IES Abroad Reviews

Granada is one of the best cities to travel around by yourself. If you are ever bored on a Sunday, take a stroll down the river and pass people biking, skateboarding, and running. It is a lively community that feels welcoming to even those of us who come from across the pond. I lived and loved every aspect of the small-city charm that Granada gives you and am already planning my next trip to hike above the Alhambra on my next visit, only this time I hope that I can share my experience with more of my family and friends!

I had such an amazing time studying with IES Abroad in Tokyo! The administrators were so encouraging when I expressed interest in getting involved with the local community. The traveling opportunities were so much fun, and I enjoyed our excursions a lot. The coursework was a little light, but it allowed me time to really get out and explore Japan, and most of the Japanese learning I did occurred when I interacted with other students at Kanda University of International Studies. The KUIS campus is absolutely gorgeous - a wonderful place to spend a semester.

IES Abroad Amsterdam is a great hybrid between a direct enrollment option and an American study abroad parent program. I was fortunate enough to take classes at the University of Amsterdam and with guest professors at the IES Center. The IES liasons to the university were very helpful and accessible, but as a whole I wish I'd spent more time at the university itself, and some people on my program didn't have any classes there at all. The IES workers planned free social gatherings in the city for us, as well as mental health breaks like yoga classes and paid field trips, like to see the Dutch National Football Team and spending a weekend in Belgium, to help us get to know the area. They were always available in case of emergency and helped those who needed medical support.

Amsterdam is a great place to go for a semester abroad because it's very easy to travel around Europe from the city by bus, train, or plane, and the Netherlands is a wonderful country to explore. Amsterdam itself is huge, but IES made sure to place me in an apartment close to my university and was willing to help me acquire a bike to travel the city, which is by far the most-used means of transportation. Dutch adults are usually fluent in English, so even if you don't take a Dutch course, you'll be able to get around fine – though I strongly suggest trying to pick up some Dutch, which will require a lot of effort because of the prevalence of English.

Grading in the Netherlands is very harsh, and students don't have GPAs at the universities, so be prepared for a very different academic sphere. Many classes base the overwhelming majority of their final grades on a single final exam or project, which is very intimidating. I enjoyed all of my classes and professors, both in and out of the university.

Amsterdam is an expensive city, especially near the center. Groceries are a good price, but going out to eat or grab a cup of coffee can be costly. Bring your own cold medicine and pain medications, because you will have trouble finding those things in the Netherlands. I wish more advice like that was given to me pre-departure, but after the first couple weeks I figured everything out. IES makes sure to send a newsletter with events around the city every two weeks so we have plenty to explore. Overall, a very well-organized, well-run, kind program.

I had a great experience studying abroad with IES. It was amazing to experience a new culture, and I had a great support system while doing it. The IES Salamanca staff is helpful and well-organized, and gave us the chance to go on some cool field trips within Spain, included in the cost of the program. I stayed in the residence hall, where I enjoyed living in a single in close proximity to other students, but I know that those who stayed with host families also had great experiences. Salamanca is walkable, beautiful, and rich with history without being very Americanized like some other cities. For me, it was the perfect city to study abroad in.

Living in China is becoming a more influential resume builder as China becomes an international player. Immersion in China is difficult for any foreigner, and traveling around the country isn't meant for noncitizens. However, IES Abroad staff are quite helpful in guiding students to helpful resources in order to facilitate travel. The best part of living in China as a part of the IES Abroad program is the abundant opportunities to learn. The classes IES allows you to take partnering with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University are topical, and give a student unique insight into Chinese education and the Chinese economy. The IES professors are extremely knowledgable and incredibly helpful throughout the semester. I learned more about Chinese economics, culture, and language in this one semester than I learned in my four semesters before it combined. Making lasting Chinese friends is not for the faint of heart, and cultural immersion is difficult living in an apartment (but the Western toilet is a lifesaver).

My experience studying abroad in Paris was absolutely amazing. Right from the start, my roommate and I bonded and made other friends at orientation. I got to visit many great countries and learned so much about their different cultures. I really am blessed to have met so many amazing people, not only in my friends but also in the staff at the IES Center. Someone was always there to answer my questions, whether it was about where to eat, how to use the metro, how to buy medicine, or academic questions, they always got answered.
My classes were really interesting, they offered a variety. My favorite one was my digital marketing class, my professor was a marketing manager at Chloé so I got to learn a lot about the real world of marketing.
IES also offered many free field trips and museum visits. One of my favorite parts was that every week they did a raffle where you answered a couple of questions about Paris and the winners got tickets for the Opera, macaroon classes, wine tastings, or cheese tastings. Leaving Paris was honestly super devastating.

