Gates through langauge to the Beautiful Japanese Culture. Past Review
By Stéphane F (Sociology., Harvard University) for
Princeton University: Kanazawa - Princeton in Ishikawa (PII)
Yes. Sadly, I am re-taking the language that I've taken there back at Harvard but the reason for doing so was because the program was faster than I anticipated thus the reason why I am taking it again so I can fully master the grammar points and then move on.
Review Photos
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 workload is heavy, the grading in itself extremely method and the teaching method very fast. As soon as the program started, Japanese was used to communicate with the professors and English was barely used at all with the professors. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program does its best to fully indulge students into the Japanese culture. The only flaw is that the level of intensity at which they do so, for example the workload is high thus making the program extremely difficult but yet enjoyable in terms of the many cultural activities that were available to us. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
Host Families provided every single meal minus lunch. Nonetheless,if I were to return home early, they would also feed me lunch |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Hanging out with my family was the best part. They brought me to the beach, karaoke, out to eat and a million of other places. It was seriously, one of the best times of my life. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The crimes in the city where I was living is relatively small and extremely close to 0. Japan is a modern country thus, they will be able to take care of an individual if they were to become sick. The only issue would be if that individual is not able to communicate in Japanese and no English speakers are present. |
| 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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | A week about 3,000 - 5,000 Yen, depending on the activities that took place that week. Lunch is not provided, thus each student must buy their lunch. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Make a budget. I actually did not make one and spent 1/3 more of the money that I intended to spend originally. |
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? | One year of Introductory Japanese at Harvard |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Being in Japan in itself, Japanese must be spoken if one wishes to communicate with anyone |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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