(Aside from the actual program) studying abroad in Tel Aviv- Best Experience of My Life. Past Review
By Hannah G (HISTORY., SUNY Purchase) for
Tel Aviv University: Undergraduate Semester / Year in Israel
It was an amazing experience regardless of the program's shortcomings. I fell in love with the country and the people. I felt like a better version of myself when I was there and was more engaged with things I normally wouldn't have found interest in in America (ie. hiking, spontaneous explorations). While I committed to starting grad school immediately following the end of my abroad program, I plan on returning to Israel as soon as I finish next June, to hopefully spend a year working there even more immersed in society than I was during my semester aborad.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Easy work load, fair grading. However, courses weren't interesting enough to keep us from skipping class to go to the beach. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The administration was in constant connection with us and there were "counselors" always on-call in case of emergencies. I thought that in terms of safety they could have done a better job when hostile situations in the country occurred. Also they were a unnecessarily strict sometimes. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
There was no meal plan, but there were several grocery stores located near the dorms. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
While the program failed to provide very legitimate excursions, it did provide a couple of good day programs. Outside of the school program, I had an extremely positive experience integrating myself into Tel Aviv life. I was able to make a lot of Israeli friends and have several lasting friendships with other people that were on the program |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
We had very attentive security on the campus/dorm premise, but when hostile situations around the country occurred, the program failed to really do anything. For example, when there was a bombing in Jerusalem, the program contacted us/made sure we were all safe, however in its aftermath, they e-mailed us several days later telling us to limit our traveling outside of Tel Aviv/on public forms of transportation, but then never followed up on that email. |
| 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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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
The first month of school was solely Ulpan (Hebrew Intensive Course) this proved to be really helpful. However, I also took a regular Hebrew course during the semester which went a lot worse. We hardly learned anything practical and the levels of students varied too much for the teacher to be accommodating to all of us. |
| 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?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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