SIT Study Abroad

I had a fabulous time studying abroad in Switzerland with SIT. Top features that stand out to me are the homestay experience and the opportunity for travel. Living with a homestay family is so incredibly valuable. Not only is it a home away from home, but it gives the amazing opportunity to learn more about Swiss culture and to practice language skills. Additionally, travel was a highlight of my time abroad. The program gives students a GA travel card on the Swiss travel pass which means you can ride all the trains in Switzerland in for free. It is actually hard to overstate how amazing this was. With the Swiss travel pass I could go on excursions without having to stress about money. The academic side of the program is very solid. Compared to other study abroad programs, the level of workload is relatively higher. However, compared to my home university, the rigor of the courses was not very intense. If you manage your time, there is plenty of time to travel every weekend. Just know that for the first few months of the program you have class five days a week. The independent study project in the last month of the program was great! There are no course classes during this period, so you can travel and work on your project simultaneously. While people may be tempted to travel to foreign destinations, I would really encourage people to travel within Switzerland as much as possible. The program size is relatively small, so it is easier to make friends than in the massive study abroad programs. You take all the same classes with your classmates so you get to know everyone very well. I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to live in such a beautiful place as Switzerland for a semester.

This program was amazing. The city of Ushuaia is super safe and surrounded by mountains and the canal. So much hiking and natural places to explore. This program is excellent for developing your Spanish abilities and if you really want to integrate into the community. You get to do an internship or individual project of your choosing during the last month and really give back to your community. You also get to go to Antartica and Chile and explore the island of Tierra del Fuego. Also time for individual travel if you want. The host family was one of my favorite parts!

This program is an incredible opportunity. You will travel, improve your spanish, and learn about the environment of southern patagonia. If you have a strong base in ecology and biology, the classes will not be too challenging (apart from them being in spanish). Program directors are incredible and caring, you will be well supported through the entire process. I came into this program knowing minimal spanish and being a natural resources major less focused on science and I felt that I was perfectly challenged.

I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the SIT Social Movements and Human Rights program in Buenos Aires, Argentina! This program facilitated invaluable educational experiences, helping each student immerse themselves in the culture and material in countless ways. The program coordinators were some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. They were welcoming, compassionate, knowledgeable, and always went above and beyond to support me and my classmates throughout the semester. The same can be said for all of our host families. I know my parents were relieved when they learned I was in such good hands! Also, the program coordinators believed deeply in the material, and genuinely cared about helping us develop a similar passion for social movements and human rights. Perhaps my favorite part of the program was the Independent Study Project that each student got to complete at the end. We were each encouraged to take our project in a direction that was unique to our particular interests, and we received as much support as we needed while the projects developed. During my project, I had the chance to live with an indigenous community, where I met and interviewed community members, shared meals and laughs, sat in on some classes at the elementary school, all to learn about their spiritual identity. This semester was one of the most formative times in my life. I returned home more curious, compassionate, connected to the world around me, motivated, and inspired to use my life to help others. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!

I absolutely loved my experience, from the program's staff, to my host family to our planned; trips, classes, and activities, all were fantastic! I entered the program with; a fair amount of exposure to Spanish immersion environments, a questionable but consistent background in Spanish from high school, 2 semesters of college Spanish, and a year break between when I took Spanish and when I went abroad. I also am dyslexic, so learning a language in a classroom is more difficult for me. I was unique in my SIT student cohort, because almost everyone had more Spanish credits than I did. At first the full immersion aspect of the program was overwhelming because it used so much energy to translate everything, while adjusting to learning my new day-to-day schedule. But it was definitely worth it to stick it out and probably my favorite aspect of the program. By the end of the semester, I left feeling confident navigating and communicating in a full immersion environment, a skill I’d abandoned mastering in a classroom due to my dyslexia. I would recommend this program to any and all!