Program Reviews

Our group of 14 students spent 3 wonderful weeks in Greece. Our first week was spent on the mainland, in little apartments in Athens with a balcony blocks away from a square where we could enjoy authentic Greek food until late hours of the night. Those first seven days were packed with excursions that almost wore us too thinly. It was inspiring and incredible to witness thousand year old temples and monuments, but we almost had to see too many things in too short of a period of time. Many of us wishes to have had more time to explore while visiting each place, but nonetheless, they were a wonderful experience that tough us many things about history and ancient practices.
The second week we spent on the little island of Spetses. It was good timing, seeing as we were all a bit warn out from everything we'd seen. We were given that week to relax and unleash our bent-up creativity. The island was the perfect location to take some time to create and observe. We were open to explore on our own and find the nooks and crannies we left most comfortable in. However busy the first week was, it in combination with the second week of peace made for some good material.
Our last week was spent back in Athens, trying to prepare our projects. Athens is an incredible city to throw yourself into. It is full of cultural fascinations, positive energy, hope, and delicious food. As an artist, not only do you get to witness a plethora of ancient and modern art, but get to experience a somewhat conceptual atmosphere of mixing cultural values. Greece is a wonderful place to study art. Our program itself had its ups and downs, being the first of its kind, but it overall brought all 14 students closer together and made for an unforgettable experience. Plus, how could it not be great with such a wonderful, inspirational, intelligent professor?

It was an amazing trip and experience! A unique part of the program is that you are an international student and you get to work along side people from all over Europe and the world! I think it makes this experience really special as I was able to explore Berlin with Italians, Brits, Germans, and Chinese friends that I made through the program!

Through GEO you stay with a host family and I absolutely loved it. While I can only speak for myself, my host family was very caring and thoughtful, but was also very flexible and respectful of my space, lack of German, and displayed trust by allowing me the same kind of independence I would have back in college as well as giving me the care and comfort as my family would back home. For those on the fence about studying abroad through this program I would highly suggest it as it is a 4 week program which is not very long but long enough to get a taste of the country.

I would also recommend taking advantage of your location to travel outside of the program and to take the opportunity early to make friends and introduce yourself when you join the other students at the University in Berlin. Berlin is also a very hip city with tons to do, and is known for its clubs, museums, artwork, music, and diversity. It is also very friendly for English speakers, as most young people know English fluently and transportation is very accessible and easy to use.

It was really fun and I learned a lot
about Irish culture and film as well as
filming techniques and gained
valuable connections. I really enjoyed
my time in Ireland. The host families
were very accomodating and helpful
and the staff at IADT were very kind
and also the breakfasts were great.
I especially enjoyed the excursions
to more rural parts of Ireland. I wish
it could have been a longer visit.

One of the greatest nights on the trip was in Galway pub hoping with the group. Every single pub had an incredible band playing in them, with hundreds of people in each of these clubs attending which made it great for talking to random Irish/European people in them. There was one particular club that we went to where the band was playing so many of our favorite songs, including Blink 182's All the Small Things and the whole group went crazy when they started to play, as this song was sung at random times the same week by us on bus rides, random moments, etc. So the odds of them playing this song was so weird but amazing! Many of us went so crazy that we stood up on tables and started to really rock out, which I'm sure everyone in the pub enjoyed seeing. Choosing one moment on this five week trip was extremely difficult, since every day was a new, fun, humorous adventure, but this was definitely one of my favorite moments from the trip!

One of my favorite days in Ireland was during the last weekend when the Irish sun decided to make a long awaited appearance. A few students from my program decided to lay out on one of the harbor beaches near the Dun Laoghaire Pier and make the most out of the last few moments together. My host family even made an appearance with some family friends and joined us. While the sun was setting we decided it was finally time to conquer the 40 Foot Pier, which was a popular jumping and swimming hole with the locals. I'm absolutely terrified of heights but it was fun to have the students from my program and random locals cheer me on as I finally made the plunge into the ocean. It was one of those "perfect days" that I'll remember forever. This is a program I would recommend to anyone, anywhere, a thousand times over.

My time in Oviedo with the GEO program was incredible. Oviedo is a really good Spanish city to study abroad in, because very few people speak English there. Though this takes a little time to get used to, it is really the best way to improve you Spanish skills since you have to speak in Spanish to be understood. The program coordinators in Oviedo were also really understanding of this, and would come with you to the store, pharmacy, doctor, or would help communicate with your teachers to help with the language barrier if you really needed their help. Oviedo is also a really safe city with a manageable size. I felt safer walking home at night in Oviedo than I did in Eugene, Oregon, and the size of Oviedo is also comparable to that of my hometown of Eugene.
The scenery of Oviedo is also amazing. It is in sort of nestled in the mountains making the town itself and the surrounding area green and beautiful. One of the program excursions is to Los Picos de Europa which is a national park that translates to the Peaks of Europe and provides some pretty incredible views. I would highly recommend this program, as I had the time of my life in Oviedo!

