IES Abroad Reviews

If you are a musician Vienna is most definitely the city for you to study abroad in. The IES Vienna Music staff does an incredible job of assigning small chamber music which is a wonderful way to learn to new repertoire and an excellent way to improve your musicality. SO many things are accessible to you for a cheap cost, whether that be an opera performance at the Staatsoper or a symphony playing at the Musikverein, the possibilities are endless! Don't miss the opportunity of a lifetime!

When I decided to study abroad I had 3 main goals:
1. Meet locals
2. Learn the host culture
3. Explore places less traveled
I accomplished all of these and more to the point where I have a life in Vienna that is calling me back.

I skateboard so naturally I wanted to find people to skate with. For the first few weeks, I'd set out on my longboard exploring the city, finding skate parks, meeting people and having them draw on my map of new places I should go (I highly recommend you doing this, the map thing).

This routine led me to meeting a few other female skaters who were my access to 'the other side'. I hung out with more Austrians than Americans in my 4 months abroad. All it took was the effort to get myself out there and be the kind of good, cool American they'd want around. Anyone can do this as long as they are willing to adapt to their surrounding environment and culture. There is #2.

Sitting back and quietly observing Europeans has made a huge impression on me. I love the simplicity and solidarity of Viennese manner. I have adopted this into my own manner, as I know how much I can learn by simply watching.

After living amongst European culture, American culture defines itself as much more stereotypical. I do see us as lazy, overindulgent, gluttonous when compared to the simple way Europe runs and has been running for years. Basically, now that I've stepped out and back in to the dome that is America, I've withdrawn from 'the juice' and see through it; America doesn't seem to be chalked up to what it always has been. This is a personal opinion so don't take too much heed to this...

What you need to know is that studying abroad will be the best thing you'll ever do for yourself. It doesn't matter where you go (although some places are cheaper than others (Budapest, Prague)). What matters is that you temporarily leave what you've always known to go off and experience something completely different, where you'll learn new things and see in a different, worldly view. Any apprehension should dissolve because if you choose a great program with IES there is an incredible team of locals who are there to make your experience the best it can be. They are super helpful and want to make sure you're safe and comfortable.

I hope this helps to get you excited about the journey you'll hopefully be making soon! You can try to prepare yourself as best as you can (pack light, keep track of expenses, DELETE FACEBOOK, DON'T BE SO CONNECTED TO HOME) but really there is no way you can expect what your abroad experience will be like. It will be better than you can ever imagine. Get out there and see the world!

Three of the best parts of my study abroad experience were my professors, travel, and the public health experience. First all of my professors were very smart and qualified. My public health courses were taught by someone in with years of experience. My Health systems class was taught by a global health lawyer who helped the World Health Organization craft health policy. My Social welfare policy class had two professors. One was a lawyer who regularly defended underrepresented clients and was an activist for many social causes. The second professor worked at Parliament and had researched the effects of social inequalities and welfare policies in various countries. At Oxford, every week a different expert in the field of public health gave a lecture on field of study in public health such as bioethics, bias in research, or study designs. I chose to learn about a the European Union in my elective course. The professor for that course had published research multiple times on European and French political thought and was a lecturer at university of Oxford. I felt very satisfied knowing that i was learning from experienced professionals in another country.

It was my first time in London and Europe so I did what I could do, travel. I saw Stonehenge and the Roman Baths. I met students from the University of Bath. I visited Amsterdam and Paris. I got lost a few times to find a new way home because it was absolutely amazing to live in another place for three months. It was very easy to find people who were interested in the same things as myself. I saw a Champions League and an NFL football game. I pedaled a cart around downtown London with 10 other people. I had a once in lifetime experience to be a college student in another place.

Finally, I gained so much experiential lessons and public health related experience. In Jamaica, I shadowed nurses in Jamaican health clinics. I sat in on a meeting about how the nurses should respond to an increase in the number of people with measles in surrounding countries. In England, I volunteered at a patient health and social care advocacy group. I gave a presentation to a panel of young people about mental health risks that young people in their borough face. I learned how to take a lot of research and communicate it to others without confusing my audience. It was difficult doing most of it on my own because it was the first time I had ever done something like that. There were a lot of maturing experiences like learning to cook on my own and making new friends. There were times I had to figure out how to balance the new kid in a big city, but I feel stronger from the experience than I ever had before.

