Would do it again in a heartbeat!!

My experience with SIT Nicaragua was holistic, eye-opening, and intense. On an academic level, my classes were immediately relevant to my homework and day- to-day life, which made it easy to learn. The program gives students incredible academic freedom to demonstrate what we learn in creative formats, which allowed me to create a lot of art and media for my classes. In the program’s excursions to rural Nicaragua, the Caribbean coast and Cuba, we were able to learn directly from community members. The vast curriculum is designed to prepare students to complete an independent research project. Even though I was nervous for that project, it served to be one of the most rewarding challenges of my undergraduate career (I researched community radio on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua).

With respect to my personal and social life in the program, my experience centered around my wonderful host family. The program houses all of its students in one neighborhood in Managua, where every evening the streets are alive with the sounds of family life. My own home was full of life—with siblings who wanted to talk with me about their dreams and take me out with their friends, and with a mother who wanted to take me with her 'a pasear' and feed me—a lot. They made me feel truly loved and supported throughout my experience.

I would recommend SIT: Nicaragua to any student ready to immerse themselves somewhere wonderful and complicated.