Greece was absolutely amazing and I already want to return. One thing I'd recommend to all travelers is to remember to pause and take it all in. Especially with us art students their are so many things to photograph. I was averaging three hundred pictures a day and my pictures are wonderful, but my memories are most vivid from when I took a moment for myself to just take it all in. While visiting the monuments and museums it doesn't feel real at times because you are viewing things you have only seen in books. Not to mention the size of these monuments are mind blowing to think they were built so long ago. In addition, the history we learn was so vivid and alive. So give yourself some time to think about whose foot steps you might be walking in.

Living in a 14th century monastery is one of the most memorable traveling experience I have ever had. Immersing ourselves in the traditional Japanese lifestyle in Kyoto allowed us to experience Japanese architecture, garden, household, and culture first-handed. Through its architecture, we learned the importance of respecting shared spaces and an extremely community-centric society. It was such a privilege to be given the opportunity to engage myself in a culture with depth like Japan's.

Below is a blog I kept for this trip to hopefully provide a glimpse to this beautiful trip to Kyoto, Japan: http://landscapexkyoto.tumblr.com

Our trip began with our flight into Quito, Ecuador. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in a popular and lively neighborhood. We shortly left Quito and headed west toward our next destination, Mindo. On the way we stopped to stand on the equator, a popular tourist destination. In Mindo, the lush green of the forest was striking. To get to our lodging, we sat on a swing which was brought across a river on a pulley system (very fun!). Each day we had a lecture from a specialist, and we would then put what we’d learned into practice. In the field, we would identify amphibians, reptiles, bats, kinkajous, armadillos, etc. With our guides, we were lead on walks and learned about many plants. Mindo is also a bird watching capitol of the world, and we saw many incredible birds.
After Mindo, we stayed in a lodge called the Santa Lucia Ecolodge. To reach it, our bags were loaded onto mules while we hiked for 3 hours uphill. While tiring, the lodge has one of the most incredible views I’ve ever seen. On top of a ridge, when the clouds are blown away, you can see endless rainforest covering mountains and deep ravines. Here, our guide lead lectures on diversity of hummingbirds, epiphytes, tree species, etc. We would walk each day to learn in the field. I did an optional hike to see a rare bird, the Cock of the Rock. To see them we woke up at 3:30am, and hiked for 2 hours in darkness. It was an incredible experience.
From Santa Lucia, we flew from Quito to Coca, in eastern Ecuador. From Coca, we took a boat. We went through a checkpoint in which the oil companies searched our bags and passports. There were no roads to reach the research station, so we took our second boat (4-5 hours on a boat). The guides on the boat would point out monkeys jumping in the trees, dolphins, and rare birds. We were in the Amazon for 4 days. We experienced their extreme wet season, we swam in the Tiputini River, we designed our own field research, and we met the Huaorani people.
We then left the Amazon and spent a few days in the Andes, where we stayed in a hacienda. We watched Andean condors and saw incredible mountain peaks. I absolutely loved my study abroad program.

I went to Rosario not really knowing what to expect from the city, program, or people. Everything was amazing. The city is not very touristy so it is a great environment to learn Spanish even outside of the classroom. It is a city very similar to Portland. The climate is relatively similar and it is located right on the river. There were a lot of good restaurants to eat at, especially the ones included in the program for lunch. We became close with the managers from our favorite restaurant, and were sad to leave them. There were a lot of places to shop at, touristy and not so touristy, and everything was decently close. If you did not want to walk somewhere taxis are very safe and very cheap.
The home stay was great. I stayed with a mom and her daughter (who was about 45 years old) and they were both very welcoming. They always had advice about what to do on the weekends and made the best food. This also helped improve my Spanish because they did not really speak English. They knew a few words but not enough to be able to converse.
My Spanish improved a lot during such a short period of time (I only did the 5 week program although I wish I would have done the 10). All of the professors are very willing to help you with whatever question you had, and I felt that it was a lot more beneficial learning from someone who spoke Spanish as their first language. I also got to learn a lot about the history of Argentina which is very interesting. Overall, the experience was amazing. I met a lot of great people and I learned a lot, even about myself.