At the risk of sounding cliche, Argentina completely stole my heart. The city itself is one of the most beautiful and unique cities I have ever been to. What makes Buenos Aires, and Argentina as a whole, unique is that it maintains its European influences, while also having many traits specific to South America, especially when you leave the city and enter the countryside. The city is beautiful and teeming with liveliness, but I also enjoyed being in the countryside. I got to go paragliding and horseback riding through the Andes Mountains in Mendoza; I saw countless Orcas in the waters of Peninsula Valdes; I got to play with the penguins in Punta Tombo, home to one of the largest penguin rookeries in the world; I rode the white waters in Bariloche, Patagonia; I hiked for days in the beautiful and quaint El Chalten, Patagonia; and I climbed to the top of one of the largest glaciers in the world in El Calafate, Patagonia.

IES does a good job of striking the balance between making sure we engage in academics, while also giving us the tools and opportunities to travel and explore.

This past semester, I was studying abroad in Santiago, Chile with IES and it was was such an amazing, unforgettable experience. The entire IES staff is extremely nice and supportive. IES also helps immensely in making you feel comfortable with the Chilean culture and customs. I was able to be a part of the Chilean student life and meet some amazing friends by taking courses at the Pontifica Universidad de Chile, one of the best universities in South America. Though at times the academics at the university can be tough, there are many resources available to help international students. During my stay, I lived with a host family and had the nicest host mom. She made me feel completely at home.

Santiago is a vibrant city full of history, culture, and excitement from the fast-paced city environment to the calm and peaceful mountains surrounding the area. I highly recommend spending a semester in Santiago, Chile with IES abroad.

My semester with IES was an incredible experience. One of the most memorable factors about my time abroad was the field studies trip to Tibet that was an academic components of the program. I had never before had the opportunity to take a mobile course, and being able to have the experience of travel accompanied by a professor that guided our analysis of everything we were exposed to was academically enriching.

The Chinese language courses at IES are very rigorous, so I found that my language level had many improvements, although placement into the class levels is not always extremely accurate. Subject classes are not as rigorous as they are at my home university. Going into the semester, I knew very little about Chinese politics and international relations, so although in my case the classes were very informative, I still found that they weren't extremely challenging. However, I think that having a low academic commitment was also part of the experience because it gave the students time to focus on seeing Beijing and other areas of the country without sacrificing academic standing.

I found that staff at IES to be supportive of all of my personal problems. The professors in the program helped me develop and senior thesis by personalizing the course work to my interests (as well as those of other students) and providing me with resources for extended exploration that I would not have found on my own. Th center staff always made themselves available resolve any problems that I might be having, and the RAs in the program are well chosen and trained to mentor and help students navigate the country with success.

There are many programs to choose from when deciding where to study abroad and how to spend one's time in their chosen country, but I am convinced that choosing to study through IES' Direct Enrollment Program was the best choice I could have made. With Direct Enrollment, I hardly felt as though I was studying at Queen Mary for only one term--I had nearly full access to the module options, my assignments were graded the same as my peers and I lived in the halls with students both from my host country and from other countries.

The IES staff in Chicago and their counterparts in London were well-informed regarding any situation and questions students might (and did) have and they were fully prepared to help students have the best possible study abroad experience. IES also set up wonderful field trips that students could choose to go on.

Queen Mary has a very active social scene and it boasts on the biggest campuses complete with student housing in all of London; as you might have guessed, I was never at a loss for what to do with my free time, as had an abundance of friends around me at all times and as there i never "nothing to do" in London.

I had the absolute time of my life through IES Direct Enrollment in London and I would encourage anyone who is thinking about studying abroad to consider look at programs both in London and through IES.

