<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I was talking up with a friend who is now in graduate school and she said that she had a great experience with the SIT Study Abroad Program.</p>
<p>I have been looking at Studying abroad in Switzerland/France/Japan.</p>
<p>I am semi-fluent in Japanese by I'm not quite so sure I want to live their.</p>
<p>I want a good return for my money- I don't want to just go in the dorms with other American/International students and "chill"- whether it be watching TV, sleeping, partying, Clubbing, and all the kinds of things I can already do in America but don't necessarily do.</p>
<p>Any Advice?</p>
<p>I honestly haven’t heard anything about sit.edu programs, but I’ve studied abroad twice in France and had to do a lot of research for it. I had kind of a disappointing experience with a program through my college (it was so expensive, and I didn’t see why since all of the trips in my program included in my tuition were really lame). Anyway, I hear you about really taking advantage of the country you’re in. The second program I did with Activa Languages (their website is just [url=<a href=“http://www.activa-languages.com”>http://www.activa-languages.com</a>] if you’re interested), which was amazing. I did their summer program in Nice, which was great. It was reasonably priced and they made sure I was happy once I got there. Plus, they’re actually based in Paris, so they really have an international perspective. The program was filled with people from other countries who were actually there to learn and explore the country and not party.</p>
<p>A lot of the approved study abroad programs at my school are through SIT. If you’re looking for more of a cultural experience than a partying abroad experience, then SIT could be a really good choice for you. They place you in homestays, and for part of the time you participate in an independent study, which allows you to learn and explore something particular about the culture that really interests you. SIT is all about hands-on learning as opposed to sanitized classroom learning. However, the programs through SIT don’t give you full curriculum options. Each program has a theme like “arts and culture” or “community health.” So it might be beneficial to choose a program due to theme and not so much because of location.</p>