Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Studying Study Abroad Options

Juniors study abroad.

Obviously not all juniors, and not always as juniors either, but I hope to be one of the many who do.

GW's Study Abroad Office webpage is really pretty. I liked all the colors and exciting program descriptions. In fact, I was hard-pressed to find a program that didn't interest me.
Then I remembered a conversation I had with GW grad last semester. I had been looking at programs in England, and the University of Leeds sounded fantastic:
Students will find challenging courses taught by faculty at the forefront of academic development while living in the UK's most popular student city...Through clubs, societies, the International Student Office and the Study Abroad Office at the University of Leeds, students participate in an active social and cultural life.
He, who will be referred to as John because that is his name, assured me that would be an awful choice and the only place to even consider in England is London. A few other SMPA classmates strongly agreed that I stay away from Leeds. Now, as I actually buckle down and look for a program, I remembered that conversation and I'm thinking about how much I (and anyone else who may read this) could benefit from good, specific study abroad advice.
I have specifically narrowed down my countries of interest to the following: England, South Africa, Costa Rica, Greece, Spain, Italy, South Korea, and... Canada. I am also considering all other countries.

If you've studied abroad or have an idea where I can look to get a legit understanding of what I may be flying around the world to get myself into, please share!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peer to peer info is going to be the best - but do not listen to one or two people. If you feel like getting an off campus opinion pop in on this site; http://talk.collegeconfidential.com and look for the study abroad channel.

Anonymous said...

Leeds..."the popular student city" in England? What a blatant lie.

Anonymous said...

Denmark - the DIS program. It's awesome. I know that Denmark doesnt sound thrilling, but I do suggest looking into it.

Emily Berger said...

this is actually really helpful, thank you so much.

lol, yeah Leeds is not happening. but i will check out denmark.

Vanessa said...

I know that this was posted months ago; but, I would not completely discount Leeds. I studied abroad in London for fall 07 and on of my very close friends decided to study at University of Leeds for the year. Honestly, she had a great time as English major and when I visit I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's much much smaller than London but the people were so much nicer and cooler to hang around, not to mention in these difficult economic times the standard of living there isn't as taxing. Just playing devil's advocate here.