Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

The right place with the wrong program Past Review

By (Middlebury College) - abroad from 02/22/2019 to 06/09/2019 with

SIT Study Abroad: Peru - Indigenous Peoples and Globalization

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I learned about Peruvian culture and I do feel like it was a good experience to live in a foreign country

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.

Classes were just someone talking at you for a long time. Grading was arbitrary and confusing. Most classes were simultaneously difficult to do well in but also didn't teach you very much information.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

There were two main administrators whom we interacted with, one was kind and considerate but often seemed overwhelmed and didn't have solutions. I found the other, the Academic director, to be difficult to deal with.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

* Food:

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Everyone knew we were foreigners, but host families integrated us well into the culture

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

Pickpocketing was common but overall safe

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? No

I did not like SIT, I did not think the program was well run

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)

Peru is super cheap

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? ~$25

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

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? 300

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? 0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Host family
  • Other students
* What could be improved?
  • Classes were boring
  • Director was unfriendly
  • minimal experiential learning
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I wish I knew that SIT doesn't actually do that much experiential learning

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Indigenous People in Motion
Course Department:
Instructor: Various
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Course was very similar to history of indigenous peoples, but was about modern issues and worked in more varied professors and lecturers
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

History of indigenous people of peru
Course Department:
Instructor: Various
Instruction Language:
Comments: The course grading was arbitrary, it was mostly just professors talking at you, each class felt unconnected from the previous as the professors changed for each lecture. I didn't learn much.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Intro Quechua
Course Department:
Instructor:
Instruction Language: Spanish/Quechua
Comments: Quechua was an interesting class that was largely well run, although there was lots of confusion over how it was assessed
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Research Methods and ethics
Course Department:
Instructor: Alex Alvarez
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: The professor talked for 2 hours straight in monotone about research methods. It was difficult to learn anything given just staying awake was hard
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Spanish For the social sciences
Course Department:
Instructor: Eliana
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Teacher was super nice but was unexperienced. Wide-ranging levels of Spanish meant it felt like it was taught to people below my level.
Credit Transfer Issues: