America is my country, but England is my home. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

In America a full-time load is 5 classes; at Sunderland I took 3 classes:: two history classes and one photography class. The workload is about the same as at an American university, I think it depends on the class, really. For history there was lots of reading and writing (as expected) and was more independently-driven, most of the time class was only one day per week. My classes transfered back totally fine to my home institution, and classes were more of a 'seminar' mixed with lecture style. There were presentations. Since I was an exchange student, grading was based on pass/fail. I was able to use the library and all other school resources. Sunderland had a very large foreign exchange program, at least 2000 international students at the school at a time. The photography class was my favorite; it was black and white darkroom, manual photography, and all the 'Americans' in my group took it. We lived in flats, generally they looked like small apartment buildings, each floor had 4 rooms (except the first, just 2 rooms, 10 rooms total in the building) and a bathroom. Each student had their own room and sink, with bed, desk, dresser, bedside table, and closet. The first floor had the common area/kitchen. I enjoyed all of my classes and found it interesting to see the viewpoints of those in the European history classes from the view of Europeans. It was also interesting to add my views as an American to the discussions. Overall, most of it was similar: we were all college students there with a goal (graduation), homework, projects, etc.

On-site administration of your program

My program/leaders were very cooperative, I felt sometimes like I was doing most of the work and couldn't get ahold with the advisors if needed (but I was so motivated that I did, single-handedly, make the trip happen). One very positive thing, though, is that everyone in the program was either from abroad or had been abroad at some point, so they very much understood what was going on and what issues we would face, so I was very prepared for my trip. I had some financial issues, but the financial aid dept at my home university was very helpful and understanding, especially while abroad.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I brought sheets and a towel (i think) over with me from America, along with my comforter and pillow (all packed in vacuum-sealed bags!). I had to buy some things while there, bathroom necessities, toilet paper, etc etc. The apt/dorm was situated on the main street in Sunderland and was within 5-10 minutes walking to my classes (20 to the photography class, on the other side of town). We had the option of using the metro or bus, but we really just walked everywhere. The hospital was up the street from us (along with a Subway!), and we were quite close (10 mins walking) to the city centre with shops, grocery store, etc etc, everything we needed was right there (along with nightlife). The name of the housing.. facility was "the Precinct". It was the 'in-town' housing. I know two other housing units (one which I had to move into my last week there) were closer to the river, maybe 2 miles away from the city centre (30minute walk, perhaps). We were surrounded by houses and other 'locals', some days we didnt feel exactly as safe as we may have wanted, but only those living in our building with a key could enter. Other friends (including Americans who I became quite good friends with) lived in buildings next door.

England doesn't have the greatest food in the world. There were some places to get some good food, some local pubs that were really good, but for the most part you bought your own food and cooked. I learned to cook a lot more that semester than I had before, but we did have good food at the local pubs and in town. We ate a lot of Indian food (Indian restaurants were everywhere) and could buy packaged Indian dishes from the grocery store (Tesco). They also had an Aldi quite close to our living quarters. Tesco was a little more expensive but had better quality food.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We definitely went to mainland Europe over spring break (it was 3 weeks long) and traveled around England as well. Traveling was amazing: my tip: book everything in advance, if you try to 'backpack through Europe' and do things on the whim it can get very, very expensive. We also took day trips via bus to some local places to see cathedrals, art, etc. We also utilized the train system to go to London 3 times, and took a charter bus up to Scotland. We did all the 'big' cities in Europe:: London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast. Planning ahead helped us a lot, everything we did we booked online.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I felt pretty safe most of the time. The biggest things: you will make friends fast, because you have to, essentially, just make sure you don't go anywhere alone, especially at night, try to have friends around you when you do things. If you live with locals, go to them for advice about everything, after all, they know the area and probably want to talk about where you are staying to help make your experience all it can be. We were in locked apartment buildings, so safety at 'home' was no issue. Really, we were just smart the entire time we traveled. We were aware about our surroundings, utilized safety officials (police officers, train operators, other people in an important 'power' position). It is also VERY suggested to go online to the government's website (America does this) and get travel alerts for the countries you are visiting. You will be somewhat secluded wherever you are, but make sure you know about risks for Americans or travelers in general, terrorist threats, etc. All of these are real possibilities, make sure you are aware and know about major situations. Also, don't trust anyone while you travel. Example, distant friends ended up being raped while in Italy at night as they made 'friends' with some of the locals while out drinking. If you wouldn't go out and pick up a guy in a bar in your home country, probably not a good idea to do it abroad. My home institution definitely got us briefed on safety realities and what to do in case of emergencies (have phone numbers of places you are going (hostels, etc) handy in case something happens (people at hostels have issues come up, they know how to handle it), know where your embassy is, and other phone numbers--police, etc. Generally everywhere has a system of emergency phone number (like 911). England has universal healthcare and I did not like it at all. It was near impossible to get a dr appt when I was there and felt like they really did nothing when I did go see them (I acquired tonsilitis while there). Before I left I talked to my dr here at home and he sent me with a basic antibiotic and I got my prescriptions filled for 6 months. generally wherever you go (unless it is a 3rd world country) will have some kind of pharmacy (i.e. the equivalent to Walgreens, CVS, etc). And a lot of countries now have ASDA (which is the international version of Wal-mart-- owned by wal-mart as well). So OTC medications were not that hard to come by.

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

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