<p>I'm curious, what have you heard back from your sons and daughters about the study abroad experience. What was good? What was bad? What would they do differently?</p>
<p>daughter did a program in Sevilla, where she lived with seniora and two other students. the program she went through was Sweetbriar’s, and she attended Northwestern. only the kids proficient in spanish were on this trip. less conversant spanish speakers went to madrid or barcelona. a big group of northwestern kids were on this trip, and my daughter hung out with her friends. i don’t think the cultural experience was all it could have been, frankly.</p>
<p>she had a great time. classes were monday through wednesday, and traveling was easy with her friends. while she attended classes, her work was a cakewalk. the semester was more like one long fun vacation than actually being in school.</p>
<p>the students who attended english speaking programs in england had to work really hard writing papers and the like.</p>
<p>the cost of university being what it is, it might be wiser to do a summer program and get all you can out of the university you’re attending.</p>
<p>but if money is not an object and the student goes into freshman years with tons of AP credits, then it might make a lot of sense to do abroad.</p>
<p>My older son spent a semester in Australia. I always heard that students there major in beaches and bars. I that case my son got an A. He loved it and met great kids there but I wouldn’t say he learned alot besides how to have a good time. I’m not sorry he went, however. But I would say that it was more like a 5 month vacation.</p>
<p>I am curious about students who have studied in China, as one of my children (not a Chinese major) would like to do this, for a semester only, as longer would mean too long a break from the courses required for a science major. Do American students mostly attend class and then hang out with each other? Would my child be better off just taking Chinese classes here or perhaps spending a summer in China, and then waiting until after graduation to go to China and work on gaining fluency?</p>
<p>My D went to Dakar, Africa. It was an amazing experience for her. She went with the SIT program. There were many difficulties with housing and food but overall a life changing experience. The languages spoken are French and Wolof. She is fluent in French but was required to take Wolof classes. My favorite story of hers was a visit to a village. Sitting around the fire in the dark the village chief turned to her and asked he if she sees the same moon when she is home.</p>
<p>I’m currently abroad in Japan, and personally I haven’t found it fundementally worth leaving my university for. As I pointed out to myself before coming, Japan will always be here, but I only get 4 years in my University (Where I love it). I have been having a good time and it’s been very interesting, but I feel like I’d be learning more at my university (minus my language progression), I’d be happier with my social situations (long term girlfriend, close group of friends, highly involved in clubs, etc.), and the cultural insights have been insignifcant. Being outside the country is certainly valuable, and I will almost certainly value this time more when I do return, but I must say I would strongly urge anyone to study abroad during the summer, rather than the year, unless they’re dead set on learning the language to near fluency or have another particularly good reason.</p>
<p>And personally, when I do have kids, I can’t foresee allowing them to go to an English speaking country if they chose to study abroad unless they came up with a damn good reason (e.g. going to Oxford).</p>
<p>My son is currently at the University of Maasstricht (Netherlands) for a semester abroad. </p>
<p>He’s really liked it, both academically and for all the travel opportunities. He is studying the European union as a public policy/political science major and has found his classes both challenging and enjoyable. The public policy class he is in now has only 5 students…it’s a lot of work but the professor is wonderful as are the other students. He also had to take 8 weeks of Dutch.</p>
<p>The program he is in is divided into two 8 week blocks, and students take 2 classes each block, each class meeting six to eight hours a week. He is living in an “international” dorm with kids from all over, which is what he preferred. All the rooms are singles with shared bathrooms for each 2-4 rooms. There is a cafeteria in their apartment block but he prefers to cook his own meals–both cheaper and better. Plus he learns a lot of local culture by doing ordinary things like going to grocery stores, etc. </p>
<p>Some of his classes have included extensive travel, but he also has taken pains to set up his schedule to allow long weekends for a lot of private travel as well.</p>
<p>My daughter has been studying abroad in Sydney for a semester. Even though it’s an English speaking country, it’s been a huge adjustment for her. Even simple interaction between boys/girls is different over there than in the states. For the first month all she wanted to do was to come home. Aside from taking a full load of work at their Unis, she also interned at an ibank. She is coming home in a week. I just got off the phone with her and she is not ready to come home. She wants to go back visit soon.</p>
<p>What has she learned from the experience? </p>
<p>1) it takes a while for her to get used to a new environment.
2) she could work in a different country someday if an opportunity should present itself.
3) her school in the States is truly top rate.
