Adelaide Evaluation Please select your study abroad program Adelaide 2 2 Please Select your Study Abroad Term Academic Year 0 Spring 1 Fall 1 Winter Break 0 2 Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding the on-site staff (provider staff, faculty director, staff at the university International office). If I had questions, the on-site staff helped me achieve a resolution I felt comfortable approaching the on-site staff with questions or concerns I had while abroad The on-site staff provided suggestions or advice on cultural activities and/or ways to become involved Neither nor Not Applicable Please provide any additional comments regarding the on-site staff. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding the academic component of your program. The courses I took on the program were academically challenging The academic culture was different than my experience with U.S. higher education The classes I took were of interest either personally or academically to me Neither agree nor disagree 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 What advice would you give future students about adjusting to the academic culture on your program? if you have an arts major you'll just have a couple papers due during the semester but if you're doing something like engineering (they have a really good engineering program apparently.. although I guess they don't have that at IU, same as business) they have tests more frequently. I had a couple online quizzes for one of my classes, but it was online & open note & you had about 5 days to complete it, so, not
hard. I think it was hard with time management but I got everything done and didn't feel too stressed about planning for papers. I met with teachers (tutorial teachers are more accessible than the ones teaching the lectures) when I needed help, and lecture professors (for the most part) got back to my e-mails which was nice. Are there any classes you would recommend to future students? News in the Digital Age is a really good journalism theory class, but also I just really liked my teacher and the people in my class -- it's a basic level journalism class but you discuss the ways in which media and news are changing. The teacher was a tough grader (in my opinion) but it was a pretty laid back, open-discussion style class. I also heard there were a lot of good philosophy classes, and the english classes seemed okay for the most part - I just really would not recommend taking Australian Classics (the film&lit class) because the content is really dry. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding the experiential component(s) of your program. Neither agree nor disagree Not Applicable Program excursions were well organized Program excursions enhanced my cultural understanding of the country/region Course-related field experiences enhanced classroom learning 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Did you take advantage of opportunities to become integrated into the local community/culture? Yes 2 No 0 2 I developed a relationship (social or professional) with a member(s) of the host country? disagree 0 2 Not Applicable 0 Neither agree nor disagree 0 0 0 2 I had interactions with the local community through a program-sponsored internship or service learning experience. Yes 2 No 0 I had interactions with the local community through a school/community club or organization. Yes 2 No 0 2
Please tell us more about these experiences I worked (got paid) as a social media photographer for Lincoln College, a university student accommodation dorm for students. I worked with two other students (one Australian & one Asian) and together we met with a marketing director once a month and had weekly meetings outside of that to discuss the strategic social media plan for Lincoln. Are there any clubs or organizations you would recommend to future students? There aren't really many clubs at Adelaide but my friend did tennis and liked it I think. But definitely definitely join ESN!!!! So so fun. I met so many of my best friends through that. And join their page on Facebook before you come, and the Adelaide semester whatever study abroad page, because lots of people post on there about hanging out during the first week!! In what type of housing did you stay for the majority of your program? Residence hall 1 Hotel/Hostel 0 Apartment 1 Homestay 0 Other Please Specify 0 Whom did you live with in your housing? Other U.S. study abroad students from my program 0 International Students 2 Local students/a local family 0 I lived alone 0 Approximately, how long was your daily commute to class? How did you commute? 15 min walk Please provide any additional comments regarding your housing. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were in your 1-4 semester of university at home as it's pretty wild (lots and lots of drinking) and the students are generally a lot younger.. it's also hard coming in semester 2 because everyone knows each other already. But people were super nice! I just found it easier to connect with other international students (got to travel a lot more because of it, a lot of the students in the college just wanted to stay in the college) and made a lot more of my friends through ESN, the international student network. Most of my friends lived in Urbanest or independent housing, and depending on the person I'd highly recommend living in their own housing because Adelaide is so small so you can live on your own and still see people all the time. At least for me, living in the dorm was way too hectic. Please respond to the following statements. I was the victim of pick pocketing 0 2 2 I was the victim of theft (other than pick pocketing) 0 2 2 I was the victim of an assault 0 2 2 I was the victim of a sexually motivated attack 0 2 2 I experienced health issues while abroad (illness, doctor/hospital visit, medication challenges, mental health) 1 1 2
