UEA and Norwich Past Review
By Faye B (English and Creative Writing, Wellesley College) for
University of East Anglia: Norwich - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
Yes. Living in another country - not just travelling in it, but living - is a very unique experience, and rewarding.
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was variable, as there were, in general, less assignments - for two of my three classes, there were only two grades (a paper and an exam, each worth 50%). How much work you did largely depended on how much you decided to do. It's hard to comment on the engagement of the teachers and students, as it varied from class to class. All my classes were relatively small, but I knew some people who were in a Shakespeare class with 200 people, so it varies. Classes meet less - each of mine met for only a two hour block each week, so I wound up only going to class on two days a week. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
There's a fairly large internation community at UEA, so I think there are good services, but I only saw the international team twice - once at orientation and once when I went there to buy a trip ticket (although they were very friendly then). If you don't go and physically visit them, you never really hear from them. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The dorms at UEA are all very close to the center of campus (except for the Village, which is more of a 15 min walk). The quality of the dorms themselves varies, depending on what price bracket you choose - there are some nice ensuite ones, but there are also the Ziggurats (aka Norfolk and Suffolk Terraces). They are very pretty from the outside and have a great view, but they are quite small on the inside, and the rooms' huge windows means they essentially act as greenhouses and it can get very stuffy. The on-campus dorms at UEA are for international students and first-years - UEA is self-catering, so pray that you get a bunch of non-messy first-years, because otherwise the kitchen can get quite unusable over a long weekend. |
| * Food: |
There's no meal plan, and the on-campus eateries are really not that great. There's a small grocery store on campus, and a few more within reach by bus. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Like I said, Norwich is a great city, and because it's England, you can reach a lot of other places by public transport. London is a few hours away, but day-trip-able. The international section of the Dean of Student's office arranged some day-trips. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I never had to access the health services while I was there, so not sure about them. Safety was pretty good. |
| 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? | Food was maybe 40/50 pounds a week, but I rarely ate out, so that's on the cheap side. How much you need for personal expenses really depends on the person and what you're doing/buying - some weeks I only spent maybe 10 pounds, for bus fare and lunch in town, and some weeks I spent 50 on necessary stuff. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | A return bus trip to the city is currently 3.90; they do sell passes, but only for the academic year, so it's probably not worth it if you're only there a semester. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
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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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If you're considering it for creative writing, be careful. That's one of the main reasons I chose it. However, I do prose, and I didn't get into any of the prose classes; I wound up taking a screenwriting class, which was somewhat interesting, but not really that useful. It wasn't that big a deal, because my motivation for studying abroad was more about being abroad than focused on academics, but it was disappointing. If you're looking for something that's not in the middle of a big city, it's pretty good. It's certainly not isolated - it's 15/20 minutes from a city, buses come every 7/8 minutes on weekdays and 15 min on weekends, and the city's a very nice city - and it's much less stressful if living in a city stresses you out (it has a lake to walk around and everything). |
