Saturday, June 6, 2009

Some research

Alright so the last few days I've looked at one or two programs. The most recent one is AIFS, the American Institute for Foreign Study, which had some pretty cool programs. Most of the stuff is done through Richmond, the American International University, which I have no idea about, but that's something that doesn't really bother me, I don't think it matters who issues the stuff, as long as you study abroad. Of course, schools like Oxford or the London School of Economics (which at some point I actually think I'm going to look at) look better than something like Richmond, but that's cool.

They actually had a nice selection of places, like Florence (Website), Rome (Website), Paris (Website), and London (Website). The only thing was the cost was a little much, for everywhere but London around 17 grand, which is more than we're (ok, really my parents, not so much me) paying now, which means I'd need a scholarship to do this one. I guess I might end up applying for more than one program to make sure. Again though, their application fee is $95, which is more than most of the college ones were. Another things was the fact that the programs had built-in trips, which can be good or bad. The good part is that everything is planned for you, which makes life easier, and it's probably safer than traveling by yourself or in a smaller group. But I also don't know if I want to have certain times locked in forcing me to travel. I guess I could skip them, but that would be a waste of money.

They did seem to have good classes, and in Italy I would take an Italian course, which I think I could handle, considering I would be there. The Rome one has like a two week orientaion, and both there and Florence you have to take Italian language classes to gain some knowledge of the language.

The issue in London would be that it's available for juniors and seniors. By that point I will technically be a junior by hours, but I won't really be a junior. So I'll have to check up on that. I think it would be cool to be in London (my mom also thinks that would be a good place if in London), although through another program I found a school not far from London, the University of Central Lancashire (Website), which looks cool. Heck I even found that there's a Catholic Church really close. So many options....glad I'm looking now, 'cause there are so many different third-party programs that I could do. My only question about these is whether or not I'd get to meet a lot of people from that country, or if the program is run separately for international students, which might not be the same, although I guess if there were a lot of locals that would mean it’s in the local language. We’ll see.

PS the links are to the programs in the places I was mentioning, not the schools I would go to, but they obviously mention which school it is, at least I think. Also, I feel like this turned out to be a bit rambling, hopefully the more I write here the better I'll get at it. Key word there is hopefully, no promises...:)

1 comment:

  1. Nice. Personally, I'd go with London if it's cheapest...

    ...and because Top Gear is right around the corner. :P

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