IES Abroad Reviews

Now that I am home and in my predominant comfort zone, I realize how thrilling it was to expand my levels of comfort to new maxima. I have never been one to lengthen my socio-cultural boundaries but after four months of creating a new path, this was an essential move for me.
After a semester in Dublin, Ireland, I am proud to call this bustling city my home. I made a connection to this city, my university, and the inhabitants of this beautiful locale. I had the privilege of being enrolled in the engineering school at Dublin City University (DCU), which is in a suburban area in northern Dublin. Trying to keep myself busy, I took part in the execution of DCU’s first ever Relay For Life, participated in Irish Dance lessons in the city, and played for the women’s rugby team at school. One of the best parts of my time abroad was getting to know my family from Ireland much better. I was able to take weekend trips to see them in their respective counties and enjoy some “grand” bonding time with my cousins. My roommates and I even indulged on trips outside of the country where we challenged ourselves with different languages, currencies, and food. Keeping myself busy was key as well as taking care of myself and making sure I had things from home to keep me company as well as a journal to keep my memories stored in. It finally became natural to think nothing of winging a day trip or a bus ride to the city to find our favorite foods, shops, and sights.
Coming home is when you realize how much study abroad affected you. My independence has skyrocketed and my ability to voice my thoughts has amplified to a healthy extent that I never thought I possessed. It was all in me the whole time – sometimes you need a little world exploration to uncover the true you.

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to study abroad. I love exploring new cultures and traveling to new places. I had been dreaming of every possible scenario of what my experience would be like before I left. Studying abroad with IES in Madrid was even better than I could have imagined. When I arrived, I was immediately welcomed by the IES staff at the airport. And this was just the beginning. Throughout the semester, I felt like the staff was always there to guide and help us while still giving us the free range to explore and grow in a new country.

I would highly recommend IES Abroad's Paris Business and International Affairs program to all students looking to study abroad! The staff was friendly, helpful, and very knowledgeable about the city and culture. I was able to take classes that fit in very well with my finance major and French minor (three taught in English and three in French). I also had the amazing opportunity to take an international finance class taught by a French economist at Novancia Business School. This gave me the chance to meet and learn from native French students as well as other international students. My professors, especially my French language one, were great. Even though the academics may not have been as challenging as my home university, I learned so much about French language and culture throughout all of my classes. Not to mention my amazing host parents who taught me so much as well! This IES program is for anyone of any major seeking an unforgettable study abroad experience.

I have always been interested in the word beyond my immediate grasp. To see what other cultures and lifestyles there were elsewhere, to experience this firsthand as opposed to learning about it in a book, or being presented with the misconstrued images through forms of media. I have always loved languages and after studying Spanish and then moving onto Chinese, knew that I really wanted to get out and live somewhere where I could utilize these skills.

As I have been studying Chinese I learned more about there culture through my teachers and knew while it as incredibly different, different is good, it stretches your brain and pushes your levels of comfortability. My college only offered a program in Beijing, China and it did not have as many cultural aspects as I hoped to have. I also do not like big cities, let alone one such as Beijing, at such a size, population, and of course the reputation for haze. I searched for programs that were located in smaller cities, but were also developed enough to make daily-life still enjoyable to the level that I am used to (rather than one such as Guilin, decent sized city but still dirty throughout and construction everywhere). I also was looking for a program that had a focus on the development of China along with a focus on its environmental and social issues. IES Kunming definitely hit the spot on all of these notions, I took a core course on regionalism throughout SE Asia, an economics course on China's development, an environmental course focused on the different issues within China and the Greater Mekong Subregion (strongly focusing on hydroelectric dam development on the river) and of course an intensive Chinese language course.

The program's location was incredible and just what I was looking for. Kunming, Yunnan, China is situated in Southern central China one of the most biodiverse provinces as well as ethnically diverse compared to the other regions throughout China. While the friction of distance is much greater in China than here in the USA (in the sense of time to reach a certain distance), travelling by train is incredibly easy and a great way to meet new people and practice your Chinese. The semester was incredibly fun, always being encouraged to get out and explore the city on weekdays and the province on our weekends. Kunming is known as the city of "eternal spring," and it truly lived up to its name, being warm almost the entire semester that I was there, encouraging you to get outside and explore the city. The city has many different places that you can go on day-trips to as well as weekend trips (Tiger Leaping Gorge, Stone Forest, Luoping Flower Fields, etc). Or you can plan for a fairly epic adventure to Shanghai, Hainan, or Chengdu for one of your 3-day weekends, as some of us did.