Studying abroad in London was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I chose this program because I wanted a program with a health focus. I want to be a physician assistant, and this program had numerous qualities that I thought would be helpful towards that endeavor. It's important to note that this program is focused on public health. I found this to be interesting because, as a biology major, I had never really been exposed to different healthcare systems and other public health topics. The classes I took were Social Welfare Policy, Comparative Healthcare Systems, Health and Disease (the Oxford class, which is basically an epidemiology course), and Architecture as an elective. The two IES Health Practice and Policy classes (Social Welfare and Comparative Healthcare) were good, and should be even better in the future since they are working on better coordinating the course curriculums to provide a more cohesive program structure. The Health and Disease course was also okay, but the long commute every Friday was a bit of a bear. I absolutely loved Architecture as my elective course, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see as much of London as possible.

As part of the Social Welfare Policy class, I had an internship/service placement at a breast cancer charity in London. While I was hoping for a placement that allowed me a little more clinical contact, I was still abel to interact with patients in the office which was nice.

Overall, living in London is absolutely incredible. I'm from the Midwest and had never lived in a cosmopolitan city like London before. Not only is London one of the most iconic cities in the world, but there are also amazing cultural opportunities that can't be found anywhere else. I discovered a love for theatre and art that I didn't know I had before. Everything from seeing Van Gogh's self portrait at the Somerset House to winning discount ticket to The Book of Mormon created an amazing experience I will never forget. The residence hall, Nido, is located just a few blocks from King's Cross station, which means it is super each to get around to any part of the city. The Nido dorms are pretty standard dorms, but you get a private bathroom to share with your roommate, and there is a kitchen on each floors that can be used to make your own food. IES also offers a ton of events to see more of London, like a walking tour of London including a ride on the London Eye, a boat trip to Greenwich, an authentic football match, and a tour of Harry Potter Studios. You can pick what you're interested in and participate for free or an extremely reduced rate. There are also field trips around England and the surrounding areas; for example, I went on trips to Stonehenge, Bath, Salisbury, and Cambridge thanks to IES and their subsidized field trips.

At the end of the program, we went on a ten-day field study in Kingston, Jamaica. This was the part of the program with the most clinical components, which I really enjoyed. Observing in the clinics was really interesting, and we saw everything from standard vitals (blood pressure, weight, urinalysis, etc) to post-natal exams (6 week old babies getting their checkups) and wound dressings. We also had some interesting lectures at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing, where we learned about the history of nursing in Jamaica as well as the role of natural and holistic healing to the healthcare culture. Please keep in mind that Kingston is a lot different than London. There was a significant amount of street harassment, etc, that would occur whenever we went into the city. I was kind of unprepared for that, and it was very uncomfortable when in contained areas like the clinic where it was hard to get away from harassing people. However, we always traveled in groups and so there were never any real safety concerns.

Overall, I learned so much over the course of this semester, and I recommend this program to people who have an interest in healthcare--especially those interested in a public health perspective.

I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, from beginning of September until mid-December. It was an incredible experience. During the first few weeks, the entire program took a trip to Tarragona, Spain, which allowed us to learn about another culture, the Catalan culture outside of the metropolitan area. My curriculum consisted of both IES courses and class from a local Spanish university. All of my IES instructors were outstanding. The classes I took enhanced my undergraduate experience. I was able to take advanced business Spanish class and great business classes in international affairs and leadership. Beyond academics, I was able to travel to various European cities throughout the semester. My time abroad is something I will never forget, and I would encourage everyone to experience it.

IES Kunming offers unique travel opportunities throughout Yunnan province and Southeast Asia. Through our field trips to upland villages I learned much about regional issues of ethnic policy and farming subsidies, among other issues. IES Kunming is not a language intensive program which has both pros and cons. My Chinese proficiency did not sky rocket, but I did become much more comfortable talking to locals Furthermore, I understand the country and culture much better through interviews made on field trips and through interactions with Chinese friends. Overall this program offers unique opportunities to experience Yunnan and Southeast Asian culture while learning about overarching regional issues.