Reutlingen, Germany: Well worth the trip! Past Review
By Matthew M (Music Theory and Composition., Valparaiso University) for
Valparaiso University: Reutlingen - Hochschule Reutlingen
Yes
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Workload was doable while still maintaining time to get to know other students and see the country/continent. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
It's in English, which makes it easy for a non-German speaker to adjust to life abroad. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
The Mensa (campus cafeteria) is very inexpensive for decent-quality food, and cooking food in the dorms is also easy and cheap. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
We visited Berlin and lots of castles and learned plenty about the history of Germany. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Reutlingen is quite a safe place to walk around, from my experience, and the German healthcare system, as I understand it, is very thorough. |
| 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? | about 20-40 Euro per week (eating out is significantly more expensive than cooking), special (mostly souvenir) purchases extra (mine totaled around 250 Euro, I believe). |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Plan for souvenirs/presents for family |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 300-level |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Almost everyone in the dorm spoke English and German, which helped with learning when I wanted to learn and easy communication when I didn't. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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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 did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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