Here's a quick glimpse into my daily life while there:

Weekday: Wake up around 7:30am walk downstairs and out onto the street our dorms were on and make my daily visit to the Baozi (steamed buns) Shop, get breakfast for 7yuan ($1 USD), cross the street to the university's campus and up the stairs of the international students dorms (those enrolled w/ the university) go to Chinese class for an hour and a half, go to our center's library/study room do some homework, then go down to my 1-on-1 Chinese lesson where I spoke with a local Chinese professor on my recent chapter entirely in Chinese for 45 minutes, meet up with my classmates and go to the dining hall ($1USD/meal) or a nearby restaurant for lunch ($3USD) before returning to the building for an afternoon class (either regionalism, economics or environmental; other options were Chinese society, sociology), after class would battle it out with our student programs coordinator on our program's ping pong table for a few hours before heading out and exploring the city in search of a new restaurant to eat at, then would return to the dorms to complete readings and Chinese homework, and if we didn't have much, hung out in the RA living room (our lounge open to all students) watching movies or tv shows before bed.

Weekends: either went on adventures outside of the city to go on a hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge, check out the pandas in Chengdu, or hung around the city and visited nearby lakes or went biking into the mountains surrounding the city, spending the nights going out to bars to meet other internationals or locals to practice our Chinese and make new friends, and maybe made our way to the club district in the city for some hours of dancing.

While personal experiences are great for abroad programs, one must also know about the academics. The type of academic work and how we went about learning was also very cool. Our first week in China, for orientation we travelled to Dali (a city 5 hours north of Kunming) where we became closer with one another, while travelling the city and beginning our studies. We stayed at an artist designed hotel that we more or less filled up except for a few rooms, so felt we had the place to ourselves. While we had classroom lessons while there, we also went on a day-trip, biking to the lake below the city, taking pit stops here and there to learn about the local ethnicity and take a look at their form of architecture, invasive species in the lake and how they were introduced to solve a pollution problem (yet caused another one!), the rice industry and the differences between the different SE Asian states.

At the end of the semester we went on a two-week adventure through the SE Asian states we had been learning about during the semester, allowing us to visualize that which we had read and discussed in class. Travelling by foot over the border into Vietnam, after a night learning about the culture of those travelling over the border daily to trade goods and future potential developments to increase this, meeting with US ambassadors, professors at local universities in northern and southern Vietnam, travelling with Vietnamese students into the Mekong Delta to discuss with locals the implications of climate change and what they knew of it, the leader of the opposition party looking to beat out in the incredibly corrupt government currently in place in Cambodia in the country's capital, etc. etc. etc. Giving student presentations at different destinations to not only see the beauties of the countries but also learn more of their histories.

I was also the blogger for my program and you can check out my adventures and thoughts here:
http://www.iesabroad.org/study-abroad/blogs/author/154341

I spent my Spring 2015 semester abroad in Milan, Italy - it was the best decision I ever made. Everyone always says that studying abroad is a life-changing experience. Until I went abroad, I didn’t fully understand just how great it really would be. I chose Milan as my study abroad destination because I had always wanted to travel to Italy and I thought what better way to get there than to spend an entire semester LIVING there.
While in Milan, I was able to live with a homestay family. I highly recommend choosing the homestay option for this program. My homestay family was so great and they made my abroad experience so special. I feel like I really connected to my family and the Italian culture more than my fellow students who chose to live in an apartment.
Spending a semester abroad allows you to become more independent and confident in yourself. When you get back to the U.S., you will notice things about yourself that have changed, for the better, thanks to spending time abroad. I cannot encourage you all enough to go abroad, whether it be in Milan or on another IES program. You’ll be so happy that you did!

Living in Australia was one of the most challenging but exciting four months of my life. Meeting locals on the streets of Circular Quay and The Rocks, from snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, walking along hidden beaches and eating at local cafes, skydiving in New Zealand are just the beginning of my semester abroad. I know this sounds cliche but I felt like I was living in a dream.

