Review Overall Rating
A review on CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain
Reviewed by Caitlin Buckstudent(Greensboro College) on
Great experience, but poorly planned and executed.
Overall, the program was good. I got to meet some amazing people and see some amazing things. However, I felt like this program was very poorly planned. On the way to Scotland, no one knew what we would be doing because she was calling places the day we arrived in Scotland. It just felt ridiculous. I felt way too rushed at every place we visited. The only time I felt like a considerable amount of planning had gone into our time was in Ireland with our guide there. She planned better and pretty much taught us during that time. The only thing out teacher told us was that we had journals to do everyday. Ireland was the only place that I felt that I earned any type of academic credits and it was because of our guide and bus driver. They were amazing and very easy to talk to if I had any questions. I have loved everything I have seen, however, I felt like it was just thrown together at the last minute. I also thought it was ridiculous that I had to pay $12,000 for this trip and I couldn't even keep my Oyster card. You would think that somewhere in all that money they would budget to let me keep that as a souvenir. Also, there was really no help in the budget ing department. I was very unprepared to pay for every single meal for the first 2 weeks. I lost a good chunk of my money all on food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Review Details
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Academics
I felt as though the teachers we had were really only wanting to be there on vacation, not for a study abroad trip. One of them was a good teacher. However, I felt like one of our teachers didn't really know anything and that she didn't really want to be there teaching us. She would have rather been out exploring London. I loved the guide we had in Ireland though. She was amazing! I learned so much from her, but she wasn't really our teacher. I learned WAY more from the guides on this trip than the teachers.
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Program Administration
No comment
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Living Situation
Snoozles was a nice hostel and so was the hostel in Dublin. However, Backpackers in Belfast was awful! There were 8 people in a room that probably was only meant for 4. I also ended up getting bedbugs from this hostel. It was terrible! I also paid 4 euros for my laundry to be done and they didn't even do it. The hostel in Edinburgh was nice. It was a little cramped here and the shower was always either boiling hot or freezing cold. It was, however, one of the favorite places we stayed at. Roehampton was a nice living situation as well.
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Cultural Immersion
We went to some amazing places. However, we would only get to spend at most an hour at places that you should spend a lot more time at. When we were in Northern Ireland, we only got to spend 20 minutes at Dunluce Castle after we had been on the bus for about 3 hours. The worst was when we were in Scotland. We drove 6 hours to get to Loch Ness and then spent 30 minutes there. We then got back on the bus and drove the 6 hour back to Edinburgh. I felt way too rushed at everyplace we went. I would have loved to have more time at these places because I might never get the chance to go back.
Other Reviews on CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain It's all a part of the experience"
Reviewed by Alexis Sands on .
Traveling Abroad is like nothing you could ever imagine because you won't know what it is like until you actuallu experience it. Some things go right and some things go wrong but it is the great memories that you remember and the not so good ones are the ones you laugh about later and that definitely describes this trip. I am so glad I went through with doing this.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain First time traveler
Reviewed by Christa Friend on .
I am certainly thankful that I did not talk myself out of embarking on this program and studying abroad. Although the task seems daunting - leaving behind all that is familiar, your family, your peers, your culture... there is no better way to step out into the real world or rid yourself of selfish ways. What I mean is that once you are here, independent, in an entirely new atmosphere with completely foreign things... you are forced to become confident and consider decisions that will not only affect you but perhaps others. You're often left questioning yourself; should I spend all of this money or should I budget my time here, should I go out tonight or rest up for class, should I put myself out there and befriend others on the program just as I would hope they would do to me or remain reserved and wait around for something good to happen? On this program, you learn, you discover, you experience education in a way unlike any other. The world is your classroom, and only you can make decisions for yourself and your education.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain Adventure
Reviewed by Jaclyn Treat on .
This experience has been a crazy adventure. I have experienced so many different cultures, seen so many historical sights, and grew as a person. I am the type of person who gets nervous and scared easily. At first, the trip was hard to adjust to. However, I eventually learned to let go and enjoy the ride. Getting nervous did not help anything. It is very hard to describe this experience. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. There were some difficult parts but they did not ruin my experiences. It is amazing to dream about a landmark or country for most of your life and then one day you get to see it in person. Sometimes this journey felt like a dream. I would recommend people to study abroad. It changes your life.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain The best way to experience many cultures
Reviewed by Stacey Chalupka on .
