Please Don't Enroll Past Review
By A student (Near Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Wellesley College) - abroad from 09/01/2015 to 12/17/2015 with
SIT Study Abroad: Morocco - Human Rights, Social Justice, and Cultural Transformation
Morocco and Rabat itself are fantastic; please direct-enroll into Mohammad V University if possible.
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. |
Poor experience; many hours in class, but not solid language instruction. Busy work with lack of quality-- exact opposite of what I wanted and expected of a cultural immersion experience. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Fair |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Predatory of both local families and students as many homes seem dependent on the income from housing students |
| * Food: |
Very sweet, attentive cook |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Not at all. Students were not required to have previous language skills or knowledge, so we were an obvious hoard of Americans. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Not at all. I tried calling the program leaders 10 times during a health emergency. No support in reality/ far too many students with no RD equivalent to an on-campus experience. All the infantilization of high school without any actual outreach to students. |
| * Safety: |
Fairly safe. Pick-pocketing is likely. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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? | 20 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| 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? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Arabic 202 from a Moroccan instructor |
| 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? | Go to Middlebury in Jordan instead, or to the CLS center in Meknes |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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| 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? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | That the program really doesn't offer more safety or comfort than living in an airbnb apartment and attending a university there. |
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 Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
