England:Somewhere I want to Return to Very Soon Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The teachers from England always taught in lecture. I thought the grading was rather easy compared to most American universities however, I thought we had more of a work load then I wanted since I would have rather been out exploring than sitting in class or doing homework. However, we did get enough time to do both the school aspect of things and getting out into the community.

On-site administration of your program

My England program was a small group of thirteen. The English people know more about our country than we do in most cases especially when it comes to politics. Most of my expectations were met, there were a few times when it took an extraordinarily long time to get something accomplished, but that usually had more to do with communication between the international campus and the one in America.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

We live in a 'dorm' like setting, however out 'dorm' is on the inside of the Alnwick castle (used in the Harry Potter films). There are guards at every entry around the outer gate and we have passes that allow us access into our part of the castle and also into the gardens which are accessible to the public, but we don't have to pay to get in. So it's as safe as could be, plus the town of Alnwick is small and everyone there is so good to us. As far as proximity to class, your classes are right in the castle so you really can never be late to class. The nightlife starts to the left of the castle and just around the corner, there are many other pubs to go to through out the town. The Harry Lemon is my favorite and it's very close. You should bring your own sheets and towels, however there is a pottery room in the Castle that has just about everything you could want. My group was small enough that we could take stuff for free, other times they set up a sort of market and you can buy them for cheap. My host was the most amazing woman ever, they pair you up in twos so you don't have to go alone and I was off with my host every Sunday. She would take us out to eat and then drive us around to check out parts of England that we would never have gone otherwise. That being said, there were quite a few people who only saw their hosts once and never heard from them again. Don't come to the castle expecting a four poster bed and a butler, or a cold, grimy place made of stone; the rooms look rather similar to any dorm on campus, enough room to put your stuff in and you have your own heater (old ones, but amazing). The best part comes with the views you can see outside your window, trust me, it will make up for the normalcy of your room.

They are very accommodating to dietary restrictions and many times I would have rather eaten the glutton free food over what I got served. However, they really liked their potatoes when I was there and there were a lot of repeats. The food is all home made, but it seems that the food is never the same from semester to semester. Perhaps you'll get lucky and get the better cooks. That being said, I would really recommend eating in the dinning hall despite the food. It's an amazing way to just sit and have some down time to talk to your friends and in many cases your teachers. Plus, you've already paid for it and trust me, you don't want to keep going out to eat in Alnwick when you could save your money for traveling. Pizza Royale is really good anytime, especially after going out to Penny Black (the only dance club in Alnwick so far). It also stays open until about 2am. I say that because everything in England (especially Alnwick) rolls up it's mats at 5pm. There are no 24 hour stores so make sure you get your groceries early and before the weekend. Morrison's and Iceland are good grocery stores to shop at and pretty cheap. For a sandwich or baked good, definitely stop into Gregs, it's amazing. Just walk around town, there are many places to catch something to eat.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The Lake District was a really great trip, and one of the few overnight field trips. In all honesty, I didn't like our field trips as much as I liked going places myself with a few friends. With this program it felt like they held your hand way to much most of the time. However, the free time on the trips is the best since you just go where you want to go. When you find yourself in Edinburgh, Scotland definitely go to the Camera Obscurra, it's a really neat place to check out. Burns Night (if you go spring semester) is really cool especially since we get to go to the great hall for it. Getting to see the working part of the castle where the Duke Percy and Duchess Percy live before it's 'made-up' for the tourists is also very special.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Alnwick is basically the safest place in the world, there are a few incidents where we would be in the pubs and some drunk English people who usually aren't from Alnwick would try to cause trouble with us or start a fight. None of it ever came to a calling the police kind of situation, but one of our students did end up with a fractured nose. The best thing to do is never go out alone and also to steer clear of people who are mean drunks or want to cause trouble. Almost every time something kind of bad went down, there were many people including managers or workers from the pubs who would jump to our aid and get things figured out so that no one ended up getting really badly hurt. The English have a free health care system, one of the first things you do when you get to Alnwick is fill out a health care form which is sent to the hospital just in case something happens and you need care. Most the time my class mates and I just went to Boots Pharmacy (amazing) and got generic medicines (sometimes even tea) for colds or sores. I remember there being a lot of vaccines that they recommend you get, but I don't remember having to get a lot of required shots.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Select all that apply

• Dorm
• Other

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• Americans