The European experience is absolutely the best way to experience multiple countries during the summer. You meet new people when you arrive and you can stay friends and most of them throughout the whole experience along with meeting new people along the way. There're so many excursions that you get to go on and a lot of free time to to explore at your own leisure. It is truly amazing to explore all the cultures of these countries, llearning and taking your classroom outside byhaving hands-on learning. It is a great opportunity to have. There are so many historic monuments, museums and famous sights to see and you can pretty much visit it all.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain Overall a good experience, the program could improve its staff and organization
Reviewed by Alexa Fedrigon on .
Overall I really enjoyed the program and all three countries (Ireland, Scotland, and England). There were many things, however, that happened were the program description or staff said one thing but didnt follow through with it. This was very frustrating after spending so much money for a program (as it is advertised) and then after they have your money having them making changes without telling you about it. The classes were enjoyable but sometimes included a lot of busy work. Lastly, I wish we had been more exposed to the locals (through the school where we were living or classes/teachers).
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain I have experience a lot of new things, but the only thing i'm really going to miss about London is the friends I have made there.
Reviewed by Casandra Morales on .
I enjoyed the town. The people in the there were very rude. Also CIS was totally clueless. I felt like I was going to school through Jackson University not CIS. The housing was nice. I met a lot of people from all over the United States that i know i'll keep in touch with. The classes were okay. They weren't hard but more-so pointless. The food in England was horrible! nothing had flavor! The excursions were pretty great! I enjoyed almost all of them! The beginning of this trip was WAY to overwelming and wore me out so fast that I was over touring London by day 4. It is definately a place to travel to, but I'd never go back for a whole month.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain My trip was very unorganized and too expensive for what I received.
Reviewed by Cassidy Ellis on .
Overall, my program was very unorganized and too expensive for what I received. Our site director was never around and was very unorganized. We would wait for what seemed like ever for any of our excursions and none of the leaders would know where we should be. The classes were a joke. The living situation was nice except we were over an hour away from Central London. Most of the other students seemed to only be there for an extended vacation so if you want a challenging program with other students really wanting to learn and immerse into another culture, consider one other than this.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain Memorable
Reviewed by Shannon Witte on .
My experience this summer has been the most memorable of my life. I have gotten to experience so many different things and cultures. I spent a month in London but while I was there I travelled to Ireland and France, which was amazing to think that I could just go to another country for a weekend! The people I have met have been amazing as well, everybody is so nice and I have made lifelong friends after only meeting and being with them for 1 month. The whole experience seemed like a dream, everyday I would wake up thinking, "this can't be my life right now" and that is the beauty of it, it is such an amazing and memorable experience that you have to enjoy every minute of it! CIS was very helpful with anything that you might need but they seemed a bit unorganized on excursion days but that is bound to happen when trying to keep track of 40 students. Overall, I enjoyed my summer abroad and I can't wait for my next trip back to Europe.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain Very good program, just need to improve on communication.
Reviewed by Vanessa Loney on .
I think this program overall is awesome but we could tell some of the staff were fairly new. There needs to be better communication between staff as well as students.
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CISabroad - European Experience: England, Ireland, and Spain An experience you will never forget!
Reviewed by Laura on .
My experience with CIS was great. I study in Paris during the fall semester. The classes were great and I really liked my professors. We would have a class off campus every Tuesday to visit a historical site in the city. It was amazing! I loved my apartment and my roommate and I got along really well. This program included a metro pass which saved me a lot of money. However food was not included which I didn't really mind but I know this is something a lot of people care about. I was able to travel on the weekends to different countries which was amazing! The program also included a weekend trip to Burgundy for a wine tasting which was wonderful as well. The class was very small, there were only 5 of us. The only thing that I really didn't enjoy was how little the US students were immersed into the French university. The website promised us "French Buddies" who were supposed to students from the university that would show us around. This never happened and it was a little difficult to meet French people our age. Overall I had a great experience though. I became very close with the people in my program as well as new friends from other countries that I met during my travels. This was an experience I will never forget!