A Blog about Education Abroad

Category: Independent Summer School

  • The American Dream by Eloise

    The American Dream by Eloise

    Pre-departure:

    The day we booked our tickets to Boston, MA was the day it all sank in. For the first time we realised that we are really doing this.  Mri, Chanel and I are really going to AMERICA for the very first time!! Our minds immediately started to twirl as we thought about Central Park, Boston Common, The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Museums, BROADWAY and of course, Times Square.

    We started planning everything in detail, as it is very important to be organised, prepared and knowledgeable about where you are going, where you are staying and prices of everything.  If you know precisely how to get to the place you’re staying in America, it is much, much easier to use the Subway (although it can be a bit confusing in the beginning).  Preparation also equals LESS STRESS.  If you are in an unknown country, you don’t know where you are and nobody stops to even look at you or help you, you will start to stress.  Therefore to prevent this stress, you should know where you are going and how to get there.

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  • Patrick at University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

    Patrick at University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

    Pre-departure:

    I was excited about going for summer school at the University Nottingham Malaysia because I wanted to experience the educational system of a top class university which was rated by the Times Higher Education rankings as being in the Top 77 of the world’s university. The university was named Times Higher Education “University of the Year” in 2006, Times Higher Education “Entrepreneurial University of the Year” in 2008, and finished runner up in the 2010 Sunday Times “University of the Year”. Nottingham University is described by the Fulbright Commission as “one of the UK’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious universities and one can imagine how my excitement was before my pre-departure. (more…)

  • Michelle doing anthropological fieldwork in Gozo, Malta

    Michelle doing anthropological fieldwork in Gozo, Malta

    Anthropology is a social science that has a focus on culture. However, as a student of Anthropology now for two and half years, I am very apprehensive to use the word culture, and to say that Anthropology is the study of culture. It is a heavily loaded word with a weighty history, particularly in Southern Africa and even this university; and to this day Anthropologists are still grappling with what culture actually is. Some Anthropologists may say Anthropology is a comparative Sociology, but even in this description the troublesome history of Anthropology is evident, in the comparative part. (more…)