ISA Alumni Network

I can not explain how enormously India has influenced my life in a small 'review bubble'. ISA did a great job with my pre-departure orientations. They have AMAZING support in America and in India. I spent 4.5 months in beautiful India and I am in complete love with the country. I met the most amazing friends I have ever had in Hyderabad- we still talk daily, even a year later! India is a curious place... it is dirty, crowded, busy, loud, hot, etc. but at the same time, it is completely magical... I have never felt so at peace in my life. During the week, I would go to school, go into the city with friends, hang out, play with my adopted street dog, and do homework. During weekends, we would all travel together around the country. The relaxed class structure allowed us to do this easily. ISA also made their trips extremely easy and stress free, but it was still fun to explore on our own. Luckily, our on-site advisor would help us with anything we needed (like setting up train tickets, sharing advice as to where to go, etc.) I have never known more beautiful people then I did in India. I have never seen a more beautiful place then I did in India (Munnar, to be exact). There are numerous opportunities to volunteer too! NGO's are plentiful and easy to sign up for. I taught at a migrant school down the street from my hostel and, even now, I think of my students every day. It was such an amazing experience. I can't wait to go back!

This experience was absolutely fabulous for me and all of the other American friends that I met in Wollongong! I stayed in a housing unit called "Keiraview". At first I didn't know if I would like where I was living because it wasn't as nice as some of the other places to live, but it turns out that it was the best place I could have asked for! Each individual has their own room and bathroom in Keiraview and you share a kitchen with 7 others on your floor. It was great having my own room and bathroom because all I had to worry about was my own mess and I didn't have to wait to use the bathroom! I met so many wonderful people living in Keiraview because they make sure that many activities are planned for meeting and visiting with other individuals! A few other nice things about living in Keiraview were that it was located within walking distance from all of the shopping, dance clubs and beaches! It also has a uni bus that stops directly outside of Keiraview, which is not true for most of the other living units. I loved every aspect of my stay in Wollongong! Definitely a fantastic choice!

Studying abroad at Lancaster University was phenomenal. Not a day goes by where I do not think back on my time there. The area is beautiful and conveniently located for travel throughout the UK. I was able to hop on a train and be in Scotland in about 2 hours or London in 3. The classes were really fascinating. A lot of the classes are centered around independent learning, so you need to be motivated and diligent.

Wollongong is a metropolitan town, close to Sydney and beautiful Jervis Bay, Berry and Gerroa/Gerringong. As I am based at the Shoalhaven campus in Nowra, I only spend 1 day a week at the Wollongong campus. The Shoalhaven campus is small but offers free parking and kangaroos! The Wollongong campus has excellent amenities (food, UniBar, sporting facilities) and a wide range of clubs/societies to join. There are many resources for International students, including planned outings and adventures to take part in to help you make friends and explore Australia. The town itself is easy to navigate with many ethnic restaurants, night clubs and of course North Gong Beach.

I had the best experience of my life in Swansea! The staff at GlobalLinks and Swansea's study abroad centre helped to make students at home right away!

I lived in Hendrefoelan Student Village in a house with 9 other students (2 from US, 4 from Wales, 3 from England), which was only a short bus ride or about a 1.5 walk from the main campus. The orientation program and field trips were a great chance to meet the other American students before classes started and the GlobalLinks program in Manchester was also very informative and a lot of fun!

I had an amazing experience overall and thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people, traveling, experiencing the epic night life on Wind Street (Yates, Odyssey, Oceana), and taking classes across the street from the beach! I definitely recommend living in the student village and London is only 3 hours away by train. If you want to travel, I recommend getting a Young Person's railcard and also to book train tickets way in advance. Finally, definitely explore the Gower Peninsula. Buses leave from the Quadrant and from the bus stop at the bottom of the student village and go all the way to Rhossili. Caswell Bay, Three Cliffs Bay, Oxwich Beach, and Rhossili were my favorites. There is a wicked long break in April so plan ahead to do lots of traveling then!

Being able to live with Japanese host families, and see so many different places in Japan during such a short period of time is amazing.
I got to speak a lot of Japanese, learn so much about the culture, eat amazing home cooked meals every day from my host families and share and compare my experiences with people from all over the world.
I'd definitely recommend this program for anyone who's interested in learning more about Japan and make friends from all over the world.

I have friends from Uzbekistan now. I never thought that would happen.

The University of Waikato is an extremely diverse school with students from all over the world. Living on campus was both convenient and played a large role in the number of friends I was able to meet. Nearly every other international student also lived on campus and we formed a large network of friends. Also, living on campus made it easy to meet kiwis that I normally would not have met. During the week I would normally go to my classes, work out at the campus gym (and take one of the many AWESOME work out classes offered), and see all of my friends every single day. Typically 1 or 2 nights a week we would go into the bars in town or take a friday off to travel. Hamilton is probably the best location on the north Island. It is close enough to Auckland (1.5 hours) that it is possible to take day trips there, only 45 minutes from Raglan which has amazing surfing and black sand beaches, and centrally located to every other destination on the North Island (no more than 5 or 6 hours drive). While Hamilton is a 45 minute plane ride or an 8 hour drive + ferry ride from the South Island, we took our 2 week fall break to go to the south island. It was AMAZING. New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world and truly impossible to describe. You have to see it with your own eyes.

Unequivocally the greatest experience. EuroLearn provided a 4 day orientation in London that proved boring and valuable. After that there was a three week orientation at Swansea that was only international students. That was cool getting to know the Americans before everybody got there. I still see some of them time to time. Swansea has epic nightlife on Wind Street and the Kingsway. Three hour train from London, then a 90min flight to almost anywhere in Europe. Get the young person's rail card for sure, it pays for itself quickly. Be sure to check out the Welsh National Museums as well as the local ones. They are a great foundation to construction your own definition of "welshness", which is something that escapes most people...even the Welsh!