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, please feel free to provide additional details here if you feel comfortable doing so. I was super sick with the flu and had colds multiple times (probably from living in the dorm and not eating the best food there) and also had gotten really bad bug bites from camping that I had an allergic reaction to. What advice would you provide to future students regarding staying safe and healthy abroad? The university health clinic is a good option but they don't always give the best advice, however it's definitely a good option. Please respond to the following statements regarding in-country expenses for the entire time you were abroad. How much do you think you spent on... Meals, not provided by the program Rent International airfare Vacation travel Included in Program Fee 0 0 0 0 0 Not Applicable 0 0 0 0 0 Less than $500 0 0 0 0 0 $500-$1,000 1 0 0 0 1 $1,000-$1,500 0 0 0 0 0 $1,500-$2,000 0 0 0 1 1 $2,000-$2,500 1 0 0 1 2 $2,500-$3,000 0 1 0 0 1 $3,000-$3,500 0 0 0 0 0 $3,500-$4,000 0 0 0 0 0 $4,000-$4,500 0 0 2 0 2 $4,500-$5,000 0 0 0 0 0 $5,500-$6,000 0 0 0 0 0 $6,000-$6,500 0 1 0 0 1 $6,500-$7,000 0 0 0 0 0 Greater than $7,000 0 0 0 0 0 How much do you think you spent on these additional variable costs? Included in Program Fee Local Transportation Course Materials Personal Expenses (i.e. clothing, entertainment, souvenirs, local cell phone) 0 0 0 0 Not Applicable 0 0 0 0 Less than $100 1 1 0 2 $100-$200 1 1 0 2 $200-$300 0 0 0 0 $300-$400 0 0 1 1 $400-$500 0 0 0 0 $500-$600 0 0 0 0 $600-$700 0 0 1 1
$700-$800 0 0 0 0 $800-$900 0 0 0 0 $900-$1,000 0 0 0 0 $1,000-$1,250 0 0 0 0 $1,250-$1,500 0 0 0 0 $1,500-$1,750 0 0 0 0 $1,750-$2,000 0 0 0 0 $2,000-$2,250 0 0 0 0 $2,250-$2,500 0 0 0 0 $2,500-$2,750 0 0 0 0 $2,750-$3,000 0 0 0 0 Greater than $3,000 0 0 0 0 Were there any costs that surprised you or that you didn't anticipate about which future students should be aware? cocktails so expensive there just in general but I was expecting that, but there is the central market on saturdays where you can get really cheap food, although food was provided for me in housing so that wasn't usually an issue. concert tickets are SO expensive!!!!!!! I paid 70 dollars to see this pretty well-known, but not anything like Adele, band - Sticky Fingers - and it seemed so overpriced! Concert tickets are between 40-300 dollars it's crazy. I've never seen anything lower than 40 though. The ESN activities are also So Expensive, but I guess for what you're getting it's worth it (like the beer tour was $70, swimming with dolphins was I think 60 or 70 but I didn't go to that, wine tours could be 60-80). Do you have any budget friendly tips for prospective students? Buy cheap food from central market on Saturdays, it's still really good quality and located just past the main part of downtown. Student accommodations (colleges, urbanest) are EXPENSIVE, honestly just look at gumtree for something. And when you're traveling get a camper van if you're with 3+ people because it's way cheaper overall and so so fun!! It might seem more expensive but we were living on $21 dollar accommodations during our break for sleeping (we slept in the van obviously) not including food but it was a good deal as most hostels are at least $20 anyways and you'd have to rent a car on top of that. But also hostels are a good idea and great way to meet people when traveling. Try and get the $30 plan from Vodaphone, I liked it a lot and just switched out my sim card to an Australian one (it works in new zealand too). Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements. I developed communication skills through my program (language, cross-cultural) I developed a sense of global citizenship during my program (connection of people, ideas, problems) I developed as a person through my program (confidence, maturity, independence) I developed friendships with my peers on my program Neither agree nor disagree disagree Not Applicable I developed professional skills on my program The three best aspects of my program were:
the people I met (for sure #1), traveling Australia & New Zealand at such a cheaper price than it'd be flying from America back and forth, getting to know locals & staying with their families or going to their beach houses down south!! The three most challenging aspects of my program were: My living accommodations (did not like), my classes (were pretty boring and the content was super dry), not having the most accessible transportation (would've been so nice to have a car for road trips or going to the beach-- the beach is far, about 40 minutes, so it's not that easy to get to). Is there any other advice you would give future students? I'd recommend Adelaide as a study abroad place but definitely not in their winter (July-September) so I'd say to go in the American spring semester. It was their coldest winter in so long this past semester so that was kind of hard as I couldn't do the stereotypical Aussie things (I mean I tried surfing but the water was so cold haha I couldn't stay in for more than an hour and we'd paid for a four hour lesson) and it really only got good towards the summer months for that kind of stuff.