Life changing experience Past Review
By Jenna Pfeiffer (Utica College) - abroad from 11/28/0016 to 12/09/2016 with
Utica College: Occupational Therapy in the Dominican Republic
I learned a lot about therapy assessment and treatment from the professors on the trip, and a lot about culture from the locals we traveled with
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
This was a great overall life expierence but there was little to be learned as a fieldwork experience from the therapists in this country. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Very unorganized, plans changed by the minute every single day. Changes in plans were not communicated to the group so nobody had no idea what was happening at any given moment. This was one of the worst things about the trip. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
It was disappointing that we were promised wifi would be available at the hotels to work on remaining coursework and presentations but there was often no wifi available. |
| * Food: |
It was nice to experience food from another culture. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Stay in large groups, do not stray from the bigger group. I felt safe throughout the whole trip. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I would do this trip again but I would prefer it to be just an extra trip over a school break, not to be a fieldwork credit. |
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) |
Many meals were provided for us, cost was minimal |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Less than $100 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
They encouraged it while we were there but I didn't know we would need to speak Spanish until we were already there so by then it was too late to learn much |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | None |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | I would recommend taking a beginner level language course either through college or in the community |
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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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | That we wouldn't be working with children exclusively. We worked with more adults than kids. |