4) she is capable of traveling by herself. She is a lot more independent.</p>
<p>My daughter did a summer abroad in Paris between sophomore and junior years. I think it was a wonderful growth experience for her but she said when she returned that she would not have wanted to stay an entire semester. She was with a group from her home university and lived in an international dorm and had adjustments to make with language, climate, lack of air conditioning in a heat wave and such but the positives of the travel experiences and cultural sites outweighed any of those adjustments.</p>
<p>One thing to consider about studying abroad for a semester is what it will do to your graduation expectations. Most kids we know who have gone abroad for a semester graduate a semester or two behind because there aren’t enough courses to transfer for graduation requirements particularly if you’re in a major that has more specific courses that may not be readily available at the university you’d be attending abroad. The benefit for most we’ve talked to has been in the travel experience and not so much the study.</p>
<p>One thing I would like to add is I purposely got my daughter into one of their residential colleges. The school normally did not provide housing for international students. I wanted her to have a full experience. With a local friend’s help she was able get into a woman’s residential college. As the country was very conscious of people’s social/economic standings, it was very hard for D1 to be accepted initially as a foreigner. It was the source of her unhappiness initially, but it also pushed her to reach out to other people, at the end it was a learning process with a happy ending. When they meet someone new for the first time, they always asked “what high school (always assumed private) did you go to, and where do you live.”</p>
<p>Did any of you (or your children in the case of parents) stay with host families rather than a dorm? How was that experience?</p>
<p>oregon101 - I would love to hear more about your D’s experience in Dakar. My S is leaving to spend a semester in Dakar in January and we are just beginning to research what he needs to know. He will be living with a host family and sharing meals with them. Will also spend two weeks “in the countryside” visiting peace corps or other NGO volunteers. Any info or suggestions you have would be welcome. Please PM if you prefer.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Son loved every minute spent at Study Abroad in Scotland last spring.
He joined clubs right away, met many, many friendly students at this super friendly campus. He has made friends for a lifetime.
Classes were fine, but it is the while overall experience that they get.
Seems like every student that studies abroad loves it.
My son wanted to go again this spring but is loving his campus and has not mentioned it again although he is planning to go back for spring break.</p>
<p>Have any of your children done a semester abroad in Italy–specifically Florence? D is a studio art major with a concentration in ceramics, so taking art and art history courses are a natural choice for her. I would be interested to hear if any of you have similar personal experiences.</p>
<p>My son is doing a semester in Rabat, Morocco. Living with a host family. Though he was fairly fluent in French, the culture was a major adjustment that he has handled very well. He is now comfortable talking to people (men) on the streets (in Arabic, as much as possible) and is making friends with local people (men). His host mother has been wonderful from the beginning and is fluent in French. He was there for Ramadan, an interesting experience, and has noted how separate and unequal women are in this culture. He is taking 4 courses: Arabic (colloquial and classic/standard), Moroccan History, Moroccan Culture, and Gender, Society and Islam. His profs take their courses seriously and he is learning A LOT, both in the classroom and elsewhere. They take field trips to other parts of the country and are assigned language and cultural partners, local young people who want to practice English and learn about American culture, with whom they can practice Arabic and learn about Moroccan culture. This is an Amideast program. He couldn’t possibly have had an experience like this on his (amazing and wonderful) home campus.</p>
<p>I agree w/SherBear about the kids in England working a lot. D is there now. She is in a dorm which is self-catering, a common thing in the UK. Tons of reading and writing. Papers are submitted by a number and graded by someone other than the prof of the class.</p>
<p>That said, she has been able to visit London, Scotland, Wales, other parts of England, and goes to Munich this weekend.</p>
<p>Next semester she will be studying in Spain, staying w/my BIL who speaks no real English. At the end of May she begins a 6wk internship in Madrid. I expect lots of work, but also lots of travel, some included in the program.</p>
<p>Our son, an engineering senior, took a semester abroad and is on track to graduate in 4 years. To do that, he had to start planning as a freshman so that he could take a few gen ed courses in the semester away; that meant for some intense schedules while stateside. He made sure before he went that his credits would transfer and that the one engin course he needed would be offered (that didn’t end up working out as planned, but he worked with his US school to make another choice). Because he was taking such a technical course, he decided to go to an English speaking country. He ended up in London. Classes Monday-Thursday noon and much travelling. It was, by all accounts, a terrific experience.</p>
<p>frazled- D spent jr year of HS in Beijing. She attended a local HS. The kids there are so focused on getting good grades that they have zero time for socializing. This was a top school, so the kids at this age spoke better english than most Americans and they weren’t interested in practicing English.<br>
D spoke no Chinese when she arrived, and it is pretty scary at first. Signs are written in Chinese, and few people speak english, so it is easy to become totally lost. Entirely different than arriving in a new western country, where at least the alphabet is the same, and you can use a dictionary to figure out what signs say.
On the other hand, even in a semester, your child will develop a sense of just how huge theChinese economy is, and how important it is going to be in our children’s world.
So, if she wants to go, it won’t be easy, she won’t make lots of friends, but she will have her eyes opened!</p>
<p>dg5052,
Check out this website for Florence University of the Arts: [.:</a> FUA - Florence University of the Arts :.](<a href=“http://www.fua.it/].:”>http://www.fua.it/).</p>
<p>mominva, did your child attend this program, or are you personally familiar with it? On a brief perusal of the course offerings, there don’t seem to be any ceramics courses, which is her main area of interest.</p>