Wellesley-in-Aix: rewarding, but frustrating Past Review
By Cara G (French, German, Wellesley College) for
Wellesley College: Aix-en-Provence - Wellesley-in-Aix
I'm really glad I studied abroad but the experience at a French university had made my academic expectations clearer to me.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
As a fairly driven student at Wellesley, when I realized that I didn't need to work for my classes unless there was an exam, and that, even when I did daily work, it generally wasn't recognized by my professors, I found it really difficult to be as engaged in my studies as I would have been in the US. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The center took care of most of our problems, but occasionally a bit slowly and were sometimes difficult to get a hold of. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My hotel stay and host family were both arranged by the program. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Aix is a great little town and all the people I met were very nice. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The town of Aix was very safe and Wellesley-in-Aix made finding good doctors very easy. |
| 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? | I mostly only paid for my lunches and that was less than 30 euro a week. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Going out to dinner is expensive, but also an excellent example of French culture, so it was nice to splurge every once in a while. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Fluent |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | French 224 |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I practiced the language in all of my classes, with my classmates and directors on the program, with my host family, and with some French friends that I made. |
| 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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