Nothing better than eating Belgium chocolate right there in the country Past Review

By (Truman State University) - abroad from 01/26/2017 to 05/17/2017 with

University of New York in Prague / UNYP: Direct Enrollment & Exchange

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I love how I felt at the end of this trip, I'm not sure if I'd feel the same had it of been a different program.

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.

In the course of my stay abroad, I spent a total of less than 20 hours studying the entire semester. I found it to be slightly embarrassing that this school was actually an American school. The library was a single floor and the space to study was extremely limited (15 chairs--maybe). I very rarely studied and managed to get high B's and medium A's consistently.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

In the beginning, the administration was great. They arranged ice-breakers for the international students. They took us out bowling and on a boat ride through Prague but didn't once check up again until it was time to leave. This made it easy to forget about what they really do for us. Some local tips would have been helpful periodically but there was no communication outside of the first day at UNYP and the finals week when they wanted to have a wrap-up party.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I enjoyed the apartment. It was clean came with almost everything needed. There was a security guard that had to let you in on the weekends to increase our comfort. We had a LOT of issues with wifi, it went down completely for hours almost every day. Overall I enjoyed my stay, but when I got home to the states. They slammed me and each of my roommates with a checkout charge of almost $150 each. This was a nice apartment but in absolutely noway was there $900 of damage in that apartment for them to need repaired. There were small marks on the paint and that was the worse of it. This is beyond frustrating to me because they withheld transcripts until this was payed. Each of us made a $500 deposit that should have covered these nonexistent damages but there's extremely poor communication between my apartment and the school.

* Food:

Loved the food. It was really thick, heavily spiced and meat but there is a wide variety.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Czech people did not like nonnatives. Just walking around the street all of the locals seemed angry or annoyed 24/7 with a frown on their face. I rarely saw people smile or try to start a conversation.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

My roommate had appendicitis and had her appendix removed in surgery while in Prague. I was an emergency contact for her and both doctors and nurses refused to communicate what was going on. Super bad bedside manner and just basic care.

* Safety:

Very safe area; I never had a problem walking anywhere. Even when walking home from going out, I felt comfortable alone.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

I love how I felt at the end of this trip, I'm not sure if I'd feel the same had it of been a different program.

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)

Prague is a very cheap area. Reasonably, $100 a week when just staying in Prague is very reasonable. $20 of groceries could last over a week.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $4,000 total with traveling to other countries
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? In the beginning I was so excited to be there, I wanted to go to different restaurants every night and get a drink with every meal. The start was pretty costly compared to eating in and drinking on occasion.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Direct Enrollment/Exchange

* Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? Exchange

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
  • International Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

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