Program Reviews

Studying at Queen Mary University and living in London was by far one of the greatest opportunities I have been lucky to have in the first 21 years of my life. Not only did I get the chance to explore a new city, but also I was able to enjoy learning for the sake of learning.

Coming from a rigorous collegiate institution in the U.S., I am used to being bombarded with assignment after assignment. From my experience at QMUL, the approach to learning is a little different in the U.K. While the academics at Queen Mary are by no means unchallenging, the work load is reasonable and manageable. Instead of having multiple assignments each week, I had only a few assignments during my semester abroad, with each carrying most of the weight of my final grade. With fewer assignments worth more, I was able to simply enjoy going to class and engaging with the course material without the pressure of too many graded assignments.

In addition to the academic experience, I also enjoyed exploring the London social scene. I had plenty of time to try out the various food markets, pubs and clubs. In terms of my living situation, I had the best of both worlds, because I lived with British students attending QMUL full time and other students in my program.

I studied at the University College London (UCL) for one semester. The semester was arguably one of the best times of my life. I learned a lot about other cultures, my culture, a different education system and the world at large. I was privileged to travel to about 7 countries throughout my time abroad and each experience was unique and enriching.
UCL is an academically rigorous school just like my homeschool Rice but it was interesting to see how the different the rigor was because of the different systems.
I would recommend studying abroad 100% to anyone.

Studying abroad at the University of Sydney was the best experience of my life. Going to Australia in general was an amazing experience, but going through IFSA Butler made my experience much better. The IFSA Butler staff were amazing in helping us when we got to Australia for orientation by giving us a packed schedule of things to do upon arrival, and they were there for us whenever we needed. The best part of my experience studying abroad in Australia was an IFSA Butler event called country life weekend. During that weekend, all of the students in the IFSA Butler program went to stay with an Australian family at their farm. There we were able to see kangaroos hopping for miles while the sun rose. It was the epitome of the typical Australian experience and I would not have had that without IFSA Butler

I am currently a Mathematics and Statistics major, and I never really thought I'd be able to fit a whole semester abroad with my course load. QUB offered many upper-level math courses, and I was able to get credit for my math major while abroad! I was also able to take a couple of classes that I found inherently interesting, such as Religion and Political Science. QUB offers study abroad students access to a plethora of academic disciplines, which is perfect for the American Liberal Arts student.
IFSA-Butler was a fantastic program which allowed me to easily transition into the Belfast culture. The IFSA staff in Ireland were super helpful with getting to know the city. I and the other students on my study abroad program were easily able to get to know each other through the IFSA hosted activities during the orientation, and all of us were super comfortable with the environment within days of arrival! Definitely would recommend Belfast as a study abroad destination, and definitely through IFSA!

I had an incredible experience studying abroad in Cuba through IFSA-Butler. I met new people every day and had the chance to explore new academic, artistic, athletic and personal interests. I really enjoyed my homestay experience because I lived with interesting and unique people from 3 different universities in the US and felt fully immersed while living with a Cuban family. Outside of the classroom at the University of Havana, I participated in salsa classes, a flag football league, a ceramics course at an arts institute in Havana, travel throughout the country, and much more. I cherish my entire experience and am hoping to go back to Cuba soon! To anyone who is thinking about going to Cuba, I would not hesitate to take this opportunity and run with it.

Going abroad is now a huge part of who I am. It was an incredible experience in Dublin, Ireland as I got to see 31 cities across 11 countries. I was able to visit friends from my home university, as I had travelled to Dublin alone. It was incredibly easy to make friends in the program as they have an orientation upon arrival. This was great as I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the fact I had actually landed in Ireland and would be here for months away from friends and family. IFSA - Butler was great by providing information about travel, academics, housing, shopping, and more. If they had not hosted an orientation I would have been extremely lost. Also, they continued being a great resource while in Ireland, as well as before and after I had been in Ireland. Today, I could talk for hours about the things I saw and experienced. Also I gained confidence and became a stronger version of myself. My family was incredibly proud of what I had accomplished and so was I. Lastly, I was also battling my anxiety throughout my travels. This was something I was not going to let stop me from doing what I had planned to accomplish. That experience has given me more control over my anxiety today. As for people I had met, I talk to them everyday through texts, snapchat, and more. We have also visited each other multiple time after returning to the U.S. I made lifelong friends.

I loved London, and I miss London. Dearly. The city itself was vibrant, diverse, and exciting. Every day, for six whole months, I could walk outside my flat and find something totally new and unique to do, without ever finding myself bored within the city. A large part of that experience came from my program provider, who organized monthly free (which, to a college studen, is the biggest draw) activities that encouraged us to really take advantage of every London had to offer. The friendly and helpful IFSA staff truly made me feel at home in London, from the moment orientation began. Because I felt so welcome in the city, I truly made it my own, to the point where I'm actually aching to go back and visit again.

As for my academic experience, I felt like the skills I learned in the classroom were, on the whole, lacking. I chose Queen Mary because it was the only uni in London that would allow me to study Drama as a visiting student without immersing myself in a conservatory. While I definitely appreciate the lessons I learned that I could not at my small, liberal arts school in America, I do wish I could have taken more intensive and flexible courses.

I really enjoyed my time abroad in Varanasi. The Global Alliance for Education set me up with an amazing host family who really helped me to understand the city and their culture. I took an incredible gender class as well which brought me on many interesting and moving field trips. Varanasi isn't always an easy city, but the Global Alliance for Education set me up in a way that made my experience there incredible.

Chinese language program is phenomenal! Other classes were not very difficult, but definitely helped in getting a larger understanding of the country. Specifically, we had a class that took us to different points in the city every week, which was a great cross of academic and getting us learning outside of the classroom. I saw tremendous growth in my Chinese language capability and was able to conduct a legitimate research survey. Overall, what was most important to me was the exposition to and understanding of a different culture. Which we were able to explore at all times and especially during our class trip to Xinjiang.

This past semester was amazing from the beginning to the end. IFSA-Butler made the departure process simple and easy, which relieved a lot of potential stress right off the bat. Throughout the semester they scheduled excursions and weekly meet-ups that allowed us to explore parts of New Zealand that we might not have been able to otherwise (some of my favorites were white-water rafting, visiting Hobbiton, and seeing the geothermal pools). If we ever had any problems or questions we knew that there was an adviser right in Auckland (ours was Amanda, she is the coolest). I really loved the classes that I got to take at the University of Auckland. One of them was Kapa Haka, which is a form of Maori dance employed by the famous All-Blacks before each of their rugby games. I also got to take Introduction to Wine Science, which included a field trip to the nearby island Waiheke, known for its many vineyards. I made most of my friends through IFSA-Butler. Most of us were from different places in the US, and we ended up getting along great right off the bat. Almost every weekend we would travel to a different area of New Zealand. I didn't have much experience travelling before this, so it was nice to have a group of friends as well as IFSA-Butler for support. New Zealand is an amazing country and I'm so glad I got to study there!