Program Reviews

RTS organized an amazing program from the academic courses at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana to the social and cultural activities that enabled us to get a real feel of Colombian culture. The public health classes were interesting and informative because they looked at public health from many different lenses. The afternoon site visits, although a little repetitive at times, re-enforced and expanded on the knowledge we had learned in the morning lecture. The social and cultural activities were always a blast from learning how to play tejo to going on a graffiti tour around Bogota. The accommodation was clean and beautiful and I never felt unsafe when going to sleep. Lastly, the staff went above and beyond to make sure our time in Colombia was incredible. I highly recommend this program and this country to everyone!

This program is so unique in so many ways. It introduced me to much of Colombia's great culture and background. During the educational portion we were able to learn a lot about the Colombian healthcare system and its flaws. The coordinators of the program are extremely helpful and eased our transition to Colombia immensely. They were there to guide us along if we needed help but left us to our own devices so we could figure out the city by ourselves and form a unique connection with it.

My overall experience was great. Both, academically and culturally. Bogota is such an amazing place to visit, as well as Colombia as a whole. I would have loved to visit other cities, but I'll leave that for another visit to Colombia. The classes were very educational. We basically learned a whole semester course in one month. The lectures and the university made it as easy-going as possible but still rich in content. I appreciate that we have different lectures with great expertise on the topics they were teaching us. I like that it was split into two sections: Morning with lectures and afternoon with site-visits. Everyone was really kind and knowledgeable and always welcomed our questions and doubts.

I applied to Red Tree Study's film program around October when I saw a flier at my school. I had decided I wanted to go abroad several months earlier, and when I saw film internships abroad explicitly advertised for me I figured I might as well apply. My application went through quickly, and the communication throughout the process was wonderful. Once I was accepted, I weighed my offer against a couple other programs I had applied for. However, the other programs seemed to be about making a profit more than helping me as a student. Red Tree was great at not only helping me find an internship, but helping me find a company that suited what I was looking for. I found Red Tree's prices to be exceptional given that housing and essentially all logistical details (save airfare and food) were included. I decided to accept my offer. I was really only expecting Red Tree to be a safety net for me in Colombia, helping me figure out the country and culture but being hands off. I was quite surprised that the social planning put together by the coordinators was fun and malleable based on the feedback of my group. I found a real community with the other film students, and Red Tree was a huge part of my time being well spent in Colombia. The programming was also not overbearing, if I wasn't feeling up to an event there was never any pressure to go or do anything I didn't feel like. The coordinators were helpful and indelible to my experience in Bogotá, and I would really recomend this program to anybody who is looking for a film internship abroad. I also heard good things about their other programs from my friends, though I can only speak to my experience within the film program.

Overall this was a wonderful and thorough introduction to the public health in Colombia. Every day we heard from a different expert/leader in the field on their area of expertise. We also had the opportunity to visit different institutes with wide-ranging roles in the public health field. In addition to the academics, Red Tree Study also arranged many cultural and social activities for us to take part in. For example, there were opportunities to go on a graffiti tour, visit the beautiful Monserrate, and to play Tejo. The facilities that we stayed in were also top notch and I felt very safe my entire stay in Bogota!

Traveling abroad is an amazing experience, but Colombia was by far my favorite experience abroad. From our morning lectures and afternoon site visits (which, as previously mentioned, were often repetitive and difficult to engage with) to our social excursions through Red Tree Study, the past month was nothing short of enriching. Through Red Tree and Javeriana's interdisciplinary approach, we were able to learn about Colombia's public health system after the armed conflict that lasted 50 years. Our lecturers came from a variety of backgrounds and specialties and provided valuable insight regarding the Colombian public health system and history of the country.

Our outings with RTS were incredibly fun. I loved the hike to the waterfall at Choachi and playing tejo. Definitely a must!
Overall, I had an amazing time in Colombia and I am very grateful to Red Tree Study for making this possible!

I enjoyed my time in Colombia through Red Tree Study! Our mornings consisted of information packed lectures. We learned a lot about health law and policy (Colombians definitely put an emphasis on the legal side of healthcare), the health financial system, and the ways that Colombia's history and geography has affected the health of the population. Our afternoons involved visiting various health-related institutions. In the evenings after our classes and on weekends, we got to explore more of Bogota and enjoy the beautiful country! RTS does a great job of planning weekend excursions and social outings!

This peacebuilding course is one of the most interesting, as well as intense, courses I have participated in. It included a perfect mixture of both lectures and field visits. We covered many different areas of the conflict, everything from the history and different causes to how we have to work to solve all the different consequences in the future. We have discussed the economic, social and political factors as well as many different perspectives and experiences. We have been visiting agencies, NGOs, victims and former fighters and child soldiers, members from the FARC political party and many others.
The best thing with this course is that we have been able to talk and discuss with people from many different areas and with many different perspectives and opinions about the conflict. The stories and experiences we have been told is nothing we could have received from home or from studying the literature about this conflict. We have talked to people that usually don't take students or other people as visitors, and we have received first-hand information that we can use in our future studies and careers.
The Red Tree Study staff has been extremely helpful and supportive during the course, and they made sure that we had many fun social activities to join after the studying, as well as helped us with anything we needed to feel satisfied and comfortable in Bogotá. I can definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in this conflict, who wants to experience a bit of Colombia and who wants to make new friends from all over the world!

I enjoyed my time participating in Public Health in Colombia. The course was incredibly informative and approached content through an interdisciplinary lens. I was attracted to the course due to its course content and its site visits, where I hoped to speak to Colombians directly involved in the public health system, and understand the unique challenges the country was facing. Although many site visits were enlightening, many were repetitive and strayed from providing authentic dialogue and original content. It is also important to note that a translator was present for nearly all site visits for students who required translation.
Red Tree Study provided a great support network for students, and organized numerous events and activities to allow students to explore Bogotá.

This program has provided me with such a brilliant start to my summer, complete with a vastly interesting academic side and also with such exciting social activities - we saw waterfalls and amazing skylines. I was able to learn about the different obstacles facing the healthcare system in a Colombian specific context and also consider how these issues varied across the country. We had the chance to learn about historical knowledge, epidemiology and also mental health. The staff and organizers are all exceptionally welcoming and provided for a really warm and enjoyable atmosphere during our time in the bustling ad beautiful city of Bogota. The cultural aspect was quite intense in that we were able to really immersive in the local area but also befriend people from all types of backgrounds throughout the trip.