I'd been to Japan before, so I more or less knew what to expect from being in Japan, but I got to explore Japan a lot through this program! Each IES class had field trips in Tokyo to expand on what we learned. We had two cultural activities through IES: learning about Noh in Nakano and making Chicken Ramen in Yokohama. We also went on IES field trips to Hokkaido and Nikko! This program does well with helping you learn about Japan by being IN Japan, not just being in a classroom! The KUIS campus also has lots of clubs, including taiko and kendo, and an entire building dedicated to encouraging students to speak English, so you'll definitely feel comfortable on campus too!

My summer interning abroad with IES was an essential growing period for me. As a Ghanaian-American in Cape Town, I learned so much about myself and my continent. I gained a better understanding of the legacies of colonialism, classification, and the inheritance of racism. Additionally, through my internship at the internationally renowned Groote Schuur Hospital, I was able to observe and expand my knowledge of South Africa’s healthcare system. My time in South Africa grew my level of independence and showed me that I could be whoever I wanted to be, whenever I wanted. Additionally, it has increased my curiosity regarding other African countries. Though in my case, Cape Town had a huge role in the culmination of my experience, traveling to any country that is not your own, is a breathtaking and necessary experience. Go!

As the clouds above soaked a dampened atmosphere, I hurried under an awning to take shelter from the first shower of the rainy season. As if being conducted by maestros along the tops of adjacent skyscrapers, flurries of hotfooted salarymen began to weave between their fellow commuters in a rush hour ballad, only to crescendo in the simultaneous opening of their clear plastic umbrellas as they left the stage of Shinjuku station. Once notorious for employing “pushers” to push commuters onto overloaded trains, Shinjuku station remains one of the busiest train stations in the world with over 3.5 million commuters passing through its gates every day. Although maybe not something that everyone would find amusing, it is a sight that made me truly appreciate the scope of the world.

I grew up surrounded by the sugar plantations sowed along the hills of Hanapepe, Hawaii. Though I would leave the island for university, I would again find myself in a bucolic bog in the wheatlands of Pullman, Washington at Washington State University. Studying computational neuroscience and Japanese, I decided that I should study abroad in Japan to gain an immersion into the language and culture to understand more of what Japan was about. That is when I discovered IES’s summer Tokyo program.

If chosen to participate in the program, you will meet up with your fellow students for a few days of orientation and placement examinations. At the time of my writing this review, there are six total classes spanning from the 1000 to 3000 level with two classes in each division. They are all held on the same campus that you will dorm at in the National Olympic Memorial Youth Centre in the outskirts of Shinjuku. You will dorm in an on campus dormitory, living in an approximate 15’X 5’single room with a desk, communal restrooms/wet rooms, and communal laundromat. I had tested into the higher division of the 3000 level classes. I believe the level of instruction in class is more than satisfactory. Classes are quite personal (~8-20 people). Each class does various extracurricular activities throughout the semester based on level. These range from cooking classes with native Japanese students to traveling to national museums to learn more about the country and culture of Japan. But I believe the true value of the program is found beyond the boundaries of the campus.

Shinjuku station lies a twenty-minute walk or five-minute train ride to the North of campus. From there, the entirety of Tokyo’s 23 wards, an area spanning 239 sq mi, is accessible via subways. metros, buses, and a multitude of other modes of transportation. A new perspective of Japanese culture to the commuters that get off at every station. From the hub of anime and everything Japanese pop related in Akihabara, to the 3-starred Michelin restaurants and ultra-luxury malls of Ginza, every destination that comes to mind when thinking of Japan is within a stone’s throw from the youth centre. You could even take a weekend trip to Kyoto or Sapporo if you wanted (something that I frequently did via the bullet train coming out of Tokyo station).

I have made many friends in the program, fellow exchange student and native Japanese alike. I will never forget the memories that we made in class, the nights in the karaoke booths in Shibuya, or the subsequent trips to the adjacent streets lined with “izakaya”s. You can only learn so much about Japan from inside of the classroom. But, if you are truly interested in learning more about the country, what its people and culture are really like, then why not take a summer to learn abroad in the most populous city in all of Japan?

I had an amazing time while studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany for IES European Union Summer Study Abroad Program! I had the opportunity to travel to so many countries that I wouldn't have ventured to otherwise like Russia, Bosnia, and Serbia. I had lifelong connections with the other students that traveled abroad with me and I absolutely love the faculty and staff at this location. They were very supportive and inclusive to students of color and the unique struggles that they may experience abroad. The courses were definitely immersive and eyeopening, to say the least. The coursework is manageable and still gives you time to explore and enjoy your time abroad! This program will help you get out of comfort zone as it did for and genuinely contribute to tour growth. If you're thinking of studying abroad, I strongly encourage choosing this program!