Kunming is a vibrant and beautiful city that introduces students to a version of China that has much less western influence than many of the larger cities. I love this place because everyone was excited to meet me and I was constantly challenged both culturally and with language.

My four short months spent in Amsterdam were incredible. With Amsterdam’s rich history, beautiful canals, world-class museums, and vibrant nightlife it is the ideal city for study abroad. Amsterdam is charming and cozy in addition to energetic and fun. Getting around the city is a breeze, with the majority of museums, nightlife, and shopping being a short bike ride away. Academics place much more self-initiative on the student; however, the class schedule, along with Amsterdam’s central location makes traveling easy. The housing for this program is unique in that as an American student, I had the opportunity to live with and become close with other international students. Although becoming immersed with locals was difficult, the international student building is located near other student housing, which makes its possible, with enough effort, to meet local students.

This opportunity could not have come at a more perfect time. I had just finished my most grueling semester of college and my terms were coming to an end for my positions in both my business and social fraternity. I felt the need to break from the mundane and try something completely new, and the Study London program through IES gave me that chance. This program gave me so many opportunities and it can do the same for you. Through this program, I took relevant and challenging courses that not only kept me engaged and helped the GPA, but allowed me to think critically and gave me extra tools for both the academic and the "real" world. Despite my business major, I was able to take an acting class through IES. This allowed me to see a play once a week for a fraction of the cost, giving me the chance to soak in London's fine art culture at a discount. I was happy with the living arrangements (we stayed in Kings Cross, the proverbial epicenter of London). I could get almost anywhere I needed to be within 20 minutes and the common living area allowed for all of the students to really get to know each other. But perhaps the greatest thing about the study abroad program is that they understand that students want to travel and take that into account when building the program. The coursework can be a little rigorous at times, but IES has created a system where you can make your class schedule work with your study schedule. I knew I wanted to travel to different countries so I put all of my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. While this option isn't always open, I was able to ensure that I put in a solid effort into my academics while being able to travel whenever I could. The result was a huge GPA boost and my unbelievable experiences in Berlin, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Dublin. But don't forget to explore everything London has to offer! All in all, I had an amazing experience, I made friends I will cherish throughout the years to come, and I hope everyone can have as an amazing experience as I did.

I knew that if I graduated college without studying abroad I would regret it and once I experienced a semester at IES – Health Practice and Policy I knew I was right. Although stepping out of my comfort zone was a little daunting the staff in London was welcoming and allowed me to feel at home, in a completely different country. During my time abroad I not only discovered a new country, cultures and food but ultimately I rediscovered myself. One of the main reasons I loved my time abroad was because the program was so well rounded it allows my to engage in different things and shape my experience!

At the IES center in London I was able to take classes that were related to my major and counted for credit. What made studying abroad unique was having the ability to engage in topics of epidemiology, women’s history, social welfare, health and disease while walking and exploring the city. One of the highlights of the Health Practice and Policy was taking a class at Oxford.

Another aspect of the program that made it unique was the service learning component. While we learned in our classes we also had the ability to learn through our service learning placement. Through my service learning placement I was able to engage with individuals from different communities within London. I was also able to gain a deeper understanding and practice on how grants are obtained, monitored, and awarded. At the end of the semester we completed a new service placement in Jamaica, which had an immense impact on me both on a personal and professional level. While in Jamaica I was able to explore the culture and beautiful sight of Kingston but also observe different clinical settings and take classes at the University of the West Indies.

As if studying in London, having a service placement, and even traveling to Jamaica was not enough the program allows you to further shape your experience. Although you are focused on your course work the staff at IES London are really there to help with anything! They try to make sure to have all the resources you need to enjoy your time in London. One of those aspects involved traveling and activities. Throughout the semester the staff at the center planned different trips and activities. Some of the traveling I did with the center was visiting Bath, Stonehenge, and Oxford. On the other hand some of the activities I attended were soccer games and even visiting Harry Potter studios. Throughout my stay the staff also encouraged me to explore Europe and gave me different tips that made traveling easier.

The center allows you to shape your experience by allowing you to obtain a student ID from the University of London. By obtaining the ID you are able to join any club or intermural sport the university has. Through the center you are also able to apply for a program that allows you to do homestays with families in England. All these options allowed me and will allow you to shape your experience to what you find interesting and ultimately make London my home away from home.