful people, Tough studies Past Review
By A student (Colby College) - abroad from 08/30/2018 to 12/15/2017 with
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Kunming
- Chinese friends - what living in China feels like - deeper understanding of modern Kunming and China
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
language intensive, all classes are held in Chinese and must complete research project and write a minimum 5000 character paper about subject in Chinese by end of semester |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Administrators were easy to access and helped solve any issues promptly. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
lived in university hotel with Chinese roommate; quite small but had room service cleaning every day. |
| * Food: |
Option of going to cafeteria or buying from nearby vendors or restaurants. Food was usually a little cheaper in cafeteria, wasn't bad quality. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Dependent on self initiative; since we were a program of American students we would have to reach out to local student groups or make an effort to engage with the community. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Program administrators checked on us often and took us to the hospital if needed. I did not get vaccines, we did have some stomach issues. |
| * Safety: |
Kunming is extremely safe, did not feel afraid even if I went out at night |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I don't know if I quite liked the intense language pledge and the rigorous academic schedule. However, I deeply enjoyed the relationships and experiences I was able to foster; I would have to say I enjoyed the non-academic aspects a lot more and felt those experiences were more valuable. |
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) |
China can be very cheap or expensive depending on what you spend you money on. However food is quite cheap and that was most people's main expenditures. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $50-200 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
|
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
language pledge |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 200 level Chinese |
| 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? | Use it with your roommates and teachers frequently, and try to talk to other Chinese people rather than talking in Chinese with your program friends. |
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 |
|
| 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? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | -how much work each class was going to be -how small the rooms would be - not much space to store things -how hard the anthropology class would be, and taking easier classes would be much more stressful and better on me |
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 Outright UrbaniteA social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Yunnan Impressions 2 |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | Chinese |
| Comments: | Felt like I learned a lot about Kunming and Yunnan's history and culture. Were asses my tests, short writing assignments - out of the four classes, this class had the most focus on grammar. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
