Awesome program! Past Review

By (Northwest Arkansas Community College) - abroad from 06/01/2016 to 06/30/2016 with

NWACC: Study Abroad in Siena

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Very worthwhile!

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.

It was great!

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Seemed very easy to work with.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Spacious 2BR for 3 people. A bit under furnished for comfort. No place to sit in LR and poor lighting for studying. But all manageable for a month.

* Food:

Always awesome.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Not as much English as I had hoped but manageable!

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

No issues N/A

* Safety:

Always felt safe

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Would not do the language but would do music, art history, photography.

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)

Food was more like $150-200 per week but I did not utilize the cafeteria by my choice.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $200
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Students need to use the cafeteria provided to keep expenses down.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
  • International Students
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?
  • Art and music history
  • Old architecture
  • Local Italian history
* What could be improved?
  • Get food money sooner
  • Comfortable furniture in apt
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? That the language class really required previous study of the language to be manageable in such a short time. Or similar language like Spanish or Portuguese.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Italian

Course Department: Lang
Instructor: Barke/Elizabetta
Instruction Language: Italian
Comments: Too challenging for someone who had not prev studied foreign language. There were 90% of the class who had 1-5 other languages. Recommendation: need a foreign lang or have studied the specific Lang before going.
Credit Transfer Issues: Just audited.
Course Name/Rating:

Music appreciation: Italy

Course Department: Music
Instructor: Miles Fish
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Super interesting. Had 6 hours of prev art history and this course correlated very well. Great excursions, lots of history and as much music as any individual preferred. Teacher extremely knowledgable.
Credit Transfer Issues: Just audited.