A Fantastic Experience in Edinburgh! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The classes were not rigorous in terms of loads of work to do in my case. I barely had any homework, instead they just recommended a textbook for you to read, which depending on your learning style could be really good or really bad. Also all of my classes were in large lecture halls, and the professors giving the lectures weren't the same for every class in a course, so sometimes you could get a really good lecturer and sometimes you got a lecturer who didn't really care as much. Overall I was fine with my educational experience and enjoyed not having to do much work because it meant I could focus on other things, like exploring the city.

On-site administration of your program

I'm not really sure what this means...

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I absolutely loved my flat and my flat mates. It was a 4 person flat and each person got a single bedroom (which is more that can be said for my home university). We shared a bathroom and kitchen/common room and I became wonderful friends with my flatmates and the flat next door to us. The flat wasn't huge by any means, but it was definitely spacious enough and in a good location. I was roomed with first years and other international students (which is what happens to all exchange students) but it turned out great. The kitchen had pots and pans, it also had a fridge, microwave, 4 burner stove and oven.

I chose to self-cater, so the food quality really depends on how good of a cook you are and how much time you are willing to put into cooking. I didn't spend a lot of time cooking but the nearby grocery stores made getting food really convinent even though I had barely cooked before. Making food and cooking for myself turned out to be easier than I thought it would.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

While I feel like the stereotypical scottish people aren't exactly in the city, but instead in the highlands, I still felt like I mixed in well with the culture. In my experience it was very similar to the United States, but with some nice accents. One of my flatmates was Scottish and the other was Irish so I definitely learned some new phrases while I was abroad. If you study abroad here, or even just visit you have to go to a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) which is a traditional scottish dance done at weddings and also a great workout and a lot of fun. The university hosts some large ones and there is a building called Summer Hall that hosts one every week. It definitely makes you feel more connected to the scottish culture, also be sure to try lots of scotch whiskey!

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had no health problems so I did not use their health care at all while I was there, so I really have no idea.

Edinburgh is a very safe city, honestly I very rarely ever felt in any danger. I also felt very confident walking home at night after going out to the pubs. I had no trouble with staying safe.

I had a wonderful experience with my flatmates and exploring the safe and relatively small city of Edinburgh. I can't imagine a much better study abroad experience.

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

I did not have a strict budget but living expenses were not very high. I found that the food from the grocery stores was significantly cheaper than the US. I spent much less money than we usually have to spend on Wellesley's food plan. More of my money was spent on splurges, like traveling to other countries and the costs of those weekend trips.

Select all that apply

• Apartment

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• Local Students
• International Students

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• Local Students

• My flatmates
• The city itself
• The low workload

• The professors
• Time for weekend trips to other cities
• idk

The Avid Adventurer