<p>Any comments/suggestions about UChicago's study abroad program. S will be heading to Vienna in September. Are the Civ/language courses generally easier than they would be at home? The College recommends STA Travel as a source of discounted tickets. Any experience with them? S would lke to also travel to Rome and stay in a hostel. Some are listed on the STA Travel website - any other recommended websites for locating hostels in Rome?
Thanks</p>
<p>[Hostels</a> & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings](<a href=“http://www.hostelworld.com/]Hostels”>http://www.hostelworld.com/) I used this place to travel all around Europe this year. He might also be interested in couch surfing (couchsurfing.org) for a night or two (or the entire time! saves a lot of money).</p>
<p>Tip for saving money - don’t eat at restaurants! Buy food from the grocery store. </p>
<p>I’m going to Vienna on Saturday - if I see anything that may be of interest to him, I’ll report back here.</p>
<p>VERY cheap airlines are abundant in Europe. For flights to Rome, tell him to look at Ryanair. They are usually cheapest (I paid 30 each way to a tiny island in the Mediterranean - a two and a half hour flight!). <a href=“http://wikitravel.org/[/url]”>http://wikitravel.org/</a> is a good website for information regarding travel cities. </p>
<p>He should also not limit himself just to large cities if he wants to travel. Going to relatively unknown destinations have always proven way more fun than any of my trips to London, Paris, Berlin, etc.</p>
<p>Ryanair sends him into an airport actually outside the city, and you need to take a 4-6 euro bus to get to Rome. It takes about 45 mins and brings you to Termini train station. </p>
<p>Also, your son and the friends he makes in Vienna will plan spontaneous trips. I had no idea where I wanted to travel when I arrived in Rome last fall, but ended up going to Barcelona and Madrid on one trip; Dublin and London on another; Milan and Lake Como on a third; and Florence and Bologna on a fourth… not to mention all the day trips I took. Just have him save up his money over the summer so that he can afford to go on all the trips he finds interesting. </p>
<p>I didn’t buy the STA travel and know no one who did. You can definitely get by just fine without it. </p>
<p>The ease of study abroad depends on the professors each year and the level of language class they take. My advanced Italian class had me doing many more hours of work each week than my peers. The beginner and intermediate classes had relatively little work. Our civ classes had a ton of reading, though, whereas I heard Paris last fall had a considerably lighter load.</p>
<p>What marcellad said is very true - ryan air uses airports that are usually way out of the way. There’s always a shuttle or a train to get to the main city, and even with this added cost, the tickets are usually cheaper.</p>
<p>My son is going to be in the program in Vienna this fall too, drdom. He told me that they had their initial meeting recently. I think there’ll be about 20 kids in the program.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone - keep those comments coming! I have read the 30 page handout from the April 8th meeting. It seems comprehensive but I always like to get comments from people who have been through a program.</p>